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Prepping a Dungeon

by Mike on 27 November 2023

Dungeons are probably my favorite structure for fantasy RPG adventures. There's a fixed location, interesting options, clear goals, and a nice flow for the game.

In the context of focusing on the minimum prep we need for a night of adventure, we're going to look at a simple way to prepare specifically for dungeon adventures.

Here's a quick summary for preparing a dungeon adventure:

Define a clear goal and session start. An NPC asks the characters to do something at a location. Alternatively, skip right to the dungeon explaining the job they've already accepted.
Pick a location. Choose a map from Dyson Logos to fit the type of location you need. Pick the first map that fits the overall purpose of the dungeon you want to run.
Write down brief chamber descriptions with one or two words. You can print your Dyson map and write the descriptions on the printout yourself with a pen or sharpie.
Write down inhabitants. These inhabitants can be a mix of monsters and NPCs. Who might the characters run into? Make sure to include some non-hostile or friendly NPCs.
Write down ten secrets and clues the characters might discover in the dungeon.
Roll for random treasure the characters might acquire such as a pile of gold and gems, a couple of consumable items, and one or maybe two nice permanent magic items.

Keeping Things Simple

It's easy to get overwhelmed when thinking about your next game. This game is so vast, how can we not get lost in the deepest reaches of our imaginations? But what if we focus down on simply running a fun dungeon delve? How can we refine the eight steps from Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master around this focus?

Here's an example of that refined list. For our dungeon delve, we need

a goal.
a location.
inhabitants.
secrets and clues.
treasure.

An NPC Offers a Job

An NPC offering a job to the characters is an easy strong start. There's lots of different potential jobs. Page 12 of the sample chapters of the Lazy DM's Companion has a list of potential goals from NPCs. When considering your dungeon delve, pages 12 and 13 of the sample (pages 6 and 7 of the Lazy DM's Companion itself) have lots of tables to inspire you.

But the easiest way to get started is for an NPC to give the characters a job to do at a location. Fill in those blanks and you're ready to go.

Alternatively, you can skip this part and jump straight outside of the dungeon and describe the job the characters already accepted. This pre-assigned mission works great for single-session and short-session games. Skip the process of receiving and accepting the job and jump right to the dungeon with quest in hand. Just tell them what their quest is and you're off to the races.

Prep the Dungeon Map

Now we need a location. Personally, I grab the first Dyson Logos map that fits the concept of the location. Dyson has over a thousand maps with just about every type of dungeon location you can imagine. Scroll through until you find the first map that suits your needs both from the style of location (worked stone versus natural caverns) and the general number of rooms you need. Don't be picky. Grab the first one that works.

Now fill in room descriptions with one or two words. One easy way is to print the map on a piece of paper, grab a pen or sharpie, and write in one or two words to describe each chamber. Don't use long descriptions. A couple of evocative words does the trick. If you need a digital version, take a picture of your hand-annotated map and put it back in your digital notes.

Handwritten labels on a Dyson map

Alternatively, write down location descriptions in a list with a vague idea about where they might go on the map. Creating this list is easier than trying to digitally edit the map to add your own annotations.

Choose Inhabitants

Now create a list of potential inhabitants. These inhabitants might be monsters. These monsters might be intelligent bad guys, mindless minions, or hungry beasts. They might be good guys or potential NPCs to talk to. If you're using a monster book of some sort, write down the page number of the stat block for the monster on your list.

If you want to go really light, write down their CRs and use the Forge of Foes monster stats by CR and monster powers to build monsters as you need them.

You don't have to decide where these monsters reside in the location. You can decide encounter locations during play. Some monsters may make sense for specific locations while others might wander about.

Include friendly NPCs as well as monsters. Offer opportunities for roleplaying. Remember your story beats.

Write Down Ten Secrets and Clues

This tip is a direct lift from the eight steps of Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master. The characters need to learn things as they explore the dungeon. Maybe it's knowledge about the location's history. Maybe it's the villain's secret plans. Maybe it's the history of the gods. The characters should gain knowledge as they explore the dungeon and interact with its inhabitants. Secrets and clues are the treasure of exploration.

Write Down some Treasure

While secrets and clues may be the treasure of exploration, it won't buy you a hot bowl of stew and a tasty beverage at the local pub. Players love loot, so give it to them. Roll up random loot from your favorite GM's guide or use one of the many online treasure generators (Sly Flourish Patrons have access to the Lazy GM's Generator with some awesome random loot options).

Include coins, interesting jewels and art objects, consumable magic items, single-use magical relics, and one or two permanent magic items suited to the characters. Like inhabitants, you can decide later where to drop this loot – often after fighting a big boss or discovering a hidden treasure vault.

What We Skip

This outline skips a few of the eight steps including:

Review the Characters. You still want to do this review if you can, but it's not any different for a dungeon delve than any other game. Reviewing the characters (and the players) is a great way to focus on what you can include that may resonate with them and what styles of play you want to reinforce during the rest of your prep.
Outline Scenes. Dungeon delves give characters the option to explore any direction they wish. Thus, we don't have a linear set of scenes. We can often omit this step for dungeon delves.
Develop NPCs. I wrapped this step up into inhabitants because you'll likely have more monsters than NPCs in a dungeon delve.

Sometimes you can skip the steps above. Other times they make sense even for a dungeon delve.

A Simple Checklist for Limitless Options

Dungeon delves give us a solid adventure structure with lots of variability. Who gave the party the job? What does the job entail? What larger purpose does the job serve? What makes the location and its inhabitants unique? Like the Seven Samurai adventure model, the dungeon delve is a fantastic framework around which to build a fun and unique session.

Hopefully, with the steps above, we can get past the nervousness we all feel and prep an awesome night of high adventure.

More Sly Flourish Stuff

This week I posted a couple of YouTube videos titled Does D&D Need High Production Value? and A Forest Dragon Wants Beer – Shadowdark Gloaming Session 12 Lazy GM Prep.

Last Week's Lazy RPG Talk Show Topics

Each week I record an episode of the Lazy RPG Talk Show (also available as a podcast) in which I talk about all things in tabletop RPGs. Here are last week's topics with time stamped links to the YouTube video:

Patreon Questions and Answers

Also on the Talk Show, I answer questions from Sly Flourish Patrons. Here are last week's questions and answers:

RPG Tips

Each week I think about what I learned in my last RPG session and write them up as D&D tips. Here are this week's tips:

Give new characters the "Heroic Spark" and avoid the tiresome "who the hell is this guy" moment of their introduction.
Understand and reinforce what motivates the characters to risk their lives in such dangerous places.
Print maps and annotate with a pen.
Your prep notes are just for you. They don't have to be fancy or complete.
Write notes to spark your memory and imagination not to publish.
Choose monsters that make sense for the situation. Then check to see if that might inadvertently wipe the characters.
Know the play structure of various situations like dungeon delving or overland exploration. How do these situations play at the table?