Let’s Build a Random Dungeon - Part 1

Have you ever tried generating a random dungeon for your players? It's a classic dungeon master technique that can add a lot of excitement and unpredictability to your game.

With Brian's (TMSyndicate) recent series on World Building, I thought this would be the perfect time to revisit this old-school approach to adventure creation.

If you're interesting in following along at home, turn to page 169 of the Dungeon Masters Guide (1st Edition) and let's get started!

On page 169, you will find a graphic called, "Start Areas for Random Dungeon," which provides a helpful starting point for generating a dungeon on the fly. Already we are inserting a randomness, and this technique can add excitement and unpredictability to your game, challenging your players with unexpected layouts, encounters and treasure troves.

Let's see what kind of adventure we can create together!

By rolling a d6 with a reroll of 6's, I obtained a random number between 1-5, which turned out to be 4. Using Dungeon Scrawl, I mirrored Starting Point 4, which features a staircase descending into the room and five doors leading to various areas.

This starting point presents numerous options for the players to explore, with the stairway leading them down into the first level of the dungeon and the doors offering different paths to take. With a bit of imagination and creativity, the party could encounter any number of challenges or treasures beyond those five portals. Let's see where this path takes us!

Now it's time to determine what's behind each of the five doors in our Starting Point. Turning to page 170 of the Dungeon Masters Guide, we can consult Table II: Doors to find out. Starting with the lower left and working clockwise, I rolled a d20 for each door and here are the results:

9 - Passage 45 degrees ahead/behind

18 - Room (go to TABLE V.)

TABLE V 15 = Rectangular, 20' x 40'

5 - Passage straight ahead

12 - Room (go to TABLE V.)

TABLE V 7 = Square, 40' x 40'

17 - Room (go to TABLE V.)

TABLE V 19 = Unusual shape and size, see subtables below.

Subtable Roll 14 = Oval

Subtable Roll for size 18 = roll again and add result to 9-10 above (if another 15-20 repeat the process, doubling 9-l0above, and so on) = 7 = 1300sq ft + 2000sq ft = 3300sq ft

Things took an unexpected turn when I rolled an unusual shape room that needed to be a whopping 3,300 square feet. After some consideration, I decided to make it round, which added another layer of complexity. Determining the exact size of the room would be crucial, but I didn't want to spend too much time on it.

Thankfully, I found an online tool from a2renovation that made the process much easier. With a few clicks and some measurements, I was able to calculate the room's size accurately and efficiently. This tool saved me a lot of time and effort.

The room's unusual shape and size added a new level of intrigue to the dungeon, and the party is sure to be surprised by what they find within its walls. Let's see how they fare as they explore this daunting chamber!

Despite it being my first time using Dungeon Scrawl, I was able to quickly create a map of the dungeon, including the unusual hexagonal room. Since this was a random dungeon exercise, I wanted to create the map as quickly as possible, without worrying too much about aesthetics. As a result, my oval room, evolved to a round one and then ended up becoming hexagonal, and the southwest passage looks a little sloppy. However, I'm sure that if I had spent more time with the Dungeon Scrawl tool, I could have made the map more visually appealing.

Overall, though, I'm pleased with how the map turned out. It gives a clear idea of the dungeon's layout and helps the players visualize the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead. As the party delves deeper into the dungeon, they'll need to stay alert and be prepared for anything that might come their way. It's going to be an exciting adventure!

We now have a basic dungeon layout, complete with room numbering and areas for expansion. In our next installment, we'll focus on populating the rooms with appropriate challenges and treasures. We'll also randomly determine what lies down the northern and southwestern passages, adding more complexity and excitement to the dungeon.

The players will need to stay on their toes and be prepared for anything, as random dungeons tend to be more chaotic (as I hope we find out as we go).

Overall, I am pretty excited how quickly this went together and I think it's going to be a thrilling adventure. I can't wait to see how it unfolds!

Editor's Note - While it's true that there are random dungeon generators in every edition of the DMG, we chose to focus on the 1st edition for this exercise. For many of us older players, this was how we first learned about generating random dungeons, so there's a nostalgia element involved. However, we also wanted to highlight that older books can still be valuable resources for tabletop gaming.

From inspirational material to practical examples like the one we've shared, there's still plenty of useful information to be found in older gaming books. Additionally, by using older material, you can keep your players on their toes and less likely to anticipate what's coming up next in the game. So, whether you dust off your old books or purchase new copies from a retailer like DEI Games, don't overlook the value of these classic resources.