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I think that using brain and creativity is the most important thing/step. Without those the dungeon is mere chain of simple encounters. With using head the dungeon begins to live it's own life creating new own realm. Traps, peoples, puzzles, architrcture, troubles, planar portals - there's a lot to throw at players but there are also a hours or days of work/fun. Depends on your very own DM's ambition. Have a nice time!
Yes I totally agree. I dungeonmaster exercising their own creativity is huge. This is why I often refuse to answer questions about what a dungeon master should do next in their campaign or how they should Implement a particular idea or something. I want dungeon Master's to do that stuff and use their own creativity you know?
@@theDMLair yes I know. Hope they'll use their own ideas more often. I basicly run right now a campaing based on backstories of PCs but I also create campaing which will be a background for them and basicly "the true campaing" which is homebrew and if players won't do anything then... Who knows? A big bad evil guys will create their own evil Empires which will fight 'till death. So after all it is my job to use creativity and basic rules of ttrpg to make game intresting. I also made a homebrew "sesi0n;zero" campaing which showed how to play - not only to players but also to me 'cuz it's my first d&d game ever. It was fully homebrew and I (players too) had a lot of fun. They also suprised me - one of them drunk active red dragon blood (random trinkets table from Player's Handbook - I shouldn't gave it to them) and almost died. I was shocked because they were talking to BBEG of sesi0n;zero. Second player run into the forest, out of BBEG village after the first drunk that blood. Thankfully, before taking a sip of dangerous drink he persuaded BBEG to just let them alive and they'll let him alive too. But after waking up, he came after the second player (almost killed the second) and kicked BBEG ass. Aw, BBEG did not slept that night. Btw sorry for "Engrish" and thanks for replying. I am glad to see that someone actualy teach others how to be a very good DM. Hope you'll enjoy playing and teaching d&d as most as it's possible for you. So I am going to my lair find some "spicy stuff" which I can add into d&d. Have a nice time!
I am usually not a massive fan of the opening skits, although their existence is welcome. But this one truly cracked me up, especially with the Wizard's reaction to the Rogue's outburst.
@@simonjohnston3100 I would say steal both ideas and maps (take inspiration) and make them yours (rework them using your own creativity to make something original); which is what anyone does when applying a creative process.
I think that is more like: "don't let others to do the homeworks for you 'cause you'll never get better at it. Anyway creativity doesn't spawn from nothing, use the creativity of others (manuals, 3td party stuff, free content on internet) to feed your own adding twists and stuff or changing everything or as you like. Especially for difficoult things like a map or stuff"
I found this extremely helpful! Timestamps for the tips below: #1. Determine the storyline 1:58 #2. Pick some Monsters for the dungeon 4:31 #3. Develop Important NPCs and Locations 5:51 #4. Make the dungeon already! 7:11 #5. Create the Plot Hook 10:34 #6. Create some random encounters 12:16 #7. Create the Resolution 12:40
@@theDMLair The {} I put folks thru for asking if there is an Immovable Rod they can buy.... BTW some of MY immovable rods are immovable relative to this center of the galaxy, not the center of the nearest gravity well. Rogue presses button, rod moves in an almost straight line skyward at 34,000kmph. HAHAHA!
@@williamwontiam3166 I would not allow it unless the immovable rod had a very low "Break" limit, like 5-15 pounds of force. I would still be at the mercy of any mechanical engineers playing. so yeah, no. Immovable rods have a still point that is set at creation and always relates to a gravity well, just maybe not the nearest or strongest one.
Oh yea i have made entire campaigns from just one really powerful item, and then the enemies and reasons for that item come after in the building process lol
Dungeon Idea: The Frozen Temple Dungeon Theme: The dungeon suffers from extreme cold, ice elemental creatures, and basic block puzzles to progress. Dungeon Treasure: Frost Brand + a small treasure hoard. The "Trap": Removing the Frost Brand from its pedestal releases its magical hold on the temple. All the ice in the temple magically melts within 10 minutes. All those ice blocks and chunks you used to open puzzles? They're now back to being normal oozes now. Good luck getting out. Dungeon Storyboard: During the height of the temple's days a few hundred years ago, a portal was accidentally linked to Juubilix's realm and a horde of oozes swarmed the temple, killing most of the inhabitants. In a last ditch effort, the high cultist called upon the power of Levistus to seal the portal and the spawn of Juubilix. Now the player's will get a nifty new blade, but will have to deal with the portal before things get out of hand.
Ooh, slush oozes would be an awesome custom monster! Maybe when the ice melts the oozes where there already but frozen and now they're thawed enough to move around! Would also be an awesome obstacle for the players trying to escape while ice boulders and shards of ice are falling as the dungeon thaws.
Maybe a variation on how the dungeon was created is the process a wizard used to create the item was too powerful and froze everything. He's still frozen next to the magic item and the oozes were his servants before everything froze. This would also make an awesome backwards dungeon where the challenge isn't getting in but getting out. Talk about a mixing it up!
When I first started watching the DMs lair I hated the opening skits. THEY DROVE ME NUTS. But They grew on me. Now I love them. They are my favourite part. Nice work.
Luke: "Don't take shortcuts like consulting the social to make your adventures." Also Luke "Join me for the livestream where we'll make an adventure together!" Looking forward to watching the stream, Thanks again for doing these videos for us.
"Somebody broke our rogue!" that killed me I love making dungeons that have fakeouts. Looks like a fight? Not necessarily. Seems like an innocent commoner? Nah it's a rakshasa :x
I hit mine with a white dragon that was actually friendly. They sent a giant Weasel from a bag of tricks into its lair to investigate and it never came back, so they tried, badly, to stealth in, only to find an adult while dragon with the damn weasel trapped under its claws. They about shit themselves when it looked at them and asked if the weasel was theirs, made for an amazing fakeout.
