Dwarrowdeep: DnD Megadungeon Review 

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Big Warning: This book refers to content that is only published in previous books. If you don't own barrowmaze (like I didn't) there are certain monsters that are just not explained at all beyond a brief one-line stat spread. Also the primary encounter areas aren't fulled keyed either. At 2:20 you can see in the top left the big "R" that is unkeyed and basically "do it yourself." This book has great things in it but it's underbaked for what it delivers. Expect to be writing most of the content yourself beyond the entrances.

All of the Gillespie mega dungeons fit on the classic Avalon Hill "Outdoor Survival" game map that Gary Gygax used in his OD&D campaign

You know, as much as like what I'm seeing, I'm at a point were the question of "When would I ever find the time to run a dungeon THAT big?" really imposes itself. Like I said, I love this but good heavens does it ever feel like way too much.

I bought this some time ago because I really liked Barrowmaze and I was very excited for a Moria-like experience. However, I think this one totally missed the execution. I read the whole thing and I found it tedious and uninteresting, like, all the good ideas were used in the previous ones. There are maybe a couple interesting things, but it's not near the quality of Gillespie's other ones. Very sorry about that because I really wanted to like it.

I am running this at the moment. It absolutely evokes that Moria feeling, which is exactly what I am after. I don't mind that it's vanilla, I actually quite like me some vanilla fantasy. I would say that of Gillespie's dungeons this one requires the most work to make it complete, but it's also the most ambitious of all of them and it is trying not to compromise on the fantasy of a massive, sprawling labyrinth "vast and intricate beyond the imagination of Gimli, Gloin's son, Dwarf of the mountain race though he was". That fantasy is probably unpublishable if fully detailed (this book is already huge) so the decision is made to flesh out the entrances and a few thematic areas, and give a well developed skeleton for the underground hex crawl for the DM to flesh out themselves. Some people will find this unsatisfying, and that's fair enough, but for me it gets me far enough and gives enough support for me to feel happy finishing the job myself. I think having the available paths actually mapped out is really helpful because it lets you describe the underground navigation and give meaningful choices to players inside that navigation, and unlike if you were just making it up or abstracting it, it remains as permanent geography that the players can rely on and learn. I think that gives it a solidity that is really valuable in an exploration based game, and to me it's the most important part of the book. I did not use the geomorphs in the end though. It was time consuming when I used them the first time, and I wasn't particularly blown away with the result. Instead I sat down and thought about each of the unkeyed areas and gave them a thematic name and a couple of sentences of description. I tried to make them fit in with the rest of the dungeon in a relatively logical way and also to use the factions which are nearby to populate them when it made sense. I haven't fleshed all of these out fully, but enough that I could sketch a quick map in game and then keep that as I move forward. It's been enough for me to move forward with running the dungeon in confidence, and my players have actually spent the most time interacting with these self-generated parts and it is producing satisfying play. I can totally see why someone who wants a complete dungeon with no work required would not like this. This dungeon absolutely takes more work from the DM than Barrowmaze, Highfell or Forbidden Caverns. But I think if you are like me and fell in love with Moria as a kid reading Fellowship of the Ring, there's enough here to help you realise the dream of visiting a fantasy Moria with your friends.

This reminded me that the ICE Moria supplement for MERP (Middle Earth Roleplaying) from back in the day had a random dungeon generating algorithm on paper - like '67: Descending stairs' to generate new maps. Looked tedious as hell to use and you certainly wouldn't want to try use it on the fly.

That 'bottom of the page' party looks very similar to the same party in the random dungeon creation section of the 1st Edition DM's guide.

A work such as this is something I d use as a sandbox to add in whatever I needed to for it to fit the campaign. I really like the geomorphs for the on the fly situations.

9:56 Fun Galaxy Quest reference: Grabthar’s Great Hammer

Love the art and the runic strip that runs on top of the pages through the whole book. Nice touch.

Awesome! happy new year

Been waiting for this one!

I love these types of dungeons! Cut my gaming teeth on them in the early 80's. It's my dungeon style as well, but, unfortunately, not many enjoy these types today. I'd say I have pages of megadungeon maps, except they are all digital now, so maybe megabytes of dungeon material? Anyway, I wanna crawl through the underworld evading traps and monsters, kicking the butt of evil, and collecting gold, gems, and magic. Excellent, video, thanks!

Another name for Moria was Dwarrowdelf. Based on it? You could say that

Huge fan of Barrowmaze and Highfell, so I got this as soon as I heard of it.

I love the map element of a hex made of smaller hexes, it helps to establish just how large it is. Imagine finding a cave at the base of a mountain .. how long would it take to find the exit on the other side of the mountain? You could actually start your Campaign there.

I stop here and there to read the pages. It is packed full of references. And yes, I noticed the clue in the PC sheet.

This looks really good. I’m especially impressed with all the art and the sheer scale of the dungeon.

Amazing work... absolutely going to add this into my campaign setting!

Interesting to see a mixed response on this one. Seems we may be hitting a point of over-saturation in the megadungeon space.

Thanks for reviewing! I love Greg Gillespie's Megadungeons. They are masterpieces. And I actually quite like the cover art for this one, although I've been collecting the monochrome editions of the megadungeons.

Great review! I'm not usually a fan of mega dungeons, but I'm sold on this one. Off topic, I would love to see your take on Old School Stylish!

Looks great! Gonna have to add this one to my collection!

Great review...you're videos rock!

