Underdark Dungeon Design

[Amateur Hour]

I recently rolled up an Underdarker with a goal to do each and every writ and comb through every dungeon I could find, just to see what all was out there.

I haven't quite finished that goal, but my god am I impressed. I can see why when I rolled up my first UDer that I was advised to stick primarily to grind loops for leveling speed, but when speed isn't a concern, the dungeons are just plain cool. I love the little fixtures and little pop-up messages that provide emergent storytelling; I feel like I understand why these people are choosing to hole up in these weird locations. I love the behavior of the NPC enemies and their scripted lines. And I can't state enough how much I love the boss on the top level of the Slaver's Tower (I won't say why, because it was so awesome to discover it in the moment, but it's a beautiful use of mechanics for the benefit of story).

I know the majority of this content is old news to people, and probably a lot of the creators are no longer on the Arelith dev team, but I still wanted to say something. A lot of thoughtful work went into it all, and it shows.

[Irongron]

The team and individuals behind many of the UD dungeons are still here, and thank you!

The Underdark is such a thematic setting that making dungeons for it is a pleasure. As a developer I began in the Underdark and for some years worked on it exclusively. Glad to see it is still being appreciated

[AddledPunster]

You know, I'm going to join in on this and say, yeah!

I'm damned impressed!

My most recent character is an underdarker. Not my first, but the first one I've played and stuck with past level 12 before bouncing off my character concept. A lot of my motivation was to see how the changes to the underdark and the dungeons therein. All in all? I am incredibly impressed! They're all quite challenging, yet I never felt like I was overwhelmed in a way that wasn't in some capacity manageable. Sure, managing sometimes meant scurrying into what few safe places I could find and taking a risky rest, but that made for some very compelling moments for me!

Your team has done some excellent work with these redesigns. It's made exploring the underdark's wilds an absolute treat for my druid!