Dungeon Name Generator

Dungeon names the way locals give them: a warning adjective plus a real underground word — adit, ossuary, swallet, undercroft — all glossed.

116,160 combinations in this form

The Hanging Dormitory Second Delving
The Hanging suspended + Dormitory sleeping hall
Second Delving dug open twice
The Weeping Reliquary Nine Doors
The Weeping seeping + Reliquary relic container
Nine Doors nine ways in
The Choking Dormitory False Floor
The Choking suffocating + Dormitory sleeping hall
False Floor a floor gives
The Cold Vestibule Wet Stair
The Cold frigid + Vestibule entrance space
Wet Stair steps run wet
The Mislaid Delve Low Water
The Mislaid misplaced + Delve dug working
Low Water floods each spring
The Thousand-Step Larder Poor Ground
The Thousand-Step very deep + Larder meat store
Poor Ground rock is unsound
The Wandering Reservoir Ill Reckoning
The Wandering shifting + Reservoir water store
Ill Reckoning the count fails
The Airless Abyss Three Lamps
The Airless without air + Abyss bottomless drop
Three Lamps three lamps needed
The Wandering Catacomb Vermin Deep
The Wandering shifting + Catacomb underground cemetery
Vermin Deep overrun below
The Last Shambles Vermin Deep
The Last final + Shambles slaughter place
Vermin Deep overrun below
The Sunless Hypogeum Winter Only
The Sunless unlit + Hypogeum underground chamber
Winter Only safe in winter
The Endless Vestibule Bad Air
The Endless without end + Vestibule entrance space
Bad Air air that kills
The Drowned Descent Poor Ground
The Drowned water-filled + Descent way downward
Poor Ground rock is unsound
The Sundered Oubliette Poor Ground
The Sundered split apart + Oubliette forgotten cell
Poor Ground rock is unsound
The Blind Furnace Bad Air
The Blind windowless + Furnace smelting fire
Bad Air air that kills
The Salt-Rimed Sepulchre Three Lamps
The Salt-Rimed crusted with salt + Sepulchre burial vault
Three Lamps three lamps needed
The Steaming Vault One Rope
The Steaming hot and wet + Vault arched chamber
One Rope one way down
The Screaming Stope Black Level
The Screaming shrieking + Stope excavated void
Black Level one unlit floor
The Ashen Undercroft Long Drop
The Ashen fire-scoured + Undercroft cellar beneath
Long Drop a fatal fall
The Black Shambles Ill Reckoning
The Black pitch-dark + Shambles slaughter place
Ill Reckoning the count fails
The Toothed Culvert Sour Spring
The Toothed spiked + Culvert covered drain
Sour Spring water is foul
The Choking Cloaca Cold Iron
The Choking suffocating + Cloaca roman drain
Cold Iron iron doors below
The Bone-Strewn Winze Ill Reckoning
The Bone-Strewn littered with bone + Winze internal shaft
Ill Reckoning the count fails
The Toothed Labyrinth Winter Only
The Toothed spiked + Labyrinth branching maze
Winter Only safe in winter

Need a name that means something in particular? Build one from its meaning.

How dungeon names are built

Etymology

¶Nobody underground names the place they live in. A dungeon name is given from outside, by the people who work the surface above it and by the parties who come back, and it always does two jobs at once: it describes and it warns. The Sunless Vault tells you to bring light. The Weeping Adit tells you it floods. The Hungry Warren tells you something in there eats. That is the opposite of a castle name, which is a claim of ownership by whoever holds it.

The second element is real vocabulary, and it says what the place was before anyone called it a dungeon. Mining gives adit a level entrance, drift a horizontal passage, stope an excavated void, winze an internal shaft, sump the flooded bottom. Burial gives crypt, ossuary, charnel, catacomb and hypogeum. Limestone country gives swallet, where a stream sinks underground, and pothole. Ruined religious houses give undercroft, cloister, scriptorium and refectory, all of them rooms that once had a use.

The tag on the end is the part written on the notice board. No Returns, Nine Doors, Bad Air, Second Delving, Low Water, Loose Roof. It is a practical line rather than a boast: it records what the last party found or failed to survive, and it changes as more parties go in. A dungeon whose tag has been amended twice is far more frightening than one with a grand name, because somebody has been keeping count.

More dungeon names

Names dungeon names

The Black Conduit Ill Reckoning pitch-dark water channel
The Mislaid Granary Old Bell misplaced grain store
The Verminous Gallery No Map overrun with vermin mine passage
The Rusted Crypt Sour Spring corroded burial chamber
The Cold Forge Low Water frigid smith's fire
The Whispering Sewer Nine Doors murmuring waste channel
The Airless Adit Three Lamps without air level mine entrance
The Mislaid Abyss Old Seal misplaced bottomless drop
The Airless Shaft Long Drop without air vertical bore
The Thousand-Step Larder Sour Spring very deep meat store
The Wandering Culvert Two Bells shifting covered drain
The Hanging Barrow Winter Only suspended burial mound
The Crooked Rotunda Black Level bent askew round chamber
The Salt-Rimed Sewer Sour Spring crusted with salt waste channel
The Nine-Gated Shaft Broken Seal with nine gates vertical bore
The Verminous Stair Poor Ground overrun with vermin flight of steps
The Reeking Colonnade No Returns foul-smelling row of columns
The Forgotten Barrow Last Warning unremembered burial mound

Questions

FAQ

How do I name a dungeon?

Ask who named it and what they were warning about. Take one adjective a villager would use — sunless, weeping, hungry, rusted, slumped — and one accurate word for the space: vault, adit, ossuary, warren, swallet. Then add the tag that says why people talk about it. The name then contains its own rumour table, which saves you writing one.

What is an adit?

A horizontal entrance driven into a hillside to reach a seam, as opposed to a shaft sunk from above. Adits drain themselves, which is why old ones are walkable and why they flood when the drainage fails. Other useful mining words are drift for a level passage, winze for an internal shaft, stope for the void left where ore was taken out, and sump for the flooded bottom.

What is the difference between a crypt, a catacomb and an ossuary?

A crypt is a chamber under a church, usually for a small number of important burials. A catacomb is an excavated cemetery of galleries and niches, holding a great many. An ossuary is a store for bones moved out of graves that were needed again, so it is full of stacked remains rather than intact burials. Hypogeum is the general word for any underground chamber.

What is a swallet?

A hole where a surface stream sinks into limestone and continues underground. Caving country is full of them, and they make excellent dungeon entrances because the way in is the way the water goes, the passage is scoured smooth, and it all backs up after rain. Pothole is the related word for a vertical shaft dropping from the surface.

What makes a dungeon name sound wrong?

Grandeur. A name like the Eternal Sanctum of Shadowed Despair is a title somebody inside chose for themselves, and nobody outside would repeat it. Real names are blunt, physical and slightly rude about the place, because the people using them have to describe it to a stranger in one breath at the crossroads.