TL;DR
Tables provided - in the interest of usability - for reference here at the
top. To use, roll 3d6 to determine whether the Special room is good, bad, or
indifferent to the party; who or what it affects; and how it affects the
target. Optionally, roll a fourth d6 at the same time to determine the
temporal applicability of the special effect.
| 1d6 |
The special feature is... |
|
1
|
Very bad for the party
|
2
|
Bad for the party
|
3-4
|
Indifferent
|
5
|
Good for the party
|
6
|
Very good for the party
|
|
| 1d6 |
The special feature affects... |
|
1-2
|
The character or characters
|
|
3-4
|
The player or players
|
|
5-6
|
The environment
|
|
|
1d6
|
For the Character:
|
For the Player:
|
For the Dungeon:
|
|
1
|
Affects a power
|
Hints to the map
|
Changes the layout
|
2
|
Affects the abilities
|
Hints to monsters
|
Changes the monsters
|
3
|
Affects an intangible
|
Hints to treasure
|
Changes the doors
|
4
|
Affects consumables
|
Hints to hazards
|
Provides translocation
|
5
|
...Or nonconsumables
|
Provides an NPC
|
Changes hazards
|
6
|
Affects the meta-sheet
|
Serves to immerse
|
Changes secrets
|
|
|
And optionally...
|
| 1d6 |
The effect persists for... |
|
1-2
|
the immediate.
|
|
3-5
|
the short term.
|
6
|
the long term.
|
|
For an explanation of what they represent and the reasoning behind the
numbers, read on!
"Special" Rooms on 3d6 (Or Maybe 4)
The big number 4.
The only result on the stocking table wherein no further tables exist to guide
its creation.
The "Special" room.
While a list is given of several special rooms as suggestions, as inspiration
- they are wide in their scope and incongruous in their impact to the game.
They are presented as anomalies - features of the dungeon that are neither
combative as might a monster be nor immediately hazardous as a trap. They
might be hazardous, but aren't by necessity. They might be of
value - but are not necessarily treasure. And on top of it - they are the
largest cognitive strain on the dungeon architect (or, on this dungeon
architect) when writing out a key.
How do you keep them interesting? How do you keep them relevant?
Here provided is a quick system I've been toying with - trying to ensure that
Special rooms stay Special - rather than, based on the mood of the hour,
becoming simply another trap or treasure result: Special Results on 3d6
(optionally 4).
How does the room affect an expedition?
The first die tests for ambivalence. Does this special room benefit the party?
Does it confuse or tax them? Or is it simply a set piece - to bode good, ill,
or neither depending on how the party interacts? Consider on the first d6:
| 1d6 |
The special feature is... |
| 1 |
Very bad for the party
|
2
|
Bad for the party
|
3-4
|
Indifferent |
5
|
Good for the party
|
6
|
Very good for the party
|
A special feature being "good" or "bad" - of course - is subjective: and
likewise, consider - based on the effect of the feature - how a character
would need to interact with it in order to be exposed to its effect. That is
to say - a very good feature, perhaps one that grants an XP bonus or
Infravision for a short period of time - might require more interaction than
would an indifferent feature: similarly, a bad feature, perhaps one that taxes
the character's resources, should require some degree of interaction as well -
otherwise, it might more accurately be categorized as a trap.
Why spread the nature of the effect by chance? The importance of
balancing positive and negative features is to promote player interactivity
and reward player skill. If all of the special features are negative -
if the dungeon is full of many gotchas and traps - it punishes the players for
interacting. It rewards a style of play which is averse to adventure and
experimentation. If you give the party nothing but cursed treasure, they will
stop seeking it. Similarly, if all of the special features are positive, it
has the reverse effect: rewarding the party for spending too much time
interacting with them and throwing caution to the wind: something that will
serve them poorly when exposed to a trap or hazard in a future room. Special
room results give the referee an opportunity to promote ambiance, to reward
good interaction, or to foreshadow other elements of the dungeon - as such, by
randomizing their nature, we ensure a balance of effect: keeping us on point
for their intended purpose.
What does the special room affect?
Next test for target. Does the nature of the special effect influence a the
player characters - perhaps granting them some ability or taxing them some
resource? Or does it have an influence on the map - rotating some far off
section, opening new doors or shutting existing ones? Consider on the second
d6:
| 1d6 |
The special feature affects... |
| 1-2 |
The character or characters
|
| 3-4 |
The player or players
|
| 5-6 |
The environment
|
The last of these is the most obvious - the target of the special effect is
environmental. Rotating bridges, locking and unlocking doors, elevating or
lowering lifts, opening or closing secrets - all of these things would be
considered environmental effects.
