Best mini-dungeons?

[Johann]

I'm looking for very small dungeons (~10 rooms), preferably vanilla style or fairytale vibes.

So far, I've found The Barrow of the Elf king among Bryce's reviews. It's PERFECT.

Any pointers to other well-done and very small dungeons?

(There are good one-page dungeons, but also a ton of crap to wade through. Specific OPD recommendations are welcome though. Bigger dungeons which are easy to cut up would also be fine.)

 

[squeen]

I recall Hole in the Oak looking pretty good.

 

[Johann]

That certainly brings a fairy tale vibe but is way too large (judging from Bryce's review and Incandescent Grottoes by the same publisher/author). Thanks anyway!

 

[bryce0lynch]

What's the despot adventure? That one

 

[Johann]

Prison of the Hated Pretender? Yay! I remember you said it was good, but didn't know it's so small. Ten rooms. Vanilla done right Perfect. Thank you!

 

[The1True]

You'd think they could at least program the bots to look for forums with Cyrillic postings...

 

[squeen]

Right! For all the hackery to register, install an avatar, and post...that's a fairly stupid over sight.

 

[grodog]

I've been drawing a bunch of mini-dungeons over the past few years, on one of my mini Black Blade graph pads. Been thinking about putting them together into something, but didn't think there would be much interest in mini-dungeons??

Allan.

 

[tetramorph]

I would love to see them, Allan.

 

[Johann]

Same here. Tending towards episodic play for my current project, i.e. a string of what would normally be considered one-shots. A few rooms, a few ideas, easy to fit into a campaign (i.e. no elaborate backstory, no more than two factions - if that, even; a grumpy giant and his double-dealing sidekick or something of that complexity is enough), a single interesting item or new monster, one loop or additional entrance. I think one can pack many of Bryce's central virtues into a small package. Barrow of the Elf King is perfect.

 

[squeen]

Adventurers are what happen when you are making other plans...

 

[tbdcalm]

I steal rooms from generic megadungeons and fix them to be fun. Buy Caves of Archaia, and Barrowmaze there's a ton of content there with great maps and all.
I think it's too boring to run it as a megadungeon, but it's an amazing source of mini-dungeons.

 

[Johann]

Excellent advice. I've already played through Barrowmaze, but I might indeed cut up Forbidden Caverns of Archaia -- it's even more suitable for that (as is Highfell, but I don't need wizards' towers but more whimsy). Any pointers on other material you consider especially suitable for cutting up?

 

[Johann]

Just took another look at Archaia. There seem to be around 50 dungeons of wildly varying size. Most don't look particularly exciting, but they are certainly a cut above randomly generated ones (though random seeds may be the basis, perhaps, there are some connections between the denizens, e.g. bandits roasting giant rats in one room and a bunch of slain giat rats in another room, as well as nice set-pieces and illustrated special rooms and treasures). I'll add a mission, perhaps, and reactions rolls and random encounters and I'll be ready to go.

 

[tbdcalm]

Recently I've fused together the mummy tomb and the talking heads (I rolled 2x Hellhound 1x Minotaur 1x Cyclops) from Barrowmaze, making

0. The nest of rats as the hook to dig / encounter with normal-sized rats with
1. Level minus one: preserved talking heads are a warning to the travelers. Minotaur and Cyclops may talk, but hellhounds will use a 15ft cone 1d6 firebreath.
2. Level minus two: the mummy encounter from barrowmaze. The druid's remains are only semi-sentient. The closer they are to the Big Oak, the more sentience the druid's remains gain. (This can be easily discovered by a fleeing party). If the party was respectful, there's a chance for diplomacy after the evil druid regains sentience.

I made this encounter *as* I was running the session (as a matter of fact, the GM of our open table couldn't make it, so I took over on the spot). I think that it's a good testament to Barrowmaze's formatting, if anything.

 

[grodog]

I've been drawing a bunch of mini-dungeons over the past few years, on one of my mini Black Blade graph pads. Been thinking about putting them together into something, but didn't think there would be much interest in mini-dungeons??

I've started to key some of these, and here are some samples from among the maps:

Allan.

 

[squeen]

Thanks for sharing those Allan. Nice maps.

 

[Osrnoob]

Thanks to Bryce's contest we have many new entries to add to this list!

I would also add Melan's islands! They seem to make it into many of my settings when players take to the skies or water.

Often the skies in my games curiously enough.