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some traits u can add to ur characters or npcs if u want!

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Dungeon Starter Ideas

Last edited: 10/02/2021

A wise DM once said, “you’re only as original as the obscurity of the things you steal from.”

So here’s a few ideas I stole from my brother, books, TV, other DMs, and my own campaign notes! These descriptors can be purely atmospheric, or you can use the unique circumstances to complicate things for your players!

I’ve marked the ones I’ve actually played with a ♥, in case you want to hear some specifics of how it went. I’ll be updating this list, so keep your eyes open.

Locations:

♥ A translucent and fragile-looking spire made of ice, amber, glass, or crystal

The hollowed insides of an old, giant tree (dead or alive)

Above the beanstalk, up in the clouds

♥ A forgotten underground tunnel system connecting two cities

A ruined castle half-buried in snow/sand/earth/water

An abandoned mining pit

A Labyrinth, complete with a wandering monster, and a curse which breaks navigational magic

The forgotten corridor between dimensions where outsiders, stragglers, and ideas live

The Moon

The bones of an ancient, colossal creature

♥ A magic library, with living books and other hazards

♥ An abandoned Frankenstein lab, or construct factory

A high-security bank, prison, etc.

Twist:

♥ This dungeon seems to appear and disappear at different intervals and locations, meaning coming in (or leaving) is sometimes impossible

♥ Gravity works strangely here. You may find yourself upside-down to the rest of the world, standing on floating platforms that crumble and break in odd directions

♥ This is a pocket dimension with its own set of rules–perhaps literally using the rules of a different board game, arcade game, or rpg

♥ There is a spirit living here who represents the dungeon itself. It is ancient, enormous, eccentric, and with uncertain morality.

The place was built too small or too large for the party (Kobold made, Giant made, etc.)

♥ Magic is distorted here, and spells sometimes cause wild magic surges, or fail entirely

♥ This place has funhouse elements–slides, platforms, and silly, gamey rituals that must be overcome

These are hallowed/desecrated grounds, and as such the land has some effect on holy/unholy magic

♥ This is a malleable mirror/dream world, built by someone’s psyche

Party members swap bodies when they enter. Enjoy your new character sheet!

Inhabitants:

Local beasties have moved in and built nests

♥ A gang or cult has made this their base

The original host is long dead, but half-broken sentries still patrol…

Mimics everywhere

This place was built and guarded specifically to keep THAT THING contained…i.e. monster types with specific abilities and resistances

♥ There are prisoners who must be evacuated, and monsters which are best left alone…but which are which?

♥ Haunted by ghosts

Mostly/entirely abandoned, but prickling with traps and hazards

Note: There’s no reason you can’t mash a bunch from each list together. Have your ruined castle be on the moon. Have your magical library be a shifting labyrinth. Have your mine be harvesting mana from the bones of a long-dead magical creature. It doesn’t even need to make sense–maybe these catacombs were built like a funhouse by a lich with a strange sense of humour. Get weird with it!

My brother’s wonderful holiday one-shot got me inspired to add a little confusion and whimsy into my world, and so I pass my inspiration on to you. Have fun!

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My Norse Battle Map - The Woodland Nexus

A 23×16″ Norse battle map featuring a tree and a ring of standing stones inspired by Yggdrasil and the nine realms from Norse cosmology…

Downloads: https://2minutetabletop.com/woodland-nexus-norse-battle-map/

* * *

I carefully selected the basic maps to contain the two I thought would be most useful to most people, Midgard and Vanaheim, since these two are great analogues for the Prime Material Planes and the Feywild.

I’ll admit, I went a little crazy with the color on the Vanaheim/Feywild map. I’m sure it will inspire a dramatic reaction from your players, be it wonder or nausea!

Of course, there is much more variety in the variants pack, as I have deliberately colored them in such a way that they are each distinct and contain representatives for popular planes and earthly seasons. So, whether it’s a plane-hopping adventure, an Old Norse-themed campaign, or a Song of Seasons inspired game, I’ve got you covered.

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I went through a mimic phase a while back :D

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These

Tables

Are

So

Freakin

GOOD!

Shoutout to Lady Tiefling for being kickass.

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Download link is here. Patrons also get a hi res and gridless version without the watermark, and a pdf for easier printing.

The gentle lapping of the water is quickly drowned out by the overwhelming cacophony of the merchants and tradesmen hawking their wares to passersby on the docks and in their ships alike. A rousing trade is done along this canal every day, with farmers and merchants ferrying fresh goods directly into the heart of the city, and an enterprising adventurer could find anything he needs in such a place, or perhaps a convenient place to make his escape by boat if the need should arise.

I recorded myself drawing and painting this map, start to finish, and I hope to have the video done and up on youtube soon, so anyone that likes can take a look at my full process.

