DriveThruRPG.com
Browse Categories
$ to $















Back
pixel_trans.gif
Dungeons for the Master $8.99 $5.99
Average Rating:4.3 / 5
Ratings Reviews Total
7 4
5 2
2 0
0 0
0 1
Dungeons for the Master
Click to view
You must be logged in to rate this
pixel_trans.gif
Dungeons for the Master
Publisher: dicegeeks
by Jim B. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 07/23/2022 10:31:39

Short version: This is for you if you want lots of unfurnished, unpopulated, one-page dungeon maps, and tables of random room contents.

The first section is "100 Original Maps," except it's 82 maps, not 100. Then you get "77 Other Maps" that were published previously, apparently. The 77 figure is accurate, so that's 159 maps in total, not 177.

All the maps are one-pagers with about one or two dozen rooms. None of them have overlapping layers.

The maps don't include grids or scale indicators. There's no indication of room height.

A few dungeons include pits, but the majority of changes in depth are marked as stairs -- no slopes, ladders, chutes, or other options. There lots of doors; none of them are marked as secret doors.

Every dungeon has an evocative name (such as "The Warehouse of Sprax"). There's no description, backstory, or hooks, so the name is just for inspiration.

Very few of the dungeons have multiple entrances, and fewer still have entrances in different parts of the map. From an in-world perspective, a single entrance is a dangerous single point of failure, whether you're a dungeon resident or a dungeon delver. Blocking the sole exit entombs or imprisons everyone inside. From a gaming perspectve, a single entrance diminishes player agency. It doesn't give the players any choice over how to enter or leave. If you like jaquaying a dungeon, you'll want to doctor the maps to add another outside entrance. A few of the random table results could give you alternate exits to the outside.

Most of the maps allow multiple paths that the players could take through the dungeon, so that's good for player agency. Some maps are fairly linear instead.

In every map, the rooms are unnamed, undescribed, and unfurnished. If what you really need is a layout, you're in luck. If you want a furnished dungeon, you're out of luck, unless the random tables fill that need for you.

There are no natural features or water sources on the maps. Everything is either a room or a hallway, and almost all of them are rectangular with vertical and horizontal sides (very few diagonals or curves). You can roll up a well or river randomly on the tables (only a 1% chance of each, each time you roll), so you'll probably want to doctor the maps yourself if you want water in there somewhere.

Seemingly all of the maps assume an underground environment. There are no windows on any map, for example, although you can roll one up randomly on the tables. In many cases, you could declare that portions of the map are above ground, and then you'd add windows, outside entrances, and so on as desired.

The "1d100 Dungeon Encounters" section offers 49 pages of random tables (1 initial table, 48 pages of subtables). You start with a table of 100 entries: 4 character types (dwarf, halfling, human, or elf), 7 mundane animals (rodent, wolf, etc.), 1 "monster" (a ghost), several room types (pantry, barracks, etc.), a couple of dozen fixed features (a tree, a bridge, etc.), and dozens of entries for loose items.

Regarding room types, you can easily come up with several that aren't represented in the tables, especially if your dungeon has a particular purpose or theme (a community, a monstrous lair, a stronghold, a holy site, a secret hideaway, catacombs, etc.). You'd have to come up with your own themed room types.

The initial d100 result leads you to subtables that add a few details. For example, if you roll up a vase, you can then roll for its size, position, and contents. If you roll up a human, you then roll for the human's size, disposition, and profession. Some subtables indicate that the result is magical or valuable, leaving most of the details up to you.

The product info says it's system-agnostic, but the tables make occasional references to d20 terms and concepts (damage dice, alignment, etc.). There's not much of it, so you could easily tweak it for a different system.

You'll often need your improv or creative skills to put the tables to good use. The table results might give you, for example, a note with a poem of death on it, a book that's sitting on a raised dais, or a wolf. But then what? Why is that wolf there? What makes that book interesting, valuable, useful, challenging, or dangerous to the players? What's the poem's connection to the dungeon or the adventure? The tables hand you a prop (or a being), but the rest is up to you.

What it all comes down to is that you get 159 empty dungeon maps and tables of random room contents.



