THE DUNGEON ARCHIVE

If you and your group are particularly fond of detailed dungeon exploration, and if your schedule allows for it, you might want to prepare your own dungeon archive.

This is straightforward: whenever you have some time, jot down a few notes about potential dungeons — a notebook is fine, but you might also choose to keep them on your device or inside the cloud storage. Then, whenever you need to "improvise" a dungeon, you can instead grab one from your archive. You'll probably need to make a few adjustments on the fly, but it's easier than having to come up with everything on the spot.

When preparing dungeons for your archive, keep the following in mind:

• Flexibility. Make sure your prepared dungeons can fit a variety of situations and environments. This will largely depend on your group's campaign world, but each dungeon should be appropriate for at least two or three areas in your world map.
• Internet is your friend. Download, print or save a variety of dungeon maps from videogames and other tabletop games (but make sure you only do so for your personal use).

You can of course draw your own dungeon layouts: an activity some find very relaxing, but one that can prove quite time-consuming as well. Be mindful about how you spend your effort!

• Connections. One of the advantages when preparing several dungeons ahead of time is that you can tie some or all of them together in many ways. You could design a set of four temples, each tied to a natural element, and place them all over the map; or you could have one dungeon contain clues to the position of another.

The biggest risk when relying on the dungeon archive is to "shoehorn" a dungeon you prepared into a location, or to refrain from an otherwise cool and unique improvised design just because it feels safer to use a prepared dungeon instead.

As the Game Master, it is your responsibility to find a balance between prepared and improvised dungeons — both have their pros and cons.

DUNGEON GENERATION TABLES

If you're in need of inspiration when creating a dungeon (whether improvising or preparing it in advance), you may roll d20s or choose options from the tables on the following pages!

Example Entry

A millenary presence ensures the dead buried within the Necropolis of Basitrale rest undisturbed.

Philip Forlenza (Order #)