Kingdom of the Tooth Fairies - A Dungeon Patch

Here is a modular dungeon node to connect to others, with potential connectors left exposed for the GM. Since I showed my brainstorming process before, I'll skip doing it for this week and get right to the good stuff. 

This next dungeon patch is set in the dungeon seed called the Spires, which is basically like this level from Dungeon Meshi. Each area is a Ewok treehouse-like platform connected by rope bridge hallways. The skeletal trees glow with ghostly mushrooms.

1. Fairy Toll

A crossroads between two bridges. Nailed into the tree is a sign post carved like two fingers pointing: one west and one east. Each finger is marked with Cant sign. Empty lanterns hang on the branches of the trees: [0-3] tooth fairies nest in the lanterns, waiting to demand a toll from passersby.

• Tooth fairies: Tooth fairies look like the kind from Victorian children's books, but wear arms and armor made from milk teeth. Each tooth fairy present demands 20g to put under children's pillows. They'll waive the fee for gnomes, who they see as children.
• Those who fail to pay the toll have 1-14 extra teeth magically grown into their mouth. There is no test to avoid this.
• Sign post: The Cant reads: (West) Down Staircase | (East) Monsters

2. Shrine

Tucked into the hollow of the giant, desiccated tree is a small wayside shrine. On a cairn of stones sits a wide, shallow brass bowl with a few teeth (various kinds) in it. A tiny bell hangs above the bowl. Behind the bowl is an empty pedestal. The trunk of the tree bulges out to offer a semicircular bench near the shrine.

• Bowl: A place where offerings of teeth can be made. Already present is an orc's tusk, a pig's tooth, and a handful of bat teeth.
• Bell: If the bell is rung, in a couple of minutes a tooth fairy will zip in from area 3 to inspect the offering. 
• If there is no new offering, the tooth fairy will pull a tooth (painlessly) from whoever rang the bell and put it in the bowl. 
• If there is a new tooth in the bowl, the tooth fairy will bless the character. They can draw 1 minor arcana card and use it instead of drawing a card (for either a test or Challenge) at any time until the end of the next City Phase.
• Empty pedestal: Obviously, something important is missing here. A statue or idol?

Potential connection: Put a statue in another dungeon patch. Hauling it back here and installing it will improve the shrine, win favor from the tooth fairies, or unlock a hidden treasure in this location.

3. Northern Ruined Spire

One of the towers of the Castle of Crossed Destiny stabs upthrust like a skeletal finger here. Inside the tower is a winding staircase down to another level.

This area key is intentionally left mostly blank to be used in service of a connecting dungeon patch. Fill it with a quest item, key, treasure, gate, rumor, lore, or other item needed to make a connect patch work.

4. Kingdom of Teeth

The rotting trunk of this colossal tree is patched and held together with a gigantic papery nest, like that of a paper wasp: where it bulges from the top of the tree, it is shaped like an extracted human tooth. Tooth fairies buzz hither and thither from the nest. 

• Papery nest: This is the castle of the tooth fairies. They have bored countless hexagonal chambers into the tree and reinforced it from the outside with chewed pulp and calcium-rich spit.  It is home to Dentania the Queen of the Kingdom of Teeth. It is too small for adventurers to enter.
• Tooth fairies: The tooth fairies will challenge anyone approaching the castle or crossing through the area. Tooth fairies have the logic of toddlers playing make believe. Each time the guild crosses through this area, generate a random disposition (core book, p. 100). 
• If the tooth fairies ever feel intensely surprised or frightened, they will summon Queen Dentania to handle the situation.

Queen Dentania

Likes: Milk, Small Dogs 

Hates: Candy, Tooth-worms, Cold

Fairy queens are the most intelligent of fairies, but still have a simplistic view of the world. Roleplay them like the Ghost of Christmas Present from The Muppets Christmas Carol. 

Queen Dentania, like all tooth fairies, can grow and remove bones (especially teeth) painlessly. If her subjects have inconvenienced an adventurer with an abnormal amount of teeth, she'll usually fix the problem.

Potential connection: Queen Dentania could have a bounty for guilds who meet with her based on the rest of your dungeon: forge an alliance with another dungeon faction, retrieve a stolen artifact, defeat a bothersome monster and bring back its teeth. In exchange, she will exempt the guild from the fairy toll (area 1). 

5. Wood of Webs

These wooden walkways, supporting towers, and branches of colossal trees are all covered in the ghosts of cobwebs, covering everything like Spanish moss.

Refer to the top card of the discard pile for a special encounter in this area:

• Swords: Four sword spiders descend from above, ambushing the guild unless they specifically mention looking up. They weave webs as their initial attack.
• Pentacles: Attached to the side of the stone tower, about 12' high, is a bulging bundle of webs around an adventurer's backpack. It potentially contains loot, but how will the guild approach the task?
• Careful inspection reveals almost invisible gossamer tripwires attached to the backpack. 
• If the tripwires are severed (by pulling the backpack down, etc.), a web trap is activated: a web net falls, automatically capturing any adventurers in the area, then is pulled into 25' into the air. 
• Four sword spiders will return within a watch to inspect their captured prey.
• The backpack is full of 100g.
• Cups: An adventurer with a Cups 4 will notice that there are 3 webbed bodies hanging under the wooden walkways. These are the mummified remains of adventurers. They potentially contain loot, but how will the guild approach the task?
• If successfully looted, each body has 40g on their person, as well as the starting equipment  package of a random adventurer.
• Wands: The first adventurer in the marching order walks through a web (unless probing the area with a 10' pole, or similar). It is gross, but not harmful.

