Great video guys! I roomed with Greg a couple of times at North Texas RPG con. He's a professor up in Canada and a fascinating guy to listen to. One more thing you failed to mention is there is an appendix in the back for making your own barrows. THAT is worth it's weight in GPs. If you ever need to come up with a small dungeon, use that. Works like a charm.
Hey Glen! Great that you got to meet him. I really like his creations. Almost perfect balance of detail, background, and fun. To be honest, I've never tried the barrow creator. Guess I'll be busy with that this weekend. KYSAF!
Great video guys. I actually follow a TH-cam RPG stream that dips into Barrowmaze for mini adventures from time to time so players are either just starting out or at most level 3 depending on who is around to play. The sessions are always fun, but definitely a bit brutal for low level adventurers. And that is just trying to find a barrow in the moors. They actually found the entrance to the actual barrowmaze recently and only made it 2 rooms in before being swarmed by giant rats. They had to abandon their hirelings to be eaten alive by the rats just to escape. (Well, the hirelings went down quick and trying to drag the out their bodies was not conducive to continued living by the actual players) I never knew the supplement that the Barrowmaze came from so this was a very nice surprise.
I got both the hard copy and the pdf a couple years ago. The hard copy is a good read but I prefer the PDF for running the adventure. I printed out all the materials need for the forbidden antechamber( maps, random tables, room descriptions, and handouts). I blew the map up and color coded it corresponding it to the room descriptions. I was a breeze to run I had such a good time and it made the maps my players drew really pay off. We lost about 3-5 PC's over the course of a long weekend it was deadly and exciting! It was random enough that it kept everyone very engaged and there was never a dull moment inside the maze.
You guys have the best intros by far. Great vid, thanks! I haven't picked Barrowmaze up but heard a lot of good things about it. Might need to give it a whirl
I have been reading the PDF for Barrowmaze Complete. I have a physical copy on order. I really like how the book is kayed out and the random crypt generator is very handy. I am planning to run it West Marches style using either Dragonslayer RPG or Castles & Crusades.
I have been to a burial mound actually. There is a place called Aztalan in southern Wisconsin with a Native American mound. Can't go in it obviously but you can go on top. Super cool little place. Also really wish I knew at the time that puffball mushrooms are edible. They were everywhere.
That does look pretty good. It sounds like you as the DM need to flesh it out with your campaign but I see that you are doing that. It reminds me of the Blackmoore dungeon that goes on forever and keeps getting bigger.
I love all of Greg's work, but especially Barrowmaze. I have run it many times using OSE, including three sessions at GaryCon XIV in 2022. I had one bold team go straight to the "Third Level" entrance and got ten rooms in before being devoured by robber flies. That was a record! Otherwise, all teams started in the main "Level One" entrance or explored mounds. On more than one occasion, a single encounter in the moors on the way to the mounds was enough to send the party packing back to Helix, yelling for their mommas. For a First Level party, a single giant scorpion caused puckers all around the table. Barrowmaze is a great megadungeon, with consistent themes and grimdark tone, but also ensures every single trip to the mounds or the maze will be unique, even if the same characters take the same route through the same rooms. Barrowmaze is great if you love evocative black & white art, sullen, moody atmosphere, and harrowing conflict in a massive complex where no one will hear you scream, except the monsters. Between the three towns, the surrounding region, the moors, the mounds, and the Barrowmaze complex itself, it will provide years of good gaming. Great review of a great product, Warlocks! Good gaming to you and yours!
Thanks, SW. Great to hear you've run it at GC (yeah, I'm jealous). It really is quite the setting. I've heard rumors of a more recent publication from Gillespie called DwarrowDeep(?) I believe. I need to check that out as well.
I'm currently running this for my group. It's been fun so far, pretty easy to run with minimal prep. Also yes I have been to a burial mound, old covered viking grave outside of my hometown!
All Gillespie's stuff is good; HighFell is my personal fave. Advanced Labyrinth Lord is perfect for this, though you can easily run it with Swords & Wizardry or Castles & Crusades, my personal games of choice.
Just grabbed the PDF and was tickled that one of the NPCs is H.R.R. HuffnPuff I seems to be a cross between G.R.R. Martin and H.R. PuffnStuff.....LOL!!
