D&D 5E How to run a small, shifting maze

[aco175]

I would like just make several encounters and planned places along with a wandering encounter chart. I like the ideas of a showing the players the shifting walls and the ideas of a sundial and locating the way to repair it. Some players may feel a bit railroaded and not feel their choosing directions have worth.

Is there a way to roll a die to get to the 'right' locations to retrieve the parts to fix the sundial and leave. Yes, but maybe add a survival check to get closer to the right location. Maybe some sort of bonus points to the amount of time in the maze and likely influenced by the number of successes to keep the players motivated to keep going foreword.

 

[J.Quondam]

Do you think you'll want/need to track time in the maze?

What's the purpose of your maze? If I read your post correctly, you want to give the PCs the opportunity to use various skills/competences to overcome the problem and shine, all the while letting a mounting impression of failure and tension as they get loster and loster into the maze?

The labyrinth itself is embedded in a wood adjacent to a garden estate, and basically serves as defense for a corrupted fey living at its center: the maze wards away casual wanderers and consumes incautious explorers.

I'm still on the fence if there should be a time constraint. Initially, I was a thinking a VIP would be kidnapped by the fey's minions (lesser things and livestock have already gone missing) to be consumed "at the full moon" or whatever. But going in, the PCs probably won't know what they're up against or why; so having a countdown toward an event they're unaware of seems somehow "unfair". I don't really want them to finally arrive on the scene only to find a wet pile of bones, without ever understanding they were racing a clock! So I may just keep the end goal as "defeat the Thing in the Wood to end the threat to the village", and leave it at that.

That said, I do like the idea of applying countdowns for certain events or sites to "pop". The longer it takes them, the more worn out they are when they finally get to the boss. By the same token, longer time also means more opportunity to come across items or aid to help with the climax encounter. So a countdown could be a mixed blessing/curse.

Will definitely have to consider that.

 

[J.Quondam]

I think it is the Rise of Tiamat adventure but there is a hedge maze: Xonthal's Tower. I really like the way it is done. There is a central puzzle that changes each time it is encountered. If the party takes the correct path each time they come back to this location (and get presented with the next stage of tye puzzle.)otherwise they end up in a selection of random locations where they have and encounter/puzzle to continue back to the sundial (the main puzzle).
The exact layout of the maze is immaterial.

That sounds like just the sort of map-independent way to manage it I might be looking for.
I'll check it out.

 

[RangerWickett]

I ran a campaign where the climax involved entering psychic mindscape of the Demon Lord Baphomet, which took the form of a labyrinth whose ground was crushed bones and whose walls were immense ivory tusks, and in which a rain of blood fell from crimson clouds.

There was actual map, and I even erased a few walls of the original labyrinth so that they would be more routes through it than just one. However, there were enemies in the labyrinth: people. The party knew from the real world whose minds had been sucked in and who had been driven to rage. Every time someone died in the labyrinth, the nearest bonus exit sealed shut.

Also, the rain started to gradually flood the area with blood, and if someone was knocked prone , while submerged, they would see glimpses of the real world, wherein a handful of people in the town who had resisted being pulled into the mindscape were fighting off savage beasts coming in from all directions.

So there was a ticking clock and a penalty for stowing across people that they could not subdue non-lethally. And then the actual exit to the labyrinth was guarded by Baphomet himself, whom the party engaged while riding a raft of corpses through a torrential river of blood.

It was good times.

But actually navigating the labyrinth was indeed me just tracing a map out for them. Or, more accurately, I had a map digitized, and I had a layer providing a fog of war, and as the party explored they got to see more of the map because I would erase portions of the fog of war. I don't know how you could do that face to face without a lot of drawing.

 

[aco175]

I could see a campsite or a type of inn outside the maze and the shifting walls keep leading the PCs back out to the safe place. Maybe have some other groups staying there as well.

 

[UngainlyTitan]

That sounds like just the sort of map-independent way to manage it I might be looking for.
I'll check it out.

Yup, just checked my FantasyGrounds for that campaign and it is the Xonthal's Tower section in the Rise of Tiamat (Episode 7)

 

[J.Quondam]

But actually navigating the labyrinth was indeed me just tracing a map out for them. Or, more accurately, I had a map digitized, and I had a layer providing a fog of war, and as the party explored they got to see more of the map because I would erase portions of the fog of war. I don't know how you could do that face to face without a lot of drawing.

Yeah, I'm trying to keep it face to face, but using an explicit map with a VTT at the table could be an option, i suppose. As an adventure, this particular maze is intended to be short-ish (investigation + maze + boss all run in just one or sessions, ideally), so that might be more trouble than it's worth.

That said.... There is a psychic element to the bbeg, so maybe this little hedgemaze could be a prelude to a more elaborate delve into a Dreamlands labyrinth later on....

 

[Shiroiken]

Mazes themselves are pretty boring, both from the DM and player perspective. I'd consider making a skill challenge for it, depending on your overall goal. Ask the players what they'd like to do to get through the maze, then figure out what ability checks would appropriate. Allow everyone to pick a check they're participating in, and if half the party fails a DC 10, there's some punishment (reduced time to complete, an encounter, etc).

Some example actions

• Climb a tree/get a view: Str/Athletics
• Speak with plant/animals: Cha/Persuasion
• Contemplate the layout: Int/Investigation
• Use sky/landmarks to move towards a specific area: Wis/Survival
• Bust though the maze: Con (maybe Athletics)
• Scout beyond the nearby walls by wiggling through: Dex/Acrobatics

Some example failures

• Lost time against limited clock (or Con Saves for Forced March)
• Combat Encounter
• Trap/Hazard Encounter
• Mazeophobia (apparently the actual name): PCs make a Wis Save DC: 10 or become frightened of the maze for the next 1d4 checks (disadvantage on checks)

 

[J.Quondam]

Mazes themselves are pretty boring, both from the DM and player perspective.

Yeah, that's been my experience, too.

I'd consider making a skill challenge for it, depending on your overall goal. Ask the players what they'd like to do to get through the maze, then figure out what ability checks would appropriate. Allow everyone to pick a check they're participating in, and if half the party fails a DC 10, there's some punishment (reduced time to complete, an encounter, etc).

Good list. I think I'll probably break the maze into sections, and run these sorts of checks to navigate between them. Maybe each section will have more or less optimal solutions, depending upon its theme: sort of a small abstract maze of smaller abstract mazes. I'll aim to put a handful of short encounters or "micro-sites" in each section, with the goal of having the whole thing completable in a few hours of table time.

 

[DeviousQuail]

Best of luck, @J.Quondam. If you can you should report back with how it went.