Instagram

Twitter

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Alternative districts for your fantasy RPG city:

Dragon Hill - This exclusive, gated community was constructed on what was thought to be a hill bearing an uncanny resemblance to a vast, sleeping dragon. Decades later, its name proved less poetic than intended when the dragon woke up. Now alert, the Dragon of the Hill – having napped long enough for geography to accrete around it – seems disinclined to move and accepts its situation with good humour, though it’s able to wield considerable influence over the city’s wealthiest citizens simply by threatening to stand up.

The Dungeon Quarter - When “adventurer” first became recognised as a legitimate profession, a few enterprising souls tried to cash in on the ensuing fad by constructing scale versions of various famous dungeons as tourist attractions. The project failed, as most humans found the faux-dungeons unpleasant to visit, but a new clientele soon emerged: actual monsters, keen on combining the conveniences of urban living with the comforts of home. Today the district’s centerpiece is a fully active volcano just thirty feet tall, inhabited by a family of ifrits.

The Hive - In spite of its disconcerting name, the Hive is a model neighbourhood, with perfectly clean streets and no poverty or crime. The trick, of course, is that it has only one true inhabitant, a sorcerous hive mind with bodies of all shapes and sizes. Strict population control and an ironclad policy of accepting new members only after rigorous vetting allows it to co-exist peaceably with the rest of the city; the total loss of individuality that residency entails notwithstanding, the waiting list to move into the Hive is over ten years long.

Old Twist Street - Owing to a magical accident some centuries past, this street is several times longer when measured from end to end than it appears on a map, and travelling far enough down it eventually brings one back to one’s starting point. Its relationship with the side-streets that connect to it is complex, to the point that using it as a shortcut is a good way to become hopelessly lost. Even so, its ample real estate has made it one of the city’s main commercial districts – though most shoppers are careful to exit Old Twist Street the same way they entered it!

The Tombs - Named both for its graveyards and mausoleums and for its unusual infrastructure, each street in the Tombs has a vaulted tunnel running precisely parallel to it, creating a two-level street map: one level above the ground, and another below. Buildings in the Tombs thus have two front doors, one for each street level. Many dwellings are co-owned, with the lower storeys occupied mainly by those constitutionally averse to sunlight; this has given rise to the phrase “downstairs neighbour” as a polite euphemism for the free-willed undead.

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spell scars revamped, with a few extra scars

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I’m bored I’m bored I’m bored of elves being just white humans who are all conventionally attractive and hairless!!! This is a whole separate species of creature who can sometimes reach 8 ft in height!!! Described as eerily beautiful but also often frightful to look upon, their eyes GLOW like jesus christ draw elves as the slightly-too-long slightly-too-strange cryptids that they deserve to be!! Acknowledge Beren and Aragorn as the lowkey monsterfuckers they are!!!!

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The Crusty Dragon Inn is up on patreon!

I recently began DMing a game of Rise of the Runelords, Pathfinder’s flagship adventure path, and while we’re just starting out and having a blast, I noticed that old Sandpoint, a central city in this and other APs like Jade Regent, doesn’t include a map of their most famous, popular, and iconic inn despite the fact that it’s an important location where some major events happen. Aside from that, players are led to treat it as their home base for the campaign. But there’s no map!

Obviously, that wouldn’t do, so I’ve created this one, inspired by the description of Ameiko Kaijitsu’s lovely inn. I hope you all find some use for it at your table :)

Ryan

Instagram

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phew that’s a lot of swords! In HD and with names here: https://www.artstation.com/artwork/58OBW1

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Invalid D&D Alignments

Lawful Chaotic - loophole abuse. their goal is to carry out as many zany shenanigans as possible in an absolutely nonpunishable manner. Chaotic Lawful - malicious compliance. dredges up obscure laws that haven’t been implemented in decades or centuries and insists on following them. thrives on inscrutable bureaucratic labyrinths. Good Evil - the token evil teammate. a missing stair. an objectively terrible person but charming or useful somehow so people keep making excuses for them. Evil Good - always does the right thing, but, like, in the least comfortable way. call them in for big, big problems, and then spend a year wondering if it was really worth it. their approval fills you with shame.

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Just some quick magic items. Didn’t feel like diving into anything complicated so I thought I’d stretch my imagination muscles and make up some fun/interesting concepts. Enjoy!

As always, questions and comments are welcome. I’d love to hear your thoughts.

(EDIT: Grammar and rules clarifications, links added)

(Content PDF) (Patreon)

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Hey y’all so this NPC generator? This is some good shit. 

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i’ve been messing around with some procedurally generated items recently! this is all done in p5js, and the code is Not Very Clean but viewable here:

swords: https://editor.p5js.org/mellific/sketches/t2eM0_TDo potions: https://editor.p5js.org/mellific/sketches/meAMGfIwc

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Rule #1 of D&D sessions: no throwing

Rule #2: no dice in orifices

dice jail: my mouth. crumch crumch.