More information about the party: I'm a new DM, but I've been playing for a couple of years, and I'm leading a full party of first time players. We have spent the last few sessions running through the Mines of Phandelver to get them accustomed to the game. But now, it's time for the next step, an actual flushed out campaign world with actual character development and a story so that they can truly experience the open world of DnD and feel attachment to their characters. So, for their first encounter, I want them to have to deal with a puzzle that involves teamwork but I'm having trouble with some of the finer details. Please be patient with anything that sounds out of pocket, because this is also my first time homebrewing an encounter.
For a little backstory on the situation: Essentially, the party will have chartered a ship which will take them to a port town to actually start the campaign (still talking it over and deciding which campaign world I want to run with them). But, leaving out some connective material, essentially they are all poisoned with sleeping potions dumped into their alcohol in the middle of their travels. This is where they wake up and realize that they've been bamboozled and that the voyage was a front for an illegal slave ring (surprise, it's my first time writing so cut me some slack.), where the captain will get paid to take passengers to a requested destination, then quickly shackle them and enslave them, essentially doubling his profits. (For a note, I have taken into consideration that a character might be immune to charms and where the story will go if they are smart enough to not drink the alcohol.)
For the part I would like some input on: When the character's wake up, each character will have a contraption attached to their heads. Each character's contraption is different. One is enchanted with a Cone of Silence spell, so the player cannot speak, or rather he is not heard if he speaks. But he has basic body language communication, like pointing and such, and is able to understand his teammates and witness his surroundings. The next two characters will have a contraption that is enchanted with Blindness/deafness, one will be blind and cannot see his surroundings, but he can hear and communicate with his teammates. The other will be deaf and cannot hear his teammates but will be fully aware of his surroundings and be able to communicate with his teammate, although one-sided. The final character will be chained to the wall so that he cannot move, but he is not wearing a contraption so his senses are not limited. It will be this player's job to try and communicate to his teammates and rally them to solve the puzzle. Basically being the mediator between his blind/deaf/dumb teammates.
So, my questions are:
1. Is this idea of an enchanted head gear feasible, or am I missing the mark? Can these spells be used this way? I only want the spells to be in effect while the players are wearing the contraptions or while the contraptions are locked. If not, what better alternatives are there to achieving this effect of dulled senses?
2. I don't want the players to be in this state forever, just to solve this one puzzle to get them out of the slave quarters and onto kicking ass like they want to. So I have also added an NPC who is also chained to the wall and can provide some tips if needed (this NPC will be a fellow passenger that they've had some interactions with at this point). So how else can I ensure that the pacing is correct on this so that the players don't just get stuck being slaves for ever?
3. What would be the best way for the player's to solve this puzzle? I don't want it to be too difficult because I want them to be able to solve it with some teamwork and for them to feel like they've accomplished something. Would there be some sort of key/item that they would have to communicate to grab? Or should these contraptions have a hardness, say 15 with an HP of 5 and they have to communicate to getting the nearest blunt/sharp object to break them off? Perhaps both, or more, to provide options?
4. What is the best way to instruct my player's to communicate to make sure that there isn't a total communication breakdown and they lose interest? I don't want this to deescalate into me having to pass notes to all of the players so I want them to be able to use words to describe their actions. For example, the deaf player telling his blind teammate that he is physically pushing him 5 feet to the left seems appropriate.
Thanks for reading and for any tips, questions, comments or concerns!
Its an interesting conundrum, but my concern is that magical contraptions are likely quite expensive and you could accomplish much the same thing with some basic alchemy and non-magical items.
So you have the players wake up and describe how they are all bound to a wall in the ships hold in some fashion; hands tied ot the wall, collar around the neck connected to the wall by a chain etc but they all have the restrained conditon as a result. Then have each player roll a d6 to determine what else has happened to them; roll 1 = sack over the head (blinded condition), 2 = gagged (effectively silenced), 3 = legs also shackled (restrained conditon increased to incapcitated), 4 = Alchemical posioning from the sleep potion their drinks were dosed with (posioned conditon), 5 or 6 - no other effects.
Then just let them roleplay it but i might leave out the deafend conditon as it makes things a bit unfiar as it measn someoen is shouting as htey won't be able to hear themselves so might negate any stealthy attempts for them to escape their predictiment.
Make sure to leave their belongings somewhere they can get to them with a bit of ingenuity such as using a belt to snag the straps of their backpacks etc.
Also make sure anyone with proficiency with thieves tools has one set of lock picks hidden on their person somewhere so they can use them to try and unlock the restraints.
You know the players better than we do, so I might be wrong here. And I have a personal bias against puzzles, though I know some people love them, and I’m not trying to say they’re wrong. That said, the whole scenario seems designed to challenge the players, not the characters. If it were me, I’d be wanting to just make some skill checks. Performance to pantomime what wrong, insight to figure out what’s being communicated. A thieves tool to just unlock the thing. And I’m not sure how you pull it off irl, without things like a blindfold and noise canceling headphones. Otherwise it’s going to be all but impossible for some of the players to not metagame.
