That's an interesting way of handling it! The Yawning Portal module says that when a total of 3-4 characters walk over a given pressure plate, then the trap triggers. Which means that when they're just walking along waiting for me to narrate when something happens, that something will often be a trap they had little chance of anticipating. I am afraid that once they've been hurt this way they'll start frantically searching every inch of the place. I need to learn how to strike a balance, and give them a chance to detect/react to traps without giving too much away. I love a good dungeon trap, but I don't want to exclusively do the Gotcha! thing.
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D&D 5E So I ran an oldschool competitive dungeon in 5e...
- Thread starter DRF
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That's an interesting way of handling it! The Yawning Portal module says that when a total of 3-4 characters walk over a given pressure plate, then the trap triggers. Which means that when they're just walking along waiting for me to narrate when something happens, that something will often be a trap they had little chance of anticipating. I am afraid that once they've been hurt this way they'll start frantically searching every inch of the place. I need to learn how to strike a balance, and give them a chance to detect/react to traps without giving too much away. I love a good dungeon trap, but I don't want to exclusively do the Gotcha! thing.
pming
Legend
HIya!
[MENTION=6910474]DRF[/MENTION] and [MENTION=29398]Lanefan[/MENTION] ...agreed with the slowing down to search everything. There is a balance and I've found it to be different with each group of friends/groups I've played with. After a half-dozen sessions or so you will get a 'feel' for your players likely perceptions of stuff. You'll be able to pick up on when they're annoyed with something, or when they are really into something. This will help you with the pacing/timing of stuff and that will feed into your players perceptions, and you'll pick up more, rinse, repeat. Eventually it will get to the point where they can say "Ok, this corridor seems out of place. We'll do the standard rope-tie, tap, and slow move checking", and you will know exactly what they mean. I guess what I'm trying to say is...things will get faster.
Still, nothing tells me my players are really into something going on in the game more than when they each try and describe what their character is doing...all at the same time.
Likewise when the table is silent and everybody is afraid to do anything or say anything other than a whimpering ...meep!... (fill any appropriate swear/curse word for meep).
One thing that old school style play does, by default, better than 'new school play' (IMHO), is evoke a shared imagining of the game world. When the DM is describing the specifics of a dungeon hallway, with all the colourful verbiage, everyone is picturing it that way...more or less. The key thing to remember when describing stuff is this: be "detail-level consistent". Don't describe one room in exquisite detail, then describe the next with a broad brush. Especially pay attention to doors, entrances, and common furniture/items. "It's a door" is fine. But when you've described every dungeon door like that, then suddenly say "It's an old oak door with three, 4-inch bands of rusty metal spaced evenly apart, horizontally. The door handle is of brass, and looks like it's been recently polished"...well, that's a pretty big disconnect for players to digest. By going into a lot of detail on this one particular door you will either be training your players to always distrust detail...or you will be training them to ignore it. As I said, you want a nice balance and a consistent level of detail in your descriptions.
PS: If a player comes up with an idea that would negate, disarm or otherwise nullify a trap...let him do it without rolling. Nothing annoys me more (when I get to play and not DM) more than a DM that tells me I found a falling-block trap, and then when I describe how I'm going to keep it from falling by placing a timber from the storage room 20' back...and then say "Ok, make a disarm traps roll...". GRRRR! So ALWAYS give your players an opportunity to bypass the dice with a good, solid, logical plan of action (or at least HEAVILY increase their success chance).
^_^
Paul L. Ming
[MENTION=6910474]DRF[/MENTION] and [MENTION=29398]Lanefan[/MENTION] ...agreed with the slowing down to search everything. There is a balance and I've found it to be different with each group of friends/groups I've played with. After a half-dozen sessions or so you will get a 'feel' for your players likely perceptions of stuff. You'll be able to pick up on when they're annoyed with something, or when they are really into something. This will help you with the pacing/timing of stuff and that will feed into your players perceptions, and you'll pick up more, rinse, repeat. Eventually it will get to the point where they can say "Ok, this corridor seems out of place. We'll do the standard rope-tie, tap, and slow move checking", and you will know exactly what they mean. I guess what I'm trying to say is...things will get faster.
Still, nothing tells me my players are really into something going on in the game more than when they each try and describe what their character is doing...all at the same time.
Likewise when the table is silent and everybody is afraid to do anything or say anything other than a whimpering ...meep!... (fill any appropriate swear/curse word for meep).One thing that old school style play does, by default, better than 'new school play' (IMHO), is evoke a shared imagining of the game world. When the DM is describing the specifics of a dungeon hallway, with all the colourful verbiage, everyone is picturing it that way...more or less. The key thing to remember when describing stuff is this: be "detail-level consistent". Don't describe one room in exquisite detail, then describe the next with a broad brush. Especially pay attention to doors, entrances, and common furniture/items. "It's a door" is fine. But when you've described every dungeon door like that, then suddenly say "It's an old oak door with three, 4-inch bands of rusty metal spaced evenly apart, horizontally. The door handle is of brass, and looks like it's been recently polished"...well, that's a pretty big disconnect for players to digest. By going into a lot of detail on this one particular door you will either be training your players to always distrust detail...or you will be training them to ignore it. As I said, you want a nice balance and a consistent level of detail in your descriptions.
PS: If a player comes up with an idea that would negate, disarm or otherwise nullify a trap...let him do it without rolling. Nothing annoys me more (when I get to play and not DM) more than a DM that tells me I found a falling-block trap, and then when I describe how I'm going to keep it from falling by placing a timber from the storage room 20' back...and then say "Ok, make a disarm traps roll...". GRRRR! So ALWAYS give your players an opportunity to bypass the dice with a good, solid, logical plan of action (or at least HEAVILY increase their success chance).
^_^
Paul L. Ming
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