Three Dungeon Entrances
“When judges of D & D, new and old alike, think of an entrance to the dungeons, the greater percentage think of an old ruined castle somewhere outside their town. And many of this same group have the mistaken impression that there is only one entrance to every dungeon . . .”
-- Joe Fischer, “Hints for D & D Judges, Part 3: The Dungeons,” The Dragon #2, August, 1976
This short article describes three new dungeon entrances, each one of which is ready to throw into your campaign -- or stand-alone adventure -- as the opening to any dungeon your imagination is capable of conjuring. You can also, in a pinch, use one of these entrances to throw players off the trail; just grab an old dungeon and replace the front door with one of these new entrances. It may not seem like much, but that simple tweak will leave your players asking “which dungeon is this?” as they wander through eerily-familiar corridors and chambers.
Accidental Opening
On a busy city street, during a time of expansion, workers digging a new sewer system accidentally punch through an ancient stone ceiling and uncover a long-forgotten chamber. Torches dropped into the newly-discovered chamber fall several dozen feet until they come to rest on a rough floor. The illumination from the torches reveals that the chamber is massive -- likely hundreds of feet across -- and decorated with crude wall paintings. Solid stone doors can be seen on two of the chamber’s walls.
Burned-Down Tavern
Journeying through an ancient, lonely forest, the party comes across the burned-out shell of a small, single-story tavern. Barely little more than four blackened walls and a sign -- which reads, for those who scrape away the soot and years of accumulated wear, Unicorn Crossroads -- it is obvious to everyone that this tavern was destroyed decades ago. If the players take the time to sift through the wreckage -- which consists of rotting timber, burned and battered tables and stools, and little else -- they come across a wide, hand-carved set of stairs leading down into the earth. The stairs descend approximately fifty-feet where they end at a rotten, wooden door.
Crumbling Statue
Amongst the ruins of an ancient graveyard, standing outside the battered gates, the party discovers a pair of stone statues, each in the shape of a frost giant. Both statues are covered in a thick, gray moss and stand approximately twenty feet tall. The base of one of the statues is crumbling away, having been assaulted by some powerful creature. Surprisingly, all of the stone fragments lying around the base suggest that the damage was inflicted from inside the statue. Closer examination of the damaged portion of the statue reveals a mechanism that, when activated, causes the base of the statue to swing outward, revealing a set of stone stairs. What could be hidden beneath this timeworn work of art?
Books Useful to Dungeon Designers
What follows are books that I like to pull out when I'm thinking of dungeons.
Engineering Dungeons -- Sure, it's short, but this Castles & Crusades supplement covers dungeon design better than any other book released this year. (Wait a minute. Is this the only book on dungeon design that was released this year?)
Dungeonscape -- While published for a now out-of-date edition, this is still a useful inspirational tool. I recommend snagging a copy.
Dungeoneer's Survival Guide -- Now over twenty years old -- and still ridiculed -- I love this book. The mapping section at the end is neat, as is the instructional section on exploring dungeons. You should be able to find this very, very cheap. Don't pay more than $7 or $8 for a copy.
The Dungeoneer's Field Guide to Hazards -- It would be wrong of me not to promote my own work. This is a PDF of (I dare you to take a guess) hazards that can be tossed into most dungeons. If you prefer books, this one is also available from Lulu.
Dungeon Survival Guide -- The best way for me to describe this book is to point you to the review that I wrote.
-- Joe Fischer, “Hints for D & D Judges, Part 3: The Dungeons,” The Dragon #2, August, 1976
This short article describes three new dungeon entrances, each one of which is ready to throw into your campaign -- or stand-alone adventure -- as the opening to any dungeon your imagination is capable of conjuring. You can also, in a pinch, use one of these entrances to throw players off the trail; just grab an old dungeon and replace the front door with one of these new entrances. It may not seem like much, but that simple tweak will leave your players asking “which dungeon is this?” as they wander through eerily-familiar corridors and chambers.
Accidental Opening
On a busy city street, during a time of expansion, workers digging a new sewer system accidentally punch through an ancient stone ceiling and uncover a long-forgotten chamber. Torches dropped into the newly-discovered chamber fall several dozen feet until they come to rest on a rough floor. The illumination from the torches reveals that the chamber is massive -- likely hundreds of feet across -- and decorated with crude wall paintings. Solid stone doors can be seen on two of the chamber’s walls.
Burned-Down Tavern
Journeying through an ancient, lonely forest, the party comes across the burned-out shell of a small, single-story tavern. Barely little more than four blackened walls and a sign -- which reads, for those who scrape away the soot and years of accumulated wear, Unicorn Crossroads -- it is obvious to everyone that this tavern was destroyed decades ago. If the players take the time to sift through the wreckage -- which consists of rotting timber, burned and battered tables and stools, and little else -- they come across a wide, hand-carved set of stairs leading down into the earth. The stairs descend approximately fifty-feet where they end at a rotten, wooden door.
Crumbling Statue
Amongst the ruins of an ancient graveyard, standing outside the battered gates, the party discovers a pair of stone statues, each in the shape of a frost giant. Both statues are covered in a thick, gray moss and stand approximately twenty feet tall. The base of one of the statues is crumbling away, having been assaulted by some powerful creature. Surprisingly, all of the stone fragments lying around the base suggest that the damage was inflicted from inside the statue. Closer examination of the damaged portion of the statue reveals a mechanism that, when activated, causes the base of the statue to swing outward, revealing a set of stone stairs. What could be hidden beneath this timeworn work of art?
Books Useful to Dungeon Designers
What follows are books that I like to pull out when I'm thinking of dungeons.
Engineering Dungeons -- Sure, it's short, but this Castles & Crusades supplement covers dungeon design better than any other book released this year. (Wait a minute. Is this the only book on dungeon design that was released this year?)
Dungeonscape -- While published for a now out-of-date edition, this is still a useful inspirational tool. I recommend snagging a copy.
Dungeoneer's Survival Guide -- Now over twenty years old -- and still ridiculed -- I love this book. The mapping section at the end is neat, as is the instructional section on exploring dungeons. You should be able to find this very, very cheap. Don't pay more than $7 or $8 for a copy.
The Dungeoneer's Field Guide to Hazards -- It would be wrong of me not to promote my own work. This is a PDF of (I dare you to take a guess) hazards that can be tossed into most dungeons. If you prefer books, this one is also available from Lulu.
Dungeon Survival Guide -- The best way for me to describe this book is to point you to the review that I wrote.