A procedure for generating dungeons. Where results don’t make sense or aren’t appropriate or pleasing, adjust as you see fit. This procedure provides only a skeleton. You must provide the meat yourself.

Beneath The Cobbles provides an example of a dungeon generated using this method and stocked using the treasure tables.

The Procedure

1. Choose dungeon size.
   1. (Optional) Choose Dungeon Level if using this procedure in conjunction with A Dungeon Game’s treasure tables.
2. Generate and number your rooms.
3. Generate exits and room connections.
4. Stock your dungeon.
5. Write.

Back to top ↑

Dungeon Size

For the purposes of using these generation tools and distributing treasure, dungeons comes in three sizes:

• Small. 4 to 15 rooms. Can be explored in around 4 hours of play. Parties may explore this dungeon in one delve, only returning to the surface when they have achieved their goals.
• Medium. 16 to 24 rooms. Can be explored in around 8 hours of play. Parties might camp just outside the dungeon, or set up a safe place to rest for the night inside. Food and resources might be tested.
• Large. 25+ rooms. Will take many sessions to explore. Parties may leave and return multiple times, and resource management will be important. ¹

Back to top ↑

Megadungeons

One of the classic modes of play revolves around the megadungeon, a vast complex of hundreds of rooms and potentially dozens of levels. Megadungeons generally form the basis of an entire campaign, with most of your play occurring in the dungeon over many delves.

These tables can easily be used to construct a megadungeon, generating discrete chunks of different sizes and connecting them together to form one larger complex.

Back to top ↑

Dungeon Level

The term “level” when applied to dungeons refers to the approximate Adventurer Level ² of the characters assumed to be exploring the space. As parties will often be formed of characters of varying levels of experience, you should try not to worry about this too much. These are simply guidelines rather than strict rules - the idea of ‘balance’ is something that isn’t a concern in A Dungeon Game, as players are expected to explore with caution and not treat every encounter with a denizen of the dungeon as an opportunity for violence.

Select the dungeon level that fits your needs, and then find the row on the treasure tables that corresponds to your chosen Size and Level.

Back to top ↑

Level vs. Floor

A dungeon may be split over several floors. In traditional modes of play, each floor of the dungeon roughly corresponds to an equivalent level - that is, the first floor of the dungeon where characters initially enter (for the most part - see Non-Linear Dungeons for more on that) will be built with 1st level characters in mind, the next floor will be built with 2nd level characters in mind, and so on.

A Dungeon Game is less concerned with this clear divide between floors of the dungeon. It’s still true that in general large dungeons should become more dangerous as one moves deeper into them, and it would be unusual to find a level 1 section of the dungeon directly bordering a much higher level section, but you should feel free to assign dungeon levels to areas as you see fit and to allow sections of the dungeon of a specific level to contain multiple floors. Adding verticality to dungeons always makes for a much more interesting exploration experience!

Dungeons smaller than 4 rooms will tend not to contain large treasure hoards, and instead should be stocked with individual treasure appropriate to their occupants and purpose. As with everything, use your best judgement and build something that fits your game. If you want to place a large hoard at the end of a 3 room dungeon, that is entirely your prerogative.

Back to top ↑

Room Generation

• Gather six-sided dice equal to the number of rooms required.
• Drop the dice on a sheet of paper.
• Record the number shown on each die where it lands.
• For each number, generate a corresponding room size and shape. For results of 1-3 roll on Table A. For 4-6, Table B.
• Number your rooms, starting at 1 with the entrance to the dungeon.

Back to top ↑

Exits and Connections

For each room roll 2d6 on the following table to generate a number of exits. For Room 1, place an additional exit manually before rolling. This is your dungeon entrance. Exits may be doors, open passages, or anything else you desire.

You may roll for the location of exits or place them as desired.

Roll on the following table for each exit in your dungeon. Begin in room 1, then move to the final room, then back to room 2, and so on, moving back and forth until all doors have been accounted for. All exits are assumed to be doors, but you may decide to instead roll for the Exit Type (below).

For dungeons with only one level:

For dungeons with multiple levels:

Back to top ↑

Dungeon Stocking

Use the following tables to generate the contents of your dungeon, rolling for each room in turn and noting down the result. The first table is for dungeon with multiple floors and will provide connections between levels. The second table is for single-floor dungeons.

Make use of the Treasure Tables to generate a hoard for the dungeon. Where these tables give a result of “Treasure”, place some or all of the hoard in that room.

Back to top ↑

Write Room Keys

You may wish to renumber your rooms now that you can see the layout of the dungeon so that they make more sense.

Then, using the notes from the stocking procedure, write your rooms.

Back to top ↑