DM-- SO YOU WANT TO ADVENTURE SEPARATELY, FINE!
THE FOOLISH PC SMASHER
Party is going through a dungeon, and a barrier wall falls down on either
side of a player (in my game, it happened to be the thief). A board slides out
from the wall, crossing the corridor, and a magic mouth says "Can you break
this board?". Buddy breaks board, and barriers retract. A little while later,
same deal, except it's a stone beam, (and their fighter was the trapped one).
Buddy breaks said beam, and the barriers retract. A bit later, the same thing,
except it's a wooden pole, (and the mage is trapped). Buddy breaks the staff,
and the DM looks up Retributive Strike... See Staff of Magi & Power, page
154, DM's Guide 2nd Ed.
COUNTDOWN TO FREEDOM
Party enters a 10x10 room, and stone doors seal the room at all entrances.
Looking about, there is a button on the wall, beside a number dial (like on a
gas pump) that counts down 10-9-8... Some bright soul presses the button,
and the dial resets to 10. In my campaign, the party spent fully 45 minutes
of real time searching the room for an escape, while one PC stayed near the
button to continue resetting the dial. Finally, they said forget it, and let the
dial count down to 0, at which point the doors slid open, and the DM was
chased from the room.
TRADING WELL
How about a 'trading' well, a large well where various swords & daggers
hover above it in mid air, and don't budge at all if grasped and pulled, but
one must place a sword or other weapon in exchange for one in the
well. Note if a PC tries to put a normal weapon in the well in exchange for
something magical, this is a good way to give a *cursed* weapon instead.
FIREBREAK
When the party reaches 1, the thief should check for traps, there are none
here so when the party enters the room and reaches 2, the door slams shut
(one way door so they cannot get out). Written on the glass wall, in several
languages, is a sign saying "In case of fire, break glass."
If (eventually) the party approaches 4, napalm drops, igniting 1 or more
characters. The party will probably break the glass. Upon doing this,
water flows in from a small grate in the ceiling above 3, flooding the
entire area. Any characters in armour are in @#it. The grate could be
the escape (Or anything else ) - you decide ????
You can work on this idea as much as you want, I just thought
some sadistic DM might enjoy watching his/her players squirm for a while.
----------------------
1 / 2 4 \
~~~~~|''''''''''''|~~~~
| 3 |
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Key: ''''''' glass wall
~~---|| normal walls
\ false door
/ one way door
DING-DONG THE PARTY'S DEAD
The PC's enter a corridor where the side walls on the left & to the right are
made of delicate green glass. Behind the glass is some type of liquid, and it
looks like a giant fish tank(Acid Bath). Along both sides are grooves with
holes every couple feet(drains). If the PCs ask the ceiling is pitted is spots,
and the floor is also covered in glass. The corridor is very sensitive to sound
and any noise is magnified tenfold through loud echoes, which will cause
the walls to shatter or break, pouring sulfuric acid upon any unfortunate
PC's, and then drain to be reused later. Even if they're, quiet a pressure
plate on the floor is activated once stepped upon, then the PCs hear a large
bell, that sounds like a churchbell, who's vibrations shatter the glass on the
twelth ring. This bell is also an alarm signal for some nearby monsters,
such as orcs or Hobgoblins, etc. The PC's will see the walls start to vibrate
and begin to crack if they make a roll on 1d20 under half their Wis or Int
whichever is better. An idea for damage due to the acid causes 5d8 HP of
damage, save for half, and will cause 2d4 hp of dmg per round if they are
wearing metal armour. Make appropriate item saving throws for the PC's
possessions. Even if they cast silence and stop the walls from shattering, the
monsters still attack. Then can you see the PCs trying to kill the monsters
quietly, or a stray swipe taking out one of the walls(oops!).
++++++++++++++
+ 2 + 1 PCs come from this direction
+++++++++++++++''''''''''''++++++ 2 Pools of acid
1 # 3 # 4 3 After PCs enter doors close, bell
+++++++++++++++''''''''''''++++++ begins to sound
+ 2 + 4 After acid drains away, monsters
++++++++++++++ attack
Legend : ''''''' glass wall
+++++++ normal walls
# doors
MIRROR, MIRROR, IS THE WALL !?!?!?
Addition by: bajuscikge96%cs30@cadetmail.usafa.af.mil (George E.
Bajuscik) How about something simple like a long straight corridor that
ends with a bend to one side (L shaped). The corridor is unlit or maybe very
dimly lit. In the corner where the bend is you put a large mirror at a 45
degree angle so that you can see around the corner when you are in the long
part of the corridor. Put one or more monsters "around the corner" and have
the PC's coming down the long corridor. Give the monsters a little light
(torches or whatever) so that the PC's can see them. The mirror will have to
be heavy duty to withstand missile weapons and maybe spells but the PC's
should waste time, spells and missile weapons trying to hit the monsters.
You might even allow the mirror to break and put a door behind the mirror.
This door will look identical to one that you put "around the corner" behind
the monsters. When the mirror breaks it will look like the monsters suddenly
disappear. The PC's move in closer and the monsters can then ambush them
before the PC's realize there is a corner at the end of the corridor.
Good, although here's a variation for the devious. One of the pc's
in the party at one time made a mirror spell, which was 3rd lvl and made a
mirror w. no substance, that can move with the character's concentration
and was 5' sq for every level of the caster (great for fighting medusae).
Anyhow have the enemy mage cast the mirror spell in a T section of the hall
way. When the party starts throwing spells and weap, etc the mage laughs
at the party as all the items pass are absorbed by him!! Then before the
party gets too close the mage dispels the mirror and casts the illusion of the
wall. Then when the characters eventually get the courage to approach
where the invincible and now maybe invisible mage was, the mage and his
group attack from behind.