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
pixel_trans.gif
Dungeons for the Master
Publisher: dicegeeks
by Ken S. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 05/07/2018 19:57:41

Excellent resource, expecially for the price. The maps (177!) are one page spreads of varying complexity, with an old-school stylized black and white look. For me the random tables really make this product shine. The maps themselves are unfilled by detail, furnishings, etc, but the amount of inspiration in the large number of tables will easily help make the dungeons come alive. I particularly recommend this for new Game Masters or GMs with less time for prep, but it is also a very good buy for GMs who simply want A LOT of material to work with at a reasonable price.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
pixel_trans.gif
Dungeons for the Master
Publisher: dicegeeks
by Noah M. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 04/24/2018 21:04:02

This is probably one of the single best resources I own as a Game Master. This book gives almost everything a GM needs to create a complete adventure for a night of fun. You can pick any of the 177 maps and just roll randomly to fill the adventure with tons of unique and interesting encounters and events. The level of creativity the author went into is truly mind blowing to me. Whether I want to just throw together an adventure for the evening, or want to spice up a detailed campaign this book is extremely useful. The reasonable price is an added bonus as well.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
pixel_trans.gif
Dungeons for the Master
Publisher: dicegeeks
by Scott F. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 04/24/2018 10:31:12

This is fantastic to get some dungeons designs all set for you to put monsters in for your players to adventure in. Open ended so you can do what you want in them. Fantastic for a DM that needs to put something together quickly for an adventure.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
pixel_trans.gif
Dungeons for the Master
Publisher: dicegeeks
by matthew w. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 08/22/2017 21:01:13

great product would have paid twice as much. I use it every time i build or at least i take something from it everytime.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
pixel_trans.gif
Dungeons for the Master
Publisher: dicegeeks
by Andy B. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 11/15/2016 07:17:47

I have to disagree with the last reviewer. This product is worth its asking price. Each dungeon costs you a little over 3 cents and you have a large variety to chose from.

When I was a kid, I went through a period where I started writing out mazes... designing death traps and prizes to be fought for... the whole thing. Raiders of the Lost Ark had come out and I thought that was the most fun I could have. The creator here, strikes me as someone who has chosen to hone such a skill over the years. He probably comes home from work, pops a beer or listens to music, and then just lets the mazes fly. Now the mazes are not furnished, they are left for you to populate, although there is a very neat table of 100 randomly generated items to place in each room as you explore. Its nothing super detailed, just something to get things started for those haggared fantasy DMs who are throwing a zero prep game together. The point though, is that each of the almost 200 dungeons are unique, each one a snowflake. You can thumb through them and just pick the one that looks the most interesting. With so much variety at such a low cost you can keep using this product over and over. I think it makes a wonderful companion piece to the Moleskin Maps, which provide more 'cave-like' weathered 'pile of speghetti' dungeons. Between the two, you could run Underdark campaigns for D&D characters from first to twentieth level without any need to see the light of day. As to the variety of fonts, those date back to the 'batch' of products he had generated. The artist has released some of these before, offering as 'PWYW' and free downloads from Dicegeeks.com. So one product used one typeset. Another used a slightly different one. This was just a byproduct of how the last 77 mazes were generated over time. This product is about value and utility, not sending your eyeballs to heaven over what your seeing and the magnificence of how everything comes together. Now that being said, I didnt rate it as 5 star, quite simply very little should be 5 star, otherwise the term loses its meaning. With such a variety of independent, small dungeons, which you have given us, perhaps future products could have more of a weathered look ,like a more rounded cave system, or a formerly inhabited/organic feel ,like a rock carved settlement which has been appropriated for other use over the decades or centuries. These are just some quick suggestions which might make up a great companion piece to what you have given us. Also a few suggestions for details within might be fun, like a dias and throne or a grand statue or a pit trap or a pile of supplies in an out of the way place. This last bit is not really needed, just a thought to make the product feel more inspiring. In conclusion, give this product serious consideration if your the type of DM, like me, who likes to pick up a map which looks interesting and not too long and likes to start setting up what the party might run into along the way. These are skeletons onto which we build our games. This product is a wise investment in my opinion.

Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
pixel_trans.gif
Creator Reply:
Thank you so much for this amazing review! I hope you have many exciting adventures using the maps!
pixel_trans.gif
Dungeons for the Master
Publisher: dicegeeks
by A customer [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 11/04/2016 08:36:59

At it's current price point ($5.99), this just isn't worth the money spent. The first half of the document is a collection of featureless dungeons with no real rhyme or reason to them. You would really be better off making the dungeon as you go at the table.

The random tables are ok, I guess, but none of them are particularly exciting. The overall layout is sparse to say the least. The maps are poorly drawn dyson style maps with seemingly random fonts for the dungeon names. The tables are all grey scale basic tables you would see in a basic word processor. Other than that, everything is white and bland without any sort of layout design.

With the large amount of quality products on this site, this product just doesn't earn the price point it is listed at. If it got dropped to $1 or "pay what you want", I would have rated it at 2 stars instead.



Rating:
[1 of 5 Stars!]
pixel_trans.gif
Creator Reply:
I'm sorry you were not satisfied with the product. Doing everything myself is pushing me to the limits, but I am focused on improving and learning. I hope someday I can win you over as a satisfied customer.
pixel_trans.gif
Displaying 1 to 7 (of 7 reviews) Result Pages:  1 
pixel_trans.gif
pixel_trans.gif Back pixel_trans.gif
0 items
 Gift Certificates