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<blockquote data-quote="NotAYakk" data-source="post: 8039092" data-attributes="member: 72555">And this is an example of why the illusion has such issues.There are a myriad of ways to determine in D&amp;D what that lever does.&nbsp; They could easily do those things (divination, using scouts, blah blah).Now you either have to force it harder (which will break the illusion), or find a &quot;solution&quot; that doesn't involve falling down that pit.&nbsp; What more, when the players get out of that pit and examine what is behind it, you need to populate that area and have a plausible reason why the story would have continued (otherwise, they see the cardboard set dressing).The illusionary choice there let you be lazy, but also meant you where lazy.The sandbox solution would have both the pit trap and not the pit trap both lead to something sensible and interesting and advancing the story.Now the risk of having to ham-hand the pit trap goes away, exploration after the fact reveals no cardboard... and, the structure of each path has to be at least sketched in, even if they only go down one path the fact that plot-bones support the other one integrates their path better into the world.Maybe they'll later find the back end of the other path, for example.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="NotAYakk, post: 8039092, member: 72555"] And this is an example of why the illusion has such issues. There are a myriad of ways to determine in D&D what that lever does. They could easily do those things (divination, using scouts, blah blah). Now you either have to force it [b]harder[/b] (which will break the illusion), or find a "solution" that doesn't involve falling down that pit. What more, when the players get out of that pit and examine what is behind it, you need to populate that area and have a plausible reason why the story would have continued (otherwise, they see the cardboard set dressing). The illusionary choice there let you be lazy, but also meant you where lazy. The sandbox solution would have both the pit trap and not the pit trap [b]both[/b] lead to something sensible and interesting and advancing the story. Now the risk of having to ham-hand the pit trap goes away, exploration after the fact reveals no cardboard... and, the structure of [b]each path[/b] has to be at least sketched in, even if they only go down one path the fact that plot-bones support the other one integrates their path better into the world. Maybe they'll later find the [I]back end[/I] of the other path, for example. [/QUOTE]

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