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View Full Version : Help me out with a bit of dungeon building



The Cats
2017-12-04, 09:54 PM
It's mostly done but there's a few finishing touches I wouldn't mind picking the collective creative intelligence of the playground for.

(Gonna start with what I'm asking for then gonna describe the dungeon fully cause I'm kinda proud of it, so you can skip everything after the next paragraph if all you wanna do is slam that advice down at me.)

There will be a classic move-tiles-around-to-make-a-picture puzzle. They have to make a rune that they will have seen throughout the dungeon. The rune will be engraved on a couple weapons, and will be on a wall as a trap trigger. What are some other, not totally obvious but still kiiiinda obvious ways I can work this rune in? Also, an imp is zipping around the rooms through secret passages setting off traps. What are some ways to hide the entrance to these passages in each room that, again, is not totally obvious but not impossible to find?

The dungeon is small, runnable in a single 3-4 hour session if they start the night right at the entrance. Used to be a powerful wizard's hideout. Most of it has collapsed but there are 8 rooms still intact and it has been co-opted by a reckless diabolist (originally just some shmuck who found the place randomly but got all seduced by the wizard's old familiar (an imp) who is stuck in the dungeon because the wizard was more clever with the contract than the imp was.

The rooms: I usually just make up features for rooms as we go so no exhaustive list of what each room is all about. 5 of them sort of circle around the sixth and seventh, which are the 'inner sanctum' where the guy summons devils, and the wizards old office (where most of the cool loot is). The final room is a 'control centre' only accessed through the imp's secret tunnels. 1 of the outer rooms is 'empty' (no encounters) the other four have encounters. There is one encounter in a hallway between two rooms as well.

The inhabitants know the heroes have entered and the imp activated the security system, sealing off any entrance to the inner sanctum. The heroes will just be going in circles until they find the control centre.

Encounters:
1. The guardian. This room has a bunch of skulls in it. One of them is a flaming skull that will attack anyone not wearing the wizard's rune. My player's haven't met a flaming skull before so I imagine it'll revive once or twice. (this is 5E fyi)

2. The pit. Half of this room is a 20 foot deep pit with some zombies shambling around the bottom of it. As the heroes enter, the imp will appear (losing invisibility as it does a thing) in the hall just outside and activate a major trap. Bars will slam down over the two entrances and a section of wall slides away, revealing a narrow hallway. A junk golem charges out of the hallway, into one of the heroes, attempting to push him into the pit. (It's wearing magic 'boots of the bull' that make bull rushing easy peasy). It'll try to knock a hero into the pit on every turn, but it's not that strong so this'll be a quick beatdown if no one falls. Oh then they have to figure out how to open the bars. Won't be hard. I dunno exactly but I'm sure they'll come up with something.

3. Weaklings. A group of five troglodytes (there's a whole storyline for why they're in there don't worry about it) with red glowy eyes try to ambush the party. They'll be cake to beat. They're wielding nasty looking axes with a magic, red glowy rune engraved in them. If any of the players snag an axe (they totally will) they'll have to pass a saving throw or get red glowy eyes and attack the other party members. Knocking the axe out of their hands cures them.

4. A 10' wide hallway with a second junk golem, this one just hovering in the air at the end of the hallway. Except it's not a junk golem, it's just strategically placed junk. And it's not hovering, it's inside a gelatinous cube. Soon as the heroes get close enough, or if they attack at range, the imp activates another trap and a wall slams down behind them, pushing them towards the now advancing cube. Race against the clock to kill the thing (or take the damage and run through it)

5. Prisoners. The poor townsfolk that got kidnapped! The whole reason the heroes are here. Oh except one fella, the important one with plot-relevant info. Guess they gotta keep looking!

6. Control centre. Once the heroes find the secret tunnels and make their way into the control centre, they find the magic tablets the imp used to rearrange the walls and hide the inner sanctum. Once they rearrange them to show the wizard's rune, the way to the inner sanctum opens up.

7. The diabolist has been busy summoning devils to defend himself from the party. As they enter he's already got a couple bad dudes with him and he's just finishing up summoning a super bad dude. (Types of devils I use depend on how many resources the party has left. Gonna be a threat of death, but don't wanna wipe the floor with them.) Soon as combat starts the diabolist smashes an orb of darkness, plunging a chunk of the room into... darkness. He hides in there, the imp passing him potions and poisons they have laid out nearby. He's got a magic item that lets him deliver potions and poisons at range, so he spends the battle popping out of the darkness, buffing the devils (or poisoning a hero) and popping back in.

