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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Aberzanzorax" data-source="post: 5764980" data-attributes="member: 64209">Empty rooms matter.More on empty rooms mattering (and innocuous encounters with guards, etc. etc).  Here's a story from my gaming group. We had an exellent DM who loved using minis, tiles, and set pieces for encounters. The problem that occurred was that we knew it was an encounter when he pulled out those pieces. We were metagaming. We weren't TRYING to metagame (especially at first), but then it became so obvious that an encounter was coming that we began to do it unconsciously because we'd been trained to do so. Set pieces come out, roll for initiative, cast protective spells.   But then a great thing happened...He had gotten a very cool bridge setpiece...it was BEGGING for an encounter. He'd shown it to us opon arrival and we were all looking forward to a bridge encounter. He put the bridge out...the wizard and priest cast some buff spells, we changed our marching order, the thief hid, etc. ....and there was no encounter.   I'm sure anyone reading this knew that was the inevitable conclusion to the setup I've provided. (Later we crossed another bridge and got our encounter, btw.). But the point is that he helped us to remember we were metagaming by changing his style. Experienced dms know that if every cracking branch in the forest is a bandit sneaking up on the players' camp, the players will act accordingly. If there are occasional cracked branches from, say, a deer, a rabbit, or a moose, there is a chance for a meal, a snack, or being mauled by a moose (some things are better left alone). The same is true of guards...if every encounter with the guards is "plot driven" the players will metagame. "Oh, the guards say we have to surrender. Ok, we surrender." (Or what have you.)  The other important component of empty rooms is adding flavor and a sense of security. It's done in horror movies all the time...the excitement level (or fun level in gaming) must wax and wane...it must juxtapose normalcy with terror, including the "empty room" when a character walks down to the basement alone, the creepy music crescendoes, and...there's nothing there.  Two last important elements of empty rooms is that they need to be 1. interesting and 2. treated for what they are. I'll use a thanksgiving dinner analogy for this. Encounters may be the main dish...the roast turkey, if you will. But no one wants JUST turkey on thanksgiving. There are usually numerous side dishes. Overdoing the best thing without interspersing other interesting (even if they're not AS interesting) flavors results in a bland and boring experience. You don't pile your plate high with one side and just a hint of turkey either, of course, but you neither do you leave the sides untouched. Insofar as they need to be interesting: Empty rooms/side dishes can't just be "slop". No one wants overcooked broccoli or burnt stuffing. No one wants to walk into a room and it's truly just "you see an empty room...noting else, just an empty room." An empty room can be thick with dust (or have been recently swept), it can be damp and dank and smelly, or scented like fresh loam. Most empty rooms can provide interesting details about the world. E.G. with "city guard" encounters as the "empty room", we've seen numerous examples in this thread of things people can learn about the city (especially its feel). You don't just do the same city guard encounter every single time, no matter the city the players go to, the level they are, etc etc...you spice it up.  So, I'll agree with Wyatt that "boring encounters are boring" if that's what he's trying to say. But I don't agree that "encounters with city guards aren't fun".   We don't need advice that certain "empty room" encounters aren't fun...we need advice on how to make "empty room" encounters fun. If only there were some sort of guide for dungeon masters to teach us this. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f61b.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":p" title="Stick out tongue    :p"  data-smilie="7"data-shortname=":p" /></blockquote>

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