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<blockquote data-quote="Justin Bacon" data-source="post: 2736539" data-attributes="member: 3795"><p>If Acererak really invented magic which works in an antimagic zone (to take one example), one is forced to wonder why the entire complex wasn't blanketed in antimagic in order to give his traps the maximum advantage.</p><p></p><p>Plus, if that's actually the case, then probably the greatest treasure in the entire tomb is the spellcraft knowledge used in those bolt-firing rooms. Wizards should be able to hunker down just outside the doors there and unravel the secrets of this astonishing enchantment.</p><p></p><p>The reality, of course, is that there as no thought given to the game world implications of the arbitrary and capricious rulings Gygax put into the module. They were put into the module in the mistaken belief that reading Gygax's mind to discern the One True Way of overcoming or avoiding a trap constitutes a "thinking man's dungeon".</p><p></p><p>Now, where the dungeon succeeds is where a problem is placed in front of the PCs with a given set of abilities. For example, the stone plug that can be opened using a magic ring and which has been magically imbued with the ability to resist <em>stone shape</em> and similar spells. As someone else noted, clever characters <em>can</em> change the stone around the plug, however, and gain access to the passageway beyond in that fashion.</p><p></p><p>The difference is that, in the case of the stone plug, Gygax has described what the specific effect is. And that effect uses magic spells which cannot be found in the PHB, but it's an effect which is specifically described and with a specific cause. It has a reality <em>in the game world</em>, not just the metagame.</p><p></p><p>Now, the common fallacy is to believe that the dungeon is composed entirely of arbitrary rulings. This isn't the case. But there are a good dozen or so of them, several at key points in the module. And there are other points in the module, such as the false tomb, where Gygax clearly wanted the DM to railroad the actions of the PCs. (In the false tomb, for example, there is no contingency given for PCs who don't run away from the faked collapse. There are various locked iron coffers explicitly mentioned in the text which are supposed to be buried in the cave-in... but which have no description if the PCs resist the illusion or decide to come back and investigate the room.) So the reputation is not undeserved.</p><p></p><p>Justin Alexander Bacon</p><p><a href="http://www.thealexandrian.net" target="_blank">http://www.thealexandrian.net</a></p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Justin Bacon, post: 2736539, member: 3795"] If Acererak really invented magic which works in an antimagic zone (to take one example), one is forced to wonder why the entire complex wasn't blanketed in antimagic in order to give his traps the maximum advantage. Plus, if that's actually the case, then probably the greatest treasure in the entire tomb is the spellcraft knowledge used in those bolt-firing rooms. Wizards should be able to hunker down just outside the doors there and unravel the secrets of this astonishing enchantment. The reality, of course, is that there as no thought given to the game world implications of the arbitrary and capricious rulings Gygax put into the module. They were put into the module in the mistaken belief that reading Gygax's mind to discern the One True Way of overcoming or avoiding a trap constitutes a "thinking man's dungeon". Now, where the dungeon succeeds is where a problem is placed in front of the PCs with a given set of abilities. For example, the stone plug that can be opened using a magic ring and which has been magically imbued with the ability to resist [i]stone shape[/i] and similar spells. As someone else noted, clever characters [i]can[/i] change the stone around the plug, however, and gain access to the passageway beyond in that fashion. The difference is that, in the case of the stone plug, Gygax has described what the specific effect is. And that effect uses magic spells which cannot be found in the PHB, but it's an effect which is specifically described and with a specific cause. It has a reality [i]in the game world[/i], not just the metagame. Now, the common fallacy is to believe that the dungeon is composed entirely of arbitrary rulings. This isn't the case. But there are a good dozen or so of them, several at key points in the module. And there are other points in the module, such as the false tomb, where Gygax clearly wanted the DM to railroad the actions of the PCs. (In the false tomb, for example, there is no contingency given for PCs who don't run away from the faked collapse. There are various locked iron coffers explicitly mentioned in the text which are supposed to be buried in the cave-in... but which have no description if the PCs resist the illusion or decide to come back and investigate the room.) So the reputation is not undeserved. Justin Alexander Bacon [url]http://www.thealexandrian.net[/url] [/QUOTE]
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