Waterdeep: Dungeon of the Mad Mage is a role playing game supplement published by Wizards of the Coast for use with Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition. This is the latest incarnation of Undermountain, the megadungeon of the Forgotten Realms located under Waterdeep.
The supplement is available as a 320-page hardback book. Two pages are the front matter, one the Contents and one the Dungeon Key.
Undermountain Overview starts by explaining this is aimed at characters of 5th to 20th level. Running the Adventure starts by explaining that the three system core books are needed and that when a creature’s name appears in bold, that is saying to look up the stat block in the Monster Manual or, if specified, Appendix A. Area Descriptions explains how the descriptions are laid out. This is followed by a list of abbreviations and an advancement chart.
Dungeon History briefly covers the history of the dungeon, primarily the arrival of Halaster and his taking it over. The Yawning Portal explains that the inn and tavern provides the best-known entrance to the dungeon.
Adventure Hooks has ways to get the characters interested (they may have received an invite at the end of Dragon Heist). There are several starting quests, available to characters at the beginning, followed by some future quests, which require certain conditions be met before characters can start them.
Undermountain Secrets references Appendix C, which contains the Secrets Deck. The Secrets Deck is a number of paper cards, each containing a secret about Undermountain, that can be photocopied and handed to players when their characters learn something reliable about Halaster and Undermountain. Jhesiyra Kestellharp is called one of the greatest of Undermountain’s secrets and it’s explained what she does.
Dungeon Features summarises common features of Undermountain. Magic is altered so that no spell short of a wish allows travel into and out of Undermountain, and this affects spells that banish creatures to other planes as well as magic items and artefacts with similar powers, though the Border Ethereal can be entered, but on leaving a traveller is pulled back to Undermountain. Spells can’t alter Undermountain’s shape nor can Halaster be contacted with a sending spell. General features of ceilings, doors and secret doors. A sidebar has a list of six goals for Halaster, though they can change at any time. Characters’ actions may help, hinder or have no effect on Halaster’s current goal, which will change how he deals with them.
Elder Runes are ancient symbols related to the symbol spell and Appendix B has a deck of elder runes that can be photocopied and handed out when the text calls for one to be used. Each elder rune has a helpful effect and a harmful one. Which can be chosen by the caster or randomised.
Gates look at the gates that allow travel between different levels of Undermountain. There are three main types of gates, and each gate can require different conditions in order to work. Elder runes can appear when a gate opens.
Following this, 23 levels of Undermountain are described. Each level has What Dwells Here?, or in one case, Who, which covers the main inhabitants, Exploring This Level, which describes the rooms on the map, and Aftermath, which is how the characters’ actions can change the level. A few levels have some other sections; Level 5 covers the magic of the level, Level 7 is divided into caverns and castle, Level 16 is divided into Crystal Dungeon and Stardock, Level 18 covers the fate of Lord Vanrak Moonstar and entering the Shadowfell, Level 20 is divided into the Runestone Caverns and Stalagmite Tower, Level 22 has three tiers and Level 23 is divided into the Dungeon and Halaster’s Tower.
Following Level 23, Skullport covers the current state of the underground city, which suffered damage during the Spellplague and is now dominated by Xanathar. Compared to the AD&D 2nd Edition version of Skullport, this version is best described as boring. There are now only a comparative handful of people living in what was once a vibrant city.
Appendix A: Dungeon Denizens is the bestiary, with details on the new creatures in the dungeon.
Appendix B: Elder Runes Deck is a single page with nine elder runes.
Appendix C: Secrets Deck is two pages with 18 secrets between them.
Waterdeep: Dungeon of the Mad Mage in Review
The Contents has the major and minor sections listed. Navigation is adequate. The text maintains a two-column format and appeared to be free of errors. There are the black and white maps, a roughly half page colour illustration for each chapter as well as a scarce handful of colour illustrations in some as well as a few monster illustrations. Presentation is poor.
The megadungeon takes inspiration in places from previous Undermountain supplements; Ruins of Undermountain, Ruins of Undermountain II: The Deep Levels, Undermountain: The Lost Level, Undermountain II: Maddgoth’s Castle, Undermountain III: Stardock and Skullport appear to be the biggest inspirations. These have been changed and adapted and new material added for other levels.
Megadungeons are the enclosed version of the sandbox; characters can travel all over the place, choose where they can go and choose what to see. This megadungeon is not like that. Unlike most megadungeons, characters are often prevented from biting off more than they can chew and many gates don’t work unless characters are of a high enough level. Together with the nature of the levels, each of which has what can be called an overriding theme and is aimed at a specific character level, this makes what should be a sandbox into a boring railroad. There are areas where DMs can add more to the dungeon, and frankly it desperately needs these using. It could do with sublevels and ways to skip entire levels so that characters can blunder into places they should have avoided. As it is, it just isn’t a megadungeon; it’s a series of dungeons that are gone through in sequence.
When it comes to Skullport, that will be far more interesting if the damage it suffered during the Spellplague is ignored and the 2nd Edition sourcebook reworked to be compatible with 5E and some of the changes. As it stands, Skullport has nothing interesting about it.
Waterdeep: Dungeon of the Mad Mage is a boring railroad of a dungeon slog that hasn’t been improved by the adaptations. To make it interesting again will require digging out older supplements and taking material from them and adding new areas to the dungeon to make it interesting and, perhaps above all, dangerous, for it is too careful not to put characters at genuine risk to be really considered a megadungeon. The Aftermath sections attempt to make the characters have an impact, but the different factions in the dungeon are so poorly fleshed out that this doesn’t really work. Waterdeep: Dungeon of the Mad Mage is a supplement that would have been better covering only a fraction of the levels in decent detail rather than the hurried overview each has here.
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