Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.
Rocket your D&D 5E and Level Up: Advanced 5E games into space! Alpha Star Magazine Is Launching... Right Now!

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="fissionessence" data-source="post: 4764457" data-attributes="member: 63357">The PCs overcome traps and dungeon monsters in order to reach the MacGuffin. When they get it, the keeper tells them that not only should this item never be removed from the dungeon [for the safety of the world], but there is currently a band of ogres/orcs/goblins/ratfolk/kobolds/etc. coming to retrieve it for their own nefarious purposes. In order to protect the item against the overwhelming numbers of the invaders, their only hope is to reset all of the traps they've overcome. In addition, there are some traps that only function with a person there to operate it.When the horde arrives, the PCs are spread out across the dungeon, each operating some kind of trap, the effectiveness of which is based on that PC's skill checks (the fighter operates the trap that requires Strength; the wizard operates the one that requires Arcana; etc.) The PCs defeat many invaders this way, but must eventually have an actual combat encounter with some of the more powerful of the group. Once they've won, the invaders are all dead/defeated/pushed back, and the MacGuffin is safe. The keeper will watch it forevermore. (And hopefully no more bands of adventurers will come break in!)When preparing the traps for the invaders, the PCs not only just had to fix or reset the ones they broke, but they could also place traps of their own wherever they feel it would work best. In fact, the keeper has a storage room of old traps for the PCs to pick from. Essentially, they get to make their own setup of Mouse Trap for the invading horde to have to fight through, then the PCs get to watch it all happen from their hiding spots in the walls. Perhaps the keeper is also imbued with the power to conjure certain dungeon monsters (oozes, zombies, etc.) that the PCs can also pick from when 'building' their ideal dungeon. Of course, when resolving dungeon monster vs. invading horde, the monsters should probably be treated as hazards and simplified checks/rolls for the most part (unless you wanted to spend hours 'watching' and rolling for the kobolds to get through the dungeon). Actually, you could even let the PCs play the monsters for an encounter, while you run the kobolds. This should probably for a key encounter, and probably for monsters that have some sort of sentience and interesting abilities.~ fissionessence</blockquote>

Verification