The Labyrinth
As demons crawled forth from Hell to the surface world, the ancient peoples sealed their sulfurous pits. The forces of Hell possessed great strength though, and burst through even the strongest fortification. The ancient peoples beseeched the Heavens for aid, and with the help of angelic engineers, crafted great labyrinths to instead confuse them for eternity.
Free from Hell, the people grew powerful and haughty, and before long, blasphemous. The Heavens retaliated, sending mighty beats to tear down the grand cities of the surface people , and send them scurrying for the very pits that confounded the demons.
The demons, of course, had their own tricks. Imps crawled up, bearing the glittering stones and metals of the underworld, and lured people into the mazes. With a human host, perhaps the demons could escape.
Humanity rests on the boundary between Heaven and Hell, in the gray line just below the sunlit surface. Thin networks of trade caravans spiderweb over the lands, but are repeatedly cut by fantastic yet bloodthirsty beasts. Others delve into the labyrinth, hoping to find riches and powerful magic to once again live on the surface.
(From Arx Fatalis, screenshot from the Steam store page)
The Labyrinth is a French Vanilla megadungeon, with the starting town carve directly into the first level. After all, judging by those surface random encounter tables, isn't the first level the safest place to be? My main touchstones are Arx Fatalis (the underground town especially) and Dungeon Meshi (from which I stole the idea of dungeons as labyrinths that exist to confuse demons), as well as the aesthetics of Berserk and Diablo.
One of the design goals for the setting is to integrate some of the weirder mechanics of the game, thus the dangerous wilderness above. The Labyrinth must also, of course, be ever changing, constantly reformed by the servants of the Heavens. And new treasure must be added, as the servants of Hell bring forth new gems to lure adventurers ever lower. This is also very heavily influenced by the idea of the 'Mythic Underworld' (see Philotomy's Musings).
Law is to align with the Heavens above, and Chaos with Hell below. Neither is 'Good' necessarily, as Humanity struggles against both.
(From Berserk, Chapter 53, Vol. 10)
In terms of dungeon design, I am heavily influenced by Castle Xyntillan. Particularly, I'm trying to bring a semi-funhouse nature, and I want it to be both deadly and highly rewarding (something I feel is missing from many dungeons!).
I stocked this using partially B/X stocking procedures, but also using the advice from Miranda's stocking procedure here from the inspiring In Places Deep blog. I did generate treasure using Courtney Campbell's Treasure document, which made for very generous portions (I may have been doing this incorrectly). The party will contend with man-eating pig-faced orcs, carnivorous albino deer, and rats that crawl along the ceiling and spit acid. And skeletons of course, I simply must have skeletons.
I've had a chance to play some of the first level with my friends, and I'm pleased with the vibes and the play of it. We played with Holmes Basic pregens and the mish mash old school rules burned into my brain. I need to lower the Number Appearing for a monster that is very weak, but with high morale, and I think I'll replace some huge coin piles with a few more magic items and scrolls.
Hopefully you enjoyed reading this. I mostly wrote it just to get my thoughts down, and I thought why not share it. I'd like to post the first level soon, and later levels as I finish them, but be warned that even once I clean them up, they won't be particularly polished. But this isn't for publishing, it's for PLAYING!