The Five Minute Dungeon

Oh no! Your players are coming over and you haven't prepared! Or they've gone way off the map! No problem. Here's how to build a simple, effective dungeon really quickly.

Setup

Grab a piece of paper, and draw a box at the top of the page.

You'll build a 3-room dungeon, where each room simply connects to the next in a line.

So, draw three large boxes on your piece of paper, filling most of it. Label the boxes "1," "2," and "3," and connect them with lines (see the next page for an example).

Dungeon type

Choose the type of environment or roll for it. Write this down in the small box at the top of the page.

Environments

d6 Environment 1 Classic underground dungeon 2 Abandoned temple 3 Caves 4 Crypt 5 Sewer hideout 6 Mansion

Monsters

Choose two types of monsters: the main threat of the adventure, and another monster type that either helps the main monsters or are natural denizens of the environment. Write these down in the small box at the top of the page.

Monsters

d6 Main Monster 1 Goblins 2 Gnolls 3 Orcs 4 Trolls 5 Bandits 6 Cult d6 Supplemental Monster 1 Bats 2 Rats 3 Wolves 4 Stirges 5 Rust beetles 6 Gargoyles

The Maguffin

Invent something that the main monsters took that the PCs need to retrieve: a magic item, a victim from a nearby town, an important ritual component, etc. We'll call this the Maguffin. Write this down in the small box at the top of the page.

Room 1: Introduction

This is a foyer/entrance to the environment. This will contain half as many main monsters as PCs. Write this down in the box labeled "1" (e.g., "2 goblins").

Treat this as a basic fight, and use it to describe the dungeon and the main monsters, orienting the players to the kind of fight they should expect.

Room 2: Complication

This room contains a trap or other obstacle, and optionally contains supplemental monsters (as many as seem reasonable).

Complications

d6 Complication 1 A statue fires an arrow at a random target every turn; moving two levers on the statue deactivates it 2 Stepping on certain floor tiles causes darts to fire at the triggering creature 3 Stepping on certain floor tiles triggers a pit/spike trap 4 The greased floor causes PCs to slip in random directions 5 As soon as the PCs enter the room, doors close and water begins pouring in. Levers at the other end of the room must be pulled in a specific order to drain the water. 6 Magical runes have been inscribed on the floor, granting bonuses (such as +2 AC) to the denizens of the dungeon if they stand on them, but penalties (such as -2 on attacks) to intruders.

Write this description in the box labeled "2," as well as the supplemental monsters (e.g., "Dart trap, 2 stirges").

Room 3: The Face-Off

This room contains a large force of both monster types, about 50% more monsters as PCs, as well as the Maguffin. In the box labeled "3," write down the monster mix (e.g., "4 goblins, 2 wolves, Wand of Fireballs").

Put the Maguffin in danger at the other side of the room. Some of the monsters are about to use the magic item, kill the victim, burn the ritual component, etc. Make it clear that they will do this in a few turns unless the PCs stop them, but they'll have to get through other monsters to do so.

If possible, introduce an environmental effect here: a multi-level room, lots of cover, a lava flow, or something else to spice up the fight.

Coda

This paper was written by Brent P. Newhall in Homebrewery.