Its an interesting conundrum, but my concern is that magical contraptions are likely quite expensive and you could accomplish much the same thing with some basic alchemy and non-magical items.
So you have the players wake up and describe how they are all bound to a wall in the ships hold in some fashion; hands tied ot the wall, collar around the neck connected to the wall by a chain etc but they all have the restrained conditon as a result. Then have each player roll a d6 to determine what else has happened to them; roll 1 = sack over the head (blinded condition), 2 = gagged (effectively silenced), 3 = legs also shackled (restrained conditon increased to incapcitated), 4 = Alchemical posioning from the sleep potion their drinks were dosed with (posioned conditon), 5 or 6 - no other effects.
Then just let them roleplay it but i might leave out the deafend conditon as it makes things a bit unfiar as it measn someoen is shouting as htey won't be able to hear themselves so might negate any stealthy attempts for them to escape their predictiment.
Make sure to leave their belongings somewhere they can get to them with a bit of ingenuity such as using a belt to snag the straps of their backpacks etc.
Also make sure anyone with proficiency with thieves tools has one set of lock picks hidden on their person somewhere so they can use them to try and unlock the restraints.
I like the idea of using more mundane items to accomplish this effect. It seems to fit better with the conditions and materials of a slave ship. Honestly, the deafening was the one thing that I thought was going to cause the most issue. Because we play online, the only way to really accomplish this effect was to deafen them in chat. But then that means that one player is just out of the loop entirely so I think I'll take your advice and use a different condition. Such is DnD, grand ideas sound awesome but simpler methods always prevail.
Why are slavers using elaborate Saw-like head contraptions and puzzles to imprison people instead of just cages and shackles?
The puzzle itself is an interesting idea, but it seems wildly out of place in that situation
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Active characters:
Carric Aquissar, elven wannabe artist in his deconstructionist period (Archfey warlock) Lan Kidogo, mapach archaeologist and treasure hunter (Knowledge cleric) Mardan Ferres, elven private investigator obsessed with that one unsolved murder (Assassin rogue) Xhekhetiel, halfling survivor of a Betrayer Gods cult (Runechild sorcerer/fighter)
You know the players better than we do, so I might be wrong here. And I have a personal bias against puzzles, though I know some people love them, and I’m not trying to say they’re wrong. That said, the whole scenario seems designed to challenge the players, not the characters. If it were me, I’d be wanting to just make some skill checks. Performance to pantomime what wrong, insight to figure out what’s being communicated. A thieves tool to just unlock the thing. And I’m not sure how you pull it off irl, without things like a blindfold and noise canceling headphones. Otherwise it’s going to be all but impossible for some of the players to not metagame.
Thanks for the input. Honestly, I wanted to start with a puzzle to give myself some practice on being more descriptive. It requires a lot of theater of the mind to really describe what's going on in an accurate way. At least enough for the players to get the gist. But also the players, being very new, are still at the stage where their turn is basically, "I walk up to this guy and swing on him." I wanted to give them a chance to interact with the environment in a meaningful way for them to get more practice with integrating with their characters.
With that said, I do think you prove a very valid point that it's basically an impossible scenario to achieve, especially for new players, without at least a little metagaming. Which is something that I'm trying to crack down on more...
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More information about the party: I'm a new DM, but I've been playing for a couple of years, and I'm leading a full party of first time players. We have spent the last few sessions running through the Mines of Phandelver to get them accustomed to the game. But now, it's time for the next step, an actual flushed out campaign world with actual character development and a story so that they can truly experience the open world of DnD and feel attachment to their characters. So, for their first encounter, I want them to have to deal with a puzzle that involves teamwork but I'm having trouble with some of the finer details. Please be patient with anything that sounds out of pocket, because this is also my first time homebrewing an encounter.
For a little backstory on the situation: Essentially, the party will have chartered a ship which will take them to a port town to actually start the campaign (still talking it over and deciding which campaign world I want to run with them). But, leaving out some connective material, essentially they are all poisoned with sleeping potions dumped into their alcohol in the middle of their travels. This is where they wake up and realize that they've been bamboozled and that the voyage was a front for an illegal slave ring (surprise, it's my first time writing so cut me some slack.), where the captain will get paid to take passengers to a requested destination, then quickly shackle them and enslave them, essentially doubling his profits. (For a note, I have taken into consideration that a character might be immune to charms and where the story will go if they are smart enough to not drink the alcohol.)
For the part I would like some input on: When the character's wake up, each character will have a contraption attached to their heads. Each character's contraption is different. One is enchanted with a Cone of Silence spell, so the player cannot speak, or rather he is not heard if he speaks. But he has basic body language communication, like pointing and such, and is able to understand his teammates and witness his surroundings. The next two characters will have a contraption that is enchanted with Blindness/deafness, one will be blind and cannot see his surroundings, but he can hear and communicate with his teammates. The other will be deaf and cannot hear his teammates but will be fully aware of his surroundings and be able to communicate with his teammate, although one-sided. The final character will be chained to the wall so that he cannot move, but he is not wearing a contraption so his senses are not limited. It will be this player's job to try and communicate to his teammates and rally them to solve the puzzle. Basically being the mediator between his blind/deaf/dumb teammates.
