Betrayal at the house in D&D

[Sunseeker]

So I'm running a 3.5 game and I just started my players into a labyrinth. However, I didn't want to have a pre-made labyrinth or dungeon to run them through, so I thought to myself: "How to I make this interesting?" Which reminded me of the game "Betrayal at the House on the Hill", specifically the idea of laying down cards to form a layout for building without having the whole thing readily available drawn on the map, or having to reach out and draw each segment on the board as it came up.

I'm establishing initiative at the start of the game, and each player will take their turn in whatever order they want and draw a card, laying it down on the board in the position of their choosing. There are straights, corners, intersections and rooms. On a smaller percentage of each of these cards there are traps, encounters(some big, some small) or treasure, the majority of which happen in the rooms. I have some random tables for treasure, traps and encounters.

What I want to achieve is suspense for both the player and myself the DM, I don't know exactly what the labyrinth looks like, I don't know which way my players will choose to go, and I don't know what they're going to find when they make those decisions. The whole deal however, which I intend to span over a couple sessions(probably no more than 3) will culminate in one big "boss fight" regardless of which path they choose. If they do somehow manage to wall themselves off in the room, I'll probably DM fiat in a "secret passage" somewhere to let them progress further.

It's a 10'x25' corridors(3x5 cards), and I'll probably throw in some kind of very powerful magical darkness that prevents them from seeing beyond that distance. It looks sort of like a hybrid between "Betrayal..." and "Munchkin".

Now...the trick is to get my players to actually show up.

If you have any suggestions for me, or have tried something like this before, I'd be curious to hear your tips, or how it worked for you.

 

[Grogg of the North]

I've never done anything like this but it sounds really interesting. I'd love to hear how it turns out in the end.

One thing you could do is that instead of darkness preventing sight, is to say the doors all shut themselves again when no one is near them. Is the DM going to be a haunt roll? Or is it going to be somewhere off in the back of the house? It would be bad if in the very first room you went into there was the big bad and it spilled out into the hallway engulfing the PCs....

 

[darjr]

This sounds very cool.

there was a movie where all the rooms moved when the doors where shut. Do that, and the rooms they move into 'lock' them into place.

 

[Dice4Hire]

The three WOTC board games work this way kind of

If you can get your hands on the tiles from them, it would be easy to set it up.

 

[airwalkrr]

It sounds like an interesting idea. To get your players to show up, I would bill it as a fairly traditional dungeon crawl with a mystery twist. Just be sure to explain the rules at the beginning, and be prepared to break them when the time comes. For example, the rooms might not work out into quit a legit dungeon or a player may come up with a creative way to place rooms that isn't the way you intended. If it sound alike a good idea and the other players are on board, then just run with it.

 

[Quickleaf]

The three WOTC board games work this way kind of

If you can get your hands on the tiles from them, it would be easy to set it up.

It sounds *exactly* like the D&D boardgames, actually.

I did this with a clockwork maze, only there was a predetermined layout initially that later changed upon a subsequent visit. The cool thing about it was there were rules governing hor the maze morphed, and the PCs could - with sufficient knowledge and insight - alter how the maze changed.

 

[Light Knight]

What are the D&D Boardgames?

 

[Sunseeker]

Well, after several hours of work, I actually think I'm going to end up canning my whole game. My current party would rather party than play, and their self-importance regarding drinking the majority of nights in the week over the occasional game session has totally soured my mood. So, oh well.

I still plan on using all these cards I made, though perhaps I will clean them up and make some nifty paperboard prints out of them. I'm tempted to expand the idea to cities and forests and such things and use it as the basis for my whole game. Let the players develop the towns and cities and settings they're playing in with allowing me less effort on prepping detailed worlds.

I've never played the D&D boardgames, though they seem interesting, but D&D always strikes me like a boardgame anyway. I like the idea of retaining turns out of combat to ensure all players get the option to participate and a few very strong players don't dominate at all times.

 

[the Jester]

Well, after several hours of work, I actually think I'm going to end up canning my whole game. My current party would rather party than play, and their self-importance regarding drinking the majority of nights in the week over the occasional game session has totally soured my mood. So, oh well.

Do both at once, but just let the players know that "I was drunk" doesn't give them any special privileges. That's what we do- my group is heavy on drinking and pot smoking, and it doesn't ruin our games by any means. Though sometimes it ruins a player for a game...

 

[Sunseeker]

Do both at once, but just let the players know that "I was drunk" doesn't give them any special privileges. That's what we do- my group is heavy on drinking and pot smoking, and it doesn't ruin our games by any means. Though sometimes it ruins a player for a game...

That was the typical answer up until about a mobth ago when the main drinker turned 21 and could buy himself all the booze he wants. I don't mind a little drinking or smoking during play, but I'm not interested in q couple people drinking till they drop and making the game unfun and uncomfortable for other players. And because those who do drink often go to that point, he hosts the parties at his place, often on the same nights as me, and invites the same people as my game, "never split the party" applies all too well here. My game goes nowhere and his parties are empty.

I've talked this over with the non-drinkers in the party and I'm thinking we will restart anew with a smaller, more interested group. I mean I had 7+ players in that game, no harm filtering.