I've been putting this one on the backburner for a while now. After I'm done running Rappan Athuk I think I'll pick this up. Speaking of, you should definitely pick up Rappan Athuk if you don't already own it. There is a Swords & Wizardry version, so it's an easy conversion to AD&D
Good to see you guys! Fun watch 😀 I've used the pdf a few years back with my own OSR homebrew. Works great I think with any old AD&D, B/X, BECMI or retroclones. I placed it within the Dolmenwood as Gavin Norman (also creator of OSE) had created a possible spot for it in his masterful setting. I've been thinking of giving rumours again to my various groups exploring Dolmenwood. It's not as honed and easy to use as Gavin's own stuff such as the Incandescent Grottoes adventure. I also prefer secret doors and traps with clues and mechanisms to interact with other than just through the game mechanic. But I definitely want to get back into the maze and see how the players go about it. I like having content like this in a sandbox setting for PC's to explore whenever they wish.
Hello Paavo! We haven't heard from you in some time. I need to look into Dolmenwood - it gets mentioned a lot and I've never had the chance to see it up close. Barrowmaze is largely sandbox in my world. Players go there when it suits them, but I've developed a different story involving the local villages that keep them returning to try and figure things out. Regardless, it's a fun setting.
@@theoldwarlock Seems like some weird time warp happened (life I guess) and I've got catching up with your videos 😅 I was thinking about Barrowmaze again so I'm happy it lead me back to your channel. The Dolmenwood kickstarter just ended this Friday. I'm not sure if you can make late pledges but it should have wider publication next year once the physical books are out. You have a lot of your own material but I still recommend keeping it in mind. It's the best setting and treasure trove of gameable material I've ever seen published in my 35 years of gaming.
I agree, its a great book. The price is steep I agree but it has a lot in it and nice art. I have watch interviews with the creator and he's all about the oldschool style play. You can buy the pdf. He has a monster book out now and is working on his own rpg.
As Alex requested, I have being on a burial mound. It's also likely that many of you could have being on one but hasn't recognized it. To clarify, I haven't being on those mounds with corridors and all that infrastructure. There are many types of burial mounds. Some individual, some communal, some with corridors and rooms, etc. And a question more geared to the book, how is the monster ecology? I suspect it's mostly undead: both those intended habitats and the explorers.
Overall, monster ecology exists and is pretty well thought out. There are a lot of undead but also there are factions battling for control of the barrow maze that aren't. A good mix.
I've been running Barrowmaze for a while. It says Labyrinth Lord, but there's stuff in there that makes me think that he was actually running it for 1e. There's even a King Osric.
Greg actually got a kickstarter up right now called Dragonslayer for his home rules that are a mix of b/x and 1e the way he plays through these mega adventures at home.
I love that, not only did he name a town after a heavy metal band (Helix), but he used their logo on the artwork. $70=$80 for a book like that seems like a lot, but when I compare that cost to the cost of any of my other hobbies, it's super damn cheap. In general, TTRPGs are a cheap hobby.
These games /settings would be hell of alot of fun with Shadowdark. All of these type of systems are based on older versions of DnD, DCC could also be used and countless games 😁 great way to reuse content as well.
@@theoldwarlock Nice I am going to be using Shadowdark with Gunderholfen Megadungeon :-) waiting for my copy of shadowdark to arrive and just got Gunderholdfen printed off (the PDF is 10 bucks and got it printed locally and wirebound because its so much cheaper for me then going through drivethrurpg printing service) It looks great its pretty vanilla but I think thats good easier to shape my own stories within it, has tons of great ideas for getting gold such as a very simple but good idea of mapping out the dungeons, each room you get 10 gold/sliver however you want to do the money system and give it to certain NPCs, lots of ideas and hooks for random events in the massive city it has above the dungeon, and lots of areas outside for exploring and tons of maps and charts for encounters (have the maps and encounters on seperate books so I dont need to keep flipping back and forward. The createor also put out extra content for missiosn and events for different levels outside the city and dungeon. Check it out might like the idea, there are a couple reviews of it on TH-cam. I want to get Barrowmaze later down the line to mix things up. Sorry for my rant I get like this when I am excited ha
As a side note I'd love your guys' thoughts on some of your favorite old school modules if you've ever played any. Ik you focus a lot on your own world but would be interested in your take on some
Hey again, Bizzy. We've only played a few but, this fall, we might take a closer look at some that were published in FRPG magazines back in the day. Some were better than published modules from TSR in my opinion.
