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