MDBC 31: Complete Roslof Keep Campaign (Folio 4)
Megadungeon Book Club is moving on to The Complete Roslof Keep Campaign!
We're gonna break up each week into each of the 6 Folios that make up the text. This week is all of Folio 4.
Folio 4
Intro
OK, so the text explains the situation in the wrong order, but the basic gist is that once the PCs have conquered floor 4 they have to leave the dungeon and get to floor 5 via another entrance somewhere nearby. This entrance is through the wilderness and the Infernal Machine (the dungeon) will be sending raiding parties of the undead to harass them the whole way.
The idea of needing to leave the dungeon and come at it from another angle is not inherently fraught and could be fun if used properly, especially if its to open up a shortcut for later use (like destroying the fungus blocking the way to Floor 5 as seen here). There unfortunately does not seem to be a ton of content for actually getting to the alternate entrance beyond "hey, maybe break out the Wilderness Survival book for you 1e fans out there! ;)", which is a bit of a letdown. Using another distinct set of undead that are also hunting the party at the same time as the Violet Corruption ravages the land with its "zombies" seems also a bit unwise. I can easily see players getting confused between the two, especially if they still have no idea how to cure the Violet Corruption zombies.
Floor 4
It's a big circular vault room with 16 unconnected monster closets around the edge. Skip.
Halls of Anarchy Hill (The Secret Entrance to Floor 5)
Its a hallway flanked on both sides by unconnected monster closets. It has the slight perk of a branching path 2/3rds through the hallway, one side of which has 2 umber hulks that might come out of their room to ambush a party that goes the other way.
Bonus Adventure: Hammer's Fall in Anarchy
The adventure briefly mentions random encounters here on a roll of 1d20. The very mention at all of random encounters made me go back and check the previous folios looking for other mention, but that's the only one so far!
The dungeon is a small forge-themed dungeon with several treasure rooms and rooms of environmental danger. It's nothing special, but its presence as a structure with interconnected rooms, theming and room arrangement does put the rest of the dungeon into suspicion. Why isn't the rest of the megadungeon like this?
Folio 4 Conclusion
Floor 4 sucks, skip it. The included maps for Anarchy Hill (Both Hammer's Fall and Halls) are better than Floor 4, if I was running this megadungeon I'd just fully replace Floor 4 with those two maps and skip the alternate entrance bit entirely.