The thing about fake outs is to have a little bit of foreshadowing, like if the players try they can find some clues that something isn't as it appears. Also avoid overuse or your players will expect everything to be a fakeout which ruins the whole point of the "plot twist"
So I picked out appropriate monsters for a set of wandering monster encounters, and wrote them down on cards. When I mentioned that in an online group, other people said that was far too much work, and that I was overthinking things. I'm glad someone else thought it was a good idea.
Once a year, ask the players to make a short list of things each player wants to find. Each list should include monsters, N.P.C.s, traps and treasures. Make an adventure out of 3 items from each list.
These are some useful advice not only to create dungeons, but any part of the game. Call "dungeon rooms" your sessions and with this same procedure you'll create a nice adventure, call rooms your adventures and you'll get a campaign.
Oh dude dungeon of the Mad Mage is such a great module. Every time I read one of the levels I completely love it. It's a big book so I haven't read the whole thing but I'm super impressed by the plot lines the story all the different things that are packed into the a simple level single level. Is a very cool
I just realized I didn't click the bell for a notification when you release a video. How could I fail so many perception checks? 😅 Anyway I liked the video and will be notified when more come out, really enjoy watching your channel.
Hey thanks a lot dude. Yeah I can't bring myself to tell people to click the bell in my videos or to click the thumbs up button or to subscribe. I know a lot of people do it but it just feels sleazy to me.
"so long as it has walls and a roof it's a dungeon" I think I might have made a swamp into a dungeon xD. The party was traveling to find this massive croc to kill I made some encounters along the way so it kind of became a bit like a dungeon. Including a hut of a warlock of the archfey with her pet scarecrow that they could have a civil chat with and buy potions. An ancient watchtower with stone cursed and a deathlock wight trapped inside it. Swarms of wasps. a statue that gave temp hp on donations. And a few more things.
Replace "wall" with "boundary" and "roof" with "canopy" and you have a forest dungeon. Swamps make great dungeons: lots of potential enivormental hazards, spooky atmosphere, remote from cities, etc.
I always find inspiration hits me when I least expect it and can be drawn from anywhere so I always have a note pad and pen handy to scribble down plots.
Thanks, Luke! You actually take the exact opposite approach from how I do it. Yes, old school D&D... we just stocked a bunch of rooms with level appropriate monsters. Today, I start with a story. I don't go to Monster Manual or Volo's, etc. until I have decided what the plot is... THEN, I consider what sorts of people or creatures are appropriate for the adventure. I never even considered starting with Volo's... or Mordenkainen's... so, thank you! I might try that out at some point...
I love inverting the whole dungeon formula. Instead of trying to entice the players into entering the dungeon and exploring it. The players start in the dungeon, (Perhaps the players start as prisoners, or they all fall through an oversize trap door. ) and the theme becomes about escape.
Reading the monster books just overwhelm my brain. My favorite inspiration is reading books or short stories. I TEND to look toward not-fantasy books, if only because my players will be less likely to have read them.
recently i started off a campaign with a rediscovered tomb filled with gnolls trying to convert it from a knightly orders base to a shrine to the raven queen so she will take away their endless hunger it set up a few future boss fights (leader of a wereraven assassin guild & higher lv gnolls) a mystery/goal of resurrecting the lost knightly order players enjoyed it all from thinking up a warlock/rogue that could turn into a raven to inspiration can come from anything
I am writing a game with heavy dark souls inspiration. I love the tone and the story and stuff but like I SUCK as a dm about encounters and locations so thanks for this!
One day when I become a bbeg, I'll have to build the biggest most impressive dungeons, with the biggest baddies to guard my hordes of treasure and magical items from pesky adventurers. I'll even have a gelatinous cube pet I'll use as an adorable roomba. I just need to think of a good name for him. Hmm.
I still don't know why people correct my pronunciation. Like at this point I feel like we should just throw in the towel and accept that I'm never going to pronounce anything correctly. Lol :-)
This is Fantastic, I’ve done a lot of what points you touched on min this video. And I’m gonna reread my One Shot adventure to incorporate anything you mentioned that I missed. Thank you so much for your great videos. You make being a new DM less scary😊🤓
In my mind, even cities are dungeons. They have entances and exits. Most of the encounters are social. Instead of rooms it has buildings (I divide the buildings into 4 areas for ease. North, south, east, west and sometimes central). Cities have a theme, a feel, sometimes a few problems and a few main persons of contact.
Loving your channel Luke! You and I follow a very similar DM philosophy. As a long time game master, theres less than a handful of the many D&D channels out there that I feel I can learn a few things from and yours is one of them.
I made a compilation back in January or February and it was a complete failure of a video. Nobody watched it. LOL so to answer your question no I'm never going to do that again. I put more work into that video than probably any of my other videos because it was very difficult to make that compilation. And then at the end of the day nobody watched it. It kind of sucked but you know you do stuff like that and then you learn from it.
Thank you very much about the character 11 part though. I really appreciate that. The skits take up easily the same amount of time as doing the talking head parts of the videos. So I'm happy to hear that you enjoy them.
I have to disagree with one point here. I've gone to the "hive mind" of Facebook and Reddit for help with a dungeon, but I only ever use it for inspiration for more ideas than the ones I have. And just reading through posts other people have made is also a great source of inspiration. I can count on one hand the number of times I've looked into the hive mind for solid advice and taken it all to heart.
