I can understand your point of view, and I wouldn't go as far as to say I disagree with it, but I do also believe that the change of pace from nearly lost, not knowing quite where to go, which door to open, which corridor to head down, or even how to get into the lair you know must be benath your feet but the entrance is not plainly signposted, all the way through the varying ranges of tension to stumble into those exciting moments does add something to those exciting moments.
Does an empty room do it for me? Not really, either. But rooms that do have interesting, relevant (though not necessarily obvious at first) features that have neither a battle waiting to break out or a cleverly devised trap hidden hanging on the coat rack, can add as you say in your blog, mood, but also meaning to what the adventurers are involved in.
I've had a few moments with my players fairly recently where they simply didn't know how to proceed. They were aware that the Horde's lair was beneath the ruins of the castle they had entered (whose upper levels was initially being used by a cult to open a doorway to where the 'true' castle and its inhabitants had been trapped in time and space, playing out the same day over and over for all eternity).
After tangling themselves unneccesarily with said cult, being trapped momentarily in a medieval Groundhog's day, somewhere a step outside space and time, til they removed the Curse (of the Kingspire) and returning to the present where the castle remained in rubble, its ghosts now laid to rest, my brave heroes couldn't figure out how to get into the blasted lair they had wanted to get into in the first place.
This was very frustrating for them. The most obvious entrance had an Iron Maiden that seeped blood and did frightening amounts of continuous psychic damage just for simply having laid eyes on it. That was a closed door as far as they were concerned. And rightly so, there was a far better entrance on the other side of the castle, covered cleverly (though not too cleverly) by blocks and rubble that lead to the Horde's lair. That needed for them to explore the castle properly and do some searching.
How they grizzled! After so many set backs they just wanted in. One of my players, looking at me with puppy dog eyes, said: 'Just tell us where to go'. My response was of course: ' And the clouds part, and you see a giant flashing neon hand emerge from the sky pointing as a voice booms: Go ye this way o brave but slightly disorientated adventurers!'
... to which my player replied: Are you serious?
And I said no.
For me it was a tricky situation. I don't want my players feeling bored or frustrated but I don't want to lead them around by the nose either, otherwise I might as well just play by myself. (I'd quite like to hear ideas about how this situation can be better handled)
So here we spent some time, had some not so exciting movements getting properly oriented in the castle and having a look around. And finally the barbarian fell into the Horde's Lair.
The Horde's lair, a two level dungeon using the Rescue at Rivenroar adventure module as its base. My players were level 7 when they arrived here so I got creative and adjusted the encounters to an appropriate challenge.
I didn't want them to have to deal with so many encounters in the dungeon so I designed a skill challenge whereby depending on their success the party could bring together 4 or 5 of the encounters on the first level and wipe them out with one fell blow. Which worked fantastically and made for quite a few 'empty rooms' as the party searched for the prisoners and the entrance to the second level (where the exciting stuff awaited).
Which they completely couldnt find. I even sketched a rough map out for them of the areas they had searched. Which was as much help as I was prepared to offer. Again, maybe I was wrong here? Should I have just brushed it over with some 'flavour text' and said after a bit of repassing your own tracks you find the stairway that leads to the second level?
I don't know. Because this second frustrating 'don't know where to go' moment, lead them to walk out the front door with the Bleeding Iron Maiden, which for some unknown reason they decided to tangle with and hence bring the trapped roof down upon their heads, crushing one of their rescued prisoners to death. I enjoyed this encounter immensely. My players not so much as they realised they had simply walked up and out back into the upper levels of the ruins of the castle and once again inexplicably chosen to get into yet another unneccessary tangle.
Again I didn't know how much I should just point out what was in front of their eyes on the map but they weren't seeing.
I decided to use coloured felt to mark the dungeon in a way that they could understand it better (as it has a few ups and downs, but only one staircase that leads to the 2nd level). Finally something clicked and they suddenly understood the map and saw where it was they could reach the next level. Again, would it have been better to just point to the map and say, 'Here, go here!' ?
Already a bit beaten and bruised by the Iron Maiden Trap they wanted to go directly to the Big Baddie.
The first room of the second level effectively was 'an empty room' as the encounter that occupied it had been sent to check what was going on the night before disturbing the PCs as they attempted to rest after exploring the first level. But one of the prisoners was in this room, very recently dead (while they rested), but still hanging naked in some dark ritual, surrounded by circles grooved into the ground filled with her own blood.
I had managed to impress on them the magnitude of evil throbbing in the place and the danger that was palpable. The tension in this empty room began to build to such a degree that they were jumping at their shadows so much they wanted nothing to do with touching anything, let alone cutting the poor woman down.
Even opening doors was becoming a problem. So much so I openly declared and solemnly swore that no door was trapped, nor would any door in the future ever be trapped, that they could open them without fear.
Then choosing which corridor to go down become a heated debate.
I was pulling my hair out and I'm bald.
To cut what is already a long story short, at the end of a very brutal encounter with two groups of ghouls in a collapsing crossroad of passages, followed by the exploration of the three rooms they patrolled, which were now effectively 'empty rooms', though one contained a sun shaped necrotic battery on the floor, another a scrying pond that gave flashes of other rooms in the dungeon, and another a ghostly image of Loudwater, the town the prisoners had been kidnapped from, surrounded by bloodstained hand prints, and another prisoner, one of my players commented that she couldnt wait to see sky again and leave the dungeon behind. Hehehe, and here was me cutting things left right and centre to shorten the dungeon.
