I have have watched every video in this first level series a BUNCH of times preparing for this campaign. I will be running my first session this Friday, we are starting with The Sunless Citadel, and then transferring into Dungeon of the Mad Mage after that (and the characters will get some downtime in-game to level them up to 5 before the big descent). I am planning on connecting the two modules by changing the timeline of Sunless, and adding Xanathar baddies there. They will be a massive faction in play, I worked with a few of the player characters to plant seeds against the Xanathar already (a rogue who stole from the wrong person in Waterdeep and is now indebted to them, for example). HEAVILY relying on the "static vs dynamic" concepts. I will leave more comments as I figure more stuff out and start but wanted you to know that as a newbie DM running this as my first campaign I appreciate your DOTMM videos so much!!! Thank you for all your insight and the effort you put into this series!!
Loved the video. About the Wererats knowing about the secret doors. The way I interpreted it, this was a "dynamic" situation because the Wererats were only just in the process of exploring this area. The Wererats' job was specifically to look for secret doors and unexplored areas. I guess they only recently found one of the two secret doors, which is why the "grunts" (the bugbears and goblins) don't know about them yet. This is also supported by the fact that the wererats only made it it to room 31 (not 32 like you said in your video). When the adventurers encounter her, Sylvia (one of the Wererats) is only just exploring room 31. She may not even have explored rooms 32-34 yet, especially because she'd have to make it past the air elemental to get there.
That is a great way to interpret this! I think sometimes we (here I mean me!) get caught up in the idea that things have all been in a place for a while and their actions should reflect that. But it's possible they just arrived as you said. Why not?
@@DDHomebrew I totally get that and recognize myself in that as well (thinking things must have been like that for a while). And I think that partly comes from the fact that I find it a bit contrived when literally everything interesting just happens to happen when the players show up, regardless of whether the players took 1 day, 2 days, or 2 weeks to get there :-D
I am determined to try: I have be less detailed than the earlier videos, but then when I get going I can't help myself and suddenly I've got three or more!
Awesome series! This has been a fun analysis of the concepts that make a dungeon fun and challenging to explore. I think multiple ways to move up/down in/out of a level is something that is often forgotten when people are used to smaller dungeons, Of course me being evil I let the PCs go deeper than they should 😈 - slanting passageways anyone?
Thanks so much Bandit's Keep! I forgot all about slanting passages! Right from the very first boxed set; when it made a big difference what level you were it was a deadly feature. You'd suddenly find yourself one or even two levels deeper. Why the monsters knew this and arranged themselves accordingly was one of those great mysteries, but we didn't ask questions in those days. We thought the guys at TSR were the gods of rules, so it must have made sense.
Hey Kevin, really enjoy these dungeon videos. Really like the idea of the bandits having a flesh golem as part of their gang. The monsters used in this adventure, gives the dungeon a nice deep and creepy feeling. Absolutely loved the Thumbnail, favorite old school monster, nothing beats a giant green eating machine that can slip through a 1 inch crack and never sleeps. Did you just paint your recording room blue? I remember it being my white. Thanks Kevin you have a wonderful day!
Thanks Matt. I agree that the gelatinous cube was a great classic monster. I called it a resource drain, but occasionally I would put some treasure inside to tease the players into fighting one! I think the lighting made the room look blue. It's a rental; I'm going to be buying a new place and setting up my final studio in a few months. And have a gaming room, paint area etc. Which will be excellent material for new videos!
Cool vid. I was thinking this over. I guess the intent of the creator of this is that Xanathar controls this section of the dungeon. He has orchestrated the groups carefully (since he is very controlling in nature). I would expect many, if not all, groups in an area know the ins and outs of everything (at least someone in each group). That doesn't mean they are going to go off the rails against Xanathar (although some in fighting should exist). They would play well together because if they don't... Also Wererats rarely spread lyconthrophy. Now if my players didn't know that...hehe. Still, it is more likely you would get tetanus than become a Wererat accidently. Just say'n. As to the fake vamps...yea I am woth you totally on that one. Someone would have figured that out...like Xanathar for instance. Hmmm. Love your take though! I guess I always imagine my way past the holes in a pregen. I think it is intentional (or happy accidents).
