Close
Close
Advanced Search

Dungeon Builder's Guidebook (2e)Click to magnify
Full‑size Preview
https://watermark.storytellersvault.com/pdf_previews/17447-sample.pdf

Dungeon Builder's Guidebook (2e)

ADD TO WISHLIST >

You are probably wondering: Is this guidebook for me? In a word?yes! Dungeon Builder's Guidebook assembles tried-and -true dungeon building advice, approaches, and tactics gathered over many years. The suggestions and samples in this book are an invaluable resource for initiaing and fleshing out the ruins, mines, caverns, and tombs of your imagination.

What if your already design all your own dungeons? Though the advice and tips in here and may be old news to you, even the most experienced Dungeon Master is sometimes strapped for time or inspiration. Dungeon Builder's Guidebook is perfect for generating the dungeon hook you need at a moment's notice, the goblin warren the PCs accidentally stumble upon, or the pocket dimension you did not get a chance to detail.

Dungeon Builder's Guidebook contains the following features:

  • Basic pointers and advice on building dungeons.
  • Permutations that provide ways to " twist" your dungeon in exciting ways.
  • Six distinct dungeon types, each accompanied by property and encounter tables to help your flesh out your dungeon.
  • A collection of 78 geomorphs that you can photocopy, trace, or freehand onto your own maps
  • The Trap Architect, at detailed process for generating lethal traps.
  • The Autodungeon Engine, a series of tables that allow your to create a dungeon by attaching random geomorphs together, forming a unique dungeon each time.

Product History

"Dungeon Builder's Guidebook" (1998), by Bruce R. Cordell, is a GM's book on creating dungeons. It was published in May 1998.

About the Cover. That's some very literal dungeon building, by Daniel Home, who also illustrated the cover to the "World Builder's Guidebook" (1996).

Sources. Cordell's list of sources hints at how old-school this book would be, since it includes Appendix A: Random Dungeon Generation, Appendix G: Traps, and Appendix H: Tricks, all from the 1e Dungeon Masters Guide (1979).

Origins (I): Another Guidebook. The "Dungeon Builder's Guidebook" (1998) is a direct sequel to the "World Builder's Guidebook" (1996), but it has a dramatically different scope. They both provide creative advice for GMs, but the previous book was about a whole world, while this one is about an individual dungeon.

Origins (II): Back to the Dungeons. That return to the dungeons was actually quite notable, because so much of the AD&D 2e era (1989-2000) was focused on stories and on exotic settings that the game's original setting was somewhat lost. However, times were already changing, with "Temple, Tower, and Tomb" (1994) marking the beginning of a minor resurgence of D&D dungeons — albeit all in black-bordered books, like this one.

"Dungeon Builder's Guidebook" also followed a tradition of dungeon design books that started with the Dungeoneer's Survival Guide (1986) and continued as a minor theme in the "DMGR" books (1990-1997), particularly DMGR1: Campaign Sourcebook and Catacomb Guide (1990). This was, however, the first book ever to provide an entire book worth of dungeon design.

Adventure Tropes: Dungeons. Cordell describes dungeons as "bounded settings" and details six possibilities: aerial, castles, interdimensional, mines/natural caverns, ruins/tombs, and underwater. Interdimensional demiplanes, natural caverns, ruins, and underwater areas all had considerable history in the D&D game. However, castles (without connected, below-ground dungeons) were much rarer in published modules, and aerial dungeons in the clouds were almost unknown.

Cordell also discusses the complex dungeons of classic play and says that though they might be "fun" they're not necessarily "realistic". He notes there should be a balance, and does his best to offer a number of realistic tropes for why dungeons might exist, from being abandoned sites to colonies. He also spends a short chapter on one classic dungeon trope: traps.

Accessories of Note: Geomorphs. Cordell includes geomorphs for constructing his six types of dungeons. Alas, they're not on full sheets of paper that can be connected up to each other, like TSR's classic Geomorphs (1976-1977, 1981). They nonetheless marked the return of an old idea, once more reiterating the classic nature of this supplement.

Exploring Neverness. The six sample dungeons in the "Guidebook" are mostly generic, but the background on the undersea dungeon reveals multiple connections to the world of Neverness that ran through many of Cordell's writings of the late '90s. The city of Stormport appears, as well as the nearby Giant's Atoll and Drowned City. These locales can even be sort of located on a simple map, the "Underwater Founding Geomorph", which is one of the few existing maps for Neverness.

