Locked Out

[Jades]

I had this brilliant dungeon crawl planned out, and to get in to it, all you had to do was turn two statues 180 degrees and they would trigger the mechanism that opens the hidden door under the temple alter.

The party decided to destroy the statues, which caused the mechanism to break. Really really bad break too. If the group had a rogue, I suppose they could jimmy the mechanism, but they don't.

In y'alls opinion, do I have an obligation to come up with another way that they can enter, or am I justified in not letting them get to what is down there?

[Sheine]

Id just give them another route that is much harder or more annoying to get past. Or you can just have fun making them regret breaking the statues and see how long it takes them to figure out its hopeless.

~For whats its worth~

[Thomas]

In y'alls opinion, do I have an obligation to come up with another way that they can enter, or am I justified in not letting them get to what is down there?

You have no obligation, and you are "justified." The only issue here to begin with is that you spent time creating something that won't be used, now. Use it somewhere else instead; this dungeon becomes another dungeon encountered in some later adventure.

[Bears With Lasers]

I don't really think there's much point in being all "nope, sorry, ERRRRNT." There isn't any, in fact. Come up with another way down, or use the dungeon later, or something.

Perhaps a better way of thinking about it than "do I have an obligation..." would be "what would cause more Fun to occur?"
Which may or may not be "letting them in". I'm just sayin', that's probably a more useful way of looking at the problem.

[AtomicKitKat]

Perhaps all the noise of breaking the statues causes some mobs near the entrance to force open the door from their end(perhaps it opens outwards, and the seal is pretty tight from the outside, but not the inside?), and come out to beat upon the party/eat them. Ogres are generally great for this type of deal. Also large enough to believably be able to open the door.

[Beleriphon]

Well here's a question. Did you present any evidence to suggest that moving the statues in way would open a door? If not I'd certainly suggest the players get a back entrance into the dungeon, not necessarily a good way to for a group to get in either.

[Dervag]

I would create an alternate way in, but make it difficult enough for the characters that they learn a lesson about causing random property damage.

AtomicKitKat's suggestion is good, as long as you make sure that the party finds out that the statues they destroyed were supposed to open the door.

An even better approach might be a trap-riddled corridor. Since the party doesn't have a rogue, that will really sting them if you set up the traps right. Hopefully, they will learn a lesson about scouting their environment before pillaging it.

[Beleriphon]

If it were me I'd have them come across two heavy beams to open an overhead trap door. Let them open it and it comes up right where they started by the altar.

[blackout]

I would create an alternate way in, but make it difficult enough for the characters that they learn a lesson about causing random property damage.

AtomicKitKat's suggestion is good, as long as you make sure that the party finds out that the statues they destroyed were supposed to open the door.

An even better approach might be a trap-riddled corridor. Since the party doesn't have a rogue, that will really sting them if you set up the traps right. Hopefully, they will learn a lesson about scouting their environment before pillaging it.

Pillage, THEN burn. Pillage technically just means 'steal', burn means...well, burn. SO, pillage, then burn. Oh, and yes, yes, you should make em go in the hard way. Personally, I like the idea of the trap-filled corridor.

[Munchy]

Don't give anything for free to the PCs. If there was one entrance and they broke the mechanism they must deal with it. This by no means implies that they are locked out from this dungeon forever.

If the PCs know that there is some sort of entrance in the temple they should be able to figure out where the entrance is (With some effort). As for opening it, they will probably have to find some way to repair the opening mechanism (Assuming they come to realize the statues controlled a mechanism, why can't they just hire some dude to repair it?) or to just break/bypass the entrance. It might take several days for them to accomplish this but I don't see why it wouldn't work.

