Nothing fancy today, just a list of dungeon descriptors, helpfully listed in d100 format. Oftentimes I find myself wanting to make a new dungeon or area and am short on ideas. This list is useful for inspiration, kickstarting design with an idea or two about which ideas can be formed. Alternately, you can pick one or two as overarching themes and then flavor smaller areas with another selection. Of course you may need to get creative if you end up with conflicting descriptors that make no sense together, but if it’s too bizarre you can always ignore the one you like least and/or roll again.

Here’s an example: We’ll go with an area with two random descriptors and three sub areas each with an additional descriptor of it’s own. Our rolls* are 9, 53 , 51, 14, 90. That gives us main traits of Icy and Rectangular rooms. So we have a start of an idea. Rectangular rooms is pretty standard dungeon stuff. Icy implies cold or ice creatures and a certain environment. Maybe this is high in the mountains, deep underground, a magical cold, or far to the north/south. We’ll decide later. Our three sub zones are Large scale, Geothermal, and Non-euclidean. Giant is easy. So we have a giants’ castle in the high mountains covered in frost and ice. Under the castle we’ve got a series of geothermally active caverns. We could go fire elemental here, but I like making the geothermal energy a power source for the giant’s castle better. So the castle has steam driven gates and other cool steam type devices, as well as few “ice giant engineers”, although no steam heat. In the caverns themselves, there are a few ice giant taskmasters (nearly naked because of the heat) and a bunch of slaves that maintain the steam pipes. Beyond the castle, carved into the mountain, is a series of rooms with odd magical geometry. Let’s combine that with the ice to have sliding traps and block puzzles that rely on the non-euclidean nature of the space, placed to protect some appropriate artifact. On advice of my test audience, we’ll also add some man sized blind penguins and ice-template gibbering mouthers to this area. That even gives us three adventure hooks: against the giants, free the slaves, capture the relic.

Wet: Moldy – damp, and mold grows everywhere Wet: Flooded – ankle to waist deep water everywhere Wet: Underwater – entire place is underwater Wet: Rotten – sodden, and everything is ruined, turning into mush Dry: Crumbling – dry rot, crumbling stone Dry: Dusty – a layer of dust and grit cover everything Dry: Parched – dry air that makes you thirsty and uncomfortable Dry: Dehydrating – moving air that pulls moisture away, full of mummified husks of small creatures, etc. Cold: Icy – covered with a layer of ice, formations on walls and ceiling Cold: Clammy – cold and damp air, works through your clothes Cold: Glacial – biting cold, walls of ice Cold: Crisp – cool but invigorating Hot: Smoldering – piles of still warm ash, may have low oxygen levels Hot: Steamy – geothermal vents, geysers, etc. Hot: Magma – flows of magma (1500k about 3 times as hot as a campfire, 500k) in large rooms, heat may dissipate enough to approach, in small rooms maybe not Hot: Warm – general warmer temperature Live: Positive aura – depending on the strength, area may be covered in growth or items may animate or burst into frantic activity Live: Swarming – filled with large swarms of vermin Live: Live rock – dripping mineral water creates slow growing formations Live: Genius loci – a spirit caretaker oversees the area Dead: Bodies – corpses litter the area Dead: Negative aura – may cause a feeling of illness or unease, bolster undead or even damage the living Dead: Ruined – once worked the area is falling apart Dead: Eerie – feelings of being watched, prickling of the skin, etc. Vegetation: Overgrown/roots – plant growth and hanging roots block passages and cluster about the ground Vegetation: Flowering – strange cave flowers grow or sprout from bushes or vines Vegetation: Fungus/mold – large fungi or molds grow throughout the area Vegetation: Gardens – carefully tended (once?) gardens dot the area Natural: Solution caves – caves formed by minerals dissolving, often wet Natural: Lava tubes – formed by magma flowing out of a space, stone is hard, rooms are tunnel like Natural: Fracture caves – full of debris, layers of rock collapse to form caves Natural: Erosion caves – made by action of wind or water wearing down rock, may have strong winds or high tide Manufactured: Hewn – crudely carved out of rock, surface still shows tool marks Manufactured: Supported – soft stone supported by columns or beams Manufactured: Rough Brick – simple stone bricks carved from rock shore up and finish walls Manufactured: Advanced Brick – smaller, fancier, or simply better made stone bricks Sounds: Whistling – sound