Great points. Xanathar is the wild card on these first couple of levels. He's powerful in Skull Port, but how much of his power in the dungeon is at the allowance of Halaster himself? Do they have an uneasy truce, or some kind of alliance? I agree that the wererat threat is low, but so is the reward for fighting them: just a chance to drain some spells or a few HP.
Glad you liked the music Simon! I took these from the soundtrack of the classic horror film The Legend of Hell House. It was composed by Delia Derbyshire and Brian Hodgson. Derbyshire was a pioneer in electronic music in the 60's and composed the theme song for Dr. Who. You can find many examples on UA-cam if you search for the film name or Delia's name. I only used a small portion: really great music!
@@DDHomebrew Excellent! Thank you so much for the info! Your channel is excellent! I've recently discovered it and have been binge-watching your videos ever since! I'm a 5e DM, but I love the older, grittier styles, verisimilitude, and detail. I'm grateful for veterans of the DM craft bringing that older, "lost" knowledge out for us newer ones! Wishing your channel all the success you deserve!
These videos are A grade, Real effort can be easily seen, from editing, to scripting. Well done sir. and Thank you once again.
I appreciate the comment Jadon!
I have have watched every video in this first level series a BUNCH of times preparing for this campaign. I will be running my first session this Friday, we are starting with The Sunless Citadel, and then transferring into Dungeon of the Mad Mage after that (and the characters will get some downtime in-game to level them up to 5 before the big descent). I am planning on connecting the two modules by changing the timeline of Sunless, and adding Xanathar baddies there. They will be a massive faction in play, I worked with a few of the player characters to plant seeds against the Xanathar already (a rogue who stole from the wrong person in Waterdeep and is now indebted to them, for example). HEAVILY relying on the "static vs dynamic" concepts. I will leave more comments as I figure more stuff out and start but wanted you to know that as a newbie DM running this as my first campaign I appreciate your DOTMM videos so much!!! Thank you for all your insight and the effort you put into this series!!
So glad this series has been helpful! Some really great ideas here In combining these modules. And a dynamic dungeon is a fun dungeon!
Loved the video. About the Wererats knowing about the secret doors. The way I interpreted it, this was a "dynamic" situation because the Wererats were only just in the process of exploring this area. The Wererats' job was specifically to look for secret doors and unexplored areas. I guess they only recently found one of the two secret doors, which is why the "grunts" (the bugbears and goblins) don't know about them yet. This is also supported by the fact that the wererats only made it it to room 31 (not 32 like you said in your video). When the adventurers encounter her, Sylvia (one of the Wererats) is only just exploring room 31. She may not even have explored rooms 32-34 yet, especially because she'd have to make it past the air elemental to get there.
That is a great way to interpret this! I think sometimes we (here I mean me!) get caught up in the idea that things have all been in a place for a while and their actions should reflect that. But it's possible they just arrived as you said. Why not?
@@DDHomebrew I totally get that and recognize myself in that as well (thinking things must have been like that for a while). And I think that partly comes from the fact that I find it a bit contrived when literally everything interesting just happens to happen when the players show up, regardless of whether the players took 1 day, 2 days, or 2 weeks to get there :-D
@@dermaniac5205 My issue as well. But I guess we're supposed to suspend our disbelief as GMs as well!
Everything makes sense when the maker of a dungeon is the Mad Mage! Thanks for the overview.
Glad you enjoyed it!
It's nice to listen to an old school player of D&D talk about D&D
Glad to hear it Hazel!
Man cool video you have so much knowledge of the game through the editions.
Glad you enjoyed it!
Do a quick breakdown and insights on all the floors, i really enjoyed this - its going to be helpful on where to put focus as we start dotmm.
