• ProfessorOwl_PhD [any]@hexbear.net
    0·
    5 months ago

    My players like to save their worst rolls for perception checks to find secret doors. Even when they specifically know there’s a secret door and just need to work out how to open it, out comes a parade of 1s and 2s.

    • smeg@feddit.ukOPEnglish
      0·
      5 months ago

      So they means they still find it but it takes ages and a monster sneaks up on them in the meantime, right?

      • ProfessorOwl_PhD [any]@hexbear.netEnglish
        0·
        5 months ago

        Mostly it’s just meant that it takes ages - usually time is a big enough price that no other punishment is needed. Their recent actions generated a group of ghosts though, so ghosts wandering through the room while they’re searching is now a thing.

  • Jomega@lemmy.world
    0·
    5 months ago

    If you’re making your dungeons from scratch, try taking some design cues from a Zelda game. (Excluding the NES ones) In those games every room has an essential function necessary for progression, so none of your hard work will go unappreciated.

    • Schadrach@lemmy.sdf.orgEnglish
      0·
      5 months ago

      Want to reduce the rushing and door kicking? Take your design cues from AD&D modules S1 and S6. Aka the Tomb of Horrors and the Labyrinth of Madness. Especially the Labyrinth of Madness.

    • Susaga@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
      0·
      5 months ago

      Actually, a good number of dungeons have a room or two you can completely skip. These usually hold bonus loot, like rupees or pieces of heart.

      Heck, that shrine in BotW with the ball maze apparatus. Most people just flip it over and skip the maze. Some even just bomb jump over the gate and skip the apparatus.

      Instead, I recommend you just accept that you might work on something the players won’t see. Save that stuff for later.

      • samus12345@lemmy.worldEnglish
        0·
        5 months ago

        Most people just flip it over and skip the maze.

        I really appreciated that they let you do that. “So what if I just, like, flip it over?..”

      • azrendelmare@ttrpg.network
        0·
        5 months ago

        I recently played A Link to the Past for the first time, and several dungeons have rooms (and even big treasure chests) that are not necessary for completion. Still did it, though.

  • menas@lemmy.wtf
    0·
    5 months ago

    Recycle your unvisited rooms for next dungeons. I know it’s cheap, but hey you’re the only one who would know.

  • PugJesus@lemmy.worldEnglish
    0·
    5 months ago

    My players and party members would NEVER forget a door! Not even if the place was falling down around their heads!

    • Fonzie!@ttrpg.network
      0·
      5 months ago

      I know right‽

      I mean, “alter” won’t get flagged by spellcheck, it is a word, it’s just completely the wrong word!

  • PrettyFlyForAFatGuy@feddit.uk
    0·
    5 months ago

    Or my experience with D&D…

    Encounter giant pit monster

    Everyone argues for 20 mins about how everyone else should use their turn

    Repeat until monster is dealt with

    Run out of time of the the evening, so go home

    • smeg@feddit.ukOPEnglish
      0·
      5 months ago

      Chess clock / egg timer. If they don’t decide fast enough then no action for them! You don’t even need to actually do this (it would be a bit extreme in most situations), but the threat that it might happen should give them the necessary kick. Too much time deliberating? This monster just remembered it can take a legendary action on your turn!

  • Skua@kbin.earth
    0·
    5 months ago

    Hey, that looks like a successful session to me! They saw and interacted with most of what was prepared and there were even a few RP-driven decisions

    • mozz@mbin.grits.dev
      0·
      5 months ago

      Yeah. Not everything has to be a movie. If you want the little dudes to do exactly what you had laid out for them, get some action figures man. If you want your players to play on the playground just give them some toys, a rough objective, and let 'em run around.

      If you want your players to interact with something, make it either related to something they already care about and actively want to achieve, or else thrust them into the middle of it without any choice about it. If instead of that you turn them loose in the dungeon and they just run around having fun killing monsters and having hijinx then there is nothing in the world wrong with that and it is the expected result