DM's Trick - Instant Dungeon

Okay, this one comes from the Fighting Fantasist's blog. It's not a technique I recommend for general use (as it gives too many rooms with only one or two entrances, where I think the default should be three or more), but when pressed for time, it's pretty useful.

You'll need:

• 4d6
• 4d8
• One sheet of paper
• One pencil
• The lid of the Red Box (technically, any box will do, but that's the best one, for obvious reasons!)

And the method:

1. Place the sheet of paper in the box lid.
2. Place the dice on the sheet.
3. Rattle it around a bit. No, a bit more than that.
4. Draw a circle around each die. These are your rooms, complete with relative placement.
5. Now, draw entrances to your rooms. How many? Well, read the d6s as d3s, and your d8s as d4s, to get between 1 and 4 entrances for each room.
6. Now do your best to connect up the rooms in some sensible manner.
7. That's the basic layout of the dungeon. Now go pretty it up, adding some secret doors were appropriate, or otherwise sorting it out.

As I said, I don't recommend it for general use, nor for populating dungeons larger than about 8 rooms or so, but it's useful in a pinch.