Understanding what monsters work together takes reading "the fine print". When reading the Monster Manual or other tomes, take the time to read their lore. Take the over-used Goblin, for example. From the MM, we know: Goblins have an affinity with rats and wolves. Okay, so that means that you could also have Giant Rate, Swarms of Rats, an Wererats hidden among them. Take that a step further and you have a Goblin Wererat boss. Since wolves are included, you could also have Dire Wolves and possibly even a Werewolf. They also ride and have good relations with Worgs. Now, going into Volo's , we know that Hobgoblin war parties an include Goblins and Bugbears. We know that Hobgoblins use Ravens as spies. There are also various kinds of Goblins, Bugbears and Hobgoblins. There's also the Nilbog...and that's a whole other kettle of fish. Hobgoblins work well with other Lawful Evil types should their motives align. Consider, then, a Fire Giant boss down the line too. A Green Dragon would not be above commanding Hobgoblin armies to serve it's ends. From Volo's we also know that Barghests pose as, yet hunt, Goblins. So...from "Goblin", we get: Goblin Rats Swarms of Rats Giant Rats Wererat Wolf Dire Wolf Werewolf Worgs Nilbog Hobgoblins Ravens Swarm of Ravens Hobgoblin Captains Hobgoblin Warlord Hobgoblin Devastators Hobgoblin Iron Shadows Bugbear Bugbear Chief Barghest and possibly a Fire Giant or even Green Dragon end boss. So, from just "Goblin", we now have a whole campaign of minions, servants, beasts, spies, assassins, wizards, cavalry, mini-bosses, lieutenants, bosses, and BBEG. We have conquest vs freedom, a possible fiend connection, and what that may tie to in the end. That's dungeons and dungeons of this, broken up by intrigue and whatever.
Great video I am going to make a Kobold Dungeon for my player's the main plot hook is that the Kobolds mined their way into the Sewers Underneath the city of Everdale I was thinking on how to make the dungeon a lot more fun for my players than just "you see kobold number 87 what do you do?" and now i'm going to make the dungeon and other things to go along with it
I love the donjon random dungeon generator site for inspirations. It can generate different types of dungeons depending on your criteria and populate the dungeon with loot, traps, and monsters if you want.
It’s so refreshing to have a DM with the same ideas on the game. My group still play 2e and I’m still expanding the campaign we started 3 years ago. I have to deal with 10 players and they can’t get enough. If you want a great DnD games, definitely follow the tips on this channel. Great stuff, love it.
elendiel I love it. It feels like an anticlimax with less players. I’m taking a break at the moment whilst I write up more content, so having to be a PC, boring!😁
@@mikewickham1767 How do you make sure everybody gets their turn to roleplay and be an equal part of the fun? I personally could not handle more than 5 players, and I prefer playing with 4 =)
elendiel at the beginning of every session I choose an order to go round to each player and ask what they are going to do. If another player wants to responds, they indicate that they want to say/do something. Also at the beginning of each session the group chooses a spokesperson, to tell me what a group decisions maybe. Combat is easy as initiative determines what order everyone goes in, I count from 1 and each player lets me know it’s their turn, and I continue counting up until the round is finished. It’s very organised and reasonably quick considering how many there are of us. I’m descriptive during the combat, so keeps everyone captivated, and some of my NPCs tend to be rememberable to make the role playing fun. Don’t get me wrong, we have a mixed group, some prefer to role play, others to solve puzzles and some love the combat. I must be doing something right as I’ve DMed this group for over 3 years now, with a month or two break for others to DM, which is the case at present, but I’ve got everyone asking when I’ve written enough for me to continue with the campaign and DM again. I’ve played in groups as a PC (very very rarely) with around 4-6 PCs and things have been very disorganised, chaotic and a bit boring. I do plan a lot, but still have to improvise a lot. I agree with nearly everything the DM Lair has to say, so follow his vids and things become quite easy.
One thing that you can do if you aren’t good at drawing maps is to get some old dungeon modules from earlier editions of D&D. They usually have some great maps that you can repurpose for your adventures. You can also use the adventures in the modules for idea mines, or even just use the adventure itself because a lot of them are pretty good.
Yes, Padawan are Jedi in training. Specifically the apprentices who stopped learning solely in the temple and now work directly under a Knight. Does not mean they can not bake. They are supposed and encouraged to learn all kinds of stuff.
Extra Credits has a very good break down of the bottom level of baldur's gate's Durlag's Tower, there are some pretty good advices on how to build dungeons from that example as well
One thing Luke didn't mention, but which I find is critically important, is player backstories. Maybe a character was once part of an organization? What if someone from that organization wants to talk to that character, and maybe even ask them to act on their adventuring skills and do them a favor? Recently, I wanted a dungeon for a game session and didn't know what to do. So, I took the fact that one of my characters was a warlock of Hadar and used that to create a dungeon based around a Hadar-worshipping cult. The cult communicated with the player via dreams, and called them to to the dungeon, where they overcame a variety of trials before just going to town on some ghouls. It wasn't the world's greatest dungeon, but the fact that it had a very personal attachment to a member of the party made it far more memorable than if it had just been a random plot hook and a dungeon that just existed for something to do that week.
Just a few ideas that are going round in my head, feedback welcome: A warren of minor pests- the enemies can have multiple in a square but only one pc at a time. Emphasis would be on marching comp. and sight lines. Would a nest of rats underground really have a ceiling high enough for a Goliath to walk around without issue? Would there be any light at all or would other senses be more important? Are they wild or being controlled by a Pied Piper like figure? An Orc stronghold: how many orcs in the area? Are there prisoners? What security is like? Lair actions available in certain locations of the map as long as enemies exist there? Why are you invading?
Opening skit makes a great point: DMs, whether they realise it or not, are constantly training their players in how to be a player in one of their games. If you find yourself with a table full of murder hobos, the first question you should ask yourself is, "Did I do this?"
Yep; the Barbarian is definitely the Best :3 Great vid as always! As a lonely forever irl DM it’s reassuring to hear that your way of doing thing isn’t so far from the way others do : D
I choose the map first. The layout inspires what the dungeon could contain. Then I decide what level the adventure is for and choose appropriate monsters. I consider how the monsters behave when the adventurers aren't around. The story come sfrom there. Then the hook.