So, my questions are:
1. Is this idea of an enchanted head gear feasible, or am I missing the mark? Can these spells be used this way? I only want the spells to be in effect while the players are wearing the contraptions or while the contraptions are locked. If not, what better alternatives are there to achieving this effect of dulled senses?
2. I don't want the players to be in this state forever, just to solve this one puzzle to get them out of the slave quarters and onto kicking ass like they want to. So I have also added an NPC who is also chained to the wall and can provide some tips if needed (this NPC will be a fellow passenger that they've had some interactions with at this point). So how else can I ensure that the pacing is correct on this so that the players don't just get stuck being slaves for ever?
3. What would be the best way for the player's to solve this puzzle? I don't want it to be too difficult because I want them to be able to solve it with some teamwork and for them to feel like they've accomplished something. Would there be some sort of key/item that they would have to communicate to grab? Or should these contraptions have a hardness, say 15 with an HP of 5 and they have to communicate to getting the nearest blunt/sharp object to break them off? Perhaps both, or more, to provide options?
4. What is the best way to instruct my player's to communicate to make sure that there isn't a total communication breakdown and they lose interest? I don't want this to deescalate into me having to pass notes to all of the players so I want them to be able to use words to describe their actions. For example, the deaf player telling his blind teammate that he is physically pushing him 5 feet to the left seems appropriate.
Thanks for reading and for any tips, questions, comments or concerns!
Its an interesting conundrum, but my concern is that magical contraptions are likely quite expensive and you could accomplish much the same thing with some basic alchemy and non-magical items.
So you have the players wake up and describe how they are all bound to a wall in the ships hold in some fashion; hands tied ot the wall, collar around the neck connected to the wall by a chain etc but they all have the restrained conditon as a result. Then have each player roll a d6 to determine what else has happened to them; roll 1 = sack over the head (blinded condition), 2 = gagged (effectively silenced), 3 = legs also shackled (restrained conditon increased to incapcitated), 4 = Alchemical posioning from the sleep potion their drinks were dosed with (posioned conditon), 5 or 6 - no other effects.
Then just let them roleplay it but i might leave out the deafend conditon as it makes things a bit unfiar as it measn someoen is shouting as htey won't be able to hear themselves so might negate any stealthy attempts for them to escape their predictiment.
Make sure to leave their belongings somewhere they can get to them with a bit of ingenuity such as using a belt to snag the straps of their backpacks etc.
Also make sure anyone with proficiency with thieves tools has one set of lock picks hidden on their person somewhere so they can use them to try and unlock the restraints.
You know the players better than we do, so I might be wrong here. And I have a personal bias against puzzles, though I know some people love them, and I’m not trying to say they’re wrong.
That said, the whole scenario seems designed to challenge the players, not the characters. If it were me, I’d be wanting to just make some skill checks. Performance to pantomime what wrong, insight to figure out what’s being communicated. A thieves tool to just unlock the thing.
And I’m not sure how you pull it off irl, without things like a blindfold and noise canceling headphones. Otherwise it’s going to be all but impossible for some of the players to not metagame.
I like the idea of using more mundane items to accomplish this effect. It seems to fit better with the conditions and materials of a slave ship. Honestly, the deafening was the one thing that I thought was going to cause the most issue. Because we play online, the only way to really accomplish this effect was to deafen them in chat. But then that means that one player is just out of the loop entirely so I think I'll take your advice and use a different condition. Such is DnD, grand ideas sound awesome but simpler methods always prevail.
Thanks for the comment!
Why are slavers using elaborate Saw-like head contraptions and puzzles to imprison people instead of just cages and shackles?
The puzzle itself is an interesting idea, but it seems wildly out of place in that situation
Active characters:
Carric Aquissar, elven wannabe artist in his deconstructionist period (Archfey warlock)
Lan Kidogo, mapach archaeologist and treasure hunter (Knowledge cleric)
Mardan Ferres, elven private investigator obsessed with that one unsolved murder (Assassin rogue)
Xhekhetiel, halfling survivor of a Betrayer Gods cult (Runechild sorcerer/fighter)
Thanks for the input. Honestly, I wanted to start with a puzzle to give myself some practice on being more descriptive. It requires a lot of theater of the mind to really describe what's going on in an accurate way. At least enough for the players to get the gist. But also the players, being very new, are still at the stage where their turn is basically, "I walk up to this guy and swing on him." I wanted to give them a chance to interact with the environment in a meaningful way for them to get more practice with integrating with their characters.
With that said, I do think you prove a very valid point that it's basically an impossible scenario to achieve, especially for new players, without at least a little metagaming. Which is something that I'm trying to crack down on more...