While there is some good content in Barrowmaze, I had some quibbles with it. First, I bought the PDF version and it had zero linkability - even the table of contents could not be clicked to take you to a section. That's what PDFs are for, yet this basic thing wasn't done. Second, I bought the version supposedly adapted for 5e D&D and found that this meant practically nothing. It would list NPCs classes only rarely, and gave zero information as to their stats or spells, leaving a ton of prep work for the DM. Lastly, despite the campaign being out for years before I bought it, it was rife with typos and missing information that could have been corrected but wasn't. Even the first paragraph has a sentence which repeats, and there's a table they acknowledge was accidentally left out. So why not fix it? It's just a PDF and print on demand, after all.
I have to give credit to Mr. Gillespie where credit is due: his products are good. Good layout, great readability, art, playability, etc. The adventures, themselves, are good, staple, OSR products. Unfortunately, his public conduct and commentary outside of the gaming space turns me off of anything he produces.
Welcome to the world of most people. We ignore the creators views and look at just the product. The same gord for Hollywood as a whole and hell most of video games.
I have been in the Paris Catacombs... pretty interesting, yet depressive, place. Before someone ask: it´s depressive, because there is millions of anonymous people resting down there. people like me or you, who had whole lives, now forgotten, nameless, forever. Carpe diem.
Agreed. Those places can be fascinating, but, if you think too deeply or have the ability to see all the bones as having been individuals, they can be depressing.
@@theoldwarlock That is not the major problem... the equation also work backwards: you will understand down there that you, and everyone you know and love, also will be, in a not so far future, dead and forgotten, no matter what you do. Remember the feeling of being very small when you look to a starry night? Its similar, but in a temporal way. It´s the feeling of being very brief when you stare at the eternity
Would love to hear how you run mega-dungeons. Personally, over the years, I have become less and less fond of them - and when I say megadungeon I mean the traditional sense of a huge multi-level dungeon where the PCs move from room to room dealing with the problems/factions. Maybe because I am getting old by I find them monotonous to run (not burrowmaze, as its a flat dungeon which helps). My players dislike them more than me. My wife who has played since 2e loved them in the early days but doesn't have patience for them now and the rest of my players, all 5e players, are not fans generally. I've found abstracting or gamifying the mega-dungeons works well (for example, like The Gardens of Ynn). But would love to hear from other old/80s DMs who still run games their thoughts. And I am more than willing to accept the problem is me! My boredom with the door-to-door procedure maybe coming across to my PCs so I am "infecting" them.
I have to agree. They can easily become "kick down the door move to the next situations" if you're not careful. I encourage players to be more creative with the setting. Create your own faction from the dungeon's inhabitants, take over a section of the dungeon, make an alliance with dungeon denizens to accomplish something outside the dungeon, etc. And I think at least some of the contents have to be placed by the DM so they have relevance to your overall campaign.
![[LIVE] : ONE ลุมพินี 88 | คู่เอก "ป้อมเพชร vs อัสลามจอน"](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/1ZqTVVbMgbo/mqdefault.jpg)
I haven’t visited a barrow mound, but I know of a chap called Frodo who did. It wasn’t an altogether pleasant experience.
Hey Antony! You're talking about one of my favorite scenes in LOTR.
But there be treasure! 😁
Great video guys! I roomed with Greg a couple of times at North Texas RPG con. He's a professor up in Canada and a fascinating guy to listen to.
One more thing you failed to mention is there is an appendix in the back for making your own barrows. THAT is worth it's weight in GPs. If you ever need to come up with a small dungeon, use that. Works like a charm.
Hey Glen! Great that you got to meet him. I really like his creations. Almost perfect balance of detail, background, and fun. To be honest, I've never tried the barrow creator. Guess I'll be busy with that this weekend. KYSAF!
Great video guys. I actually follow a TH-cam RPG stream that dips into Barrowmaze for mini adventures from time to time so players are either just starting out or at most level 3 depending on who is around to play. The sessions are always fun, but definitely a bit brutal for low level adventurers. And that is just trying to find a barrow in the moors. They actually found the entrance to the actual barrowmaze recently and only made it 2 rooms in before being swarmed by giant rats. They had to abandon their hirelings to be eaten alive by the rats just to escape. (Well, the hirelings went down quick and trying to drag the out their bodies was not conducive to continued living by the actual players) I never knew the supplement that the Barrowmaze came from so this was a very nice surprise.
