CHAPTER 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 dunge on. 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 a n 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.
BuiLDING A DuNG E O N
-·:hen you set out to create a dungeon, think about its
-· ti nctive qualities. For example, a dungeon that serves
- a hobgoblin stronghold has a different quality from
an ancient temple inhabite d by yuan-ti. This section
ys out a process for creating a dungeon and bringing - to life.
JUNGEON LOCATION
' 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 Location0 1- (^04) A buildi ng in a city
05-08 Catacombs or sewers beneath a city
09-1 2 Beneath a farmho use
13 - (^16) Beneath a graveyard
17- 22 Beneath a ruined castle
23-26 Beneath a ruined city
27 -3 0 Beneath a temple
31-34 In a chasm
35 - 38 In a cliff f ace
39-42 In a desert
43 - 46 In a forest
47-50 In a glacier
51 - 54 In a gorge
55 -5 8 In a jungle
59-62 In a mountain pass
63-66 In a swamp
67 - 70 Beneath or on top of a mesa
71-74 In sea caves
75- 78 In several connected 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
d2 0 Location
Among the branches of a tree
2 Around a geyser
3 Behind a waterfall
4 Buried in an avalanche
5
6
7
8
9
10
ll
12
l3
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
Buried in a sandstorm
Buried in volcanic ash
Castle or struct ure sunken in a swamp
Castle or structure at the bottom of a sinkhole
Floating on the sea
In a meteorite
On a demiplane or in a pocket dimension
In an area devastated by a magical catastrophe
On a cloud
In the Feywild
In the Shadowfe/1
On an island in an underground sea
In a volcano
On the back of a Gargantuan living creature
Sealed inside a magical dome of force
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
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