Several more farflung locales are also mentioned, including Far Moran, the Plunder Islands, and the Grim Steppes. These locales appear on other maps, connecting together the world of Neverness: the first two are on the treasure map of "Night of the Shark" (1997) while the last is on the adventure map of "Masters of Eternal Night" (1998), albeit it's just the "Grim Steppe" there. If one were to rotate the "Underwater Founding Geomorph" of this supplement 180 degrees, then one might recognize the hills rising up in the background as the Grim Steppe of "masters of Eternal Night".

Exploring Greyhawk. Another dungeon has a very small connection to Greyhawk. The interdimensional dungeon details the 986th(!) layer of the Abyss, once home to the fiend Tarnhem. Tarnhem is missing, but his fate would be revealed just two months later in Return to the Tomb of Horrors (1998).

About the Creators. By 1998, Cordell had been writing D&D books for a few years. However, that was the year that his production really exploded. He authored a total of nine major releases in 1998, including four mind flayer books and Return to the Tomb of Horrors.

About the Product Historian

The history of this product was researched and written by Shannon Appelcline, the editor-in-chief of RPGnet and the author of Designers & Dragons — a history of the roleplaying industry told one company at a time. Please feel free to mail corrections, comments, and additions to shannon.appelcline@gmail.com.

We (Wizards) recognize that some of the legacy content available on this website does not reflect the values of the Dungeons & Dragons franchise today. Some older content may reflect ethnic, racial, and gender prejudice that were commonplace in American society at that time. These depictions were wrong then and are wrong today. This content is presented as it was originally created, because to do otherwise would be the same as claiming these prejudices never existed. Dungeons & Dragons teaches that diversity is a strength, and we strive to make our D&D products as welcoming and inclusive as possible. This part of our work will never end.

pixel_trans.gif
pixel_trans.gif
 
 Customers Who Bought this Title also Purchased
pixel_trans.gif
pixel_trans.gif
Reviews (5)
Discussions (2)
Customer avatar
J. A. M August 23, 2023 9:45 am UTC
Request to make a printed version
Customer avatar
James S April 09, 2020 1:53 am UTC
PURCHASER
Haven't read it enough to rate it, nor have I experience with the original, but the recent update is a significant update to the original PDF. While the last iteration looked like a scan, these look like they were recently created. Nicely done on the update!
Browse Categories
$ to $
 Follow Your Favorites!
NotificationsSign in to get custom notifications of new products!















Product Information
Gold seller
Author(s)
Pages
84
Edition
1.0
Publisher Stock #
TSR 9556
File Size:
36.21 MB
Format
Scanned image Click for more information
Scanned image
These products were created by scanning an original printed edition. Most older books are in scanned image format because original digital layout files never existed or were no longer available from the publisher.

For PDF download editions, each page has been run through Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software to attempt to decipher the printed text. The result of this OCR process is placed invisibly behind the picture of each scanned page, to allow for text searching. However, any text in a given book set on a graphical background or in handwritten fonts would most likely not be picked up by the OCR software, and is therefore not searchable. Also, a few larger books may be resampled to fit into the system, and may not have this searchable text background.

For printed books, we have performed high-resolution scans of an original hardcopy of the book. We essentially digitally re-master the book. Unfortunately, the resulting quality of these books is not as high. It's the problem of making a copy of a copy. The text is fine for reading, but illustration work starts to run dark, pixellating and/or losing shades of grey. Moiré patterns may develop in photos. We mark clearly which print titles come from scanned image books so that you can make an informed purchase decision about the quality of what you will receive.
pixel_trans.gif
Original electronic format
These ebooks were created from the original electronic layout files, and therefore are fully text searchable. Also, their file size tends to be smaller than scanned image books. Most newer books are in the original electronic format. Both download and print editions of such books should be high quality.
File Information
Watermarked PDF Click for more information
Watermarked PDF

These PDF files are digitally watermarked to signify that you are the owner. A small message is added to the bottom of each page of the PDF containing your name and the order number of your purchase.

Warning: If any files bearing your information are found being distributed illegally, then your account will be suspended and legal action may be taken against you.

Here is a sample of a page from a watermarked title:

File Last Updated:
April 08, 2020
This title was added to our catalog on May 16, 2017.