of wind forced through tight passages or over odd formations Sounds: Rumbling – perhaps an indication this area is unstable or of seismic activity Sounds: Battle noises – inhabitants often get in noisy conflict Sounds: Moaning – the wind? or something more sinister? Smells: Decay – death, decomposition, mold Smells: Dirt – the smell of earth and dirt Smells: Chemicals – strange acrid brews, sickly sweet tangs, some kind of strange chemicals are on the air Smells: Metal – the distinct smell and taste of metal, is this a metallurgists, a mine, or just an ore rich area? Denizens: Beast – area is populated with animals, predators, scavengers etc. Denizens: Lowlives – slimes, fungus monsters and insects Denizens: Magical – elementals, undead, constructs and other unnatural things Denizens: Humanoids – primitive or advanced humanoid tool users Scale: Tight – small rooms, tight passages, crawling and squeezing through tunnels Scale: Standard – normal room and passage scale Scale: Large – larger passways, huge rooms, perhaps natural or built by giants Scale: Mixed – a mix of scales, often natural but also a characteristic of an area inhabited by different sizes of creature Shapes: Rectangles – standard square and rectangular rooms Shapes: Ellipse – circles and ellipses Shapes: Angled – angled rooms other than squares and rectangles, triangles, hexagons, unusual shapes… Shapes: Natural – caves and natural passages Maintenance: Maintained – the area is being maintained, passably clean and repairs are made Maintenance: Expanding – the area is maintained and new areas are being built on the edges Maintenance: Abandoned – no one is doing maintenance, most things still work but some don’t and wear is obvious Maintenance: Collapsing – no one has done maintenance for a long time, few things work, most are broken, missing, or destroyed Airy: Strong winds – winds howl through the rooms and halls, light items are blown away, doors may be flung open or characters pushed down Airy: Cavernous – huge open caverns with vaulted ceilings Airy: Chasms – deep chasms voids and pits Airy: Open – one monstrous cavern with discrete areas within, sneak a little overland into your dungeon Architecture: Monolithic – huge construction from large slabs of rock Architecture: Sparse – clean unadorned construction Architecture: Embellished – covered with engravings, runes, patterns, etc. Architecture: Stylistic – an unusual or alien style Obscured: Foggy – mists, steam or fog blanket the area Obscured: Screened – webs, vines or other obstructions shroud the area Obscured: Magic darkness – rooms or the entire area is covered in magical darkness Obscured: Twisty – no special obstruction, just very few straight passages so vision only extends to the next bend Size: Small – your classic 5 room dungeon Size: Medium – larger complex, 5-15 rooms Size: Large – larger yet, 20-50 rooms Size: Extra large – sprawling multi-“zone” area Unique: Architecture – contains a unique piece of architecture, statuary, or other landmark Unique: Foe – contains a unique monster, NPC or the like Unique: Magic effect – contains a special magic effect, either an aura over the whole area or a specific feature like a magical portal or pool Unique: Treasure – has a special one of a kind treasure that may have its own backstory or associated quest Danger: Hazards – venomous critters, naturally occurring rockfalls, pits or fire gouts Danger: Traps – area is/was home to a trap builders and has many traps Danger: Monsters – area full of deadly monsters Danger: Curses – area holds curses or other magical dangers Treasure: Coin and items – standard treasures Treasure: Raw ore/gems – area has been or can be mined for raw ore and gems Treasure: Art – area has art objects that can be looted as treasure Treasure: Goods – not much in the way of treasure, but area has trade good that can be sold Magic: Changing – shifting walls, moving rooms and other tricks Magic: Non-euclidean – the area has a definite arrangement but its full of portals, bends in reality or other weirdness that make it difficult to map Magic: Wild – magic in this area acts unpredictable Magic: Null – magic in this area is suppressed or nullified Crystal: Studded – walls are studded with raw crystal Crystal: Monsters – monsters in this area are weird crystal versions or crystal themed monsters Crystal: Walls – this area is carved from a massive crystal deposit, glass or obsidian Crystal: Items – furniture, decorative items, tools, and weapons in this area are all made of crystals Technology: Stone – denizens of this area use stone age technology Technology: Bronze – foes in this area use bronze or another soft metal Technology: Steel – this area has steel or another hard metal technology Technology: Steam – this area features early steam tech