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1000 Empty Rooms
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<blockquote data-quote="Cavnar" data-source="post: 5853306" data-attributes="member: 6691162"><p>I'm running my players through The World's Largest dungeon. They have just hit on a large region with a lot of empty rooms (Region E, for those that know it). I was going to streamline gameplay by making a compressed map that showed only the details that mattered; secret doors, traps, distance between numbered rooms down each path, etc. This way, I could skip all of the things that slow us down; mainly searching empty rooms and asking them which way they want to go at each intersection, even if I know that both directions meet back up and go to the same place.</p><p></p><p>However, as one player put it, all of my players are micromanagers; even if they trust that I'm not going to run them into something that will bite them, or run them passed something they want, they still want to individually exercise all of their options. For instance, there may be a maze-like section between two rooms that has no treasure, no monsters, nothing. I was going to gloss over it and say something like "you come to a series of twists, turns, and intersections that slows your progress. However, after a couple of false starts, you find your way across and continue on". But my players want to actually tell me at each intersection which way they go. Of course, they'll map it as they go (or, rather, I'll be mapping it for them) so there's no chance of them actually getting lost, but they want the choice.</p><p></p><p>The same thing holds for empty rooms. They want the mystery of not knowing whether the room is empty or not. We played most of Region A 6 months ago, and have only played one game in Region E so far. I don't think they have realized that it's real simple to tell which rooms are empty; if I don't read a description from the book, it's empty.</p><p></p><p>In order to placate them, and to make the empty rooms seem like not such a waste of time to me or them, I need some empty room descriptions. There are about 20 in the book, but those same 20 will get old quick. So I'm asking for y'all's help. I'd like for anyone who has an idea for an "empty" room to post it here. The rules are:</p><p></p><p>1) The room shouldn't contain a size description. The map already has sizes, so I don't need them. Likewise, it can't contain secret doors, or even descriptions including which side of the room any normal doors are on, or even the number of doors.</p><p>2) The room shouldn't have any measurable effect on the players. This means that it can't contain treasure, because that could affect their power level, and it can't contain mobs or traps, because that would affect their XP. It can contain mundane, low-value items. For instance, it can probably contain a 500lb spool of wool. The players can't use it for anything without taking a crafting (cloth) check or something, and if they want to carry 500 pounds for the meager profit when they get out, that's fine. But it can't contain a 500lb spool of rope; they would just cut off a good section of it as equipment. Likewise, it can contain a 500lb bag of flour, but not 500lbs of iron rations. It can contain things like a large ornate desk worth 1000gp, as long as it is the overall construction and craftsmanship that makes the desk expensive, not its components. The player's most likely won't carry the desk out, but they would pry off silver handles or inlaid gems. And if they want to chop it up for 100 pounds of firewood, so be it.</p><p>3) It can contain permanent, non-removable magical effects, but these effects need to be designed to help/hinder mobs just as much as players. So the room can't make any random encounter that happens to coincide with the players entrance to the room harder or easier.</p><p>4) In order for this to be helpful for other DM's running other games, I realize that these restrictions may be too restrictive. I can even see that if we get enough rooms that are fully described, someone could create a random dungeon just by stringing the rooms together. So if you have other details, such as door layout, mobs, etc, that may make it no longer "empty" just put it below and separate from the other data please. The rooms, for my purposes, really only need to be a description. So perhaps one description of an "empty" room following the rules above, and then one for a fully laid out room plus stats on mobs, traps, hidden doors, search dc's for treasure, or whatever else you want to add extra.</p><p></p><p>And that's it. Thanks in advance to anyone that wants to participate. I and my players greatly appreciate it. If anyone knows of a free, publicly editable wiki site, I'll post them all there when I get a chance, with each room having its own page (and let anyone else that wants to add more do so).</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Cavnar, post: 5853306, member: 6691162"] I'm running my players through The World's Largest dungeon. They have just hit on a large region with a lot of empty rooms (Region E, for those that know it). I was going to streamline gameplay by making a compressed map that showed only the details that mattered; secret doors, traps, distance between numbered rooms down each path, etc. This way, I could skip all of the things that slow us down; mainly searching empty rooms and asking them which way they want to go at each intersection, even if I know that both directions meet back up and go to the same place. However, as one player put it, all of my players are micromanagers; even if they trust that I'm not going to run them into something that will bite them, or run them passed something they want, they still want to individually exercise all of their options. For instance, there may be a maze-like section between two rooms that has no treasure, no monsters, nothing. I was going to gloss over it and say something like "you come to a series of twists, turns, and intersections that slows your progress. However, after a couple of false starts, you find your way across and continue on". But my players want to actually tell me at each intersection which way they go. Of course, they'll map it as they go (or, rather, I'll be mapping it for them) so there's no chance of them actually getting lost, but they want the choice. The same thing holds for empty rooms. They want the mystery of not knowing whether the room is empty or not. We played most of Region A 6 months ago, and have only played one game in Region E so far. I don't think they have realized that it's real simple to tell which rooms are empty; if I don't read a description from the book, it's empty. In order to placate them, and to make the empty rooms seem like not such a waste of time to me or them, I need some empty room descriptions. There are about 20 in the book, but those same 20 will get old quick. So I'm asking for y'all's help. I'd like for anyone who has an idea for an "empty" room to post it here. The rules are: 1) The room shouldn't contain a size description. The map already has sizes, so I don't need them. Likewise, it can't contain secret doors, or even descriptions including which side of the room any normal doors are on, or even the number of doors. 2) The room shouldn't have any measurable effect on the players. This means that it can't contain treasure, because that could affect their power level, and it can't contain mobs or traps, because that would affect their XP. It can contain mundane, low-value items. For instance, it can probably contain a 500lb spool of wool. The players can't use it for anything without taking a crafting (cloth) check or something, and if they want to carry 500 pounds for the meager profit when they get out, that's fine. But it can't contain a 500lb spool of rope; they would just cut off a good section of it as equipment. Likewise, it can contain a 500lb bag of flour, but not 500lbs of iron rations. It can contain things like a large ornate desk worth 1000gp, as long as it is the overall construction and craftsmanship that makes the desk expensive, not its components. The player's most likely won't carry the desk out, but they would pry off silver handles or inlaid gems. And if they want to chop it up for 100 pounds of firewood, so be it. 3) It can contain permanent, non-removable magical effects, but these effects need to be designed to help/hinder mobs just as much as players. So the room can't make any random encounter that happens to coincide with the players entrance to the room harder or easier. 4) In order for this to be helpful for other DM's running other games, I realize that these restrictions may be too restrictive. I can even see that if we get enough rooms that are fully described, someone could create a random dungeon just by stringing the rooms together. So if you have other details, such as door layout, mobs, etc, that may make it no longer "empty" just put it below and separate from the other data please. The rooms, for my purposes, really only need to be a description. So perhaps one description of an "empty" room following the rules above, and then one for a fully laid out room plus stats on mobs, traps, hidden doors, search dc's for treasure, or whatever else you want to add extra. And that's it. Thanks in advance to anyone that wants to participate. I and my players greatly appreciate it. If anyone knows of a free, publicly editable wiki site, I'll post them all there when I get a chance, with each room having its own page (and let anyone else that wants to add more do so). [/QUOTE]
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