Just curious why secret doors are still shown on a player handout for battlemaps in the adventures? I thought the player handout was going to be the best thing ever for my DMing to save time and make things easier, but showing secret doors kind of removes it from being a 'player handout' :(
Sure, if the players can see where the secret doors are on a map, they are likely to have their characters search for secret doors. That just doesn't have to be the issue that some people make it be - there is no reason to get overly focused on why the character is searching where they are searching, because there is no reason why they wouldn't search there, so even though it is using knowledge the player has for the player to make a choice - it isn't the character doing something they need to know a particular bit of knowledge to think of trying.
Then, all you have to do is establish fair and reasonable re-try rules - such as not just letting the player keep rolling until they get a high enough number, but actually having their character make their best attempt, and act as they believe there is nothing to be found if they don't find anything hinting at the existence/location of a secret door.
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Hey all,
Just curious why secret doors are still shown on a player handout for battlemaps in the adventures? I thought the player handout was going to be the best thing ever for my DMing to save time and make things easier, but showing secret doors kind of removes it from being a 'player handout' :(
It doesn't have to.
Sure, if the players can see where the secret doors are on a map, they are likely to have their characters search for secret doors. That just doesn't have to be the issue that some people make it be - there is no reason to get overly focused on why the character is searching where they are searching, because there is no reason why they wouldn't search there, so even though it is using knowledge the player has for the player to make a choice - it isn't the character doing something they need to know a particular bit of knowledge to think of trying.
Then, all you have to do is establish fair and reasonable re-try rules - such as not just letting the player keep rolling until they get a high enough number, but actually having their character make their best attempt, and act as they believe there is nothing to be found if they don't find anything hinting at the existence/location of a secret door.