The Theater of Tragedy - A Dungeon Patch

This post delivers on the promise of our last brainstorming post. Go and read that one (and the definition of a dungeon patch) first, if you haven't.

Here is a dungeon patch called the Theater of Tragedy: a 6 room segment of a larger dungeon to be mixed and remixed with other dungeon patches to create a much larger configuration for your players. Rules are for His Majesty the Worm, but adaptable to your OSRish system of choice.

1. Theater

A lavish indoor theater lit by six chandeliers hanging from the wooden crossbeams. The stage (1a) rises five feet from the rush-strewn auditorium. Surrounding the stage are two levels of galleries (1b), which provide seating. 

1a. Stage

A wooden stage extending out into the auditorium. Three curtained doors at the back of the stage allow actors to enter and exeunt.* There is a rotten smell nearby.

• Walking on stage: Any character heavier than a gnome or halfling triggers a trap door when they cross center stage. They must test Pentacles or fall 10' into the stage mechanisms (area 2).
• Smell: The stink of the zombie in area 2.

1b. Galleries

The galleries surround the stage on three sides, providing simple bench seating. The upper gallery directly across from the stage is lavish, with boxed seats and three high-backed thrones.

• Investigating the thrones: There is a hidden button in the arm rest of each throne that allows the platform on which they are set to pivot, so that the thrones swing away from the wall. Behind the thrones is obscured a small, secret door.
• Small, secret door: Like what Alice had to go through in Wonderland. A Shrink spell is required to use it. The door leads to area XX (a connection to another dungeon level). 

* Pursued by stats-as-bear.

2. Stage Mechanisms

Under the stage is an access hatch filled with interlocking gears that power machines used during productions. A dead wood elf lies facedown beneath the trap door of area 1a.

• Dead wood elf: A former adventurer (named Ducat Dangerous-Game) wearing a badgerskin hood. If disturbed, he raises as a zombie (core book, p. 286). Its legs are broken; it Moves by dragging itself along the ground. The zombie carries a purse with 55g and a smoke-bomb mushroom. 
• Machines: The machines under the stage perform a variety of simple functions. Each machine is man-powered through cranks and bellows.
• Raise and lower a platform through the trap door.
• Raise and lower a variety of backdrops on stage (a cityscape, a wilderness, a wedding, a night sky). 
• Cause a rumble like thunder.
• Play a merry melody.
• Latching the trap door: The trap door on the stage may set into a locked position from the access hatch. The "trap" of the trap door on the stage is essentially an OSHA violation.

3. Backstage

The backstage is an unlit storage area. There are several pieces of stage scenery stored here. There are two life-sized wooden mannequins, a king and a queen; both have completely blank faces. 

• Scenery: A variety of simple, wooden props to be placed on the stage to add color or set a scene; each stands on its own and is light enough to be moved by two people. There's a tree, a wall, a box, a (fake) chest, a lamppost, and a cloud-throne. None have any value.
• Mannequins: Life-sized puppets. Inanimate. Their faces are blank and unpainted, but have fastenings as if a theatrical mask could be placed on them.

Potential connection:

Elsewhere in the dungeon, there can be masks that animate these two mannequins. Perhaps they want to perform a play? This could be like the opera scene from Final Fantasy 6, where the players are given a brief amount of time to memorize some lines and then need to regurgitate them at the appropriate times. Perhaps they have six lines and can write down a number of them equal to their Cups score and remember the rest? 

Or, more simply, the would-be actor will have to play the Listener Limerick Challenge from Wait Wait! Don't Tell Me. 

4. Tiring House

An unlit dressing room filled with tables and chairs. A variety of costumes hang from a rack. There are character masks hanging from pegs on the wall. Props spill from a wooden box. In the corner, there is a humanoid figure draped with a cloth.

• Costumes: A collection of costumes depicting: 
• A particular commoner's profession (weaver, tinker, tailor, actor, etc.)
• Noble's clothes (fake, but convincing)
• God's robes (obviously fake)
• A monster (convincing in low light)
• The Lavritic (the geas-bound servants of the Castle of Crossed Destinies) will treat anyone wearing a costume of any kind as a person of that rank or profession (a potential connection).
• Masks: There are ten masks here, each portraying some stock character: a villager who pretends be rich, a foolish senator, a mean-but-not-evil braggart, a cunning clown, etc. 
• When appearing in a play (a potential connection), a mask must be worn to define the role. 
• Props: There's an array of props; all fake but rather convincing: jewelry, two swords, crown, fairy wings, fireworks, wizard's wand, military banner, and six potions of various colors.
• Humanoid figure: A life-sized, inanimate puppet. It is dressed and painted to look like a sun god (a sort of stock character). 

