'Room of Silence' Ideas

[Owen Lewis]

Hi All!

I'm new to DM'ing, and ran my first session recently, which went pretty well. It was supposed to be a one-shot, but they got about half way through, so I'm doing a second/final session on it this week. It's mostly a puzzle dungeon, and I'm putting together some ideas for a couple of extra rooms, just in case they get through the stuff I already have too quickly.

I'd really like to do a 'room of silence' where the whole room is under the effects of the Silence spell, forcing the PCs to communicate in creative ways, but I can't think what would be the best puzzle/trap to give them in these conditions? Maybe something that would be obvious if you could hear it, or something that requires them to communicate with each other a lot...

If anyone has any cool ideas it would be very appreciated!

Thanks.

 

[Rod Staffwand]

Maybe there are four alcoves with levers and a door, all out of line of sight with each other. The door has a tumbler with a symbol that randomly matches one of the levers. When that lever is pulled, the tumbler changes to another symbol/lever until all four levers are pulled in the correct sequence and the door opens. However, this all must be done in one round or the door resets.

I'd tie this with a bit of damage each round from an environmental effect--say 1hp/round from electricity or poison gas--to keep them moving (modified by level). Or you can spawn monsters (incorporeal undead might be good) or a larger damage effect each time the door resets.

 

[Owen Lewis]

Thanks Rod - that idea works well... Now to think up some evil damage

 

[Shiroiken]

Interesting concept. Some suggestions for running the trick/trap:

Tell the players that they cannot talk to anyone but you while in the room. This can/should prevent meta-gaming, where they talk out the solution out of character. They can only make gestures and facial expressions with each other (which would be hilarious if you manage to record the session).

The solution to the puzzle should be fairly simple, with communication being the hard part. You should determine if you want characters to make checks, if you want players to figure it out themselves, or a combination of both. Also, try to make sure it's not a dead-end if the players can't figure it out, because that can bring the game to a grinding halt.

 

[aco175]

I can see something like this needing good communication from you describing the room and how the PCs interact with it since they should not be able to talk through it. A cool gimmick may to have a couple safe zones where the PCs can communicate for a time, but need to leave them to keep moving forward.

 

[Rhenny]

You could structure it like an escape room puzzle where different clues are hidden in the room and by finding them and decifering how they fit together the party learns how to escape. Of course they cant talk and there should be some time pressure or damage per round element. I like the idea of having a real clock/ countdown that they can see. It will make them really nervous. You could even have a joke ending if they run out of time. They’ll be expecting a big boom or mega damage, but maybe they just get showered in fairy fire and have to continue into a new area glowing with shame.

 

[Owen Lewis]

Thanks everyone, all good suggestions.

I'm pretty much going with a simple levers in alcoves thing, but the levers only appear when a PC is standing right in front of it, so they all have to be next to one (and then pull them in the right order) for it to work.

I've printed graphics of different coloured levers in alcoves and empty alcoves from further back so I can secretly show them to individual players when they investigate without giving it away to the others...

We'll see how it goes!

Thanks again.

 

[Eltab]

For something different from the above, a defender in the room with a tower shield. He cannot be hit from the side it faces, but he can be hit from the other sides. The catch is that nobody can just yell, "Get behind him!" due to the Silence.

Also to decorate such a room, listen to The Sound of Silence lyrics for ideas.