Party: well what's in it for us? QG: A king's ransom Party: we're in Party: ok, we did your quest, now give us our reward QG: ok, here you go *tosses them a king tied to a chair. Enjoy that ransom And then he skips town while the party gets chased by a the kings army
One thing I try to do, and this is a rather advanced technique among story telling: theme. By this I mean have the dungeon feel different from everything else in some way (and from my experience, it helps A LOT when you try to put it in words. Do NOT share this with your players!!!) A good example of this would be the King's Cage in Critical Role. First off, the warning at the beginning of the cave, written in Celestial and warning of something that couldn't be destroyed, only sealed, hopefully for eternity. Through both allusions to divinity and something they feared, this immediately brings up a sense of dread. Then inside, we see skeletons of angels, Celestials, or Aasimars, and the combination of divine and profane with the image of angels weeping blood. An adamantine portcullis further reinforces, subtly, that this is place was not taken lightly by celestial beings, furthering your sense of dread, as well as the oboe music the more perceptive of them hear: harmless in and of itself, but creating a sense of mystery and dread by how out of place it is. The torture chamber, where they are beset by a never ending wave of undead, forcing them to harvest their hearts, more profane in this place possibly build by angels. Then there was the chasm that I don't want to talk about. And the entire time they experience a darkness that hampers light and even magical dark vision, only furthering the dread by both making it harder to see any potential threats and subtly reenforcing that they are messing with powers WAY beyond them. So the theme of this dungeon is: create a sense of dread using both overt imagery of and subtle allusions to divinity being matched and profaned by an evil the players know they are walking towards.
Thank you! For what it's worth the background music volume is something that I pay attention to often ask my Editor to revise. Sometimes it comes into hot sometimes it comes into quiet.
The problem I have with a campaign that recently popped into my head is that 4 (yes, 4) cities surrounding an abandoned fortress have suffered attacks from various types of baddies, though how to bring them together is where my aforementioned problem lies: One city was ravaged by undead Another was taken over by a Cult worshipping Tiamat A third fell prey to a band of marauders consisting of assorted humanoids such as gnolls and orcs The final one became inhabited by Yuan-Ti after falling several years prior The fortress in question is the focal point of the entire campaign The 4 cities expanding from each grand palace towards the fortress makes things difficult since they all want to wipe each other out and claim each other city for its own side, but it spells doom for everyone; the players I want to take part in it need guidance on it all since all 4 cities need to be explored before the fortress is accessible. I know it's a big matter and I might be biting off more than I can chew, but it's going to be the very first campaign I'll ever host and I want it to be very special; time is my #1 enemy though.
I'm sorry, did I misunderstand something? "Don't go to Facebook and ask the hive mind for ideas." "Do Google searches online to find inspiration for your dungeons."
Hey Mr. Hart, this is really good information for a lot of new DMs, but I'd like to challenge you (because I just want to watch the world burn). I'd love to see a video on how to create and/or improv a dungeon in 5 minutes or less.
Thank you Luke. "Hello, I am a Dungeon Master, and I too steal maps from Google Image Search and then photoshop the hell out of it for my own purposes." I feel better now.
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I think that using brain and creativity is the most important thing/step. Without those the dungeon is mere chain of simple encounters. With using head the dungeon begins to live it's own life creating new own realm. Traps, peoples, puzzles, architrcture, troubles, planar portals - there's a lot to throw at players but there are also a hours or days of work/fun. Depends on your very own DM's ambition. Have a nice time!
Yes I totally agree. I dungeonmaster exercising their own creativity is huge. This is why I often refuse to answer questions about what a dungeon master should do next in their campaign or how they should Implement a particular idea or something. I want dungeon Master's to do that stuff and use their own creativity you know?
Love the skits!
@@theDMLair yes I know. Hope they'll use their own ideas more often. I basicly run right now a campaing based on backstories of PCs but I also create campaing which will be a background for them and basicly "the true campaing" which is homebrew and if players won't do anything then... Who knows? A big bad evil guys will create their own evil Empires which will fight 'till death. So after all it is my job to use creativity and basic rules of ttrpg to make game intresting. I also made a homebrew "sesi0n;zero" campaing which showed how to play - not only to players but also to me 'cuz it's my first d&d game ever. It was fully homebrew and I (players too) had a lot of fun. They also suprised me - one of them drunk active red dragon blood (random trinkets table from Player's Handbook - I shouldn't gave it to them) and almost died. I was shocked because they were talking to BBEG of sesi0n;zero. Second player run into the forest, out of BBEG village after the first drunk that blood. Thankfully, before taking a sip of dangerous drink he persuaded BBEG to just let them alive and they'll let him alive too. But after waking up, he came after the second player (almost killed the second) and kicked BBEG ass. Aw, BBEG did not slept that night. Btw sorry for "Engrish" and thanks for replying. I am glad to see that someone actualy teach others how to be a very good DM. Hope you'll enjoy playing and teaching d&d as most as it's possible for you. So I am going to my lair find some "spicy stuff" which I can add into d&d. Have a nice time!
How to fix the rogue
Step1: make an annoying NPC with lots of money
Step2: wait
underrated comment tbh
If a rogue is in my campaign, i will definitly use that.
Rogue : "I just want to have a civil conversasion !"
Me : I know that feeling bro
And the poor Rogue will probably never get his wish. It'll just be stabby stabby dungeon after dungeon after dungeon
They seem to be rare these days.
you'd think he was posting RUclips comments, or something.
I am usually not a massive fan of the opening skits, although their existence is welcome. But this one truly cracked me up, especially with the Wizard's reaction to the Rogue's outburst.
When the wizard drops his pipe, you know something's wrong... Terribly wrong.
I know I did you see all of those like ashes and stuff go flying across the table? It was horrible clean that mess up. LOL
4:18 "Don't go on the Internet to steal dungeons ideas, use your creativity!"
8:25 "Go on the Internet and steal ideas for dungeons maps".
Oook. :D
Yeah this is a classic example of why you both should and should not listen to anything that I have to say. Lol :-)
Steal content, not ideas.
Wouldn't it make more sense to steal ideas and personalise them than to steal content?
@@simonjohnston3100 I would say steal both ideas and maps (take inspiration) and make them yours (rework them using your own creativity to make something original); which is what anyone does when applying a creative process.
I think that is more like: "don't let others to do the homeworks for you 'cause you'll never get better at it. Anyway creativity doesn't spawn from nothing, use the creativity of others (manuals, 3td party stuff, free content on internet) to feed your own adding twists and stuff or changing everything or as you like. Especially for difficoult things like a map or stuff"
I found this extremely helpful!
