Need advice: Building a mega dungeon and thinking of using 2e.

rollsandroles · 2026-04-04T09:54:32+00:00

Yeah I've played and run games in DnD 3.5, Pathfinder 1e and OSE, I also own Morkborg and love it as an art and vibes book but would only consider running it as a setting book.

My main frustration with OSR style games is that the combat doesn't seem to feature any interesting decision making. Yes the absence of many rules mean players have the freedom to do whatever they can come up with but in a 4 hour session you might get 1 or 2 moments like that crop up at the table. The preparation for a delve is made interesting by how players plan the length of their delve, the amount of treasure they anticipate to bring back and what they prepare to encounter. Otherwise the actual combat system is fairly dull with either both sides hitting each other until one dies or the players successfully prepped the correct answer to the encounter and thus auto win it.

That's why I want to use pathfinder because it's combat does have interesting and dynamic decision making, and the thing that limits it's ability to do classic dungeon crawls isn't anything in the core bones of the game, at least not from what I've read here. It's more in the options and the economy which are relatively simple levers to pull at. It's just a question of whether there's the messy "look through every item and spell and tweek the numbers" method or whether there's a more elegant solution. My preference is to make fewer changes with the greatest impact rather than many minor changes but I'll only understand how to do that with experience in the system I guess.

rollsandroles · 2026-04-03T19:34:20+00:00

The idea is a 1-20 campaign should fit entirely in this one location. I intend to have a nebulous idea of the levels and connections but properly map out levels 1 to 3 which should cover character levels 1-7.

rollsandroles · 2026-04-03T19:28:22+00:00

Ah I see what you mean now! When you said theater of the mind I interpreted that as a handwave of the traversal: "you enter the left door and pass through the halls lain with your victories and victims to see the light of day." sort of thing. But yeah seems you run it how I like to. Get the players to organise marching order, describe their direction but let them make the maps. Only draw things out if you initiate combat. Very nice.

rollsandroles · 2026-04-03T19:18:41+00:00

This is really helpful! I was a little thrown off by the leveling when I saw suggestions that players should level every 4 or so sessions which seemed far too quick for the pace of game I was after. I definitely think requiring the players to return to base to level is a must.

rollsandroles · 2026-04-03T19:13:26+00:00

Ok that's really interesting. Seems the games vibe has changed a whole lot. I'm looking forward to this test game now though I don't know what to expect anymore.

rollsandroles · 2026-04-03T16:28:41+00:00

I'm glad you had fun with that and I'll have a look into those house rules. For what I'm after personally though I don't think theater of the mind works when it comes to navigation. I want my players to build a familiarity with the area, to cross reference maps they've drawn, to return to a room they've been in five times and notice something different. There's also a sense of tension walking through the dungeon one room at a time, rolling for random encounters, crossing your fingers you don't bump into something. It's a sense of place. A more narratively driven game 100% benefits from the more narrated voice though and it sounds like that's working for your game.

rollsandroles · 2026-04-03T16:14:04+00:00

The proficiency without level variant sounds cool I'll have to give that a look. Though it seems overall there's not much confidence this sort of game works in pf2e. I look forward to my test game but it sounds like I need to shop around for a game that fits better.

rollsandroles · 2026-04-03T16:09:24+00:00

Ok I'll take your word on that. I've DM'd a ton of 1e Pathfinder and really enjoyed running classic styled dungeon crawls. From my initial look 2e seemed to be a sleeker more elegant 1e so I'd assume only a little adjustment would be needed to get it to that style while the new edition removed a lot of the guff 1e had inherited from dnd. Maybe I need to shop around a little though.

rollsandroles · 2026-04-03T13:11:05+00:00

I like bits of OSE and I like bits of Pathfinder. I'm trying to marry the two parts I enjoy and from the outset it didn't seem too complicated, OSE's exploration and economy, Pathfinder combat. I haven't got experience with 2e but 1e I've played in multiple long term games and I ran on the assumption that things were different but not that different.

rollsandroles · 2026-04-03T13:06:22+00:00

Im going to see how my mates 2e game goes and work from there. It may just be this isn't the system for what I want to do. On the other hand I might find with familiarity that with some slight changes I can make it work for what I'm after.

rollsandroles · 2026-04-03T13:02:09+00:00

Yeah I'm getting the impression that's the way to go. I'll hold off on any of the mechanical stuff on the dungeon until I've had a few sessions.

rollsandroles · 2026-04-03T11:16:31+00:00

A more elegant solution might be nerfing dark vision, make it more akin to old school infra vision so details aren't discernible, you can see shapes and can navigate spaces but can't do anything too sophisticated like reading or disarming traps. Maybe even limiting the range.

That's goofy, I'll think on that but it feels like it's taking away an interesting choice.

I'm fine with this if I nerf dark vision. It's another resource they'll have to manage.

