Just Rubble?

pjrake

Explorer
I'm designing a room, and it has alot of rubble. Other than just being "difficult terrain" I thought it would be a great place to thrown in a puzzle or trap challenge.

Any ideas on a puzzle or trap that involves rubble? I want my players to think twice the next time they "check out the rubble." :)

-PJ
 

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Poisonous vermin or snakes have nested in the rubble. Checking it out disturbs them. They act more like a trap than a monster -- attacking once and then either fleeing or dying like a minion.
 

How about a smashed statue that gives a clue as to where some treasure is hidden in another room, later. If they take the time to re-assemble the statue, they know that "the wizard is holding the crystal ball", so when they find his tomb later, they can locate the treasure hidden in it more easily.

That's very simplistic; maybe the statue has words carved in it that answer a riddle found elsewhere. Or a broken plaque contains a riddle which when answered opens a secret door.

The rubble could cover a secret door, or conceal a pit trap; there's just enough weight on it that when a PC walks across, it collapses.
 

Print out a picture (providing clues to some mystery), glue it to a dollar store puzzle (children's puzzle for a quick one) then turn it over and cut it up with an exacto knife. It may have been a mosaic or bas-relief sculpture from the wall in the room
 

was so hoping from the thread title this was a barney reference.

not the purple dinosaur one.

but hey it is always fun to throw in a RL reference in such situations.

make your mosaic from Mark's post a purple dinosaur. and have it summon a T-Rex when the players put the pieces in the right places.
 

1) The rubble covers a trapdoor. The rubble must be removed or moved about at some moderate effort (strength checks perhaps apply) in order to make the DC of a search check to discover the trapdoor low enough to have a reasonable chance of success.
2) The rubble actually conceals a feature by completely filling it up. For example, there might be a staircase or exit in the room which is indetectable without excavation. A considerable effort is required to find this secret area.
3) The rubble is the nest of some small but dangerous creature.
4) The rubble is in fact unstable, and a minature avalance will ensue if a character crossing the room fails a balance check.
5) The trapdoor concealed by the rubble is actually large and made of heavy wooden beams and covers an oubellete and dungeons below. It's presence might be hinted at by the presence of a capstan and chains dangling in the room. The old trapdoor is under considerable strain, and if more than two medium sized characters stand on its 10'x10' area, it will collapse, sending them down the pit in a shower of heavy rocks.
6) Something valuable is buried in the rubble.
7) The presence of the rubble is a clue that the room itself is unstable and may collapse at any time. Failing a balance check while crossing the room or digging (or otherwise causing vibrations and shifting of the rubble) in this case brings the roof down on the players, and buries anyone so unfortunate to be caught in the collapse.
8) Some of the rubble isn't rubble at all, but an illusion covering a deeper entrance to the dungeon. Similarly, entering the room triggers the programmed illusion of a collapse to deter visitors.
9) All these rocks make nice ammunition for some strong rock throwing creature. This can either be smaller creatures located in the rafters or on balconies above, or a slumbering stone giant in a far corner of the room.
10) These rocks mostly aren't rocks at all, but the resting form of some elemental stone creature.
11) The rubble can be assembled into something that provides a clue.
12) The rubble can be assembled into something that someone had a very good reason to turn into rubble. Reassembling the broken peices creates something very dangerous.

13) The current floor of the room is actually the 2nd (or higher) floor of the original multilevel chamber. Some of the spaces between the stones are big enough to squeeze down into, where they form a small 3D mazel difficult to traverse roughly defined chambers (climb checks required, failure indicates 1d6 damage). After a series of climb checks, with a successful Escape Artist check, the players can eventual worm there way down to the bottom of the rubble pile and find a corridor leading out of the bottom of the chamber.
14) The rubble pile appears to file the room to a height of 50', but with some moderate climbing and a search check, a gap at the top can be found and successfully squeezed through to reveal the chamber contuining on the other side.
 
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Print out a picture (providing clues to some mystery), glue it to a dollar store puzzle (children's puzzle for a quick one) then turn it over and cut it up with an exacto knife. It may have been a mosaic or bas-relief sculpture from the wall in the room

I totally love this idea!!!

Will take it a bit further: buy a puzzle with at least 12 pieces, scatter them around the dungeon, and when all pieces found, it will give a clue as to how to defeat the main villain :)

-PJ
 

Print out a picture (providing clues to some mystery), glue it to a dollar store puzzle (children's puzzle for a quick one) then turn it over and cut it up with an exacto knife. It may have been a mosaic or bas-relief sculpture from the wall in the room

"You must spread some Experience Points around before giving it to Mark again."

B-)
 

1) The rubble conceals a small humanoid in a black mask who attempts to make off with the party's rations if disturbed.

2) The rubble in the area is different color/texture than the surrounding stone. How did it get here? Is it from a statue or other carving or perhaps its just the place where an earth elemental blows its nose?

3) A scrap of paper is found buried in the rubble. It is a receipt for the delivered rubble signed and paid in full. Who ordered the rubble and why?

4) The pile of rubble is actually a magically camouflaged war dog who attacks anyone disturbing it.
 

The rubble is actually a material or set of materials that belong in the room, but function mechanically as rubble.

E.G.s:
It is a dragon's treasure hoard of coins

Outdoors, a field full of pumpkins

A laundry room full of piles of clean and dirty laundry and buckets of water

An alchemy lab with various inert and not-so-inert ingredients

The inside of a giant clock with very, very slowly turning gears

and my favorite :
A maproom of a noble planning out a battle (think tin soldiers and toy catapults filling the room along with those shuffleboard sticks to move such items around, and perhaps giving a clue as to where/how he would attack)
 

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