We go left!

[MerricB]

A couple of recent posts in the cave thread have reminded me of an amusing story from my time playing D&D.

My group have a habit, whenever they have a choice of directions to go, of always going left. This is not entirely a bad habit to be in: it certainly cuts down on the time they spend arguing about where they're going. It has become something that amuses us as they wander around whatever set of twisty passages I've come up with for them.

Not that they really enjoy twisty passages, but that's another story.

A few years ago, I was actually playing a game with my group rather than running it. Sarah was DM for the day, and she created a dungeon that relied upon the "always going left" concept. That is, all the encounters were to the left, and going right led directly to the last encounter.

This would have been fine if Nate or Adam had been playing the game alone. Instead, there I was, leading the group. We came to the first intersection of the dungeon. "We go right!" I announced.

Sarah looked down at her notes. She looked at me. She looked back at her notes, sighed and we walked right to the final encounter of the adventure, without facing any of the attritional combats that would have made it a lot harder for us.

So, my question for you is this: Do you always turn left (or right) with your group? And does your DM design for it?

Cheers!

 

[DragonLancer]

My players tend to take the first door or junction they come to. When it comes to equal opportunities (say a T-junction) they look down both and then decide.

 

[Aeolius]

Two wrongs don't make a right, but three lefts do.

 

[mhensley]

My rule of thumb was always "better to be right with right than left with left".

I read an article the other day that was talking about how grocery stores are designed with the idea that most people travel through it counter-clockwise. They almost always go to the right after entering the store. This was in the US though and they said that people in some other countries preferred going to the left instead. They proposed that the behavior may be linked to which side of the road you were used to driving on.

 

[El Mahdi]

...My group have a habit, whenever they have a choice of directions to go, of always going left...

When I first started playing D&D, the group I played with had all been playing for a good number of years. They all had a similar rule. Unless they had a specific reason to go right, they would always go left.

...I read an article the other day that was talking about how grocery stores are designed with the idea that most people travel through it counter-clockwise. They almost always go to the right after entering the store. This was in the US though and they said that people in some other countries preferred going to the left instead. They proposed that the behavior may be linked to which side of the road you were used to driving on.

Interesting. Ironically, the group I was talking about above was in England. We were all Americans, but we were living in England at the time.

Hmmmmmm...

 

[the Jester]

This is funny to me- my old group (before I moved) also always went left.

And I did indeed occasionally use this when designing dungeon or adventure layouts. And at least once the party went right for whatever damned reason and skipped a bunch of really cool encounters.

 

[coyote6]

My concluded D&D game and current PF game both had the PCs always going a certain way.

A few times, it's gotten them in very deep trouble -- in PF, they skipped most of the dungeon and went directly to the baddest critter in the dungeon, without benefit of possibly gaining either a level or some clues about what they'd be facing. They won, barely.

In the old D&D game, it almost got 'em TPK'd. I think they switched directions after that.

 

[DK]

That's funny!

My group has been turning right for 16 years! Independently of who was playing, who was the DM, ect... Whenever there's a choice we go "always right!" - so much that's become a way of saying in the everyday life!
And we are Italians; maybe we could do a poll and see if there is a geographical relationship!

 

[Lanefan]

My crew sometimes try to always go left, but it gets mixed up when they aren't always clear whether it's left from the characters' perspective, left from the players' perspective, left from the DM's perspective, or left on the map which is lying at some random orientation on the table.

When designing adventures I don't plan for which way they'll go, other than in a maze I'll sometimes put the payoff at or near the center as I know they'll stick to the outside edge during exploration.

Lan-"yes I'm evil"-efan

 

[Janx]

when faced with a left or right decision, and little info as to which may be better, players might as well consistently pick the same choice or choose randomly.

If this behavior vexes the DM, he should consider providing them with better information.