The Secret of the Poster in Dragon #297

[tonym]

Hi, everybody. In the recent issue of Dragon magazine, issue #297, a two-sided poster for use with miniatures is included. I'm Tony Moseley, the guy who illustrated the side which depicts a blasted and rock-strewn dungeon (the side of the poster that is blueish, not the brownish side done by the awesome Anthony Waters).

The following information about my side of the poster is for the eyes of DMs only. It's not that big of a deal, really, but it may be something that your DM might not want you to automatically know. So, if you think your DM might use the map, please point him to this thread.

Oh, and stop reading.

Okay, here's the TOP SECRET information....

The numerous floor squares composing the majority of the map were designed according to the arcane and mysterious principles of THE RUBBLE SYSTEM--a system of my own creation. Details about this system follow this sentence.

THE RUBBLE SYSTEM

On the map, there are four types of floor squares:
--a square with no rocks and no cracks.
--a square with a few rocks, but no cracks.
--a square with no rocks and it has a crack.
--a square with lots of rocks, and it has a crack.

On the map, you will not find any of the following:
--a square with a few rocks and it has a crack.
--a square with lots of rocks, but no crack.

In other words:
Rocks + Crack = Rubble
Rocks - Crack = Not Rubble.

Now that the secret has been revealed, you might consider assigning some kind of subtle and secret effect to the official "rubble" squares--a penalty while fighting in them, say (a penalty which would not extend to the squares which contain rocks but no cracks).

That was THE RUBBLE SYSTEM.



Happy gaming!
Tony M

 

[James McMurray]

Wouldn't anybody who was actually there (i.e. the characters) be able to look and see where the rubble was?

 

[Shadowdancer]

I doubt many players would look at the tiles that closely unless you give them a hint that there is some sort of pattern. Yes, they may see the rubble, and the cracks, but they probably wouldn't notice the connection unless you hinted there was one, or that there was some key or pattern to the tiles that might help them out.

 

[LcKedovan]

Good to see you popping back in to post Tony! I think little things like this can really help add to some interesting combats. There was an awesome discussion in the days before the "Crash Limits" that were discussing interesting locations for combats and environmental combat modifiers for locations. Thanks for sharing the secret!

-Will

 

[James McMurray]

No, I mean the characters themselves would be able to see rubble on the floor in front of them. I agree that players will never notice things like that. But a person standing in a room will be able to see where heavier piles of rubble are.