That looks really cool.

Glad to see the muddy cover called out. I made a new cover for this before I had it printed at lulu.

The artwork reminds me of those Fighting Fantasy Games. Love it to bits :D

Sounds pretty cool dude!

Ben missed a major point here and that is that this is a dungeon to set your games in. One of things that should be said is that it’s an amazing setting. It’s a perfect structure to set YOUR stories in. It oozes plot points and set pieces for encounters and battles. The DM can do a ton of stuff with this. With the whimsy dungeons like Willowby Hall, it’s programmed. Gillespie has created an awesome sandbox that you can build your epic tales in. It’s not “vanilla” by any means.

If we come across a well in the floor, I toss in a coin...and maybe a bucket ☺.

Thanks, Ben. Like you, I like the artwork that shows scale and depth from the top of bridges and staircases. My main problem is: I can't see any elevation represented by the mapping in your pagethru. Maybe these chasms of representational dissonance are the extra price the DM must pay in anticipatory prep time, but this isn't a cheap book (unless someone sends you a copy). If this dungeon is deep, it would be good to have some cartographic representation, 'cause there's loads of megadungeons that map like this - but they don't all show illustrations of vertiginous depths. That should be a good thing, but I'd like it to be on the maps too.

i dont know that i would run this as is, but my goodness that art is fantastic.

Those are all awesome. The Mega Dungeons.

Great review, and definitely looks like a good inspiration for exploring massive dungeons. What do you thing of Dolhmenwood? I've have heard a bunch of good things, but it'd be awesome to get your feedback on it (maybe just as positive as the rest or what are the weaker parts)?

Thank you for this review! How easily can this be run without the geomorphs? Do you have to use them? Sadly, I want to use these dungeons with less prep and not more…

I'm dming this one. Amazing megadungeon.

"I am a dwarf diggy diggy hole digging a hole!" Big fan of barrowmaze and orderd dwarrowdeep yesterday. Can't wait to combine ideas from campaigns past/present and my copy of Moria (ice).

I love the art scroll on all the pages. Detailed, evocative, progressive, and doesn't take up half a page every time. Very cool. I love these in principle, but some of it seems like too much and not enough. There's a reason most dungeons are small. There's no point in exploring 100 rooms if 90 of them are basically empty or meaningless. And it's overkill if most of them significant. Still, ymmv. Looks like a lot of cool stuff anyway. And the back really makes it look like a 1e book.

I'm gonna have to get this at some point. I'm hoping they'll still have physical copies in stock by the time I can afford it. Also, 35 bones for a PDF that apparently doesn't even have bookmarks Jesus Christ.

Wow that looks cool. A few times you mention it is part of a series. Does that mean that they have an overall story, each has a level range to play in order or anything like that?

What took so long for.this review ? Thanks for doing it . I have this on order and barrowmaze. Looking forward to playing these with the Dragonslayer rpg.

I was very disappointed with Dwarrowdeep. The rooms were all very bland and the setting felt bland to me. The reliance on "do it yourself" defeats the purpose of a megadungeon. Not a fan personally.

First 😅. Seriously though. Great review. Beautiful book, I will have to see if I can find it and add it to my collection.

ROCK AND STONE!

I've recently started a Greyhawk campaign on the Jewel River between Prin. Ulek and the Pomarj and am looking for flavor/lore on making a Dwur society feel "non-human". How is this product as a resource on all things dwarf?

Hell yes Ben

I love it! Gimme

How do you map such a huge thing? Do you show the players parts of it? Do you draw yourself as a GM?

Been waiting on this one for a while! Exciting stuff! Can't wait for his final two megadungeons! Has anyone seen if his game Dragonslayer was released yet?

Ben mentions this is a pretty "vanilla" megadungeon, does anyone have megadungeon recommendations for something on the more wonderous/gonzo side?

You say that this is a bit vanilla. What is your recommendation for a more weird and gonzo type of megadungeon that would be easy to run with Knave 2e?

a 75$ book, i need it

I'm excited to play this with Greg's Dragonslayer RPG that's coming out soon!

The art is gorgeous. Not sold on the rest of the book though - the dungeon itself looks like a case of quantity over quality.

This looks interesting, but the complexity of the maps and spreads is pretty intimidating

Is it D&D 5e stats or something else?

I tried this one out as a player and found it very boring, though a lot of that probably boils down to the fact that the GM and most of the players were 5E refugees trying out OSE for the first time and that a lot of time each session was eaten up by the GM and the party's mapper fiddling around with Foundry trying to get the display just right.

The fact that it’s fairly “vanilla” means that it’s easily adaptable to many home campaigns, and it ought not be too hard to add in some unusual aspects of a home campaign if you’re running a more weird setting.

Dwarrowdweep

Not a fan of the room descriptions. I prefer the official OSE products layout for example with important features in bold.

Greg’s stuff is great. But you need to like dungeon crawls. I can’t decide if Arden Vul or Greg’s stuff is better. Personally I think Arden Vul just beats it out because it has some weirdness I like.

I love Greg Gillespie's books. Even though I've never run a megadungeon for very long, these books have SO much content that I can steal for my campaigns. They're also so well in tune with classic Gygaxian fantasy that they perfectly slot in with old modules and settings.

>is reviewing a mega dungeon >Video is only 7 minutes long

Isnt Greg kinda a jerk?

You know if I were releasing a book after Jan 06 I imagine I wouldn't have put an odal rune in there 7:03