[silvermesh]

if the PCs know that the entrance is definitely there, they should be able to figure out a way in on their own, presuming they have some way of knowing that the real way in has been destroyed. if nothing else, excavation will prove useful.
I'm iof the opinion that if they had clues that the statues openned the door, they deserve the difficulty, otherwise not. I used to put elaborate "riddle room" type devices such s this in dungeons, but quickly found that PCs simply ignore such rooms unless given obvious reasons not to. You have to train your PCs to be prepoared for such before you can rely on them to be, otherwise nobody is going to have any fun. fun being the key word to any game.

[Zincorium]

Question you need to ask yourself: If I was in their position, denied the advantage of knowing how the door opened, would I figure this out?

If not, make sure there's some other way in that presents itself clearly. Simple doesn't have to mean easy.

In any case, what information were they working with? Did you mention that when they were bashing at the statues, they kind of turned a bit, and possibly the pcs heard machinery underneath them? Is it a physical mechanism, in which case it might be easier to use now (think hotwiring a car), or magic, in which case something should have happened to let them know that they are screwed.

[Shazzbaa]

I'd think you'd at least make them freak out and think they can't get in, even if you do let them in. Like, "Oh, crap! Those statues were supposed to -- CRAP!" and then either make a different way in or laugh quietly to yourself.

I'm with Bears with Lasers' comment, as for whether you should or shouldn't. Since you know the story and the players, you know better what would be most fun for the story and whether locking the PCs out would be an interesting development to them, or just make them sore.

[Jades]

They pushed against the statues, and rolled below the DC 15 to notice that they rotated a little when they didn't move forward.

They lit the book that contained the "rituals" of the temple on fire.

Used the Shatter Spell to destroy the crystalline statues, and heard mechanical grinding after the first one was destroyed, and metallic bits scatter on the floor of the dungeon below them. Shrugged, and shattered the other statue.


The biggest problem is that they destroyed the book which is essentially the Prima Guide to the Temple of Xyphon, without reading it.

And yes, I've figured this mechanism out on my own, my DM used it against me.

[Scorpina]

Well, on the one hand, they've missed several key clues and been rather stupid about trying to get in (burning the book and suchlike) on the other hand, as has been said, if you don't 'let them in' then all your work making the dungeon will have been in vain and they won't have the fun of experiencing said dungeon.

What I would do is make them think that there's no hope of getting into the dungeon anymore and then have one or more of them fall into it completely by accident as they're leaving the sight (perhaps even litterally falling through a weak part of the ground and suffering some falling damage for it, or something)
.
Of course, depending on the feel of your game that might be quite a bit too cheesy. Maybe have them get an NPC rogue or somesuch to come and figgure the mechanism out?

[Zincorium]

They pushed against the statues, and rolled below the DC 15 to notice that they rotated a little when they didn't move forward.

They lit the book that contained the "rituals" of the temple on fire.

Used the Shatter Spell to destroy the crystalline statues, and heard mechanical grinding after the first one was destroyed, and metallic bits scatter on the floor of the dungeon below them. Shrugged, and shattered the other statue.


The biggest problem is that they destroyed the book which is essentially the Prima Guide to the Temple of Xyphon, without reading it.

And yes, I've figured this mechanism out on my own, my DM used it against me.

Okay, so you would have figured it out, being as you gave every reasonable clue to them, and might be a very smart person in your own right. I'm gonna have to side with you, either the PCs or the players are complete idiots to the one.

[headwarpage]

Sounds like they screwed themselves. I'd like to add myself to the people who suggested using the dungeon somewhere else. You've already done all the work to design that dungeon, so it would be a shame not to use it. Alternately, your players can always just force entry unless there's some magic stopping them. Or you can give them another way in, as has been suggested. But under no circumstances should you allow your players to do something stupid without consequences. What those consequences are is up to you, though.

Was this dungeon part of any larger plot, or was it a one-shot dungeon crawl? If it's the former, and the players don't end up entering, then the evil within should go unfoiled, to be released upon the world at a later date (when the PCs are high enough level to combat it). That's probably what I would do. They move on, have some other adventures, and then, when they've all leveled up a half-dozen times and completely forgotten about it, an army of demons (or whatever) comes pouring out of this temple to ravage the countryside.

