Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
Secret Doors
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="Quickleaf" data-source="post: 8247849" data-attributes="member: 20323"><p>[USER=6702445]@jayoungr[/USER] You bet! So here's an example of a light & mirror puzzle, though it need not be so crafty and elaborate: <a href="https://www.penny-arcade.com/news/post/2009/09/30/light-and-mirror-puzzle-in-dd" target="_blank">Penny Arcade - News - Light and Mirror puzzle in D&D</a></p><p></p><p>Another version, easier for online play, might be levers on either side of a gate/door which move two braziers behind the gate. Light the braziers, move them to the right position, and a map becomes backlit in the ironwrought gate. That sort of thing.</p><p></p><p>So a <em>"pattern language"</em> is probably unnecessarily architectural jargon from Christopher Alexander, who was describing patterns of human use of space (e.g. many cultures like having a sitting nook by a window because it's just comfortable and pleasant place to look out, read, play music, etc).</p><p></p><p>I've adapted that term to apply it to dungeon traps in the past – basically that you as DM/writer settle on a small palette of traps (1-3) and settle on a consistent logic and way to communicate the potential threat to the players. And <em>then </em>you start making creative twists to that pattern. For instance, say I have a flame mage dungeon where the traps are attached to braziers, bronze torch sconces, and that sort of thing. The first time, yeah a fire bolt leaping from a brazier and striking a PC is enough to establish this pattern. The players learn to cast <em>detect magic </em>and avoid/counter the next hallway of braziers. But deeper into the dungeon I want to evolve that and present twists – e.g. two braziers which DON'T detect as magic, and a locked metal door at the end of the hall. What does this mean? Are they traps? Are they levers? What the players don't yet realize – but they could if they cast <em>detect evil and good </em>or a ranger used Primeval Awareness – is that there's a special fire elemental with False Appearance hiding within the brazier's flame.</p><p></p><p>That's trap talk.</p><p></p><p>But this same sort of thinking can be applied to secret doors.</p><p></p><p>Following with the "light" theme – which I have no idea if that fits <em>Palace of the Silver Princess,</em> I just made it up – let's go with patterns of light. Shifting light behind the thin seam is "safe secret door", while consistent unchanging light emanating through the thin seam is "dangerous secret door." How can I telegraph that to my players? Vampire dungeon, they have a big brass statue that shows three lamenting vampires dissolving as they look up at something (i.e. the sun). Shifting light is associated with clouds or shadows obscuring the light source, while consistent light is associated with sunlight. Something like that.</p><p></p><p>Say there's a central magic prism at each dungeon level. Activate it and light streams through the seams in the secret doors, revealing them. Some have consistent light behind them, but others have shifting/wavering light. Now the players are at the choice phase where they need to apply what they've learned about the dungeon & its inhabitants to make that mental connection that establishes their first pattern: Consistent light secret doors = bad.</p><p></p><p>And once you have that, THEN you get to start evolving the idea and presenting twists, just like I did with that trapped brazier example.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Quickleaf, post: 8247849, member: 20323"] [USER=6702445]@jayoungr[/USER] You bet! So here's an example of a light & mirror puzzle, though it need not be so crafty and elaborate: [URL='https://www.penny-arcade.com/news/post/2009/09/30/light-and-mirror-puzzle-in-dd']Penny Arcade - News - Light and Mirror puzzle in D&D[/URL] Another version, easier for online play, might be levers on either side of a gate/door which move two braziers behind the gate. Light the braziers, move them to the right position, and a map becomes backlit in the ironwrought gate. That sort of thing. So a [I]"pattern language"[/I] is probably unnecessarily architectural jargon from Christopher Alexander, who was describing patterns of human use of space (e.g. many cultures like having a sitting nook by a window because it's just comfortable and pleasant place to look out, read, play music, etc). I've adapted that term to apply it to dungeon traps in the past – basically that you as DM/writer settle on a small palette of traps (1-3) and settle on a consistent logic and way to communicate the potential threat to the players. And [I]then [/I]you start making creative twists to that pattern. For instance, say I have a flame mage dungeon where the traps are attached to braziers, bronze torch sconces, and that sort of thing. The first time, yeah a fire bolt leaping from a brazier and striking a PC is enough to establish this pattern. The players learn to cast [I]detect magic [/I]and avoid/counter the next hallway of braziers. But deeper into the dungeon I want to evolve that and present twists – e.g. two braziers which DON'T detect as magic, and a locked metal door at the end of the hall. What does this mean? Are they traps? Are they levers? What the players don't yet realize – but they could if they cast [I]detect evil and good [/I]or a ranger used Primeval Awareness – is that there's a special fire elemental with False Appearance hiding within the brazier's flame. That's trap talk. But this same sort of thinking can be applied to secret doors. Following with the "light" theme – which I have no idea if that fits [I]Palace of the Silver Princess,[/I] I just made it up – let's go with patterns of light. Shifting light behind the thin seam is "safe secret door", while consistent unchanging light emanating through the thin seam is "dangerous secret door." How can I telegraph that to my players? Vampire dungeon, they have a big brass statue that shows three lamenting vampires dissolving as they look up at something (i.e. the sun). Shifting light is associated with clouds or shadows obscuring the light source, while consistent light is associated with sunlight. Something like that. Say there's a central magic prism at each dungeon level. Activate it and light streams through the seams in the secret doors, revealing them. Some have consistent light behind them, but others have shifting/wavering light. Now the players are at the choice phase where they need to apply what they've learned about the dungeon & its inhabitants to make that mental connection that establishes their first pattern: Consistent light secret doors = bad. And once you have that, THEN you get to start evolving the idea and presenting twists, just like I did with that trapped brazier example. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
Secret Doors
Top