I am determined to try: I have be less detailed than the earlier videos, but then when I get going I can't help myself and suddenly I've got three or more!
Awesome series! This has been a fun analysis of the concepts that make a dungeon fun and challenging to explore. I think multiple ways to move up/down in/out of a level is something that is often forgotten when people are used to smaller dungeons, Of course me being evil I let the PCs go deeper than they should 😈 - slanting passageways anyone?
Thanks so much Bandit's Keep! I forgot all about slanting passages! Right from the very first boxed set; when it made a big difference what level you were it was a deadly feature. You'd suddenly find yourself one or even two levels deeper. Why the monsters knew this and arranged themselves accordingly was one of those great mysteries, but we didn't ask questions in those days. We thought the guys at TSR were the gods of rules, so it must have made sense.
@@DDHomebrew D&D is definitely more fun for me when I don’t think to much about common sense stuff 😂
@@BanditsKeep Laws of Physics, meet Suspension of Disbelief.
Great insight on how to run the module! thanks!
Glad it was helpful.
Hey Kevin, really enjoy these dungeon videos. Really like the idea of the bandits having a flesh golem as part of their gang. The monsters used in this adventure, gives the dungeon a nice deep and creepy feeling. Absolutely loved the Thumbnail, favorite old school monster, nothing beats a giant green eating machine that can slip through a 1 inch crack and never sleeps.
Did you just paint your recording room blue? I remember it being my white.
Thanks Kevin you have a wonderful day!
Thanks Matt. I agree that the gelatinous cube was a great classic monster. I called it a resource drain, but occasionally I would put some treasure inside to tease the players into fighting one! I think the lighting made the room look blue. It's a rental; I'm going to be buying a new place and setting up my final studio in a few months. And have a gaming room, paint area etc. Which will be excellent material for new videos!
That intro was amazing 😂
That's when I did them. Academy Award acting!
Nice Job Kevin.
Thanks Fred.
Cool vid.
I was thinking this over. I guess the intent of the creator of this is that Xanathar controls this section of the dungeon. He has orchestrated the groups carefully (since he is very controlling in nature). I would expect many, if not all, groups in an area know the ins and outs of everything (at least someone in each group). That doesn't mean they are going to go off the rails against Xanathar (although some in fighting should exist). They would play well together because if they don't...
Also Wererats rarely spread lyconthrophy. Now if my players didn't know that...hehe. Still, it is more likely you would get tetanus than become a Wererat accidently. Just say'n.
As to the fake vamps...yea I am woth you totally on that one. Someone would have figured that out...like Xanathar for instance. Hmmm.
Love your take though! I guess I always imagine my way past the holes in a pregen. I think it is intentional (or happy accidents).
Great points. Xanathar is the wild card on these first couple of levels. He's powerful in Skull Port, but how much of his power in the dungeon is at the allowance of Halaster himself? Do they have an uneasy truce, or some kind of alliance? I agree that the wererat threat is low, but so is the reward for fighting them: just a chance to drain some spells or a few HP.
Where do you get the sounds for dungeon scenes! They're really creepy, and have a retro feel to them! I'd love to use them myself. Very nice videos!
Glad you liked the music Simon! I took these from the soundtrack of the classic horror film The Legend of Hell House. It was composed by Delia Derbyshire and Brian Hodgson. Derbyshire was a pioneer in electronic music in the 60's and composed the theme song for Dr. Who. You can find many examples on UA-cam if you search for the film name or Delia's name. I only used a small portion: really great music!
@@DDHomebrew Excellent! Thank you so much for the info! Your channel is excellent! I've recently discovered it and have been binge-watching your videos ever since!
I'm a 5e DM, but I love the older, grittier styles, verisimilitude, and detail. I'm grateful for veterans of the DM craft bringing that older, "lost" knowledge out for us newer ones! Wishing your channel all the success you deserve!
@@reactionarydm Glad you like my channel! I hope you enjoy the earlier videos.
Like an thrope
I'm an old mise en thrope.