MDBC 23: Grande Temple of Jing (Seventh Floor)
Megadungeon Book Club is moving on to Grande Temple of Jing (2016).
See last week's post here.
The Drowned Halls
Oh boy a water level!
The mantakin leave a bit to be desired as a surprise-post-fact-rationalization-mastermind faction, especially as there doesn't seem to be any way for the player (or a skimming GM) to realize they were the masterminds until they read this dungeon. They'd be a bit better if they also weren't entirely evil, it's a bit hard to get players to negotiate or politic with evil slavers that eat sentient creatures.
The rooms and layout are a bit better than the average Jing dungeon, I recommend adding a secret door between rooms 9 and 13 to improve the non-linearity. The rooms are a few variations on the standard closet monster and regrettably the 3D nature of a water level is not heavily used, that combined with the incredibly easy acquiring of water breathing in the first room makes the appellation of "water level" merely a name denoting a theme and not much else.
It's a solid dungeon, easily 7.5/10. Could be yoinked as is for a slightly drier (hehe) experience or spiced up fairly easily as well (adding interactive room decorations of any kind).
The Gray Zoo
This is a jumped-up one-page dungeon, almost approaching the level of "complicated single room" dungeon. It's another "menagerie where the custodian is messed up and one of the inhabitants is very magically powerful" type dungeon, almost identical to the Infernal Observatory on Floor 4 except this time, the custodian is the evil one. As written, there isn't much spice to the dungeon beyond how and when the players put on their magic polymorphing collars, and how and when the players turn on the Gray Keeper to murder him.
I recommend either changing the motivations of the Gray Keeper to being more than just "I'm a tricksy little fellow" or changing the relationship between the Gray Renders, the Gray Keeper, and the zoo denizens to be more than just warden, orderlies, and dying prisoners respectively. The dungeon as written could be used for a short session, the idea behind it could be taken and adapted easily as well.
Lay of the Dead Lords
2 immortal undead lovers feud over a magic book, further incensed by the missing pieces of the book that are held by 2 other third-parties that were brought in to help. The dungeon is fairly small but features 4 distinct political entities that all want something from the other 3, and all of which have something to give in exchange. The dungeon is a powder keg as it stands currently, just needing a convenient new political group like the players to come in to set it all off.
The dungeon rooms themselves are nothing to write home about. Pairs of levers feature prominent in several places, forcing the players to figure out the correct combination via trial-and-error while they endure high-level trap effects. If I were to run this dungeon, I'd either provide some way for the players to learn the correct combinations or excise the levers entirely to be replaced by small stretches of defensive trap-laden hallways and gates instead.
Easy include as a one-shot or yoinkable dungeon to be included elsewhere. Light changes might be needed to make it flow better at the table but the bones are solid.
Stormwrack Caverns
A non-linear mini-exploration zone in a weather-themed cavern. Neat!
The book explains that there isn't a lot of content here because its mostly meant as a way to argue with internet forum people that are mad that there's no logical way for the dungeon to have as much water and weather as it does. I disagree with the book, there's a lot of content here surrounding the Thunderbird, the Weather Levers, and the Cult of the Storm that I think this could easily take up a good few sessions.
A few of the last few floors each have references to the water and weather input of the dungeon and the Grande Jing Highway cuts right through the cavern, making this a destination whether players are seeking it out or not. A friendly face in the Cult of the Storm and an easy explanation for incoming supplies or new PCs makes this cavern downright attractive for players wanting a safe place to rest for a while.
The Back Door
Another entrance / exit to the megadungeon. About the same level of interesting as the previous ones we've seen, would not yoink this for personal use due to how bland it is.
The Lower Road
This is just an entry describing the conditions of the last portion of the Grande Jing highway.
Floor 7 Conclusion
Overall another return-to-quality floor for Jing. The middle floors in this megadungeon are proving to be incredibly rough, with the initial floor and the later floors proving to feel a bit better. We're getting payoffs on references from earlier floors with dungeons like Stormwrack Caverns and The Drowned Halls, but I can't help but feel a bit let down at their implementation. I would take The Drowned Halls and Stormwrack Caverns and combine them with the good parts of Floor 6 if I were to run this at table, saving Lay of the Dead Lords for either a conversion and use somewhere else or to attach anywhere the players needed access to a high-level spellcaster.