RPG Review: Dungeon of the Mad Mage

It’s finally here! Over the summer, I gathered together Bridget, my dad, and two other friends and ran Dungeon of the Mad Mage, wrapped in the sweet embrace of a non-disclosure agreement, so I couldn’t say anything at the time. If you’re wondering where my latest campaign came from, with a group of 17th level characters, here it is. After finishing our playtest, the players wanted to continue to play at this high level, so we just carried on with our own game.

Dungeon of the Mad Mage is an adventure for 5th through 20th level. It is designed as a followup to Waterdeep: Dragon Heist, but it’s disconnected enough that you can run it as a standalone adventure as well. The adventure takes you into Undermountain, one of the most legendary dungeons in all of D&D. This adventure covers more of the dungeons of Undermountain than any previous adventure.

The adventure begins in the Yawning Portal, which is detailed in Dragon Heist if you’re planning on spending a lot of time in the tavern. There’s a lot of great hooks giving the players a reason to delve into the dungeon. Some of the hooks require the players to venture back to the Portal to bring back information and get further quests.

The dungeon has a significant amount of special rules, which are detailed before you even dive into the dungeon. Magic works differently within the dungeon, limiting teleportation-type spells or spells which can alter the shape of the dungeon. It also describes the Elder Runes which appear throughout the dungeon and provide boons and banes to the players. At all turns, the Mad Mage watches, spying on the progress of the adventurers while pressing forward with his own goals.

I’m not going to go into every level of this dungeon, because there’s 23 of them, and this blog has never been a deep dive. Instead, we’ll look at some of my favorites.

Level 6, the Lost Level, is a long-forgotten region of the dungeon, previously a part of a dwarven fortress, uncovered due to Umber Hulks opening a tunnel into the area. A group of Duergar Raiders who have followed behind and are looting the area. One of my favorite parts of Lord of the Rings are the halls of the Lonely Mountain, and the Mines of Moria, so I love anything Dwarven. There are extensive frescoes throughout, and the whole level feels very natural and lived-in.

Dweomercore is a magical academy designed to test the best of spellcasters and serve as a place for evil wizards under Halaster’s tutelage to learn. It would serve a campaign well if you wanted to place a special wizards’ academy in your town to simply lift this from the book and use it, as it’s very extensive.

The Crystal Labyrinth is hardly part of Undermountain at all. It serves as an outpost for Githyanki from their Stardock, an asteroid that trails the moon Selune. A portal links to the asteroid, allowing the heroes to leave Faerun entirely for a short time. The Githyanki are tracking the Mind Flayers found on the level below and elsewhere, but the chance to actually head out into space and see what is essentially a space station with red dragons is really something to behold.

Some areas hardly resemble a dungeon at all, such as Slitherswamp (home to all sorts of swampy creatures), and the Caverns of Ooze, which have a large spelljammer ship lodged within (along with a mind flayer pirate captain!)

Then, of course, we reach Shadowdusk Hold, the area my group adventured through in the playtest. This level is actually three floors, a replica of the home of the Shadowdusks, a human family who was driven mad by exposure to the Far Realm. The heroes will venture through, finding members of the family warped by chaos, learning the story of the family through ornate tapestries hanging from the walls. The family keeps a group of Nothics that, if you really play up the creepiness of them, can be truly unsettling. My players spent a TON of time in the second encounter of the level in which the whole area warps and twists, completely throwing off the party.

The book also features a small gazeteer for Skullport, the city beneath Waterdeep which connects to Undermountain. It is a hive of scum and villainy. There are plenty of locations, but also lots of empty space on the map for you to fill in your own locations, or go over to the DM’s Guild to fill in the gaps.

Dungeon of the Mad Mage is a fantastic book with fantastic artwork throughout, and maps by Tim Hartin, in a similar style similar to those seen in Guildmaster’s Guide to Ravnica and Waterdeep: Dragon Heist. Whether you’re using the adventure to grab encounters or levels for your own campaign, or delving into the halls of Undermountain to destroy Halaster once and for all, you’re going to enjoy your time in the Dungeon of the Mad Mage.

Wizards of the Coast provided a copy of Waterdeep: Dungeon of the Mad Mage to Dice Monkey for review.