And FinieousFingers was already taken too. Apparently there are still a lot of really old 70's gamers and SciFi fans hanging around on TH-cam.
I got both the hard copy and the pdf a couple years ago. The hard copy is a good read but I prefer the PDF for running the adventure. I printed out all the materials need for the forbidden antechamber( maps, random tables, room descriptions, and handouts). I blew the map up and color coded it corresponding it to the room descriptions. I was a breeze to run I had such a good time and it made the maps my players drew really pay off. We lost about 3-5 PC's over the course of a long weekend it was deadly and exciting! It was random enough that it kept everyone very engaged and there was never a dull moment inside the maze.
Everything by Greg Gillespie is awesome. My favorite is Highfell and im currently reading Dwarowdeep.
Super stoked to see some Barrowmaze. His recent dungeon Dwarrowdeep, although requiring more work, is amazingly well done and a great homage to Moria.
That sounds very cool, we'll have to check it out! KYSAF!
I’ve met Greg Gillespie. It was the highlight of the North Texas RPG Con for me. Fantastic guy. You would love him.
Hey Ryan. We've heard that from a lot of people who've met him. Maybe we'll run into him at a convention some day.
You guys have the best intros by far. Great vid, thanks! I haven't picked Barrowmaze up but heard a lot of good things about it. Might need to give it a whirl
Thanks, Bizzy. Barrowmaze is worth the money. Lot of gaming to be had in there.
I have been reading the PDF for Barrowmaze Complete. I have a physical copy on order. I really like how the book is kayed out and the random crypt generator is very handy. I am planning to run it West Marches style using either Dragonslayer RPG or Castles & Crusades.
I don't think your players will be disappointed. It's a well made long-term adventure.
@@theoldwarlock my physical copy has shipped, can’t wait to get it.
I have been to a burial mound actually. There is a place called Aztalan in southern Wisconsin with a Native American mound. Can't go in it obviously but you can go on top. Super cool little place. Also really wish I knew at the time that puffball mushrooms are edible. They were everywhere.
That does look pretty good. It sounds like you as the DM need to flesh it out with your campaign but I see that you are doing that.
It reminds me of the Blackmoore dungeon that goes on forever and keeps getting bigger.
I love all of Greg's work, but especially Barrowmaze. I have run it many times using OSE, including three sessions at GaryCon XIV in 2022. I had one bold team go straight to the "Third Level" entrance and got ten rooms in before being devoured by robber flies. That was a record! Otherwise, all teams started in the main "Level One" entrance or explored mounds. On more than one occasion, a single encounter in the moors on the way to the mounds was enough to send the party packing back to Helix, yelling for their mommas. For a First Level party, a single giant scorpion caused puckers all around the table.
Barrowmaze is a great megadungeon, with consistent themes and grimdark tone, but also ensures every single trip to the mounds or the maze will be unique, even if the same characters take the same route through the same rooms.
Barrowmaze is great if you love evocative black & white art, sullen, moody atmosphere, and harrowing conflict in a massive complex where no one will hear you scream, except the monsters. Between the three towns, the surrounding region, the moors, the mounds, and the Barrowmaze complex itself, it will provide years of good gaming.
Great review of a great product, Warlocks! Good gaming to you and yours!
Thanks, SW. Great to hear you've run it at GC (yeah, I'm jealous). It really is quite the setting. I've heard rumors of a more recent publication from Gillespie called DwarrowDeep(?) I believe. I need to check that out as well.
Barrowmaze is a great Dungeon dive. My Players just recently discovered the mongrelmen.
I'm currently running this for my group. It's been fun so far, pretty easy to run with minimal prep. Also yes I have been to a burial mound, old covered viking grave outside of my hometown!
Am I jealous there's a Viking burial mound outside your hometown? Yes, yes I am.
All Gillespie's stuff is good; HighFell is my personal fave. Advanced Labyrinth Lord is perfect for this, though you can easily run it with Swords & Wizardry or Castles & Crusades, my personal games of choice.
How easy is Highfell to run straight from the book?
Cool beans Warlocks! Glad to see you guys again.
Hey, thanks!
Just grabbed the PDF and was tickled that one of the NPCs is H.R.R. HuffnPuff
I seems to be a cross between G.R.R. Martin and H.R. PuffnStuff.....LOL!!
