D&D 5E WAVE ECHO CAVE

[Glomb175]

Quick question.

Area 2 in Wave Echo Cave. It's a maze. How should I reveal this part of the map to my players?

I usually just uncover the whole area/room, but it's a bit of a waste of a good maze in this instance. So I was thinking of drawing it out and revealing small segments as they progress through the cave.

Do you think this would end up just annoying my players, wasting their time walking around a maze with no consequences? Like, they might get to the end of the maze after about 10 dead ends and be like "Great, there's 10 minutes we're not getting back."

Anyone got any suggestions as to how to reveal this area? I know I'm overthinking it, but I always do in D&D.

 

[ExploderWizard]

Time spent exploring the maze doesn't have to be pointless. If no one is sketch mapping then the party may get lost for a little while. What if they are attacked by wandering monsters when they are not sure which way leads out?

 

[Glomb175]

I'm a new DM, new to D&D, and an encounter in a dead end that's only 10 foot wide to be really difficult for me to manage, with 6 players, and they'd probably dislike it for that reason too, they'd all be climbing over eachother to attack.

 

[LapBandit]

I'm a new DM, new to D&D, and an encounter in a dead end that's only 10 foot wide to be really difficult for me to manage, with 6 players, and they'd probably dislike it for that reason too, they'd all be climbing over eachother to attack.

They don't always get to do whatever they want to the world, fights take place in myriad places and circumstances. They should be happy it's 10 feet wide and not 5 where only 1 person can get at the enemy. Plus they don't always have to get close, pull out a bow/xbow/cantrip.

 

[Caliban]

A trick I use sometims is get a bunch of 1 inch diameter circles punched out of heavy paper (you can get it done at a stationary store with an industrial hole puncher) and then spread them out to cover the map I've drawn. Then as the PC's advance, you push back the circles covering the areas they can see, slowly removing the "fog of war".

 

[Sadras]

I'm a new DM, new to D&D, and an encounter in a dead end that's only 10 foot wide to be really difficult for me to manage, with 6 players, and they'd probably dislike it for that reason too, they'd all be climbing over eachother to attack.

Light sources would give the party a much greater line of sight than 10 feet - so they would see the dead end passageway coming up. You don't have to have the entire party cover every inch.

As for the party climbing over each other, why dont you have a small bulette dig up its way in between them - its ok if its an easy fight because the beast is flanked, just make it interesting by having it cause complications: Have them all roll dex saves as they struggle to remain on their feet as it burrowed through the earth creating difficult terrain; it screeching/yelping causing the noise to echo down the passageway (perhaps alerting other critters); then have it leap onto a standing character and attack - perhaps even knocking out a light source or weapon from his/her hand.

 

[Rya.Reisender]

I draw the map for my players (by using Mike Schley's maps I bought and Paint.net to be able to put a black layer on it which I can slowly erase) and I always draw only as far as they can see and as far as there is no obstacle in between (they can't see around a corner for example). How interesting it is, is mostly my player's responsibility anyway. If they just want to find the path fast they can do so by just telling me they want to do some "far" movement. My players might also ask what they can see, hear or smell. That gives me a chance to narrate something interesting. Encounters also definitely happen for me in narrow passages. A large variety of different combat situations keeps the game interesting, it's not bad at all. In particular, that section of the adventure has a certain monster stalking the party. Allows for a lot of interesting narration. I for example narrated that someone notices that some of the stones are shining (indicating they are wet).

 

[Glomb175]

I draw the map for my players (by using Mike Schley's maps I bought and Paint.net to be able to put a black layer on it which I can slowly erase) and I always draw only as far as they can see and as far as there is no obstacle in between (they can't see around a corner for example). How interesting it is, is mostly my player's responsibility anyway. If they just want to find the path fast they can do so by just telling me they want to do some "far" movement. My players might also ask what they can see, hear or smell. That gives me a chance to narrate something interesting. Encounters also definitely happen for me in narrow passages. A large variety of different combat situations keeps the game interesting, it's not bad at all. In particular, that section of the adventure has a certain monster stalking the party. Allows for a lot of interesting narration. I for example narrated that someone notices that some of the stones are shining (indicating they are wet).

I should've mentioned that although we've got a projector in our d&d office, I can't use it because I use my laptop for DMing. Unless I just used the projector for sector 2. (I also bought the mike schley maps)

Sent from my HTC 10 using EN World mobile app

 

[CydKnight]

I used no player map for this area and it worked out fine. They got a small visual that I drew when the Ochre Jelly surprised them but that was it.

 

[aco175]

I play with tiles and minis, so I just laid down several wall pieces in a random way to make a bit of maze. Some wandering monsters show up and the characters can just see they can circle around and flank. I got a frown when the thief rounded the corner and I placed down another mini saying that now they can see this one.

Never got into labeling mazes and making the players try to choose and navigate. I think I had a bad experience years ago at a convention.