5. Puppeteer's Workshop

A wood wright's shop: a workbench, pile of lumber, and specialized carving tools. A variety of life-sized puppet parts litter the area, unfinished: an arm joint, a lower jaw, a roughly-carven head. Elaborate cuckoo clocks hang on the walls. It is dimly lit with a single candle.

This is the lair of the Rude Mechanical.

• Rude Mechanical: The Rude Mechanical is an animate life-sized mannequin. It is a blank slate: unpolished, unpainted, unfinished. Because of this, it has a personality crisis and pretends to be the puppet maker (it isn't), kidnapping adventurers to turn into its puppet children. It current is holding a halfling named Tom Joiner captive.
• If the Rude Mechanical was "finished" by given a painting, a costume, and a purpose, it would change its personality to match.
• Tom Joiner: A halfling adventurer. Ambushed and enslaved by the Rude Mechanical, he is currently dressed up like a Punch puppet, and is bound at the wrists and ankles by fishing wire attached to a cross (like a marionette). He is starving and weak.
• Cuckoo clocks: Each cuckoo clock is a work of intricate art. There are 12 total. Each is worth 100g in the City. Each is fragile.

New keyword: Fragile

A fragile item breaks if the adventure carrying it suffers any Wounds. A fragile item can be bundled with cloth to make it an oversized item, but reduces the chance for it to break to 1-in-4.

Art by Felipe Faria

6. Storage Room

This room is intentionally left blank to be used in service of a connecting dungeon patch. Fill it with a quest item, key, treasure, gate, rumor, lore, or other item needed to make a connect patch work.

Here is a simple map of the area. Hand drawn and looks like shit, but this is what my players get from me!

Note: I have failed my own challenge of doing one of these a week because of Real Life Stuff (TM). But I hope--like my brainstorming blog post before this one--it is helpful to show how the actual sausage is made. Sometimes you miss deadlines! That doesn't mean you stop working on the project if you're still having fun with it. You keep trucking forward because making stuff is fun! Excelsior! 

Thank you! Gracias! Tak! Danke! 多谢多谢! Merci beaucoup!

The Designing Dungeons Course: Or, How to Kill a Party in 30 Rooms or Less has been nominated for 🏆Best Online Content in the 2026 ENNIES🏆. I mean it when I say that it's an honor just to be nominated. Thank you very much! 

Vote here!

Who What Why of the Designing Dungeons Course

If you are a regular reader on my blog, I hope you already know all about the Designing Dungeons Course. But just to briefly sum up the project:

The germ of the idea came from Warren of the blog ICastLight. "I wish there was a book that talked through dungeon design that you could follow along with. And at the end of reading the book, you have a dungeon of your own!" 

The idea was so compelling I forced him to join me in making it. Having released my dungeon-crawling game, His Majesty the Worm in 2025, I had seen how cautiously people approached the concept of making a dungeon from scratch. Both Warren and I believe strongly that making a dungeon is just a series of discrete steps: it's fun and easy to do.

The course is consists of 13 chapters. Each chapter consists of some RPG theory, exercises, prompts, and step-by-step instructions to write a 30-room dungeon to run for your friends. There's a workbook that you can use to follow along!

The course has an audio component recorded by the oak and leather voice of Jon Britton, the GM of the incredible 3d6DownTheLine podcast.

And course, the whole thing is free!

How to vote

The ENNIES are a fan choice award, so who goes on to win is based on voting. 

If you got something out of the course - if the procedures have helped you overcome writer's block or if you found some useful resources for your own GMing practice - I would very much appreciate a vote! 

1. Go to the ennie-awards.com's voting booth

2. Click on Best Online Content

3. Select Designing Dungeons Course: Or, How to Kill a Party in 30 Rooms or Less, Joshua McCrowell & Warren D as #1.

4. Press submit! 

5. Receive my eternal gratitude for your support.

Voting continues from July 10th to July 19th.

If we win, my collaborator Warren and I have a very silly acceptance video prerecorded. It will be worth a vote for me just to laugh at our little video.

Designing Dungeons Course

Hello, happy New Year! 

As we start 2025, I have noticed that many people are spinning up dungeon-creation projects (Dungeon23 continues into its third year, and the Zungeon Manifesto has launched a Zungeon Jam). To help with this effort, I have teamed up with Warren at ICastLight to launch:

Designing Dungeons Course

Or, How to Kill a Party in 30 Rooms or Less

Click the pic for the link

This course is a series of discussions, practical examples, and exercises designed to walk new Game Masters through the process of creating a new dungeon from scratch. The course provides a hands-on approach to the act of dungeon writing in an attempt to demystify the process. By following along, you’ll construct a dungeon for your players to explore.

If I didn't chunk the work into sections and release them incrementally, I'd never get it done. Therefore, I'm just launching with the first two chapters, with a goal of releasing a new chapter every week.

So, if you're interested in this, please give it a look and get in on the ground floor. Every week, you can follow along with me and Warren as we make our respective dungeons. 

If you find this helpful, let me know what you create with it!