[Jades]

It is their way back home, they don't know it, but they leave the plane that they're on through the temple.

[Behold_the_Void]

By this point I'd say maybe start introducing some repercussions to the fact that they blow up/burn/otherwise destroy everything. I'd say that as a whole is the problem, not this one singular situation.

[headwarpage]

If they're leaving the plane, that makes it a little harder to tie this into something down the road, I suppose. If your players will get frustrated with the game if they can't get home, you should probably let them get in some other way, or put the gate somewhere else for them. Their actions should have consequences of some sort, but other than that, it's really up to you. There isn't really a right or wrong thing to do in this situation - it's all about what's going to be the most fun for you and your players.

[Matthew]

You need to avoid this sort of 'bottle neck' in the plot. Why exactly can't the adventurers get into the dungeon by some other means? Is there no way for them to break open the entrance? Tunnel through, above, around or underneath?

[Fireball.Man.Guy.]

I think everyone is fogetting 1 thing. Plan B should always involve gunpowder/magical explosive. Or, if the door's thin enough, have the meatsheild bash through it.

[Cybren]

WHAT!? This is TPK time! I recommend letting them in but putting nine beholders and six rust monsters right in the entrance.

[headwarpage]

I don't know about that, but if the creatures in the dungeon are intelligent, remember that a forced entry will probably be noisy. It's not at all unreasonable for most of the residents of the dungeon to be waiting by the newly-created entrance when the dust settles.

[Dervag]

Pillage, THEN burn.

Right. But before you pillage, you scout. This guarantees that nobody will sneak up on you and brain you with a rock while you're busy prying gemstones out of an idol. And it improves your odds of not accidentally damaging the mechanism that works the secret door.

So the overall rule should probably be:
"Scout, then secure, then pillage, then burn."

They lit the book that contained the "rituals" of the temple on fire.

Used the Shatter Spell to destroy the crystalline statues, and heard mechanical grinding after the first one was destroyed, and metallic bits scatter on the floor of the dungeon below them. Shrugged, and shattered the other statue.

So why were they destroying random statuary again?

Teaching characters not to gratuitously destroy important stuff is worthwhile.

[Were-Sandwich]

Hmmmm. Maybe hint they consult a sage on how to open the door. He informs them that although he hasn't read anything about this paticular door, step-by-step instructions for these mechanisms are normally written down in grimoires stored somewhere in the temple. When they put two and two together, their random burning days will be over.

[Chris_Chandler]

This sounds like poor planning abounding, on the party's part. Now, I'm all for making sure the game is enjoyable for everyone, but at some point the group has got to see that actions have consequences. I mean, they can dig out, right? Let them dig out, half-starved, to be exploited by whatever means in which they are exposed. They are just blowing stuff up, so the whole place knows that they are there.

Let the consequences play out, without being punitive. No need to 'port a gorgon in there, or let them dig into a beholder lair, unless they actually tunnelled into a beholder lair. They earned all the good stuff they've gotten, right? Let them earn the bad stuff, too.

[pestilenceawaits]

Well, on the one hand, they've missed several key clues and been rather stupid about trying to get in (burning the book and suchlike) on the other hand, as has been said, if you don't 'let them in' then all your work making the dungeon will have been in vain and they won't have the fun of experiencing said dungeon.

What I would do is make them think that there's no hope of getting into the dungeon anymore and then have one or more of them fall into it completely by accident as they're leaving the sight (perhaps even litterally falling through a weak part of the ground and suffering some falling damage for it, or something)
.
Of course, depending on the feel of your game that might be quite a bit too cheesy. Maybe have them get an NPC rogue or somesuch to come and figgure the mechanism out?

This is what I was thinking make them pay to have someone else figure it out. That way next time instead of just bashing things they will take some time and you still get to utilize your work.