Why I Love Undermountain

Thu May 12, 2016 12:55 am

Tonight I had an hour or two of downtime, trying to relax. I was re-reading Ruins of Undermountain (as I love to do often!) in order to refresh the feel of the place, in anticipation of getting some major writing done this weekend for Ruins of Undermountain III: The Deadly Levels. And it hit me (as it always does) just why I love Undermountain so much.

The place is alive. It's almost its own NPC construct. It's truly a living, breathing dungeon. I always recall, as if it were yesterday, the first time I read it. The level of detail was amazing. The NPCs were interesting and unique. The maps were incredible. The amount of material given was insane. But what made me fall in love with Undermountain was that it felt like a real place. It felt like an actual dungeon that was real, filled with fantastic monsters, traps and treasures, but real. It fired my imagination and made me want to go there in the game. And that feeling never goes away. It's never boring. I've read the first copy I had so many times, it feels like a limp rag more than a book. I have several copies, all outlined with fluorescent markers and heavily notated on the back cover. But it never gets old or boring.

When I read it, it's as if I'm reading about a place I used to live as a kid, or a nostalgic store, park, or area where I lived as a kid. No, we didn't explore many dungeons in real life. What I mean is it feels nostalgic, as if it really existed. "Going there" by reading or writing about it feels like I'm re-visiting a place I know so well, and feels so comfortably familiar, it's like I'm going home.

That's why I love Undermountain.

Post by **McDeath** » Fri May 13, 2016 8:55 am

I was pretty lucky when I found mine. It was at a used comic dealership. He always had lots of rpgs that the college kids would drop off. I was lucky as the entire thing was there; but the box and maps were a bit worn. I so wanted to get the undermountain miniature set by TWI or TWE or whomever made those sets some years back. Miniature undermountain maps would be aswesome to look at and easier to reference. Don't get me wrong, I love the poster maps, the colors, the artwork.

It was a product that I liked and IT was the MEGADUNGEON with a soul and lifebeat. Oh, some say the Greyhawk one was but I never liked how they did the maps and some of the descriptions were kind of bland.

Pity TSR was going through so much turmoil as later products suffered.

Now we're in a day of more and more computers and yeah, I play some (esp now since my only collection is PDFs and I'm like a hermit myself. I enjoy the reads though; and any paper product you can sit back in a lounge chair sipping whatever beverage (tea, coffee, whiskey, etc) is fine by me (even if I have to print it out myself).

Something about computer screens that destroys the nostalgia. BTW, I don't know if I ever complimented you on the background colors. You see, my eyes have severe floaters so anything solid in color like white, or various solids bother the hell out of me. The Diffused background negates a lot of the floats as I can pass them off in the background. (probably why my computer background is black all the time...)

Sat May 14, 2016 12:45 am

As I've gotten older Ive noticed more floaters myself. I'm looking into whether or not they can be dissolved by taking large doses of systemic enzymes.

Post by **McDeath** » Sat May 14, 2016 3:44 pm

My last eye doctor told me its a preliminary to cataracts. Dandy...

Post by **Beowulf** » Sat May 14, 2016 11:29 pm

Floaters are naturally occurring parts of our optic system. I've never heard they're related to cataracts. I have enough to worry about without that!

Post by **McDeath** » Sun May 15, 2016 6:36 am

I hope for the day they can repair and get rid of them. Annoying shit, like my tinnitus (ringing of the ears). I'd venture to guess its not the hairs or ringing vibration of the bone in my case.... its the brain or nerves connecting. I know the difference between different audio bummers, my multi-ringing and concussion ringing....

Post by **Halaster Blackcloak** » Wed May 18, 2016 3:54 am

McDeath, check out this site:

http://www.lifeextension.com/protocols/ ... age-06?p=1

This organization is top-notch when it comes to natural healing and research. You might want to follow the protocols/supplements on that page. I've seen it clear tinnitus in several people over the years.

Post by **McDeath** » Thu May 19, 2016 11:07 pm

Thanks. Bookmarked.

Now back you regularly scheduled Undermountain. (my bad for going on a tangent).

Fri May 20, 2016 12:23 am

Not a problem, McDeath. We're like a small family here. I like to think we can all help each other when we need it.

Post by **McDeath** » Thu May 26, 2016 7:51 pm

I'm just glad this site is still here and still checked on. BTW, I posted magnetism spell in the other thread. I used a pdf I had of priests spell compendium #2 but I'm unsure of the original source. A lot of talk about earth elementalists makes me wonder if not dark sun related (but that's a low metal campaign).

I thought the index in #3 priest compendium would have said much like the wizard's compendium.

Hah.. found the source: Magnetism (OA)

Post by **Halaster Blackcloak** » Fri May 27, 2016 3:36 am

Wow! That's not a source I would have thought of. I don't read OA that often, so I completely forgot it was there! Thanks!