A second post this week! This one is really just a request for your opinion, so I don’t count it as “content.”
I’m have mixed feeling about secret doors. On the one hand, they’re very much “realistic”, in-genre, and add to the feel of the game. On the other hand, it seems that in a lot of early modules and adventures, a good 50-75% of a dungeon would be hidden behind a secret door and there would be no clue or hint that such a door even existed, never mind where it was. This would lead to players either:
- Search every single 10x10 section of wall in the entire dungeon hoping to find the secret door. Even then, there’s a 67% chance that the door will be missed, meaning that every player wants to search. Rolling a d6 hundreds of times just say “no door” is not my idea of an exciting adventure.
- Giving up and saying “Make us a new dungeon, screen monkey!”
So, if I add a secret door, I like there to be a hint of some sort. Maybe the players have a map that shows a passage where all they see is a wall. Maybe they heard a rumor that Lord Flashypants went north in the altar room.
In this example, I’m using the map itself as a hint. I want to make sure that the puzzle can be figured out. This isn’t the actual map (sorry future players!), but it’s the idea.
The map above shows what the party has explored and been able to map out. They have not yet searched for or found any secret doors. On that map, where would you guess that there is a secret door? What two squares does the door connect? Clicking on the map should make it bigger, and I numbered each square for easy reference.
Thanks for your help!
Ah, yeah, I can imagine how frustrating having no indication would be.
ReplyDeleteAnd I really appreciate the subtle hinting! I think this is sufficiently hint-y, as it looks like there should be a hidden door connecting...well, I'll DM in case someone else wants to figure it out without my guess biasing them. =)
You were right :)
DeleteWoo! =D
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