Timestamps for the tips below:
#1. Determine the storyline 1:58
#2. Pick some Monsters for the dungeon 4:31
#3. Develop Important NPCs and Locations 5:51
#4. Make the dungeon already! 7:11
#5. Create the Plot Hook 10:34
#6. Create some random encounters 12:16
#7. Create the Resolution 12:40
"He's not the hero we deserve, but the one we need"
Somebody broke our rouge.
Hilarious
The bigger question is who's going to fix the Rogue because somebody has to stab things.
Oh no! Not the makeup! Someone fix it!
@@Alexs229 quit farding around.
I get the same kind of inspiration from reading about magical items
Oh yeah that's a really good point. Magic items could become like a catalyst for a quest itself.
@@theDMLair The {} I put folks thru for asking if there is an Immovable Rod they can buy....
BTW some of MY immovable rods are immovable relative to this center of the galaxy, not the center of the nearest gravity well.
Rogue presses button, rod moves in an almost straight line skyward at 34,000kmph. HAHAHA!
John Hansen well, what if the players choose what the rods immovable relative too? That might be begging for some nuts armor.
@@williamwontiam3166 I would not allow it unless the immovable rod had a very low "Break" limit, like 5-15 pounds of force. I would still be at the mercy of any mechanical engineers playing. so yeah, no. Immovable rods have a still point that is set at creation and always relates to a gravity well, just maybe not the nearest or strongest one.
Oh yea i have made entire campaigns from just one really powerful item, and then the enemies and reasons for that item come after in the building process lol
Dungeon Idea:
The Frozen Temple
Dungeon Theme:
The dungeon suffers from extreme cold, ice elemental creatures, and basic block puzzles to progress.
Dungeon Treasure:
Frost Brand + a small treasure hoard.
The "Trap":
Removing the Frost Brand from its pedestal releases its magical hold on the temple. All the ice in the temple magically melts within 10 minutes. All those ice blocks and chunks you used to open puzzles? They're now back to being normal oozes now.
Good luck getting out.
Dungeon Storyboard:
During the height of the temple's days a few hundred years ago, a portal was accidentally linked to Juubilix's realm and a horde of oozes swarmed the temple, killing most of the inhabitants.
In a last ditch effort, the high cultist called upon the power of Levistus to seal the portal and the spawn of Juubilix.
Now the player's will get a nifty new blade, but will have to deal with the portal before things get out of hand.
also they run the risk of drowning and hypothermia from freezing water
Ooh, slush oozes would be an awesome custom monster! Maybe when the ice melts the oozes where there already but frozen and now they're thawed enough to move around! Would also be an awesome obstacle for the players trying to escape while ice boulders and shards of ice are falling as the dungeon thaws.
Maybe a variation on how the dungeon was created is the process a wizard used to create the item was too powerful and froze everything. He's still frozen next to the magic item and the oozes were his servants before everything froze. This would also make an awesome backwards dungeon where the challenge isn't getting in but getting out. Talk about a mixing it up!
I honestly just love how you incorporated the Blood War into the temple making it full evil but subtly shows the conflict of law and chaos.
This is genius, definitely using this
I love how Luke's hair just gets taller as we get into quarantine. I dig it.
When I first started watching the DMs lair I hated the opening skits. THEY DROVE ME NUTS.
But
They grew on me. Now I love them. They are my favourite part.
Nice work.
Luke: "Don't take shortcuts like consulting the social to make your adventures."
Also Luke "Join me for the livestream where we'll make an adventure together!"
Looking forward to watching the stream, Thanks again for doing these videos for us.
YES! A cutaway to the Barbarian knitting. I wonder where that idea came from 🤣🤣🤣🤣
"Somebody broke our rogue!" that killed me
I love making dungeons that have fakeouts. Looks like a fight? Not necessarily. Seems like an innocent commoner? Nah it's a rakshasa :x
I hit mine with a white dragon that was actually friendly. They sent a giant Weasel from a bag of tricks into its lair to investigate and it never came back, so they tried, badly, to stealth in, only to find an adult while dragon with the damn weasel trapped under its claws. They about shit themselves when it looked at them and asked if the weasel was theirs, made for an amazing fakeout.
The thing about fake outs is to have a little bit of foreshadowing, like if the players try they can find some clues that something isn't as it appears. Also avoid overuse or your players will expect everything to be a fakeout which ruins the whole point of the "plot twist"
So I picked out appropriate monsters for a set of wandering monster encounters, and wrote them down on cards. When I mentioned that in an online group, other people said that was far too much work, and that I was overthinking things. I'm glad someone else thought it was a good idea.
I don't know why... but the wizard dropping his pipe in the intro just made me break into laughter.
I love the Wizards reaction 00:50 😂😂
The poor wizard lost his pipe and all of the contents. And then we had to clean it up off the table and now there are Scorch marks in the table.😌
Holy Carp that Wizard is smoking some hot stuff 😂
One of the better intros this time, lol. "Somebody broke our rogue!" Can relate.xD
"or did Disney screw that up, too?"
I haven't got a clue what you're talking about, but the answer is yes.
Well said! 😂
As a newer DM, I really really appreciate videos like these! Thanks so much!
8:30 Good artists borrow. Great artists steal.
Tis so surreal and amazing to see one of my sticker designs pop out and meet me online at 9:26! Awesome video!
I couldn’t agree more with the “use this skill to flex that creative muscle” SO TRUE!!!
Once a year, ask the players to make a short list of things each player wants to find. Each list should include monsters, N.P.C.s, traps and treasures. Make an adventure out of 3 items from each list.
That's a cool idea. Makes sure players find things that interest them on their adventures.
What can be really cool is if they forget that they gave you the list, yet they find the things they want.
"My character wouldn't go into this dungeon" well it looks like you need to create a different character!
Ok, I have only watched the through 1:05 right now, (don't worry, I'm still watching it), but I love the intros for your videos.
These are some useful advice not only to create dungeons, but any part of the game. Call "dungeon rooms" your sessions and with this same procedure you'll create a nice adventure, call rooms your adventures and you'll get a campaign.
