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<blockquote data-quote="iserith" data-source="post: 7433563" data-attributes="member: 97077"><p>As an aside, I'm getting ready to run Sunless Citadel while another DM is on summer hiatus. I'm using it as an opportunity to test out a few ideas including a more structured Exploration Phase. Taking a page from the Olden Days, Exploration will take place more or less in rounds of 10 minutes long at the end of which is a wandering monster check. This automatically puts stakes on the line for tasks which deals with the issue of "meaningful consequence of failure." If you fail, that means you may have to stake another round of wandering monster checks. It's just a matter of determining uncertainty as to the outcome at that point.</p><p></p><p>The basic procedure is everyone declares an action, the resolution of which takes 10 minutes and, once resolved, there's a wandering monster check (18+ on d20). Checking for traps, figuring out a trap, and disabling a trap would therefore each take 10 minutes (since you can't do a given task without the preceding ones being successful) for a total of 30 minutes of interaction - three wandering monster checks. Because you can't both do that and Keep Watch, you're at risk of being surprised if a wandering monster (who is trying to be stealth) shows up. Allies can choose to Work Together to either (1) grant advantage as normal if possible or (2) grant an ally another task in that round. So you could in theory Work Together to resolve the trap faster and thus have fewer wandering monster checks as a result but, again, that comes with the risk of surprise and at the cost of not performing any other useful tasks.</p><p></p><p>So for a trap like the one being discussed in this thread, I think there's good potential for the players to make a lot of meaningful decisions as they deal with it and for a certain level of risk to keep things a bit tense. It also helps the DM with managing time, if that's important to the adventure.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="iserith, post: 7433563, member: 97077"] As an aside, I'm getting ready to run Sunless Citadel while another DM is on summer hiatus. I'm using it as an opportunity to test out a few ideas including a more structured Exploration Phase. Taking a page from the Olden Days, Exploration will take place more or less in rounds of 10 minutes long at the end of which is a wandering monster check. This automatically puts stakes on the line for tasks which deals with the issue of "meaningful consequence of failure." If you fail, that means you may have to stake another round of wandering monster checks. It's just a matter of determining uncertainty as to the outcome at that point. The basic procedure is everyone declares an action, the resolution of which takes 10 minutes and, once resolved, there's a wandering monster check (18+ on d20). Checking for traps, figuring out a trap, and disabling a trap would therefore each take 10 minutes (since you can't do a given task without the preceding ones being successful) for a total of 30 minutes of interaction - three wandering monster checks. Because you can't both do that and Keep Watch, you're at risk of being surprised if a wandering monster (who is trying to be stealth) shows up. Allies can choose to Work Together to either (1) grant advantage as normal if possible or (2) grant an ally another task in that round. So you could in theory Work Together to resolve the trap faster and thus have fewer wandering monster checks as a result but, again, that comes with the risk of surprise and at the cost of not performing any other useful tasks. So for a trap like the one being discussed in this thread, I think there's good potential for the players to make a lot of meaningful decisions as they deal with it and for a certain level of risk to keep things a bit tense. It also helps the DM with managing time, if that's important to the adventure. [/QUOTE]
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