The first of these is likewise common - the first destination that most will
go with when designing a point of interactivity in the dungeon. Hexes,
enchantments, benefits, or even equipment effects might be categorized as
affecting the character or characters directly.
The center idea - that of affecting the player - is something that is
more rare.
What does it mean to affect the player rather than the player character?
Simply put - something that affects the character should be recordable
on the character record sheet or other notes: something that affects the
player should instead be imprinted on their cognition - should affect
their mood or perception of the adventure, the event, or the tone - which
might result in note-taking (or might not, depending on the player!) but most
certainly should result in a raised brow and - potentially - a change in the
approach that the player is taking when controlling their character to
interact with the dungeon.
Revealing the presence of secret corridors
underneath the floors, or revealing that an ancient wizard hid a powerful orb
deeper into the dungeon than the current objective would delve - or even to
hint that there may be oozes hidden in the side catacombs: these target the
player; these inform decisions regarding the expedition and may change the
course it has charted.
What effect should the special room have?
Ultimately (or, optionally penultimately - see below), the meat of the
discussion: what does the room actually do? The specific effect in question
will depend on what the target of the effect is - and is, thus, dependent on
the second die rolled. Consider accordingly on the third d6:
|
1d6
|
For the Character:
|
|
1d6
|
For the Player:
|
|
1d6
|
For the Dungeon:
|
|
1
|
Affects a power
|
|
1
|
Hints to the map
|
|
1
|
Changes the layout
|
2
|
Affects the abilities
|
|
2
|
Hints to monsters
|
|
2
|
Changes the monsters
|
3
|
Affects an intangible
|
|
3
|
Hints to treasure
|
|
3
|
Changes the doors
|
4
|
Affects consumables
|
|
4
|
Hints to hazards
|
|
4
|
Provides translocation
|
5
|
...Or nonconsumables
|
|
5
|
Provides an NPC
|
|
5
|
Changes hazards
|
6
|
Affects the meta-sheet
|
|
6
|
Serves to immerse
|
|
6
|
Changes secrets
|
But what do these entries mean? Well, to answer, you have to break it
down by feature. To start, consider characters:
-
Powers refers to features of monsters or races that affect dungeoneering:
infravision, sensing sloped passages, tremor-sense, rusting ferrous
equipment on touch, breathing under water, slipping through tight spaces as
though boneless - all of these are "powers" that might be impactful to the
target character.
-
Abilities refers to bonuses, penalties, or modifications to character
Abilities. Strength, Intelligence, etc.
-
Intangibles are references to elements like time, advancing (or maybe
reversing!) the turn tracker; or un-tracked biological functions (maybe the
character is made hungry, or sated) - and kind. These may have impact to the
current delve - or perhaps to the navigation back to town.
-
Consumables include torches, rations, ammunition, hit points, or other
tracked and managed resources on the character sheet.
-
Non-consumables include items not normally tracked: armor, rope, or similar
could be considered non-consumable for the purposes of a Special room's odd
effect.
-
Meta-sheet elements include saving throw values, the character's XP (total
or bonus or penalty to rate of gain), or other things tracked on the sheet
as part of the "under the covers" of a player character operation.
For players:
-
Map hints reveal to the players elements of the map without having to
physically go there. A "good" result will be accurate,
a "bad" result will
not -
or an "indifferent" one may reveal information they already know.
-
Monster hints reveal information about wandering monsters, about factions in
the dungeon, or other ecology. Again, "good" or "bad" will have varying
accuracy.
- Treasure hints, same as above.
-
Hazard hints reference traps, tricks, pitfalls, or other dangers implicit to
the layout itself.
-
Talking statues, ghostly inhabitants, prisoners, other adventuring parties
in proximity - all of these would fall into the "NPC" category. This
represents as much a role play opportunity as it does a mechanical one.
-
Immersion - speak to the player's senses. Put them in the dungeon and help
them get into character: or use it to inform (positively or negatively)
their understanding of the natural order within the adventure site.
For the dungeon, itself:
-
Layout changes represent the closing off of corridors, the opening of new
ones, the shifting of rooms or the rotating of bridges. These can be obvious
or close or these can be distant or subtle.
-
Monster changes alter the odds of random encounters (pheromone trap,
anyone?) or perhaps change their nature. A "bad" result might be an alarm
set by a faction of nearby.
-
A door change may lock a previously open door - or unlock a barred one.