The look of fear on the druids face is amazing
Don't mind me, just taking notes to implement them on my Dungeon of the Mad Mage game :D
Very helpful video as always
Oh dude dungeon of the Mad Mage is such a great module. Every time I read one of the levels I completely love it. It's a big book so I haven't read the whole thing but I'm super impressed by the plot lines the story all the different things that are packed into the a simple level single level. Is a very cool
@@theDMLair pathetic. *just sitting here having memorized each and every official WoTC book(excluding wildemount)*
That's impressive Orion.
@@theDMLair thank quarantine. And my addiction to D&D.
I just realized I didn't click the bell for a notification when you release a video. How could I fail so many perception checks? 😅
Anyway I liked the video and will be notified when more come out, really enjoy watching your channel.
Hey thanks a lot dude. Yeah I can't bring myself to tell people to click the bell in my videos or to click the thumbs up button or to subscribe. I know a lot of people do it but it just feels sleazy to me.
Thanks for great videos I been DM since 1978 and have always enjoyed playing the DM just getting to start a new group
The druid's reaction to the rogue wanting to have a civil conversation was hilarious. 😂
So the Hag wanna turn all the kids into Lori's... The horror
Someone broke the rogue!
Lol!
Hey dude yeah can you possibly help fix him?
"so long as it has walls and a roof it's a dungeon"
I think I might have made a swamp into a dungeon xD. The party was traveling to find this massive croc to kill I made some encounters along the way so it kind of became a bit like a dungeon. Including a hut of a warlock of the archfey with her pet scarecrow that they could have a civil chat with and buy potions.
An ancient watchtower with stone cursed and a deathlock wight trapped inside it. Swarms of wasps. a statue that gave temp hp on donations. And a few more things.
Dude heck yeah. I have made plenty of outdoor locations essentially dungeons.:-)
Replace "wall" with "boundary" and "roof" with "canopy" and you have a forest dungeon. Swamps make great dungeons: lots of potential enivormental hazards, spooky atmosphere, remote from cities, etc.
I always find inspiration hits me when I least expect it and can be drawn from anywhere so I always have a note pad and pen handy to scribble down plots.
Ironically, my party has a Tabaxi Barbarian who likes to knit, so much that he now has proficiency in knitting tools.
Thanks, Luke!
You actually take the exact opposite approach from how I do it.
Yes, old school D&D... we just stocked a bunch of rooms with level appropriate monsters.
Today, I start with a story. I don't go to Monster Manual or Volo's, etc. until I have decided what the plot is...
THEN, I consider what sorts of people or creatures are appropriate for the adventure.
I never even considered starting with Volo's... or Mordenkainen's... so, thank you! I might try that out at some point...
My party: watcha doin?
Me tracing a map of the Water Temple: noootthhhinggg
This realy helped me decide how to run my campaign for my middle school Thank You
I love inverting the whole dungeon formula.
Instead of trying to entice the players into entering the dungeon and exploring it. The players start in the dungeon, (Perhaps the players start as prisoners, or they all fall through an oversize trap door. ) and the theme becomes about escape.
Reading the monster books just overwhelm my brain. My favorite inspiration is reading books or short stories. I TEND to look toward not-fantasy books, if only because my players will be less likely to have read them.
Well made! A great breakdown of the end to end process of a single adventure arc. I feel much more organized with my approach to this now!
recently i started off a campaign with a rediscovered tomb filled with gnolls trying to convert it from a knightly orders base to a shrine to the raven queen so she will take away their endless hunger it set up a few future boss fights (leader of a wereraven assassin guild & higher lv gnolls) a mystery/goal of resurrecting the lost knightly order players enjoyed it all from thinking up a warlock/rogue that could turn into a raven to inspiration can come from anything
I am writing a game with heavy dark souls inspiration. I love the tone and the story and stuff but like I SUCK as a dm about encounters and locations so thanks for this!
One day when I become a bbeg, I'll have to build the biggest most impressive dungeons, with the biggest baddies to guard my hordes of treasure and magical items from pesky adventurers. I'll even have a gelatinous cube pet I'll use as an adorable roomba. I just need to think of a good name for him. Hmm.
You have amazing content for new and veteran GMs, thank you!
This is perfect, I’m running a multilevel dungeon leading up to the BBEG fight this Friday for a campaign I’m running with my family.
"Someone broke our Rogue" LOL! And someone get that Fighter a straw. :)
BTW, "Tomb" is pronounced "toom."
I still don't know why people correct my pronunciation. Like at this point I feel like we should just throw in the towel and accept that I'm never going to pronounce anything correctly. Lol :-)
@@theDMLair At least you know we care. :)
Unless you're French.
The "b" is silent and the "o" is invisible.
This is Fantastic, I’ve done a lot of what points you touched on min this video. And I’m gonna reread my One Shot adventure to incorporate anything you mentioned that I missed. Thank you so much for your great videos. You make being a new DM less scary😊🤓
7:36
I love how you said "too".
In my mind, even cities are dungeons.
They have entances and exits. Most of the encounters are social. Instead of rooms it has buildings (I divide the buildings into 4 areas for ease. North, south, east, west and sometimes central). Cities have a theme, a feel, sometimes a few problems and a few main persons of contact.
Loving your channel Luke! You and I follow a very similar DM philosophy. As a long time game master, theres less than a handful of the many D&D channels out there that I feel I can learn a few things from and yours is one of them.
Lol, your intros are the best plz don’t stop
I love the character development in your videos. Can you make a compilation of these parts some day?
I made a compilation back in January or February and it was a complete failure of a video. Nobody watched it. LOL so to answer your question no I'm never going to do that again. I put more work into that video than probably any of my other videos because it was very difficult to make that compilation. And then at the end of the day nobody watched it. It kind of sucked but you know you do stuff like that and then you learn from it.
