Apropos of nothing, here are eight ideas for megadungeons, each inspired by the title and lyrical themes of the Iron Maiden album Powerslave (1984):
Aces High - A storm giant's tower, seated on a cloud; it is reached by climbing to a high mountain peak and then casting off by glider, which limits how much treasure can be taken back or forth (and from which some loot may simply fall off). The giant's goblin servants maintain a fleet of dirigibles, and use these to wage war on the aaracokra and sylphs who inhabit the region. Within the tower itself the giant slumbers, under a curse, and guarded by his silver dragon wife. His other servants include lightning mephits, automata and giff mercenaries - but entire floors have been taken over by interlopers in the master's de facto absence.
Two Minutes to Midnight - Down in the roots of the mountains mighty forces once arrayed against one another in a confrontation that could have spelled the end of space and time - at least within a continent. One was a great demon, another a mighty archmage, another an undead lord, the fourth a dragon queen. But in order to stave off the apocalyptic conflict that was sure to ensue, a demigod placed these four protagonists in time-freeze, together with their servants, in half-mile diameter sphere of stasis. They are frozen down there still, waiting to be released - along with their servants and treasures - but the roots of the mountain are deep, and over the eons many other threats and powers have populated the tunnels and caverns which lead to the stasis-sphere. The other snag is that the only way to get at the treasure held by the four is to bring the stasis-sphere to an end...and thus release them.
Losfer Words (Big 'Orra) - A monastery of monks who cut out their tongues to approach a god that cannot be named. Their home was under a spell of permanent silence and remains so, but the monks all long ago went mad and their god with them. Now many intruders have made their homes in the Labyrinth of Absolute Quiet - but some of the monks wander still, as undead, demonic, or both.
Flash of the Blade - The greatest swordsman who ever lived, wielding a possible sword, created for himself a fortress which he populated with many varieties of servitors and guardians, and then became a recluse. Rumour has it that he has died, or gone away, and that his 3,000 year-old sword - perhaps the most puissant artefact that exists - lies abandoned somewhere inside it.
The Duellists - Two demigods are locked in eternal conflict in the lost city of Tyre. Once the two were worshipped equally and shared the city between them; then a rivalry developed and the two fought each other until no inhabitants remained - and beyond. They still haunt the streets, ambushing, stalking, each sworn that it may not rest until the other is slain. They are watched over by a ghost who referees their struggle judging from an obscure rulebook. But meanwhile in the old sewers and tunnels and catacombs beneath the city life - and unlife - thrives, boiling up from the Underdark below.
Back in the Village - A reversal, natch. The PCs are dungeon-dwellers. The village is where the danger lies. They try to raid the human world for gold and glory.
Powerslave - A ruined pyramid where the god-kings once were resident in the months before their great sacrifice and the mantle was passed to the next god-king. This was until it so happened that one such god-king declared that he would not be a slave to death but would make death a slave of his own, and that he would live forever. And sure enough, he has, though he has grown decrepit and senile in the thousand years since. His servants are smorgasbord of ancient Egyptian-style creatures (including scarab-men, jackal-headed assassins, and so on) and those desert beings (trolls, blue dragons, manscorpions and the like) who have made parts of the pyramid their own.
Rime of the Ancient Mariner - It has to be a dungeon carved into the phantasmagorical, many-coloured glaciers and icebergs of a near-frozen sea, doesn't it?
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