D&D 5E Waterdeep - Dungeon of the Mad Mage

[pukunui]

The known entrances show graffiti from generations of spelunkers.

So does the entrance to Undermountain.

With Dungeon of the Mad Mage, there isn't even anything clear about "should we explore deeper?" It's just nothing. No inspiration.

Did you ignore the provided adventure hooks?

For the purely mercenary, there's the Chultan cleric lady who will pay in platinum coins for magic items and spellbooks recovered from Undermountain.

There are a number of quests that require the PCs to descend as far as the third floor (one of which involves visiting Skullport).

Someone is looking for a stolen gem that can be found on the tenth floor.

A City Watch captain wants the PCs to grab a piece of Halaster's Runestone from the twentieth floor.

There are also a variety of other quests that can be picked up as the adventurers explore. On the 3rd floor, there's a quest to retrieve the blind hobgoblin warlord's magical dagger that gives him blindsight. It was stolen by duergar who can be found on the 6th floor.

And so on.

Plenty of reasons to delve deeper!


For the second party in my campaign, I also used Halaster's Goal #1: Clean House. So I had him tell the PCs that if they could wipe out the drow in Undermountain and end the githyanki-mind flayer conflict, then make it down to his lair at the bottom, he'd reward them with a wish. This motivated them to go all the way.


I should add that I got rid of the level-limit on the magic portals. A few times the PCs portaled too deep. It made for some fun times!

If I were to run this again, I might try the game show option again and this time I would make it so Halaster seals off the exits behind the PCs so they can only ever go down. No going back up and no leaving the dungeon. It's a race to the bottom!

 

[Mistwell]

I've been playing in it for about 3 years now, and the Waterdeep Heist adventure before that.

We love it. BUT, we are informed our DM has made major alterations to it.

 

[Retreater]

Did you ignore the provided adventure hooks?

Yes. We went from Dragonheist and the hooks didn't seem relevant.
Hooks like that are artificial and don't really tie the adventure together.

 

[pukunui]

Yes. We went from Dragonheist and the hooks didn't seem relevant.
Hooks like that are artificial and don't really tie the adventure together.

Uh OK. They worked just fine for my group.

I think the only real issue with Mad Mage is that it's not a plot-heavy linear rollercoaster ride like most of the other 5e campaigns. If people are expecting that kind of thing going into it, then there's going to be some friction. I made it clear to my players that there was no meta-plot, that it was very much an old school, quest-based adventure and that we would just be making the story up as we went along instead of following a pre-established story. I also told them that we'd only keep going as long as everyone was continuing to have fun with it. I did start to tire of it towards the end, but I felt it was worth finishing, and my players all seemed satisfied with how the campaign concluded, so I'd say it was a success. And this despite the fact that I put minimal effort into it.

 

[jasper]

I would modify it so the mad mage is keeping an eye on the party and occasionally coming over a loudspeaker talking trash to them. my write up for the al group is bury here. go find it.

 

[TiQuinn]

Yes. We went from Dragonheist and the hooks didn't seem relevant.
Hooks like that are artificial and don't really tie the adventure together.

I can’t agree with that. Half the party used the provided hooks, and half came up with their own. It’s what you make of them. The campaign isn’t perfect, and it’s definitely not for beginner DMs but I don’t think the hooks are a problem.

 

[pukunui]

I would modify it so the mad mage is keeping an eye on the party and occasionally coming over a loudspeaker talking trash to them. my write up for the al group is bury here. go find it.

Yes, that's what I did too. The players came to hate Halaster by the end, but they were still too scared of him to want to fight him.

 

[Zardnaar]

Is this a good adventure for newbies that just want to dungeon hack and slash and kill things?
I can sex it up /insert thin plot line if required.

 

[pukunui]

Is this a good adventure for newbies that just want to dungeon hack and slash and kill things?
I can sex it up /insert thin plot line if required.

Yeah, I think so.

 

[MerricB]

Is this a good adventure for newbies that just want to dungeon hack and slash and kill things?
I can sex it up /insert thin plot line if required.

The basic problem it has (and it's my long-running annoyance with Undermountain, as well as other published megadungeons) is that it doesn't have a low-level area. The beginning area is for level 5 characters.

It's really worth remembering that every Undermountain product only details PART of the dungeon - the maps are a lot bigger and you can fill in your own stuff.

I'm not fond of running "Undermountain Only" adventures, so I'd spice it up with a lot of urban stuff as well, giving extra reasons (generally based on factions) to enter the dungeon. While I haven't run Undermountain that way, I certainly have with Castle Greyhawk (and various versions of the dungeon).

Megadungeons require special handling as a DM and paying attention to what your players want. I love them, but variety is also good.

Cheers!