The 10-foot pole, antithesis of what adventuring should be?

[cincinnati reds]

My group was faced with a dungeon on the outskirts of a small town to explore and soon discovered that while the dungeon was rich in treasure it was also rife with traps.

So, the party went back to town for more supplies to help defeat the traps. Unfortunately, being a very small farming community, no worthwhile equipment was available.

So, the group pooled their funds and purchased 300 chickens, which were then deposited at the entrance to the dungeon and herded before the group.

The chickens manage to successfully trip just about every trap in a large section of the dungeon.

And lo, Chicken Dungeoneering was born. Not suprisingly, every subsequent town did not have a surplus of chickens and they were available for purchase only in small sums, not suitable for Chicken Dungeoneering.

Brilliant.

*Applause*

 

[Warbringer]

"What was that?", Ograth stared up from the gnome he was torturing.
"What as what?," Brasboc responded.

tap, tap, tap

"That!" Ograth exclaimed
"Dunno, rats?" Brasboc offered helpfully.
"Tapping raps?"
Brasboc shrugged his shoulders, turning back to the squirming gnome that had somehow managed to get half way across the room.

tap, tap, tap

"Oh, that's going to get annoying. What is it?"
"Plumbing?"
"We don't have plumbing"
"Rats then"
"I thought we'd already covered that!"

tap, tap, tap

"Ok that does it! Grab your club, we're going for a look-see."

 

[mara]

I gotta say, I highly encourage preparedness and forethought - and I'm pretty hardcore about the "if you didn't bring it, then you don't got it, and now you need it" thing. The way I feel, this world is here whether you are or not, and yes, the guy who designed this dungeon did it to keep people out, and of course, if you go to Hill Giant Hill, there are hill giants there, I don't care if you're all first level... In short, bring what you can carry, and if you're smart and lucky, you can dump it and bring back gold and goodies in its place.

(We had a few chuckles last session: It was the first snow of the adventuring year, and the party left bright and early for the ruined keep with their brand new hireling and their wagon full of implements of destruction... And got two hours out of town before I reminded them that it was twenty degrees and snowing out and no-one was wearing cold weather gear. They got to sit around making Fort saves to avoid frostbite while the bard ran back to town to buy cold weather gear, and tarps, and horse blankets, and brandy... and spent a few hours saying farewell to the love interest... and got back around dark. The next morning I reminded them that they didn't have enough rations for the journey... and when they got back from that, that they had forgotten about the horse feed. )

If it took the characters *two hours* to notice that it was that cold, would they not already be wearing proper gear? Waiting that long to inform the players of something their characters would have felt long before that time isn't making a statement about their skill.

 

[mmadsen]

So, the group pooled their funds and purchased 300 chickens, which were then deposited at the entrance to the dungeon and herded before the group.

300 chickens? "Deposited" at the entrance? And "herded"?

 

[mmadsen]

It was the first snow of the adventuring year, and the party left bright and early for the ruined keep with their brand new hireling and their wagon full of implements of destruction... And got two hours out of town before I reminded them that it was twenty degrees and snowing out and no-one was wearing cold weather gear. They got to sit around making Fort saves to avoid frostbite while the bard ran back to town to buy cold weather gear, and tarps, and horse blankets, and brandy... and spent a few hours saying farewell to the love interest... and got back around dark. The next morning I reminded them that they didn't have enough rations for the journey... and when they got back from that, that they had forgotten about the horse feed. )

That sounds terribly clever of you. You're obviously much smarter than your players.

(We really need the "roll eyes" smily back...)

 

[Ace]

Who sells 10 ft poles? Really?

a Woodcrafter can make you one at a cost or you get one from a Sutler that specilizes in adventuring gear

10 foot is really quite long though and IMC they are 4-6 segments that screw together and a bit more expensive

anyway -- on topic -- there is a difference between Adventure Story type Adventuring and Dungeoneering -- Most D&D that i have played is a combo of both with an emphasis on Dungeoneering YMMV

 

[Someone]

Who sells 10 ft poles? Really?

You don´t buy poles, they cost 5 sp. Instead you buy a 10 ft ladder for 5 cp and break it in two poles (once you cut clean the steps; aftually, you can leave one or two for added handlers) You now have two poles and saved 9,5 silver.

(Credit to Goblins for that)

 

[Cedric]

300 chickens? "Deposited" at the entrance? And "herded"?

They were in little wicker chicken boxes (which we had agreed to give back, but had haggled to have thrown in for the delivery)

We put all of those in the entrance to the dungeon which we'd cleared, then opened the boxes and moved them to the back of the room.

At that point, just by spreading out 5-10 feet apart and walking slowly, the chickens moved ahead of us.

We used grain and corn kernels to get them into individual hallways.

 

[danzig138]

And got two hours out of town before I reminded them that it was twenty degrees and snowing out and no-one was wearing cold weather gear.

I know it frequently takes me two hours of siting outside to notice that it's below freezing. I'm assuming that your post is some kind of joke instead of an example of simple crap DMing.

 

[Cedric]

I know it frequently takes me two hours of siting outside to notice that it's below freezing. I'm assuming that your post is some kind of joke instead of an example of simple crap DMing.

To be honest, I could see it as a "tough love" lesson to teach your players to properly prepare if they are notoriously bad about making the necessary preparations to succeed and just expect the GM to cover for them.