8. Wizard's office. Cool! Loot! Oh hey that last kidnapped dude is here too! Hooray!

Yup that's it. Any other cool ideas or suggestions you guys have I'm interested in hearing! We're breaking for December so I have a full month to make changes if something cooler comes up.

Segev
2017-12-05, 10:36 AM
Tapestries covering the entrances to the secret tunnels is classic, and probably findable with a DC 15 to 20 Perception check, depending how stand-out the tapestries are.

Not bothering to hide them at all, but disguising them as fume hoods or chimneys or ventilation holes would also work.

Are you planning to make the players themselves do the sliding-tile puzzle? If you have one made up, they probably don't NEED the rune. Puzzles are put together by finding pieces which connect the lines on them. If not, I suggest having the puzzle be less the sliding tiles (because doing that "right" is more a function of an Intelligence check) and more that there are multiple possible solutions. Arranged one way, one rune is properly aligned in the center while others are jumbled around the board. Each of the runes can be set up to be in the middle with the others being jumbled. The trick lies in identifying that you can get one rune at a time out of the puzzle, but not any more than one at a time, and THEN realizing which rune is the right one.

Lord Torath
2017-12-05, 02:14 PM
Will the PCs be able to use the Spooky Potion at a Distance magic item the Diabolist is using to buff the devils? I can see even a semi-creative player coming up with all sorts of interesting uses for such a device.

MrZJunior
2017-12-05, 05:53 PM
What'll you do if the party starts excavating the collapsed sections of the complex?

The Cats
2017-12-05, 07:14 PM
Tapestries covering the entrances to the secret tunnels is classic, and probably findable with a DC 15 to 20 Perception check, depending how stand-out the tapestries are.

Not bothering to hide them at all, but disguising them as fume hoods or chimneys or ventilation holes would also work.

Are you planning to make the players themselves do the sliding-tile puzzle? <snip>.

Not a sliding-tile really. Rotating tiles, with differnet coloured lines on them. Lining up the coloured lines with certain rotations reveals different runes, each changing the configuration of the walls in the dungeon. Don't want to go too complex or potentially difficult since this is the first puzzle like this I'll have thrown at this party, so I don't know how in to puzzles they are yet. I want them to have seen the rune they need so they get to have that "Aha!" moment. Thanks for the tips though, I'll certainly be installing a false fireplace in one of the rooms.


Will the PCs be able to use the Spooky Potion at a Distance magic item the Diabolist is using to buff the devils? I can see even a semi-creative player coming up with all sorts of interesting uses for such a device.

Oh heck yes, I'm looking forward to it.
This is the item in question:

Requires attunement.
This silver gauntlet is made of dozens of interlocking silver plates.

The wearer of this gauntlet can speak a command word as an action to transform the gauntlet into a wasp construct that will attempt to sting a target creature or object within 60 feet. If the target is a creature it must make a DC15 dex save or take one point of piercing damage. The wasp then returns to the wearer, transforming back into a gauntlet.

If the wearer is holding a vial of liquid when the gauntlet transforms, the wasp will have that liquid stored within itself. The creature being stung is immediately affected by whatever liquid the wasp is carrying. If the liquid was a poison, the creature makes the saves with disadvantage. Some other liquids' effects may be more potent when delivered this way.

I waver back and forth as to whether to require attunement. It's not a super strong ability, but it is unique, and like you said could be exploited by creative players.


What'll you do if the party starts excavating the collapsed sections of the complex?

They probably won't since they're on a timer, but if they do, *shrug.* I have lots of random maps and a good-enough vague idea of what's down there I can improvise (hint: troglodytes).

MrZJunior
2017-12-05, 09:09 PM
Some other liquids' effects may be more potent when delivered this way.


I wonder what would happen if you were holding a vial of alchemist's fire?



They probably won't since they're on a timer, but if they do, *shrug.* I have lots of random maps and a good-enough vague idea of what's down there I can improvise (hint: troglodytes).

I know that I personally would want to start excavating the place after beating this demon guy.

The Cats
2017-12-05, 10:06 PM
I wonder what would happen if you were holding a vial of alchemist's fire?

Up the damage to 2d4 and treat it like a poison allowing a CON save (with disadvantage) each turn after the first to end the effect.




I know that I personally would want to start excavating the place after beating this demon guy.

Clock doesn't stop ticking when they beat the diabolist. It's a rush-to-gather-artifacts-to-stop-an-ancient-evil-from-awakening kind of deal. Dude that got kidnapped knows where the next macguffin is.