Megadungeon

Subject of a special issue of Magazén, edited by Paolo Berti, Stefania De Vincentis, and friend-of-the-compost-heap Gabriele de Seta.

Given their scale, megadungeons are often procedurally generated as the game progresses through random tables, variable parameters or more complex algorithmic calculations, and players can spend months or even years delving into their depths. — Paolo Berti et al., “Into the Megadungeon (2024)

More generally, digital databases, archives and museums are not linear environments, but each of their rooms, corridors, and connections intersect paths where different periods, collections and materials converge, offering several ways of moving through their spaces, following a diachronic or synchronic temporal sequence. — Paolo Berti et al., “Into the Megadungeon (2024)

A model/figure of digital complexity. Layered expansion. Vertical and horizontal complexity. A ‘hackable’, ‘patchable’, heterotopic space. (Roast 2024)

A literal and metaphorical descent?

• A space which cannot be “cleared”, completely emptied of danger or conquered by a player, ‘permanently inimical and restive terrain’ (Roast 2024)
• Political terrain with multiple groupings of inhabitants, or factions, which the players must navigate?
• Any self-contained network of enclosed spaces?¹
• A wider infrastructure for continuous, repeated play; a complex spatial field in which repeated explorations can be carried out.
• A specific kind of spatial agency, prompted by the encounter between the player and the environment. A formal spatial practice? (after Roast 2024)

Nine characteristics of a megadungeon:

1. It’s big and has many levels; in fact, it may be endless.
2. It follows its own ecological and physical rules
3. It is not static; the inhabitants and even the layout may grow or change over time
4. It is not linear; there are many possible paths and interconnections
5. There are many ways to move up and down through the levels
6. Its purpose is mysterious or shrouded in legend
7. It’s inimical to those exploring it
8. Deeper or farther levels are more dangerous
9. It’s a (the?) central feature of the campaign. — Jason Cone, Philotomy’s Musings (2007)