D&D 5E Adventuring in a maze

[Not a Hobbit]

Dear ENWorlders:

I'm going to be incorporating the ENSider adventure "Into the Feywild" into my campaign. In this scenario, the Fey town of Hedgegrove is literally a maze city. So how does one play this concept? I don't want to just give them a map, because it can't be mapped. I don't want to do the old "You come to an intersection, do you turn left or right," because that would get old really fast, especially when all they are doing is looking for a shop. Perhaps I could have them roll Survival checks to find their way around, and the lower the roll the longer it takes to find anything, but that seems rather lackluster.

So is there a way to do this to make it an enjoyable experience for the players? Or is it just designed to be a cool thing, with no real impact on game play?

Thanks for any help.

--Scott

 

[iserith]

I am not familiar with the product and can't speak to the design intent, but if I did anything it would probably be something expedient like establishing a default uncertainty as to finding a desired destination in a given time frame and then calling for a check appropriate to how the players have their characters deal with that. This gives them some decision-making in terms of how they handle the problem and may call for different ability checks based on their approach to the goal. Time pressure will be required to make these stakes worth caring about. If there is no time pressure, then a check to resolve how much time it takes is rather pointless.

 

[Baldurs_Underdark]

If you consider a real maze: First ask yourself if you really want your players to be able to get lost. Think first what happens if the players get lost. Short term, maybe an encounter? But long term? Can they ever find back their way? How will you roleplay it if they would roll low multiple times in a row?

There are multiple ways to let the players roll for finding the right way (a DC10 survival check, or 4d6 representing 4 different crossings and they must score >14). As they have wandered around, you can either lower the save DC for finding the way, or give them advantage.

But you can also distribute all locations of interest on a forked network: You're at the city gate. You can see the Baker, the Cannery and the Distillery (note that these start with B, C and D).
After the players move to the Baker: You now see the Gate back where you came from, and up ahead the Inn, Jeweler and a Knife Shop. This is a simple maze that eventually the players will understand. It will take time, but getting lost isn't much of a problem.

 

[aco175]

I would most likely just have several encounters planned and roll their survival checks to see if they make it to a planned place or to the planned random encounter. There can be a few key locations like a waterfall and a rope bridge that they can make it to and you describe a few things, let them choose a path and move on. They can come back and it will feel familiar and they choose another path from there. This way they make a few decisions, roll to get lost, and still make the planned key encounters to move the module along.

 

[jgsugden]

Abstract.

Describe what is so confusing, but give them no props, maps or other physical representations of the city.

However, keep it light. This type of thing is best as a quirky side note rather than making it a core feature of a session. As you note, there is a big risk of this being more of a hassle than a fun feature. Have them make a survival role - but if they fail, say they got lost for a moment and describe some odd things they find where they end up in this confusing city. However, let them get to their destination with only a few moments of delays (unless they want to investigate the fun features you described where the ended up on their detour).

 

[Warmaster Horus]

In this scenario there are two cases - the PCs are on the right path or the PCs are on the wrong path. There should be some sort of indicator that clearly tells them when they're going the right way or not. This may not always be apparent but eventually becomes clear as they navigate the maze. If they are on the wrong path some sort of action can be taken, with time, skill and luck, to return them to the right one. Keep it abstract with respect to navigation but have a series of specific locales they can encounter in the maze.

 

[robus]

I had a look at the adventure and it does seem like Hedgegrove is a place to be experienced rather than a maze to be navigated. It's quite heavily populated with folk and there's a ton of random encounters to be had.

I would simply say to the players that the roads and paths all appear straight, but as they're walking along things in the distance seem to shift from side to side as though they were turning a corner and yet they're walking in a straight line.

As there is no guidance given on how to navigate the maze (apart from asking the way) but it seems to be roughly 10,000ft square, I'd suggest you roll a d10 to determine how many 1,000s of feet the PCs have to travel in the maze to find their location. And perhaps because they have their destination in mind they will always find it despite taking random routes? Sort of a Wizard of Oz - no place like home. Or perhaps a quest giver gives them some token that will ensure they make the right turns? If they use a Ley Line Intersection have it halve the remaining distance each time?

Anyway - it seems the fun is in the random encounters along the way, not the decision making part. So the only question is - how long does it take to get there and what do they encounter along the way?

 

[Robert Charles]

Instead of them getting lost together have then lose each other. A number of low CR monsters with high DC Fear effect Could help spice things up. Eventually everyone will save but nThen their job is to find one another again. Along the way you can reward each with separate clues that enable them to figure out the larger maze once the party is reunited.

 

[Saeviomagy]

Based off the map supplied, the town is no more difficult to navigate than the average real-world city. The main points of difference are that:
1) The PCs don't have a map
2) The locals aren't particularly friendly
3) You can't really see landmarks at a distance
4) The PCs are new in town

So it's not really any different to a real-world town that you've never been in and have no map for. You're going to have to ask for directions... and the inhabitants of the town are apparently all racist jerks.

Of course the adventure stipulates that the princess will give the PCs directions to wherever they are supposed to be, so there's not really a big deal there - especially since the 'maze' is so straightforward that you can get anywhere in it with no more than about 6 direction changes, so following directions should be easy.

I would draw a big red line on the map wherever the PCs go, and assume that they can follow directions and navigate between any points they've already visited. If they get lost for some reason, go with left and right quizzing until they get back on their beaten ground or are smart enough to come up with a better tactic.

Make sure you roll encounters as the adventure directs.

 

[Li Shenron]

I wouldn't play out the details of the navigation, because it would be tedious.

Maybe I'd rather have the PCs make a group Intelligence roll (no skill bonus) to determine if they find the wanted destination within an hour. If they fail, roll a random destination instead.