D&D 5E ToA question for Tomb of the 9 gods 5th Floor Gears of Hate

Nightbeat84 · Mar 9, 2020

Has anyone successfully ran this part I am confused on how this are suppose to work it seems that as they rotated some areas are cut off and from what the explanation is seems like there's no real way to get to the path that leads to the 6th Floor I've looked online but have not seen much in the way this room is supposed to be run and i don't really want to have to rework the whole thing but will do so if I have to. It has been awhile since I looked at this problem if anyone needs further expansion on the question I will re read the section and elaborate on it

Mbrichman · Mar 9, 2020

I've run this before. The party have to use the blue controls in the control room (area 61) to orient the gears in the different positions. Handout 24 shows the different configurations.

Note the party will have to come up with some clever way to do this as one person will need to be at the controls while the orientation of the gears may then prevent them from getting to the rest of the party.

Eyes of Nine · Mar 9, 2020

Mbrichman said:
I've run this before. The party have to use the blue controls in the control room (area 61) to orient the gears in the different positions. Handout 24 shows the different configurations.

Note the party will have to come up with some clever way to do this as one person will need to be at the controls while the orientation of the gears may then prevent them from getting to the rest of the party.

What Mbrichman says. I have only engaged with this level as a player and it was my favorite part of the Tomb.

snaggle2th · Mar 9, 2020

It's fun to print and cut out the gears, to show the players what's happening. If you want to do it at scale, you need to have access to a large-format printer (luckily I did). Even if you don't, you can cut them out at a smaller scale and play with them.

To keep it straight for yourself, draw the five positions. For each one, just draw 3 circles (the orientation of the pentagon doesn't matter as much), and add lines to show what connects to what in that position--you can get that from the description in the book. If I were going to run it again, this is what I would have behind my screen.

Rabbitbait · Mar 9, 2020

Here's my journal from Gears of Hate: Roll20

and for the whole campaign if you want to look further ahead: Roll20

Quickleaf · Mar 9, 2020

Nightbeat84 said:
How's anyone successfully ran this part I am confused on how this are suppose to work it seems that as they rotated some areas are cut off and from what the explanation is seems like there's no real way to get to the path that leads to the 6th Floor I've looked online but have not seen much in the way this room is supposed to be run and i don't really want to have to rework the whole thing but will do so if I have to. It has been awhile since I looked at this problem if anyone needs further expansion on the question I will re read the section and elaborate on it

Someone needs to hang behind to operate the gears so the rest can get through. This could be a NPC ally (there are many to pick up in TOA), an animal companion or familiar, an unseen servant, a conjured monster, etc. Alternately, if the party has no such capability, this is a good place to let players with passwall or similar magics (which generally don't work in the Tomb) use those resources to bypass the gears.

Map of Gear Combos:

Rabbitbait · Mar 9, 2020

I worked it that a small or unarmoured character could just squeeze through the gaps in the gears. That meant that the entire party couldn't bypass the puzzle, but the smallest character could set the gears appropriately and then climb around the outside of the gears until they rejoined the party.

Mbrichman · Mar 10, 2020

Not everyone has access to a 3D printer, but I also printed out a 3d model of the gears to help my players visualize it all.

Gears of Hate from Tomb of Annihilation D&D Dungeon by NoPetRides

Hey folks, this is my first real design aside from a maker coin. I was looking for the Gears of Hate online (Floor 5 of Tomb Of Annihilation) but couldn't find a model of them, so I decided to make them myself. They are correct in terms of the layout. Print the 3 gears and the base and then...

www.thingiverse.com

dave2008 · Mar 10, 2020

Did anyone run this with just a description of what is going on? It has been a while since I looked at it, but I can't imagine the characters have access to a birds eye view, or is there some model or clue to how the gears function?

I seam to remember some gear shaped controls, but I could be completely off

Eltab · Mar 11, 2020

Rabbitbait said:
I worked it that a small or unarmoured character could just squeeze through the gaps in the gears. That meant that the entire party couldn't bypass the puzzle, but the smallest character could set the gears appropriately and then climb around the outside of the gears until they rejoined the party.

And since every last thing in this dungeon is trying to kill you, when the little guy squeezes between the gears and the wall, say something like "You feel the gears begin to move as you push your unarmored body past them. Make a DEX check." See if the player turns pale.

D&D 5E ToA question for Tomb of the 9 gods 5th Floor Gears of Hate

Nightbeat84

Explorer

Mbrichman

Villager

Eyes of Nine

Everything's Fine

snaggle2th

Explorer

Rabbitbait

Adventurer

Quickleaf

Legend

Rabbitbait

Adventurer

Mbrichman

Villager

Gears of Hate from Tomb of Annihilation D&D Dungeon by NoPetRides

dave2008

Legend

Eltab

Lord of the Hidden Layer

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