Perhaps this is a puzzle room where - solving the puzzle - a steel
portcullis may lift. Alternatively, a secret door might be revealed: or
previously obvious doors become hidden.
-
Translocation can be as intricate as mono-directional teleportation circles
or as mundane as stairs. Good results may offer movement more rapidly -
several levels up or down - where bad results may offer that same mobility
to deadly dungeon denizens.
-
Hazards to the dungeon include traps, tricks, false leads, one-way doors,
and the like. Changes to these may indicate the one-way changes, the false
leads become true, or the tricks and traps relocate or reverse - depending
on the nature of the room's ambivalence.
-
Secrets include chambers, passages, treasures, imprisoned monsters, and
other hidden things: this room may be a trigger to reveal them, or a manner
to open them (or close them off for good).
(Optionally) How long should the special feature affect the adventure?
Finally - if you're the type to prefer 4d6 over 3 - consider the duration of
the effect: how long will the significance of what the Special result contains
continue to be of relevance to the adventure? To the adventuring party?
Consider on a fourth d6:
| 1d6 |
The effect persists for... |
| 1-2 |
the immediate.
|
| 3-5 |
the short term.
|
6
|
the long term.
|
Immediate effects include the ephemeral disembodied voice in the hall or the
sudden extinguishing of torches. Longer effects include the sudden
magnetization of everyone's armor or the brightening of the eyes such that a
character sees in the heat spectrum: for how long? Who knows - for a few
rounds, perhaps, or maybe for the remainder of their days.
The duration of the effect should - in part - be determined by the theme of
the adventure: you're more likely to have bigger effects when visiting the
palace of the storm king than when you're robbing a lesser merchant's family
mausoleum. However also - recall that these kind of things occur once in six
rooms - so, on a given dungeon level with, say, two dozen keyed locations:
you're going to have four chances to hit a long term effect. As such, the
majority of special features should have applicability to their own context -
to the scope of a delve or to the dungeon in which they belong only. In wider
campaigns, where consistent scope may influence several such adventure
locations across the map, keeping a consistent theme - and a consistent effect
- between them may be fun: however, in a general sense - by keeping the effect
of special rooms contained, it helps to promote a sense of uniqueness
without producing either a conga line of recipients for positive
effects or - as touched on regarding the differentiation of negative Special
rooms and Trap results - overwhelming the party with crippling after crippling
as they weave their way through the negative ones.
Let's Compare Notes
But how does this measure up to the examples of Special rooms given in
B/X?
Let's pick a couple at random to see if they line up to the provided prompts.
"Moaning room or corridor"
A moaning corridor (or room) serves little purpose other than to spook
the players or to set the mood. No mention is made of a fear effect or
of mechanical impact: so this seems a shot at ambiance.
Result: 3-4-6: indifferent, player-affecting immersion element.
"Alarm that summons special monster"
This was accidentally literally one of the suggestions I had to
elucidate what a bad environmental Special room could be.
Result: 2-5-2: mildly negative (a reaction roll might save
them), dungeon-affecting monster element.
A talking statue is an interesting one - an opportunity for wide
interpretation. The statue talks - but is it intelligent? Is it a
prerecorded message that plays whenever someone is nearby to hear it?
Does it lie or does it speak truly? Do the party members even speak
the language that the statue is speaking? Without further
clarification - it could be anything. If I were to think of this,
myself, I would do so with indifference in mind: it's only as helpful
as the party makes it.
Result: 4-4-5: an indifferent, player-focused (RP) element
which introduces a new NPC - the statue.
|
"Illusionary stairs or corridor"
Stairs that aren't there (or a Wile E. Coyote corridor) is mildly
malicious.
It's possible, first, for the party to attempt to follow it - being
surprised immediately that it's not there - or, more hazardously - if
they think they transition to a new area - but in truth do not.
This results in miscalculation of risk - spending more resources than
need be on adversaries or challenges that - based on assumed level -
are less dangerous than they appear.
Worse - however: missing the illusion and attempting to later use it
as a retreat avenue! Finding a dead end where an exit was believed to
be? Therein is the potential for TPK.
Result: 2-5-5: mildly negative, environment-affecting hazard
element.
"Magic pool whose waters have a strange effect"
This one could be fun. The magic pool seems like it should be an
environment issue - but what is the strange effect? Does it make the
character larger or smaller - a character 3 result? Does it restore
health (result 4) or does it weaken them, halving their Constitution
(result 2)?
