Dungeon Master's Guide

C HAPTER 5: ADVENTURE ENVIRONMENTS
ANY D&D ADVENTURES REVOLVE
around a dungeon setting. Dungeons
in D&D include great halls and tombs,
subterranean monster lairs, labyrinths
riddled with death traps, natural
caverns extending for miles beneath the
-urface of the world, and ruined castles.
. ot every adventure takes place in a dungeon. A
:ilderness trek across the Desert of Desolation or a
arrowing journey into the jungles of the Isle of Dread
can be an exciting adventure in its own right. In the
great outdoors, dragons wheel across the sky in search
f prey, tribes of hobgoblins pour forth from their grim
·ortresses to wage war against their neighbors, ogres
plunder farmsteads for food, and monstrous spiders
op from the web-shrouded canopies of trees.
Within a dungeon, adventurers are constrained by
:ails and doors around them, but in the wilderness,
adventurers can travel in almost any direction they
please. Therein lies the key difference between dungeon
and wilderness: it's much easier to predict where the
adventuring party might go in the dungeon because the
ptions are limited- less so in the wilderness.
illages, towns, and cities are cradles of civilization
n a dangerous world, but they too offer opportunities
· r adventure. Encounters with monsters ·might seem
Jlllikely within a city's walls, but urban settings have
· eir own villains and perils. Evil, after all, takes many
·orms, and urban settings aren't always the safe havens
.hey seem to be.
This chapter provides an overview of these three
environments plus a few unusual environments, taking
:-ou through the process of creating an adventure
ocation, with plenty of random tables to inspire you.
DUNGEONS
- me dungeons are old strongholds abandoned by the
• lk who built them. Others are natural caves or weird
..airs carved out by foul monsters. They attract evil cults,
onster tribes, and reclusive creatures. Dungeons are
o home to ancient treasures: coins, gems, magic
-ems, and other valuables hidden away in the darkness,
ften guarded by traps or jealously kept by the monsters
· at have collected them.
B uiLDING A DuNGEO N
-·:hen you set out to create a dungeon, think about its
-· tinctive qualities. For example, a dungeon that serves
- a hobgoblin stronghold has a different quality from
an ancient temple inhabited by yuan-ti. This section
ys out a process for creating a dungeon and bringing
- to life.
JUNGEON LOCAT ION
' ou can use the Dungeon Location table to determine
.he locale of your dungeon. You can roll on the table or
oose an entry that inspires you.
DUNGEON LOCATION
dlOO Location
01-04 A building in a city
05-08 Catacombs or sewers beneath a city
09-1 2 Beneath a farmhouse
13- 16 Beneath a graveyard
17- 22 Beneath a ruined castle
23-26 Beneath a ruined city
27-30 Beneath a temple
31-34 In a chasm
35- 38 In a cliff face
39-42 In a desert
43 - 46 In a fore st
47-50 In a glacier
51 - 54 In a gorge
55-58 In a jungle
59-62 In a mountain pa ss
63-66 In a swamp
67- 70 Beneath or on top of a mesa
71-74 In sea caves
75-78 In several conn ected mesas
79-82 On a mountain peak
83-86 On a promontory
87-90 On an island
91 - 95 Underwater
96-00 Roll on the Exotic Location table
EXOTIC LOCATION
d20
Location
Among the branches of a tree
2 Around a geyser
3 Behind a waterfal l
4 Buried in an avalanche
5 Buried in a sandstorm
6 Buried in volcanic ash
7 Castle or structure sunken in a swamp
8 Castle or structure at the bottom of a sinkhole
9 Floating on the sea
10 In a meteorite
ll On a demiplane or in a pocket dimension
12 In an area devastated by a magical catastrophe
l3 On a cloud
14 In the Feywild
15 In the Shadowfe/1
16 On an island in an underground sea
17 In a volcano
18 On the back of a Gargantuan living creature
19 Sealed inside a magical dome of force
20 Inside a Mordenkainen's magnificent mansion
DUNGEON CREATOR
A dungeon reflects its creators. A lost temple of the
yuan-ti, choked by overgrown jungle plants, might
feature ramps instead of stairs. Caverns carved by a
CHAPTER 5 I ADVENTURE ENVIRONMENTS
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