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<blockquote data-quote="pemerton" data-source="post: 9376235" data-attributes="member: 42582">This is from Gygax's DMG, p 97:Secret Doors: These are portals which are made to appear to be a normal part of the surface they are in. They can possibly be sensed or detected by characters who are actively concentrating on such activity, or their possible location may be discovered by tapping (though the hollow place could be another passage or room beyond which has no portal in the hollow-sounding surface). Discovery does not mean that access to the door mechanism has been discovered, however. Checking requires a very thorough examination of the possible secret door area. You may use either of two methods to allow discovery of the mechanism which operates the portal:
1. You may designate probability by a linear curve, typically with a d6. Thus, a secret door is discovered 1 in 6 by any non-elf, 2 in 6 by elven or half-elven characters, each character being allowed to roll each turn in checking a 10' X 10' area. This also allows you to have some secret doors more difficult to discover, the linear curve being a d8 or d10.

2. You may have the discovery of the existence of the secret door enable player characters to attempt to operate it by actual manipulation, i.e. the players concerned give instructions as to how they will have their characters attempt to make it function: &quot;Turn the wall sconce.&quot;, &quot;Slide it left.&quot;, &quot;Press the small protrusion, and see if it pivots.&quot;, &quot;Pull the chain.&quot;

It is quite acceptable to have a mixture of methods of discovering the operation of secret door.So the method of rolling dice rather than declaring puzzle-solving actions, goes back to 1979. (Or earlier, given that Gygax's DMG tends to be a documentation of existing practices rather than a source of new approaches.)</blockquote>

[QUOTE="pemerton, post: 9376235, member: 42582"] This is from Gygax's DMG, p 97: [indent][b]Secret Doors:[/b] These are portals which are made to appear to be a normal part of the surface they are in. They can possibly be sensed or detected by characters who are actively concentrating on such activity, or their possible location may be discovered by tapping (though the hollow place could be another passage or room beyond which has no portal in the hollow-sounding surface). Discovery does not mean that access to the door mechanism has been discovered, however. Checking requires a very thorough examination of the possible secret door area. You may use either of two methods to allow discovery of the mechanism which operates the portal: [indent]1. You may designate probability by a linear curve, typically with a d6. Thus, a secret door is discovered 1 in 6 by any non-elf, 2 in 6 by elven or half-elven characters, each character being allowed to roll each turn in checking a 10' X 10' area. This also allows you to have some secret doors more difficult to discover, the linear curve being a d8 or d10. 2. You may have the discovery of the existence of the secret door enable player characters to attempt to operate it by actual manipulation, i.e. the players concerned give instructions as to how they will have their characters attempt to make it function: "Turn the wall sconce.", "Slide it left.", "Press the small protrusion, and see if it pivots.", "Pull the chain."[/indent] It is quite acceptable to have a mixture of methods of discovering the operation of secret door.[/indent] So the method of rolling dice rather than declaring puzzle-solving actions, goes back to 1979. (Or earlier, given that Gygax's DMG tends to be a documentation of existing practices rather than a source of new approaches.) [/QUOTE]

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