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I've run RA before (actually still running it with that group- they're in the Basilisk Caverns), and I'm about to run it again in the Wilderlands for a PBP game. Might I say, just for starters, the Wilderlands has the proper old school atmosphere for the Dungeon of Graves!

Now it might just be me, but instinctively a journey south from a settled area into the Rappan Athuk Wilderness Map seems more 'right' than a journey northwards (or any other way, for that matter), but that is by the by. More urgently, I don't think Rappan Athuk should be too isolated from important settlements, for several reasons:
*The high priests retreating from 'the ancient city of Tsar' (no mere village, as with Kalastar in the vicinity of 4526 Map 1), the hosts of good hot on their tails, would, in my view, have sought refuge in a wilderness region close enough to attract & corrupt new followers, with a mind to returning to exact revenge on their foes.
*Unless it is to be an interminable & relentless spelunking expedition, the adventurers will want to return to civilization, to recuperate, gather further rumors, compare notes with other foolhardy adventurers attempting the Dungeon of Graves, and sell or identify their loot. Surely the Rappan Athuk Wilderness Map offers enough outdoors challenges for such a group? Having them journey for further days through the Wilderlands in order to find a decent market seems unecessarily cruel.
*The Sea Coast Road of the RA Wilderness Map 'serves as the primary trade route for commerce along the seacoast'. Remove this traderoute factor and any encounters with Merchant Caravans and Foot or Cavalry Patrols become harder to justify, as do the numerous bandits. Bandits are bullies, perhaps prone to opportunistically jumping beleagured adventurers returning to town with loot, but more commonly perhaps subsisting on robbing less unpredictable foes (merchants). One option might be to replace Kauran (4502 on Map Eight) with Rappan Athuk- this is on Ossary's land trade route to its holdings in Altanis (Zothay etc).

Another issue is that the hexes on the RA Wilderness Map have the same scale as those in the Wilderlands- thus were talking about a BIG chunk of one of the Wilderlands maps unless you change the Rappan Athuk wilderness material. That, in my view, would be a mistake. The wilderness stuff in RA Reloaded is really well done, and essential for a change of pace from the dungeon proper. There is no perfect solution, in the end, but if you ask me the trade route issue should be high on the list of placement considerations.

Yes, RARE is an excellent sandbox megadungeon. Compare it with World's Largest Dungeon, a product with a very similar project (epic sandbox full campaign dungeon). I attempted WLD once, forking out for it because the encounters (MANY, MANY encounters!) seemed well designed (they are). The problems were in terms of overall design, though. I'll demonstrate:

Problem A: One entrance, immediately closed, trapping the PCs in the dungeon. For 20 LEVELS! This is the biggest problem. Players need to be able to leave, identify and/or sell plunder, get drunk at the local tavern and boast of their exploits etc etc. You know. Roleplaying. Even if the DM said, sod that, in MY campaign they can leave, that one entrance is on one end of a HUGE expanse. Major redesign if you wanted to fix this.

Problem B: Mindless, monotonous, repetitive grid. The PCs can only go down so many 30ft corridors, listen at the door etc etc etc before they become positively nauseated with the setting. WLD has one level that goes on for MILES in a cut stone sleep inducing labrynth. This simply magnifies the issues with Problem A. My players enjoyed it, became irritated, became agitated, and then promptly dissolved as a group at around level 3. Ouch! Learned my lesson with that one, a lesson I should have had burned into my brain after years of DMing.

Players love Dungeons, but good Dungeons have more to offer than well thought out one-room encounters. They exist in three dimensions, with different ways in and out, different types of locations (caves/cut stone, safe/deadly, massive/claustrophobic etc). They need to be both baffling and intriguing, but never monotonous. And legendary location elements ("Don't go down the Well!) lend further verisimilitude and a sense of context ("We can deal with this level, but we'd be crazy to go down THERE!")

Dungeon location makes that sense of context really crystallize- this is why a dungeon in the Blood Mangrove Marshes or the Hills of Sorrow seems more enticing than a dungeon in some non-descript locale (read here, "I just wanted a Dungeon. Who cares where it is?" Lazy DMing- hardly conjures a fantastic setting...).

RARE has all of these good things in spades, WLD didn't, which was a shame. I really wanted to love that product, but it was a nightmare to run. In the end it is simply a compendium of cool D20 encounters. Not a total loss, I suppose...

Ah, the Scarred Lands. Another great setting. I have everything (I do mean EVERYTHING!) for the Scarred Lands. Only collection I ever completed. One day I'll run a campaign in Ghelspad. As always, too many campaign ideas, so little time...

I agree, Deepcut. RARE is a good choice for that party that feel jaded and complacent with their successful careers so far, and want further challenges. PCs need fear to lend them some perspective...