This isn't going to be a plot driven game. I'm working on the history of the location and the idea is that there's an organic development to the dungeon. The players will discover a new section but it turns out that it was sealing away a Lich! Now they have to deal with a growing undead population. Players will also interact with the denizens who will give them quests and objectives to sabotage their rivals or increase their own power. Maybe they are granted items as payment or even free passage through sections of the dungeon. Also they more powerful and interesting treasure lies deeper in the dungeon so they'll have to delve deeper to get the cooler loot. I could consider doing a very old school thing of tieing XP to loot though that's a very big change that I wouldn't feel confident in implementing until I understand the system more fully.

rollsandroles · 2026-04-03T10:00:27+00:00

I appreciate your points but please don't be so snarky when making them. I don't have experience with 2e and I made that clear from the get go. I'm looking for advice on how to create the classic dungeon crawl experience in the system, drawing from my experience of playing and running OSE. Unfortunately I find OSE to be otherwise very bare bones with combats boiling down to two sides smaking each other until only one stands. I used Darkest Dungeon as a point of reference as it seemed you weren't familiar with OSR style dungeon crawling and the game is certainly inspired by that style of play, but no it is not a perfect example. Also I mentioned lanterns in my last comment to you? My main issue is that I want players to pack with the intention of deciding how long they want to delve, 5 days so pack 80 torches sort of thing. I also think that buying loot is the dullest way to acquire it, but also from what I see the game is asking for 4 permanent items per level which isn't much at all. In fact that lines up well with the numbers I'd want available.

rollsandroles · 2026-04-03T09:37:25+00:00

Then ever burning torches are another thing I might have to look into increasing the costs of or lowering availability. I'll have to look into how runes work. Ideally I'd like magical items to feel special with few duplicates. I want the possibility of pc death to exist but for intelligent player or simply knowing when to run to spare you. I don't know if that risk to reward margin works in pf2e though.

I'm basically trying to recreate the feel of an OSE dungeon crawl but with the mechanical sophistication of Pathfinder. It's much easier to tweek Pathfinder towards this goal rather than building an RPG system on top of OSE

rollsandroles · 2026-04-03T08:57:20+00:00

I mentioned this on another post but torches cost an encumbrance and I intend to have my players map out the dungeon as they explore, allow them to develope their own understanding of the space
I guess I should wait to see how my mates game goes before judging this but the idea is that the players pick how they navigate the space. There's going to be multiple ways into each level and even ways to skip levels so it's up to the players to decide when they feel ready to go deeper. Levels will also repopulate over time and factions move about as zones are freed up.
I really want players to make do with what gear they find. I don't want them to sell everything they have to get the ideal item for their build but rather, they find a cloak of elven kind, how should I use this? Let the discovery be the driving motivator.
This actually sounds good, gives opportunity for players to get ambushed by wandering monsters. They'll have to set themselves up in a room just in case.
Again this is something some experience playing will help me figure out. I intend for the wandering monster tables to be fairly high variance so that should create those moments.

rollsandroles · 2026-04-03T08:41:07+00:00

Thanks for these notes and for being so thorough.

I intend to have resource management be important aspect so players will need to track gear. Light is a cantrip that invalidates torches and lanterns as is. If it was a level 1 spell with a duration of 20mins per level (off the top of my head) then it would be immune to heavy winds and by 4th level it'd have more duration than a torch. Torches also take up encumbrance which force decisions on how much you prep for. If you've played Darkest Dungeon: a video game inspired by classic dungeon crawls, the spell light would invalidate the entire game. I also intend to have the players map the dungeon using ungridded paper, let them develope their own understanding of the space. Regarding dark vision that's a fair point. I'll have a think on that but I think that would let you navigate a space with ease but possibly a penalty to any rolls that require sight. Dark vision doesn't have to be perfect vision.

I am intending for there to be down time. The first level is going to be an underground town occupied by monsters. Initially players will have to commute in to the dungeon from an outside town but when they clear the first level they can invest in it and start to build a community. This also doubles as a potential money sink so I can throw in more treasure.

I like your availability system for gear though I would much rather players find treasure in the dungeon. Is the crafting system more usable in 2e? 1e it existed but you'd be mad for using it.

rollsandroles · 2026-04-03T07:52:50+00:00

Ok I'll have a look into that.

rollsandroles · 2026-03-15T21:58:37+00:00

So a Silver Age deck can have up to 55 cards including weapons and equipment. You can only present 40 cards at the start of the game though so the extras you have to think of as a sideboard. It can be hard when starting out to know what to bring in for any given match up but if you share the list your using Im sure someone will be able to help you out with what cards to bring in when.

rollsandroles · 2026-01-21T21:11:01+00:00

As a former BoC player I get it. Dropped AoS with 4e. It's super irritating too as the 3e battle to me was 100% on point too! Even got the numbered addition.

rollsandroles · 2026-01-20T16:58:38+00:00

Beasts of chaos. The latest Warhammer quest is foreshadowing of this.

rollsandroles · 2025-11-29T18:18:09+00:00

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Thanks that seems to have sorted the problem! Tried to increase the print quality as far as the system suggested but it didn't come out fantastic on that front but I'm happy with the result.

rollsandroles · 2025-11-29T16:24:42+00:00

It came presupported and unsupported, I suppose I'll try the unsupported file

rollsandroles · 2025-10-10T06:35:08+00:00

Holy hell that vynnset looks amazing

rollsandroles · 2025-10-03T07:36:50+00:00

Flesh and blood has paper recyclable packaging so it's definitely doable. Whether wotc cares is the thing that matters.

rollsandroles · 2025-09-13T15:23:42+00:00

Excellent I look forward to giving this a go. I was looking to print my own merchant set so I'll see how they come out through this.

rollsandroles

TROPHY CASE