Thank you very much about the character 11 part though. I really appreciate that. The skits take up easily the same amount of time as doing the talking head parts of the videos. So I'm happy to hear that you enjoy them.
the DM Lair aww, sorry to hear that. These add so much flavor to your videos. Keep up the good work!
@@theDMLair
Man, that stinks. I enjoyed that compilation. Sorry the analytics didn't reflect my/our enjoyment of your work.
Is video came just in time. I have to prepare a dungeon for my next session. Thank you, DM Lair
Also thanks for the tips, I'm doing a campaign for some new players. Its really stressful because I feel like its my duty to get them engaged in DnD.
I have to disagree with one point here. I've gone to the "hive mind" of Facebook and Reddit for help with a dungeon, but I only ever use it for inspiration for more ideas than the ones I have. And just reading through posts other people have made is also a great source of inspiration. I can count on one hand the number of times I've looked into the hive mind for solid advice and taken it all to heart.
Understanding what monsters work together takes reading "the fine print". When reading the Monster Manual or other tomes, take the time to read their lore. Take the over-used Goblin, for example. From the MM, we know:
Goblins have an affinity with rats and wolves. Okay, so that means that you could also have Giant Rate, Swarms of Rats, an Wererats hidden among them. Take that a step further and you have a Goblin Wererat boss. Since wolves are included, you could also have Dire Wolves and possibly even a Werewolf. They also ride and have good relations with Worgs.
Now, going into Volo's , we know that Hobgoblin war parties an include Goblins and Bugbears. We know that Hobgoblins use Ravens as spies. There are also various kinds of Goblins, Bugbears and Hobgoblins. There's also the Nilbog...and that's a whole other kettle of fish.
Hobgoblins work well with other Lawful Evil types should their motives align. Consider, then, a Fire Giant boss down the line too. A Green Dragon would not be above commanding Hobgoblin armies to serve it's ends.
From Volo's we also know that Barghests pose as, yet hunt, Goblins.
So...from "Goblin", we get:
Goblin
Rats
Swarms of Rats
Giant Rats
Wererat
Wolf
Dire Wolf
Werewolf
Worgs
Nilbog
Hobgoblins
Ravens
Swarm of Ravens
Hobgoblin Captains
Hobgoblin Warlord
Hobgoblin Devastators
Hobgoblin Iron Shadows
Bugbear
Bugbear Chief
Barghest
and possibly a Fire Giant or even Green Dragon end boss.
So, from just "Goblin", we now have a whole campaign of minions, servants, beasts, spies, assassins, wizards, cavalry, mini-bosses, lieutenants, bosses, and BBEG. We have conquest vs freedom, a possible fiend connection, and what that may tie to in the end. That's dungeons and dungeons of this, broken up by intrigue and whatever.
"Oh no he broke our rouge." That is gold.
This has defiantly helped my Return Tomb Of Horrors sequal one shot idea.
Great video I am going to make a Kobold Dungeon for my player's the main plot hook is that the Kobolds mined their way into the Sewers Underneath the city of Everdale I was thinking on how to make the dungeon a lot more fun for my players than just "you see kobold number 87 what do you do?" and now i'm going to make the dungeon and other things to go along with it
6:33 The wizard tries to help out his fighter friend by casting "Fabricate straw".
So a pile of hay shows up.
I love the donjon random dungeon generator site for inspirations. It can generate different types of dungeons depending on your criteria and populate the dungeon with loot, traps, and monsters if you want.
It’s so refreshing to have a DM with the same ideas on the game. My group still play 2e and I’m still expanding the campaign we started 3 years ago. I have to deal with 10 players and they can’t get enough. If you want a great DnD games, definitely follow the tips on this channel. Great stuff, love it.
Thanks a lot! 😀
I feel bad for you, 10 players sounds like a shitton of work and stress =D! Good luck with them!
elendiel I love it. It feels like an anticlimax with less players. I’m taking a break at the moment whilst I write up more content, so having to be a PC, boring!😁
@@mikewickham1767 How do you make sure everybody gets their turn to roleplay and be an equal part of the fun? I personally could not handle more than 5 players, and I prefer playing with 4 =)
elendiel at the beginning of every session I choose an order to go round to each player and ask what they are going to do. If another player wants to responds, they indicate that they want to say/do something. Also at the beginning of each session the group chooses a spokesperson, to tell me what a group decisions maybe. Combat is easy as initiative determines what order everyone goes in, I count from 1 and each player lets me know it’s their turn, and I continue counting up until the round is finished. It’s very organised and reasonably quick considering how many there are of us. I’m descriptive during the combat, so keeps everyone captivated, and some of my NPCs tend to be rememberable to make the role playing fun. Don’t get me wrong, we have a mixed group, some prefer to role play, others to solve puzzles and some love the combat. I must be doing something right as I’ve DMed this group for over 3 years now, with a month or two break for others to DM, which is the case at present, but I’ve got everyone asking when I’ve written enough for me to continue with the campaign and DM again. I’ve played in groups as a PC (very very rarely) with around 4-6 PCs and things have been very disorganised, chaotic and a bit boring. I do plan a lot, but still have to improvise a lot. I agree with nearly everything the DM Lair has to say, so follow his vids and things become quite easy.
One thing that you can do if you aren’t good at drawing maps is to get some old dungeon modules from earlier editions of D&D. They usually have some great maps that you can repurpose for your adventures. You can also use the adventures in the modules for idea mines, or even just use the adventure itself because a lot of them are pretty good.
Yes totally that's a great place to borrow maps from or just ideas to get you started on your own.
I'm not as into 5E D&D but most if not all of this logic is system-neutral. This is still very helpful. Thank you.
Yes, Padawan are Jedi in training. Specifically the apprentices who stopped learning solely in the temple and now work directly under a Knight.
Does not mean they can not bake. They are supposed and encouraged to learn all kinds of stuff.
