D&D Location Books Review: Legendary Locations, Towns & Portals

Irma Hoyt
Dec 6
2 min read

Updated: Dec 13

World-building is dope in theory, but spending four hours designing a tavern your players will visit for exactly 1 drink (before they burn it down) is... not it.

Stack of D&D books (The Game Master's Book of Legendary Locations, The Game Master's Book of Instant Towns and Cities, and Dungeons & Dragons Places & Portals) on a wooden table. Backdrop includes a mini castle dice tower, a dark dice tower with dice in it, and a box of D&D Creatures and NPCs on top of another D&D book.

That's where D&D location books come in handy!

So today, I'm reviewing some of the books my husband and I have used and love! I'm talking about The Game Master's Book of Legendary Locations, The Game Master's Book of Instant Towns and Cities, and Dungeons & Dragons Places & Portals. These may very well save your ass when you need a fleshed-out location and you need it like yesterday.

The Game Master's Book of Legendary Locations book open to a page, on a wooden table with the other reviewed books in the foreground and a mini dice tower in the background next to a dark dice tower with dice in the tray.

The Game Master's Book of Legendary Locations gives you some really great ready-to-run locations like the large forest of Altaboria, the underground realm of Garrek's Falls, or mysterious Chroma Lighthouse. Each location comes with encounter hooks, environmental features, NPCs, and plot threads you can weave into your campaign.

The Game Master's Book of Instant Towns and Cities book open to a page, on a wooden table with the other reviewed books in the foreground and a mini dice tower in the background next to a dark dice tower with dice in the tray.

The Game Master's Book of Instant Towns and Cities is all about settlements, bay-beeee. Need a bustling port city? A quiet farming village? A sketchy underground black market? This book has pre-built towns with districts, notable NPCs, local conflicts, and points of interest that make your world feel lived-in without all the homework.

The Dungeons & Dragons Places & Portals book open to a page, on a wooden table with the other reviewed books in the foreground and a mini dice tower in the background next to a dark dice tower with dice in the tray.

Dungeons & Dragons Places & Portals focuses on (you guessed it) places AND the magical portals connecting them. It's perfect for campaigns with planar travel (like Quests from the Infinite Staircase), teleportation circles, or just cool-ass gateways to other realms. Plus it includes adventure seeds tied to each location.

How to use these D&D location books together

● Layer them: Use Instant Towns and Cities for the settlement, then drop a Legendary Location nearby as a dungeon or quest destination. And if you want more chaos, toss in a portal from Places & Portals to send your players to another plane.

● Steal the vibes, change the details: If a location is 90% perfect but the name or one detail doesn't fit, just change it. These books are tools that work really, REALLY well in a homebrew campaign.

● NPCs as plot hooks: Pick 2-3 NPCs from each location who could become recurring friendly NPCs or quest-givers. Mark them so you remember who they are when your players inevitably bring them up five sessions later.

Check them out!

Grab The Game Master's Book of Legendary Locations here, The Game Master's Book of Instant Towns and Cities here, and Dungeons & Dragons Places & Portals here. Your future self (who will definitely be scrambling at game time) will thank you.

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