For those not in the know, back in 2000 Necromancer Games published a megadungeon for 3rd Edition, Rappan Athuk.
It underwent a series of upgrades over the years until the publisher Frog God Games (who inherited several of Necromancers' staff) published versions for Pathfinder and Swords & Wizardry in 2012. The adventure was hailed for its lethality along with having Orcus as an end-boss; being released around the same time as "World's Largest Dungeon," it had to distinguish itself from its lackluster counterpart with the slogan "This dungeon may not be the world's largest, but it's certainly the deadliest!" It's definitely made in the spirit of a kind of old-school playstyle, where death is cheap and the crux of the game is go exploring underground passages in search of gold and treasure.
Rappan Athuk is the Dungeon of Graves. Basically in ancient times the forces of evil had a stronghold in the city of Tsar in the mortal world. The combined forces of light gathered together to destroy them, and the remnants of Orcus' soldiers retreated. They found a massive underground complex of chambers in a far-off land to rebuild and conduct unholy rituals, as well as a mass grave and mausoleum on top of the hill above the chambers. Successive series of adventurers tried to venture into the area, only to die horrible deaths.
I have the Pathfinder version, obviously, which has new content not present in the 3.X one. It's a mammoth volume (676 pages), but even skimming through it there's quite a few things which leapt out to me.
1. This thing's old. As in 25 years of playtesting old; if I had to guess, Rappan Athuk's one of those generational campaigns like Castle Greyhawk which got reused for plenty of gaming groups until the material was incorporated into a larger whole. A lot of the Frog God folks are first-generation D&D players who also like Pathfinder, so they tend to blend elements of both D20 and old-school D&D into their work.
2. There's a one-page list of grave markers in Rappan Athuk's top level. They all bear names of players and playtesters, including several which are obvious Internet handles such as drnate29 and dragnmoon. There's also a blank obituary in back to fill out for PC names, level, and how they met their end. To that end, the adventure encourages making several back-up PCs just in case. It's really playing up the lethality.
3. There are several "shops" of sorts in Rappan Athuk for the PCs to rest, restock, and sell their treasures. The ones I've found are quite neat, such an Underdark market, and an inn run by a bipedal roachman who charges exorbitant prices for beds and rations (supply is low and demand is high several levels down in the dungeon).
4. As is to be expected, there are several "fuck you, unbeatable boss time!" moments in the megadungeon. Although each major level/section of Rappan Athuk has a recommended PC level, there's a few encounters which are way above the limit. I've already count three dormant liches of 18th-20th level and a vampire lord of similar CR, although in the cases I've spotted they were often hidden behind secret doors or in magically warded sections. On level 3 (for level 8 parties), there's a 10% chance of a random encounter with a purple worm in one of the first cave rooms (although there's a warning written in Common saying "beware of purple worms!" in the room before it).
5. The main plotline of this dungeon beyond "loot shit" is to kill Orcus. There are various main temples throughout the megadungeon which, if destroyed, can sap the demon lord's power in the final battle. On that note, Orcus himself resides in Area 15, and the author notes that no players or playtesters ever made it this far, so it hasn't been playtested. Additionally, a portion of the quoted text at the beginning of said area rubs me the wrong way:
This level is the final page of adventure within the halls of Rappan Athuk. In 25 years of GMing and playtesting, it has never been reached, let alone conquered. This level should be treated as the epic finale of many years of play. It is neither forgiving nor fair. Here in this small pocket plane, connected to both the Material Plane and the Abyss itself, the party encounters the avatar of a demon prince with its full powers and many servants. This level is incredibly dangerous, and no one may survive travel here even without encountering Orcus himself. Remember, this is not a computer roleplaying game. There are no cheat codes to kill Orcus. The PCs are not supposed to win. If they have survived this far, they are powerful and foolhardy. Yet Orcus’ avatar should prove more than a match for them. This is the end.
Good luck! A map of this level is depicted in Map RA–15.
In the table-top community and especially among the "old guard" I tend to notice an underlying contempt for, or need to differentiate themselves from, computer RPGs. Considering how easy it is to make an unwinnable encounter for the GM, even in tabletop it kind of begs the question "what's the point?" I get that Rappan Athuk is supposed to be lethal, but if the end boss is meant to be "total party kill," then why include it? I mean, by this point the PCs are at their farthest in the megadungeon or played through the majority of its challenges, so technically they already reached the end, right?
Still, there's no "you die, no save." Orcus has stats as well as some minions, so he can be conceivably killed. And treasure, too.
6. On a more positive note, I found some interesting and amusing content.
BANANA OF HOLDING
Aura moderate conjuration; CL 9th
Slot —; Price 1,200 gp; Weight 1 lb.
DESCRIPTION
This dried and leathery banana peel is stitched up the sides, with an opening at the top about the diameter of a coin. Only something small enough to fit through the opening can be placed into the banana of holding, because if the sidestitching is torn the item’s magic is lost. The banana holds a maximum of 40 pounds of such small items, and always weighs the same as a banana peel. It is also quite slippery, as most banana peels are.
CONSTRUCTION
Requirements Craft Wondrous Item, secret chest; Cost 300 gp
The Banana of Holding sadly, is only found in a jungle cavern's room of cavernous niches. And can only be found on a d% roll on a 96-00 result. There's a shrine to a fire monkey god close by, so it's not just totally random.
Some of the room encounter names are pretty funny, such as
16 Trolls and a Jug of Alchemy! It's basically what it sounds like.
7. There's a lot more content beyond the megadungeon, such as an outpost to restock at and some locations and mini-adventures in the surrounding wilderness. It's actually set in an implied setting shared across Frog God Games products, the Stoneheart River Valley.
One which caught my eye was the Archwizard Prestige Class, which you must be at least 15th level to take and the PrC goes up to 10 levels. It has interesting stuff such as ignoring 10 gp worth of material components/PrC level, permanent unseen servant, cast multiple spells in the same round, and other feats of primal magic power.
8. It had one of the most successful KickStarters in the table-top fandom.
I'm almost tempted to run it myself, preferably with some CharOps folks from here, on account of its vaunted lethality by the authors and other games who've played it on the 'net. I like its intended playstyle of throwing in new PCs when the old ones fail like some kind of Red Shirt generator; instead of a campaign ending on account of a TPK, it kind of reminds me of Dark Souls where with death you just have to retrace your steps and try again and (hopefully) succeed this time.
I may or may not post more impressions as I further read this thing.