Extra Credits has a very good break down of the bottom level of baldur's gate's Durlag's Tower, there are some pretty good advices on how to build dungeons from that example as well
One thing Luke didn't mention, but which I find is critically important, is player backstories. Maybe a character was once part of an organization? What if someone from that organization wants to talk to that character, and maybe even ask them to act on their adventuring skills and do them a favor? Recently, I wanted a dungeon for a game session and didn't know what to do. So, I took the fact that one of my characters was a warlock of Hadar and used that to create a dungeon based around a Hadar-worshipping cult. The cult communicated with the player via dreams, and called them to to the dungeon, where they overcame a variety of trials before just going to town on some ghouls. It wasn't the world's greatest dungeon, but the fact that it had a very personal attachment to a member of the party made it far more memorable than if it had just been a random plot hook and a dungeon that just existed for something to do that week.
Just a few ideas that are going round in my head, feedback welcome:
A warren of minor pests- the enemies can have multiple in a square but only one pc at a time. Emphasis would be on marching comp. and sight lines. Would a nest of rats underground really have a ceiling high enough for a Goliath to walk around without issue? Would there be any light at all or would other senses be more important? Are they wild or being controlled by a Pied Piper like figure?
An Orc stronghold: how many orcs in the area? Are there prisoners? What security is like? Lair actions available in certain locations of the map as long as enemies exist there? Why are you invading?
This helped me come up with a cool idea.
The Wrath Of Bob.
And I will not give you any context.
I totally understand the decision. I miss these skits though.
Opening skit makes a great point: DMs, whether they realise it or not, are constantly training their players in how to be a player in one of their games. If you find yourself with a table full of murder hobos, the first question you should ask yourself is, "Did I do this?"
Yep; the Barbarian is definitely the Best :3
Great vid as always!
As a lonely forever irl DM it’s reassuring to hear that your way of doing thing isn’t so far from the way others do : D
Templates like this are helpful. Thanks Luke.
Me without a life: proceeds to design 10375284 dungeons in a row
"Someone broke the rogue" Pffffft, that cracked me up.
I choose the map first. The layout inspires what the dungeon could contain. Then I decide what level the adventure is for and choose appropriate monsters. I consider how the monsters behave when the adventurers aren't around. The story come sfrom there. Then the hook.
The website donjon has random dungeon generators for dungeons, you can also change things in the dugeon if you dont like how it looks at fist.
Party: well what's in it for us?
QG: A king's ransom
Party: we're in
Party: ok, we did your quest, now give us our reward
QG: ok, here you go *tosses them a king tied to a chair. Enjoy that ransom
And then he skips town while the party gets chased by a the kings army
One thing I try to do, and this is a rather advanced technique among story telling: theme. By this I mean have the dungeon feel different from everything else in some way (and from my experience, it helps A LOT when you try to put it in words. Do NOT share this with your players!!!) A good example of this would be the King's Cage in Critical Role. First off, the warning at the beginning of the cave, written in Celestial and warning of something that couldn't be destroyed, only sealed, hopefully for eternity. Through both allusions to divinity and something they feared, this immediately brings up a sense of dread. Then inside, we see skeletons of angels, Celestials, or Aasimars, and the combination of divine and profane with the image of angels weeping blood. An adamantine portcullis further reinforces, subtly, that this is place was not taken lightly by celestial beings, furthering your sense of dread, as well as the oboe music the more perceptive of them hear: harmless in and of itself, but creating a sense of mystery and dread by how out of place it is. The torture chamber, where they are beset by a never ending wave of undead, forcing them to harvest their hearts, more profane in this place possibly build by angels. Then there was the chasm that I don't want to talk about. And the entire time they experience a darkness that hampers light and even magical dark vision, only furthering the dread by both making it harder to see any potential threats and subtly reenforcing that they are messing with powers WAY beyond them.
So the theme of this dungeon is: create a sense of dread using both overt imagery of and subtle allusions to divinity being matched and profaned by an evil the players know they are walking towards.
Your background music volume is spot on btw
Thank you! For what it's worth the background music volume is something that I pay attention to often ask my Editor to revise. Sometimes it comes into hot sometimes it comes into quiet.
It would be kind of funny for the party to find a secrete door that leads to a bathroom.... Bonus points if they walk in on an orc on the Toilet.
0:51 the wizard was so shook😂
So according to Luke's terminology...Luke basically lives in a dungeon?
*the rouge that got tired of shanking things*
man, I really wish the rouges I play with are like this 0:40
I think we all do. 😂
The problem I have with a campaign that recently popped into my head is that 4 (yes, 4) cities surrounding an abandoned fortress have suffered attacks from various types of baddies, though how to bring them together is where my aforementioned problem lies:
One city was ravaged by undead
Another was taken over by a Cult worshipping Tiamat
A third fell prey to a band of marauders consisting of assorted humanoids such as gnolls and orcs
The final one became inhabited by Yuan-Ti after falling several years prior
The fortress in question is the focal point of the entire campaign
The 4 cities expanding from each grand palace towards the fortress makes things difficult since they all want to wipe each other out and claim each other city for its own side, but it spells doom for everyone; the players I want to take part in it need guidance on it all since all 4 cities need to be explored before the fortress is accessible. I know it's a big matter and I might be biting off more than I can chew, but it's going to be the very first campaign I'll ever host and I want it to be very special; time is my #1 enemy though.
You are so funny and not padding the video obnoxiously at all
This was great! thank you for the help! And I love the Tiwaz rune!
This was really good ! Thank you 🙏
I'm sorry, did I misunderstand something? "Don't go to Facebook and ask the hive mind for ideas." "Do Google searches online to find inspiration for your dungeons."
I'm now going to make a dungeon where none of the rooms have floors. Possibly the home of some kind of flying or climbing creature?
"tired of killing everything"
"I miss killing"
I love that i intro skit!
Hey Mr. Hart, this is really good information for a lot of new DMs, but I'd like to challenge you (because I just want to watch the world burn). I'd love to see a video on how to create and/or improv a dungeon in 5 minutes or less.
Thank you Luke. "Hello, I am a Dungeon Master, and I too steal maps from Google Image Search and then photoshop the hell out of it for my own purposes."
I feel better now.
they Broke the Rouge. that was crazy, I thought he was a Assassin at first.