They did manage to avoid the other 3 encounters on this level and go straight to the 'Boss Encounter', which comprised of 5 Boneshard Skeletons, the Mummy of the Cult's leader whom they had defeated when they were trapped in time and space, but not killed, and one of the Demoness' Hand Maidens (Vampire Muse); Awesomely brutal fight they only just managed beat, death had never been nearer with 3 PCs down and dying at the end of the fight. Things could have been fatal if the Vampire was able to dominate the Barbarian on her last attack, but which failed, before he hacked her down.
So as I prepared for the next session, contemplating my players desire to be done with the dungeon, and thinking of all the things left unresolved down there yet, loose ends and still real threats, I decided to make the last three encounters and the whole of the second level into a single skill challenge in itself.
And I guess this is where it becomes very relevant to me the idea of those 'empty rooms'.
The basic premise was this:
The were-creatures were aware of the Handmaiden's defeat and fearing for their own lives, began to conjure demonic hunters (one of the 3 remaining encounters) to deal with the PCs.
If the PCs failed the challenge the demons would be conjured and they would have to face that encounter (no small deal considering how beat up they were).
Depending on the amount of success achieved before failing the Were would join the fight (second remaining encounter) sooner or later; 1 minute for each success, meaning they could quite likely be able to benefit even from a short rest if they had to deal with the demons (if they achieved at least 5 or 6/8 successes before 3 failures.
Also at each individual fail during the challenge there was a possibilty they would come across the Horde's Battle Leader (third and final remaining encounter), Sinruth, who was out searching for them throught both levels of the dungeon.
The 'empty rooms' would become the Key Points to resolving the challenge.
As the PCs explored and came across the 4 columns within which shadows began to take body and shape (the demons being conjured by the Were from the chapel just beyond this room) they decided it was time to leave and go and rest somewhere, demons be damned.
Which is when they felt the first pulse of the Mummy's Curse (A damaging psychic attack of pure hatred that made the walls and floor start to blur, and make orientation difficult, slowing those beneath its effect, leaving them Unconcious after first failed save). This attack would occur every 4 rounds until the body of the mummy was returned to its tomb and the lid shut. Which achieved 1 success for the challenge.
Of course noone was telling them that. And noone was going to stand around investigating the source of this attack.
As they began to run helter skelter to leave the dungeon a crow flew in and landed on one of their shoulders, its croaks and squawks barely understood, they received the message that a gift awaited for them in the Crow Kings Altar (an altar they had cleansed on Lvl 1 and where they received a geas from the Crow, the God of Death's messenger, to destroy the Undead army in the lower levels.
I rolled out the game mat with the entire second level sketched out (the parts they had explored), initiative was rolled and they began to race towards the stairway to the first level. They got lost and the elf (fastest character) ran into the scrying pool room where 3 wererats had been sent to see where the PCs were.
What was once an 'empty room' now become part of the challenge. Each wererat could take two hits. They would attack on their turns but automatically flee (to alert Sinruth) if missed 3 times.
PCs attacks vs Hard DC. So 6 success (hits) needed to take down the Rats before three fails; a mini challenge within the challenge.
Between the Elf Ranger and the Barbarian shouting Bloody Murder they took them down quickly and recieved their first success (alerting them that they were in fact in a skill challenge); They could have used the pool to scry and keep track of Sinruth's movements (gaining a bonus to avoid him) but it didnt occur to them to use it in any way.
They raced on to the Altar where they received the gift of a surgeless heal and 8 silver crows feathers, especially weighted to throw. These were designed to be quite powerful consumable weapons to quickly even the odds in case of battle, making survival a possibility in their battered state (they used them to interact with the challenges faced in the empty rooms).
Here I gave them the information they could have gathered themselves back where the Mummy lay (but noone wanted to know what was going on they wanted to get out, full stop). They had to disrupt all of the points of evil in the bottom level, which basically meant they had to interact with all those 'empty rooms full of signs of dark rituals and sacrifices in plausible ways to succeed on the challenge. This would lead to disrupting the Demon Ritual, the complete surrender of the Were congregation and Sinruth abandoning the dungeon for fear of losing his own life.
Failure could be literally be fatal, getting into a fight they were too battered to face, or even three fights, possibly simultaneously if thing went really bottoms up. But success would be complete, the dungeon resolved top to bottom in one long running skill challenge over the entire session as they interacted with the puzzles of the 'empty rooms' and overcame their dark power.
Each point disrupted meaning a success on the challenge. Movement was very important because the Mummy's Curse was constantly damaging them, putting a time pressure on things. So boring passage ways took on important dimensions, as it was distance vitally important to cover as soon as possible. A lot of running was involved.
That was the last session we had, and it went brilliantly. The dungeon is done for. They've opened the portal out of there, which leads them a step closer to the Demoness. I was able to push them right to the edge. Exploration, passageways, empty rooms all took on importance, because I made them meaningful. I guess like everyone, I'm learning a lot as I go along, but more and more I'm liking the idea of the encounter area (discussed by one of the 4e designers a few months back) as opposed to encounter after encounter. And I think these encounter areas need passageways, and empty, but interesting or meaningful rooms. And I think skill challenges can play a big part in making these areas awesome.
If you made it to the end of this post: Thanks! And congratulations on your formidable concentration and mentall fortitude. Hopefully it was interesting enough to have be worth reading
