My DM is helping me to be a DM of my own and is letting me do a one-off dungeon in his campaign for roughly 5-6 people. I'm not exactly the best at making dungeons, however, and need some ideas. All papers are 3rd level and don't have any powerful magic items
2. Who lives there now, if more than one type of inhabitant/monster, how do they interact
3. how many entrances/exits, how are they guarded, if not, why?
4. How do the entrances/exits connect - and with what rooms
5. What were the "rooms" originally used for, and what now?
6. What defenses/traps are there and how do the current inhabitants avoid them and at the same time avoid "telegraphing" that they are avoiding traps
7. how do the inhabitants interact with the world? what do they eat? how do they get their food, their treasured items?
8. Think about loot. What is there, where is it, why have the monsters/inhabitants kept it, what do they use it for (or what can it do that they don't use). Do they just like the big shiny +3 sword that someone hung on the wall or is someone actually wielding it? What are they using currency or jewelry for if they don't interact with the world? Is the "treasure chamber" really their room for discarded adventurer stuff?
To make things interesting, I might suggest some sort of mechanic that forces a time limit on the party, with a hard maximum of 2 Long Rests (for a large dungeon) to a single Short Rest (for a small dungeon). The party might be being pursued by someone (rivals, assassins / or huntsman, even lawmen); there might be an issue of air disappearing or water rising; and it’s also possible that the site is so haunted and accursed that staying too long will start to weigh down on everyone’s sanity.
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My DM is helping me to be a DM of my own and is letting me do a one-off dungeon in his campaign for roughly 5-6 people. I'm not exactly the best at making dungeons, however, and need some ideas. All papers are 3rd level and don't have any powerful magic items
There's a nice Vid From SlyFlourish on YT about 5 Room Dungeons to kick you off.
Think about
1. Who made the dungeon and why
2. Who lives there now, if more than one type of inhabitant/monster, how do they interact
3. how many entrances/exits, how are they guarded, if not, why?
4. How do the entrances/exits connect - and with what rooms
5. What were the "rooms" originally used for, and what now?
6. What defenses/traps are there and how do the current inhabitants avoid them and at the same time avoid "telegraphing" that they are avoiding traps
7. how do the inhabitants interact with the world? what do they eat? how do they get their food, their treasured items?
8. Think about loot. What is there, where is it, why have the monsters/inhabitants kept it, what do they use it for (or what can it do that they don't use). Do they just like the big shiny +3 sword that someone hung on the wall or is someone actually wielding it? What are they using currency or jewelry for if they don't interact with the world? Is the "treasure chamber" really their room for discarded adventurer stuff?
To make things interesting, I might suggest some sort of mechanic that forces a time limit on the party, with a hard maximum of 2 Long Rests (for a large dungeon) to a single Short Rest (for a small dungeon). The party might be being pursued by someone (rivals, assassins / or huntsman, even lawmen); there might be an issue of air disappearing or water rising; and it’s also possible that the site is so haunted and accursed that staying too long will start to weigh down on everyone’s sanity.