Or - in another vein - it could flush like a toilet and deposit them
in a sewer sub-level: a mildly bad environment result of 4.
Result? Not enough information - roll 3d6 to find out!
|
Let's Try it Out
To demonstrate - we'll brainstorm: rolling up a few Special rooms.
First try - having not specified which direction I was rolling, we'll read it
top to bottom: 6-1-2 - which is very good for the character,
affecting their abilities. We could roll randomly to determine which
(or multiple: it's very good after all) abilities to affect - or
we can wing it.
|
|
-
A fountain which sprays a perfume type liquid: portable, staying
fresh for up to 1d4 days. When applied as a perfume, target treats
their Charisma as 4 points higher for the next 1d4 hours.
-
A low-gravity zone - all characters from outside this part of the
dungeon treat their Strength score as 2 points higher for the
duration that they remain on the level.
-
A chair with cranial vice, complete with wires and levers. If a
character hooks into the device - they will be electrocuted - 1d6
damage - and then must Save vs Spells. On a failure either the
Wisdom or Intelligence is increased by 2; on a Success,
both are increased by 1d6 - permanently.
|
Three options from three dice so far!
Let's roll again:
Keeping with the color pattern - purple first, then black, then green - we see
4-1-6: the room is indifferent, also affects the character, but
affects the meta-sheet. Something about the character sheet that isn't
normally tracked or targeted. Giving it a try:
-
A strange radiation permeates the room, befuddling the character's speech.
All reaction rolls should be rolled on 1d4+1d8 rather than 2d6 (to the
effect of flattening the curve!). Every hour spent outside the special area
allows a Save vs Death to end the effect.
-
A stiffening agent spritzes out of a ceiling spigot. Any character exposed
to it suffers a -2 penalty on all Saves vs Dragon's Breath, but gets a
corresponding +4 save against Paralysis. Effect lasts until the character
has a good bath.
-
Microphones hang from the ceiling in the room - rebroadcasting anything
spoken into another language. This enables the party to communicate with the
denizens... but also may rebroadcast noises or quips not intended for
rebroadcast.
Little more challenging - but still interesting.
One more time - this time, using the "how long" optional die:
6-3-5-5: the effect is
very good for the
player, provides or
elucidates an
NPC, but the effect is only for the
short term.
-
A warrior who has been turned to stone lingers in this space, flexing his
joints. If oiled (any oil will do) the warrior will follow the party to
avenge his state against the petrifying agent (maybe an aged Medusa; maybe
an experimenting wizard), and has limited knowledge of the dungeon. However,
if he enters direct sunlight - as would be inevitable leaving the dungeon -
the petrification finishes: turning him into a pillar of soapstone.
-
A security orb: if pondered, views of NPC adventurers in the dungeon can be
found, some of which may be live! A party cannot communicate with these NPCs
- but if they see one in peril, they would have a great advantage,
recruiting said imperiled, leveled NPCs to their service - at least until
said NPCs could return home from the dungeon exit.
-
A wizard's homunculus flops out of a hide in the ceiling - speaking a
Chaotic dialect. If taken under the wing of the party, it will ask for
guidance - promising riches - if returned to its master. It knows its way
around the dungeon very well - but will want to be returned, at which point
the master will be grateful - but the homunculus will depart the party's
company.
Good specials, or bad?
You decide - it's your table!
Inspiration over Instruction
This post is turning out to be far longer than I'd originally intended
it to be - as such, here seems like a good place to wrap it up. In conclusion
- I would like to state (or restate, if it was implied earlier) that -
hopefully - these entries and this process can help to produce more varied,
more interesting, and more thematic and memory-inducing interactive Special
rooms. Ranging from the mundane - another party trying to pick a lock or a
stairwell leading down - to the mystic - a cloud filled chamber that will eat
away leather or cloth, but will grant any who breath in it the ability to turn
gaseous, themselves, until the next new moon: Special rooms can be the most
intriguing and least intriguing rooms in the dungeon adventure.
And that's what this article is for - to serve to inspire rather than
instruct: to prompt your creativity as the referee and budding dungeon
architect to produce those awesome, interesting, and simultaneously evocative
and effective designs to maximize their appeal to the table and to cement
their place in stories told: be they memories recanted by old veterans to new
blood or be they posts under "that guy" threads bashing DMs more clever than
their players.
But regardless of which rooms they delve - ever on, players: delve ever on.
Thank you for reading!
Public domain artwork retrieved from
OldBookIllustrations.com
and the
National Gallery of Art
and adapted for thematic use. Attribution in alt text.
