Room Service

Seeing the PDF page count hit triple digits last month was something else. The fact that it will reach 200+ pages in the next few months really puts things into perspective. This has been (and will be) a lot of work! Fortunately I’ve enjoyed the ride. Going back to the original drafts from 2023, spending time with the text and expanding on things to make connections, has really helped me to flesh out the layers in the adventure overall.

In this recent area, when I looked back on the draft, I was a bit worried that I’m not adding enough specific confrontation, that problems for the players were only implied, not overt. What’s to stop them from walking right past an encounter? That said, I’m often inclined to leave room for things that just “are”. Not everything needs to be a problem. Not everything needs to be encountered. Sometimes a space is just a space. Especially in something like a mega-dungeon, I think there’s room for that type of experience. 

The Service Halls are a bit of a breather in that regard. The Servitors in this area of the mega-dungeon are not inherently “bad”. Neither are the Ganglios Creatures they use as livestock (though they will eat you, if you get too close). Random events could potentially throw up some roadblocks, but it’s also just as likely the players could spend their time here resting, getting to know some of the NPCs, and exploring the setting. Probably for the best, given the adjoining areas (the Dungeon and the Monastery) are designed to be more lethal. 

I keep coming back to the balance of these concepts over and over, that there is somehow more “value” in conflict. But is there?

There’s the dungeon building philosophy of having “empty” rooms. As a matter of pacing, I think this is good advice. If every room is a fight, players may find it difficult to press on. Of course “empty” rooms are not actually empty, they may have a minor event, a clue, foreshadowing, or some other means of establishing the setting. In some ways, the entire area of the Servant Halls serves this purpose. 

This area is likely to be mid-game for most players running through the mega-dungeon, so it feels like the right time to throw in a bit more detail about the “end boss”. A lot of this area is about letting players know what kind of person the Tetric Necromancer is. Namely: A failed wizard who relied on grotesque shortcuts to serve the kingdom, and the harm he is capable of causing in the pursuit of his ambitions. 

The Servant Halls also help to expand on the backstory of the Undead Queen, a major plot point in the setting’s history, available if the players care to dig into it. The Undead Queen is sealed away in the Monastery, adjacent to the Servant Halls. So, at the very least, I felt a bit of foreshadowing was in order. I’ve not officially written any hooks for this adventure, but finding the fate of the Undead Queen is likely to be one of them.

I could see the players given quite a few opportunities to gain allies or tag-alongs in the Servant Halls as well. I’ve set up what I think are two strong possibilities. 

1. Delos, a time traveller who is looking for their partner, trapped deeper within the dungeon.  
   
2. Molly, a Servitor who is no longer under The Spire’s control, who is capable of assembling a small army of fellow Seritors. Molly also has a connection to another area higher in the Spire (the Laboratory), where more Servitors await. 

In both cases, there is a reunion waiting to happen. I thought that might be a nice payoff, instead of the usual reward of treasure. Again, nothing overtly mentioned, but I’m happy for the GM and players to unpack these connections through play.  

And yeah, time travel! I’ve wanted to write a proper time travel adventure for a long time, but find the mechanics quite difficult to pull off in a way that doesn't get confusing. So I’m just dabbling here. If you read or play this portion of the adventure, let me know what you think. And if you have any time travel adventure recommendations, send them my way.

The addition of the Servant Halls also marks the first time in a while when all of the existing areas in the mega-dungeon are connected by contiguous paths. The Dungeon and Sewers were a bit of an island for a while (unless you count the secret Sewer fountain entrance in the Gate House). The Servant Halls make a direct connection to the Dungeon now, which connects to the Sewers. Once I get the Monastery and the North Keep added, that’ll be everything on the ground floor, available for play. Then we get to do the final climb up The Spire, to the top.

A mega-dungeon with a big ground floor? I dub it “the dungeon sprawl”.