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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Quickleaf" data-source="post: 7514730" data-attributes="member: 20323">[MENTION=6702445]jayoungr[/MENTION] Sounds like you may have a convergence of 3 issues at your table:1. A group possibly pre-disposed to cautious play, further entrenched into risk-aversion after being "scarred" by Tomb of Horrors.2. Imbalanced risk vs. reward ratio when it comes to exploration.3. Insufficient clues coming from the DM to let players know there's something worth exploring here.I've addressed these very issues in my own gaming groups over the years in a "silver buckshot" approach by:<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Making it clear to players early on that exploration will be rewarded, either by overtly stating so, by demonstrating it through NPC stories of discovering fortunes/magic, or having a PC discover an un-trapped secret door with treasure early on.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Making an effort to design dungeons with beneficial secrets/tricks/treasures in the environment. When running modules, make an effort to insert such things into the module if they are lacking.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Giving the players a surplus of actionable clues (even when it seems I'm being "obvious" on my side of the screen, it rarely seems that way to the players).</li> </ul>Let's use this example. 1. Where is the reward in walking on the ceiling? Are there lots of floor-based traps like pits / tripwires / pressure plates in the dungeon which walking on the ceiling would avoid? If so, you'll want to telegraph those floor-based traps in advance somehow (see below). 2. Consider the player's perspective. Might other aspects of this dungeon make a player feel adverse to interacting with the pole? A trapped pole elsewhere would be particularly egregious, but a trapped lever or trapped stairs could similarly discourage interacting with the pole (which might be mistaken for a control mechanism or a way to move between dungeon levels). 3. Come up with at least three clues about the pole's magical nature and utility. To do that, you need to understand whether it's magic is limited to creature or if it exerts an effect on objects, and how long its magic lasts once a creature is affected. First, maybe there's a skeleton or corpse on the ceiling, or some other remains of a creature whose gravity was reversed but died before climbing back down; alternately, the corpse may be on the floor but appear to have fallen to its death from the ceiling. Second, maybe there are numerous fingerprints on the pole indicating it has been touched by humanoids repeatedly and recently. Third, maybe anyone coming close to the pole experiences a feeling of buoyancy and notices their hair "standing on end" and sweat/blood trickling upwards against gravity. And fourth, maybe there are geckos which avoid the dungeon floor in preference for climbing along the walls/ceiling; this clue means even if the players don't figure out the pole trick, they can still deduce that avoiding the floor is safer.</blockquote>

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