Was hit by the same thing. Made me laugh at the time and like the creator that much more.
Yes I have been to a burial mound. It's in Moundsville, WV. It was very interesting.
That's a place I've wanted to go for a long time.
I've been putting this one on the backburner for a while now. After I'm done running Rappan Athuk I think I'll pick this up. Speaking of, you should definitely pick up Rappan Athuk if you don't already own it. There is a Swords & Wizardry version, so it's an easy conversion to AD&D
Thanks DDM! Rappan Athuk is on the list.
Good to see you guys! Fun watch 😀 I've used the pdf a few years back with my own OSR homebrew. Works great I think with any old AD&D, B/X, BECMI or retroclones. I placed it within the Dolmenwood as Gavin Norman (also creator of OSE) had created a possible spot for it in his masterful setting. I've been thinking of giving rumours again to my various groups exploring Dolmenwood.
It's not as honed and easy to use as Gavin's own stuff such as the Incandescent Grottoes adventure. I also prefer secret doors and traps with clues and mechanisms to interact with other than just through the game mechanic. But I definitely want to get back into the maze and see how the players go about it. I like having content like this in a sandbox setting for PC's to explore whenever they wish.
Hello Paavo! We haven't heard from you in some time. I need to look into Dolmenwood - it gets mentioned a lot and I've never had the chance to see it up close. Barrowmaze is largely sandbox in my world. Players go there when it suits them, but I've developed a different story involving the local villages that keep them returning to try and figure things out. Regardless, it's a fun setting.
@@theoldwarlock Seems like some weird time warp happened (life I guess) and I've got catching up with your videos 😅 I was thinking about Barrowmaze again so I'm happy it lead me back to your channel.
The Dolmenwood kickstarter just ended this Friday. I'm not sure if you can make late pledges but it should have wider publication next year once the physical books are out. You have a lot of your own material but I still recommend keeping it in mind. It's the best setting and treasure trove of gameable material I've ever seen published in my 35 years of gaming.
It's all about that random barrow generator and the art in the back \m/
We've had a lot of people saying that.
I agree, its a great book. The price is steep I agree but it has a lot in it and nice art. I have watch interviews with the creator and he's all about the oldschool style play. You can buy the pdf.
He has a monster book out now and is working on his own rpg.
Didn't know about the monster book. Need to check it out - thanks!
Gillespie also recently published "Megadungeon Monster Manual," if you just want all the monster stats.
I need to get that and I've been told he has something out called Dwarrowdeep which sounds interesting.
As Alex requested, I have being on a burial mound. It's also likely that many of you could have being on one but hasn't recognized it. To clarify, I haven't being on those mounds with corridors and all that infrastructure. There are many types of burial mounds. Some individual, some communal, some with corridors and rooms, etc.
And a question more geared to the book, how is the monster ecology? I suspect it's mostly undead: both those intended habitats and the explorers.
Overall, monster ecology exists and is pretty well thought out. There are a lot of undead but also there are factions battling for control of the barrow maze that aren't. A good mix.
I've been running Barrowmaze for a while. It says Labyrinth Lord, but there's stuff in there that makes me think that he was actually running it for 1e. There's even a King Osric.
Gotta agree with you. And, King "Osric" didn't register until you mentioned it. Thanks!
Greg actually got a kickstarter up right now called Dragonslayer for his home rules that are a mix of b/x and 1e the way he plays through these mega adventures at home.
I love that, not only did he name a town after a heavy metal band (Helix), but he used their logo on the artwork.
$70=$80 for a book like that seems like a lot, but when I compare that cost to the cost of any of my other hobbies, it's super damn cheap. In general, TTRPGs are a cheap hobby.
Agreed
Barrowmaze is a good one for sure!
These games /settings would be hell of alot of fun with Shadowdark. All of these type of systems are based on older versions of DnD, DCC could also be used and countless games 😁 great way to reuse content as well.
Funny you mention that. I'm trying to figure out what will translate well to Shadowdark and I'm planning to start with Barrow Maze.
