I don’t want to talk about monsters this week.
I'm sure.
Instead, I want to muse a bit on what might be a lost art of the Dungeon Master’s trade—
Hmm. And whose fault would that be?
or might just be something we all do and don’t talk about any more, at least not in the same terms. I’m talking about tricks.
That's an interesting thought. I have no idea though. But, truthfully, it isn't the kind f thing that I talk about. It is rather assumed to exist.
I came to this realization a while ago ...
He CAN be taught!
What is exploration, really? Well, it’s more than just the rules that govern how you get from one place to another. It’s more than the rules for listening at doors and breaking them down.
It includes those mundane mechanics of moving around in the D&D world, but more importantly, it describes the wonder-filled activity of uncovering the secrets of an ancient or mysterious environment, whether it’s an ancient dungeon, dusty ruins, or a savage wilderness. Exploration includes the following kinds of activities:
-snip-
Yeah...annnnd...?
You might sometimes make ability checks during exploration: -snip- Experiment, ask questions, keep notes, and pay attention, and eventually the dungeon’s mysteries will be revealed to you!
...
...annnd...?
[h=3]Tricks of the Trade[/h] I spent a lot of time looking at rules and adventures from the early days of D&D and thinking about how the game handled exploration back then. Surprisingly, I found that the rules never said much about it—it was an activity that was always assumed but rarely rose to the forefront of discussion.
And this was..."surprising[ly]" for you? ...we're doomed.
A lot of what appears in the bullet list above actually came from looking at the early descriptions of “tricks” (as opposed to traps). Appendix H of the original Dungeon Master’s Guide...
-snippety snip snip-
What’s interesting to me there is the assumption that tricks are an essential element of every DM’s arsenal, and indeed, looking at the attributes in the appendix and the examples that follow, these are the kinds of things that make exploration an interesting and entertaining part of the D&D game experience:
-snip the gargoyle/nymph example statue-
And this is interesting to you...because...?
Clues, riddles, and save-or-die traps are all essential elements of the early game, all wrapped up in one neat package.
Funny that. Guess ya shoulda paid more attention to those in your passed editions...but then, guess we'd have nothing to talk about this week.
[h=3]Three Pillars[/h] So I think we’re right to be talking about three pillars of the game, but it might be more helpful to think about it in terms of three types of encounters: combat encounters (the kind where you beat up monsters), interaction encounters (the kind where you talk to people), and exploration encounters (the kind where you deal with tricks and sometimes traps).
STOP! Hang on...Right there. Be a dear and take your none-too-subtle attempt to infiltrate 5e with some of your vaunted 4e terminology, thanks. Expressly "encounter-based" design has been, I'd say, irrevocably proven to be a detrimental to the D&D [sales and] brand.
The overall exploration rules—how you move from place to place—that’s the glue that holds encounters together. It’s the room the pillars are in.
Didn't you just say at the start of this [your
startling revelation!] that exploration is
more than how you move from place to place?
Exploration encounters provide a much richer space for DM creativity and allow the players to find challenge—and fun.
Again...annnd...?
The weird thing is that the game stops talking about “tricks” (using that word) after 1st Edition AD&D. We keep stocking our dungeon with this kind of obstacle and challenge, but by taking away the language we used to use to talk about them, we’ve made them an implicit part of the game and hidden them from newer DMs.
I will assert that 2nd edition must have dealt with them as well, without apparently "using that word" <rolls eyes>. At no point do I recall people saying "Oh thank gods! We don't have to bother with puzzles anymore!"...until much more recently.
Beyond that, guess some folks shoulda left well enough alone.
EDIT: I suppose the utterly arbitrary pananggalan is just an attempt to feel Halloweeny? Cute [debatable]...but completely pointless and inappropriate to the column.