_______________________
1 3
__________ __________
|~~~|
| 2 |
| |
| |
1 party comes from this direction
2 mage casts mirror spell in area 3
~ illusionary wall
STOP!!! HEY IT ACTUALLY LISTENED!
Here's a variation for that automaton. When the party enters, a magic mouth
on the wall commands "Automaton: attack the party". The party can either
fight to the death, or yell "Automaton: surrender". or whatever. Limited
vocabulary, though.
THE SEE-SAW WITH AN ATTITUDE
Here's a weak one: teeter-totter floor in 20x40 room. Door at both ends,
but as you walk to the other end, the floor teeters down to a lower
door/opening w monsters there. The party may slide to their clutches if
they're not quick. If most of the party stays balanced between ends, they
can hold up the teeter-totter until they figure out how to open the doors. A
magic mouth laughs (on the floor) while the party is trying to figure out
what to do. Have fun with them trying to keep the floor balanced. Also the
monsters will try and pull their side of the see-saw down, so the PCs have
to run to the other side to keep them from sliding to the monsters.
You could use a pressure plate for a variant--the party has to put
something heavy on the plate, then walk back to the door on the other side
of this room, pressure on plate locks the see-saw.
Side View: +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 1 PCs approach
1 # 2 # 4 2 PCs trigger see-saw
++++++++------*------++++++++ 3 Monsters grin at desparate
+ + screaming, pathetic-looking,
+ 3 3 5+ and scared PCs
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 4 Safety
5 Treasure?
Legend : +++++++ normal walls
# doors
------- see-saw floor
FINALLY, A ROPE THAT DOES THE WORK!
How about a 100' tall smooth shaft going upwards. There are some short
ropes on the floor with nametags, like Zippy and Arrow. Residents know to
tie themselves up with the rope as a harness, then speak the name of the
rope-- the rope magically lifts the person swiftly to the top of the shaft--
you've got 5 seconds to push yourself along the roof into the open archway,
when the time's up, the rope stops lifting and you drop. You'll need some
other way to get down-- like a slide elsewhere in the dungeon, or bring your
own 110' ropes.
PHYSICS 101
The party encounters a corridor that is coated with ice. Upon
entering the corridor they discover a crack in the wall of the corridor. Blue
liquid (or any other color you choose) flows from the crack and forms a
small stream which flows over ice down the corridor away from the party.
As the party procedes they encounter a room at the end of the corridor which
is full of gas. The stream of liquid flows into the room. The gas is a powerful
contact poison (save or take a good deal of damage). The gas forms a fog-
like vapor in the room, making visability very difficult within the room. The
gas does not enter the corridor. The key to the whole puzzle is that the room
is heated slightly and no ice is present in the room, only in the corridor.
When the liquid is warmed it vaporizes and forms a gas. To solve the puzzle
you must cool the room so the gas returns to its liquid form.
Our DM threw in a couple of twists to this basic design to spice
things up a bit. The layout was a bit different first of all. Another corridor
(with ice) ran next to the above mentioned corridor except there was no
liquid in this corridor. The corridors met just before the gas room. At the
other end was another room. In this room was an extreamely tough monster
(basically unkillable by normal adventurer means - ie. magic etc.). The
monster had total magic resistance (magic weapons also did not function as
anything other than normal weapons) and had an increadible armor class so
it was very hard to hit. The magic resistance was supplied by a special collar
(more on that later). The monster was slow so it could be easily outrun and
it was pretty stupid. This provided a sence of urgancy to the encounter since
if you just sat around and tried to figure out the puzzle the monster would be
all over you. If you haven't figured this out yet, the way to kill the monster is
with the gas (there are a number of ways to do this but I won't go into all
that detail here, it's not hard to figure out). It is necessary to kill the monster
(rather than just run away) because you need the collar. In the gas room is a
magical door that is unopenable except by using the antimagic collar (I
guess there are other ways if you have the resources but our group didn't).
A little more detail about the room might be in order here. In the
room there was a small pool of liquid (fed by the stream). The liquid then
flowed out of the room (although slowly). The pool formed around a central
rock that was warm and the rest of the floor was sand. A good DM should
be able to come up with many variations of this room to suit individual
campaigns but the basics will remain the same. If you think this room is real
easy to figure out after reading through this it is probably much harder (not
probably - IT IS!!) when you have an unkillable monster chasing you around
and it's 2 in the morning. This room was run with two different groups. Both
groups solved it but it took both of them several hours each (we're talkin
about 5 or 6 20 to 30 year olds with Ph.D. and master degrees - not stupid
people). It was a lot of fun though - give it a try.
DM SAYS-- SO YOU WANT TO ADVENTURE SEPARATELY, FINE!
How about a narrow corridor leading into a room. The party must
walk in single file to get to the room. Once a person enters, they are
randomly teleported to different locations in the room. This helps to
separate the party which is very effective on groups who depend on support
from one or two others to win their battles. The room should be about 100
square yds. and broken up into a nice 10x10 grid (varies). Each sector of 10
yds. has something in it, like a monster, magic weapon, or a curse to it or
something. The players can walk out on any side of the square they want,
but they can't see where it leads because it just teleports them to another
square in the room. One square on each side of the room has an exit into
another corridor.
It's a lot of fun to see how bad off players come out of this room.
Sometimes they have to re-enter to get back to the corridor their group is
meeting at. One player came out of mine as a 400 pound plaid person. The
beauty of the room is that its will always be different and you can select
whatever you want each square to be.
They'll probably want to stay together for a while too.