@@theoldwarlock Nice I am going to be using Shadowdark with Gunderholfen Megadungeon :-) waiting for my copy of shadowdark to arrive and just got Gunderholdfen printed off (the PDF is 10 bucks and got it printed locally and wirebound because its so much cheaper for me then going through drivethrurpg printing service) It looks great its pretty vanilla but I think thats good easier to shape my own stories within it, has tons of great ideas for getting gold such as a very simple but good idea of mapping out the dungeons, each room you get 10 gold/sliver however you want to do the money system and give it to certain NPCs, lots of ideas and hooks for random events in the massive city it has above the dungeon, and lots of areas outside for exploring and tons of maps and charts for encounters (have the maps and encounters on seperate books so I dont need to keep flipping back and forward. The createor also put out extra content for missiosn and events for different levels outside the city and dungeon. Check it out might like the idea, there are a couple reviews of it on TH-cam. I want to get Barrowmaze later down the line to mix things up. Sorry for my rant I get like this when I am excited ha
Come on guys, everyone knows that you get Cats out of Catacombs. There are also vast sewers under Paris. (Skaven anyone?)
Dang it! That's right, cats come from Catacombs! (Made us laugh with this one. Thanks!)
As a side note I'd love your guys' thoughts on some of your favorite old school modules if you've ever played any. Ik you focus a lot on your own world but would be interested in your take on some
Hey again, Bizzy. We've only played a few but, this fall, we might take a closer look at some that were published in FRPG magazines back in the day. Some were better than published modules from TSR in my opinion.
Nice, i will try it🍻
While there is some good content in Barrowmaze, I had some quibbles with it. First, I bought the PDF version and it had zero linkability - even the table of contents could not be clicked to take you to a section. That's what PDFs are for, yet this basic thing wasn't done. Second, I bought the version supposedly adapted for 5e D&D and found that this meant practically nothing. It would list NPCs classes only rarely, and gave zero information as to their stats or spells, leaving a ton of prep work for the DM. Lastly, despite the campaign being out for years before I bought it, it was rife with typos and missing information that could have been corrected but wasn't. Even the first paragraph has a sentence which repeats, and there's a table they acknowledge was accidentally left out. So why not fix it? It's just a PDF and print on demand, after all.
Barrel maze?
Yes, it's all in a storage building for a vineyard.
I have to give credit to Mr. Gillespie where credit is due: his products are good. Good layout, great readability, art, playability, etc. The adventures, themselves, are good, staple, OSR products.
Unfortunately, his public conduct and commentary outside of the gaming space turns me off of anything he produces.
Welcome to the world of most people. We ignore the creators views and look at just the product. The same gord for Hollywood as a whole and hell most of video games.
Yeah, I’d recommend reading his rate my professor reviews.
But how many bookmarks does it have? 😝
Many more than easily seen here.
I have been in the Paris Catacombs... pretty interesting, yet depressive, place. Before someone ask: it´s depressive, because there is millions of anonymous people resting down there. people like me or you, who had whole lives, now forgotten, nameless, forever. Carpe diem.
Agreed. Those places can be fascinating, but, if you think too deeply or have the ability to see all the bones as having been individuals, they can be depressing.
@@theoldwarlock That is not the major problem... the equation also work backwards: you will understand down there that you, and everyone you know and love, also will be, in a not so far future, dead and forgotten, no matter what you do. Remember the feeling of being very small when you look to a starry night? Its similar, but in a temporal way. It´s the feeling of being very brief when you stare at the eternity
🍻
Would love to hear how you run mega-dungeons. Personally, over the years, I have become less and less fond of them - and when I say megadungeon I mean the traditional sense of a huge multi-level dungeon where the PCs move from room to room dealing with the problems/factions. Maybe because I am getting old by I find them monotonous to run (not burrowmaze, as its a flat dungeon which helps). My players dislike them more than me. My wife who has played since 2e loved them in the early days but doesn't have patience for them now and the rest of my players, all 5e players, are not fans generally.
I've found abstracting or gamifying the mega-dungeons works well (for example, like The Gardens of Ynn). But would love to hear from other old/80s DMs who still run games their thoughts.
And I am more than willing to accept the problem is me! My boredom with the door-to-door procedure maybe coming across to my PCs so I am "infecting" them.
I have to agree. They can easily become "kick down the door move to the next situations" if you're not careful. I encourage players to be more creative with the setting. Create your own faction from the dungeon's inhabitants, take over a section of the dungeon, make an alliance with dungeon denizens to accomplish something outside the dungeon, etc. And I think at least some of the contents have to be placed by the DM so they have relevance to your overall campaign.
@@theoldwarlock nice. Thanks. 👌