5 Room Dungeon Outline Generator
In awesome news, my mom’s final radiation treatment was yesterday. We had a special dinner to celebrate and she is doing very well. My wife also had her second chemo treatment yesterday, and those are rough. But she is strong and doing ok.
Related, I had a stack of Pathfinder 2E books I was selling on Facebook, and noticed earlier that the cancer clinic here sells used books to raise funds. So I dropped the stack off — hopefully they create a future GM!
Alas, I’m late now on notifying you of tomorrow’s monthly Wizard of Adventure Zoom call. Wizards, bring your campaign questions, problems, and requests! I will send you a Zoom link and reminder Saturday morning.
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5 Room Dungeon Outline Generator
RPT GM Jeremy Brown emailed me this quick 5 Room Dungeon generator he created that you might find helpful for plotting your adventures:
Dungeon Type (d20)
- Fortress
- Mad Man’s Lair
- Mines
- Natural Caverns
- Sewers
- Subterranean Community
- Temple, Monastery, Shrine
- Tomb, Crypt
- Catacombs
- Grand House
- Mansion
- Extraplanar Space
- Ancient Structure (Ziggurat, Pyramid, Megalithic Creation, Maze)
- Aquatic Dungeon
- Adobe Structure
- Tree Village
- Hill Fort
- Cloud Fortress or Island Retreat
- Swamp Lair
- Thieves’ Den, Assassins’ Guild Hall, or Other Sneaky Urban Location
Villain (d30)
- Warrior or Related Class
- Divine Spellcaster or Related Class
- Rogue or Related Class
- Wizard or Related Class
- Multiclass Villain
- Aboleth or Illusion-Wielding or Mind-Controlling Beast
- Beholder or Other Magic-Wielding Mastermind
- Mindflayer or Other Enslaving Mind Controlling Race
- Dinosaur or Other Large Animal With Deadly Attacks
- Giant Vermin
- Dire Animal, Predator, or Extremely Large Vermin
- Primate or Other Clever Animal
- Intelligent Construct
- Large Dangerous Construct Working on a Program
- Dragon or Dragonoid Monster
- Elemental Creature, Roll For Second Villain
- Fey Noble
- Intelligent Giant
- Stupid Giant
- Humanoid with Character Classes
- Magical Beast
- Intelligent or Extremely Mobile Plant Monster
- Stationary Enslavement Plant
- Undead
- Shapeshifter or Identity-Stealing Creature
- Swarm Intelligence or Hive-Mind Species
- Soul-Harvesting Fiend or Energy Drainer
- Living Spell or Sentient Magic Effect
- Ooze or Corrosive Living Mass
- Lycanthrope or Cursed Shapechanger
Room 1: Entrance or Guardian (d6)
- Must find key to unlock dungeon
- Must solve puzzle to enter dungeon
- Must defeat monster to enter dungeon, roll on Villain table
- Must overcome natural barrier to enter dungeon
- Must avoid magical wards on dungeon
- Must pursue villain to dungeon and guardian is rear guard of the chase
Room 2: Roleplaying or Puzzle Challenge (d6)
- Encounter dungeon denizens not related to villain’s plans who could be helpful allies in later challenges
- Encounter being in service to the villain but who would rather be elsewhere
- Encounter barrier to further movement that must be overcome
- Encounter puzzle or riddle
- Encounter NPCs pursuing the same villain
- Encounter a second locked or blocked passage to villain’s lair that, if overcome, could be a easier way
Room 3: Trick or Setback (d8)
- Encounter trap, ambush, or other difficulty meant to slow down and or weaken the PCs
- Encounter ‘boss fight’ but the wily villain has used a decoy of some sort
- Capture villain’s lieutenant who spills all (lies)
- Party encounters another maze or barrier to overcome
- Party catapulted into second five room dungeon connected to this one
- Some vital information or lore is needed before proceeding
- Puzzle or riddle
- Major encounter that drains party resources
Room 4: Climax, Big Battle, or Conflict (d6)
- Villain confronts party but has hostages
- Villain crows over party’s feeble efforts and makes a dramatic exit
- Boss fight
- Large set piece battle with villain’s minions, but villain is long gone
- Villain has gained the MacGuffin and is ready to use it
- Find taunting message implying entire dungeon has been a ruse to distract the PCs
Room 5: Reward, Revelation, or Plot Twist (d6)
- Any of room 4 options above, replacing 4 with a roleplaying, combat, or other encounter
- Find treasure, MacGuffin, or ancient lore
- Villain escapes, but party has gained knowledge of a weakness or further plans
- Party finds villainous plan such as doomsday machine or evil ritual
- Party gains piece of MacGuffin villain wished to build or use
- Party gains intangible award such as land, entitlements, marriage proposal
What I like about Jeremy’s approach of using small tables is that we can make 5 Room Dungeon generators customized to the different regions, hexes, or situations in our campaign setting.
For example, make a list of six regional villains for that area’s villain table.
I took a moment to turn Jeremy’s work into a custom Campaign Logger generator.
Here’s an example it produced (4 minute video hosted on Loom, not GDPR compliant):
If you aren’t using Campaign Logger yet, you can get a free lifetime license here and start using this generator immediately.
Thanks for the great share, Jeremy!
Cheers,
Johnn
roleplayingtips.com
https://discord.gg/6MxTRAqQ76
Have more fun at every game!
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