10 Dungeon Entrances
Whether it be a cobweb covered gate, a portcullis adorned with a green iron devil's face or a fissure in the stony ground belching a sulphurous smoke, the entrance to your dungeon sets the tone for the adventure.
Use this list, to add interesting entrances to your dungeon:
The entrance lies near the bottom of an abandoned moss-covered well. In the well’s wall, fifteen feet down from its mouth, muddy bricks protrude slightly in a spiral downward sixty feet to the bottom where a secret door grants entry to the dungeon. A few inches of rainwater and thick mud fill the bottom of the well.
A circle of magical runes large enough for an average wagon with a team of horses encloses images of clouds and birds painted onto the floor. A faint breeze of cold, fresh air blows from the circle. Speaking the correct command word while in the circle causes the creature to disappear and reappear in the dungeon.
A tumbledown two-storey tower of grey stone is perched upon a low mound in a foggy moor. Broken arrow shafts, rusty swords and bleached bones poke through the soggy soil for hundreds of feet around the hill. The tower is empty but for a skeleton seated at a simple table, an empty bottle of wine before it and a fine longbow at its side. An iron key that opens a nearby trapdoor hangs from a leather thong around the skeleton's neck.
A worked tunnel protrudes the length of a spear into an earthen mound. Vines and moss cover the entrance while a putrid sludge flows sluggishly out onto the wet, muddy ground. The stonework is chipped and worn, suggesting it is ancient. A scream, or possibly some strange bird call, echoes from within.
The entrance is a broad hole located on the side of a steep cliff. A rickety wood and rope elevator, sized for six Medium creatures provides access. It may, or may not, be safe. Two sets of machinery—one at the top and one at the bottom—control the elevator.
The entrance is a set of stairs behind a locked portcullis. A carving of a phoenix decorates the wall above the portcullis. The carving radiates faint evocation magic.
To prevent intruders, the dungeon’s entrance is inside a traditional fortified keep surrounded by a crenulated wall. A water-filled moat with a raised drawbridge surrounds the keep.
The dungeon’s entrance lies at the end of a fog-filled box canyon. Thirty feet across with steep-sided walls more than sixty feet high, the approach is littered with large boulders. Two huge iron-bound wooden doors stand ajar with the left door hanging solely by one hinge. Enemies could lurk anywhere…
A crude, cracked brick roadway disappears beneath the desert sands and is only visible here and there. It leads to a natural cave in an outcropping of rock that stands out prominently in the desert. A primitive painting in white outside the cave depicts a stickman holding a spear and several four-legged creatures, each with a single horn and long tails.
The entrance is behind a shelf of old, dusty books in a large library. The door is opened when a character pulls on the correct series of books.
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The material in this article appears in Dungeon Dressing: Dungeon Entrances by Jeff Erwin and Greg Marks which is available in 5e, Pathfinder 1, Pathfinder 2 and OSR editions.
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