Minor spoilers for my campaign. If you're part of "In Over Your Head", look away please.
So, what do you do as a DM when you need to show that other paths exist, but aren't important for the players to follow? An upcoming adventure will have my players discover a cave that the badguys use as a hub for a network of tunnels underneath the city. That they found the hub is the important part. The tunnels themselves would be pretty uneventful passages to various parts of town. How can I avoid the players latching on to the idea of exploring the whole network?
General advice helps too. I'll probably run into this issue with various caves and ruins later.
Just let them search but don't try to make it a hex-crawl -- just ask them how much time they want to spend, and tell them what they find when they do.
For this particular instance, if you really don't want them to waste time exploring the empty caves, you can just narrate it.
"You want to explore the cave? Well, after discovering the underground cave, you explore a few hours and find that the tunnels connect various points of the city"
A lot of times, players only don't fully explore an area because they've forgotten that there are other places to go beside the main path. I think it's fair to just say, "Oh, and don't forget there was a fork in the road back there." Odds are, if they would want to explore it, the only reason they didn't do so is because they just kind of forgot that it was there in the excitement of it all. Something I've grown more comfortable with is the idea that I can casually remind players of things that their characters would know. Like... if a player is about to use a spell that would catch their allies in the AOE or that doesn't work in the way they're trying to use it, I know that some DM's will just let the spell go off and let them deal with the consequences. But characters often know things that their players don't, in the same way that players often have knowledge that their players lack. So don't be shy to remind the players of things that the characters might remember.
A DM shouldn't tell players where they should search. They present/describe the area and let the players decide.
You could just have a map there to show where the passages lead. Generally speaking most "hubs" have maps because a hub is nearly useless if you cannot determine where to go.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Click ✨ HERE ✨ For My Youtube Videos featuring Guides, Tips & Tricks for using D&D Beyond. Need help with Homebrew? Check out ✨ thisFAQ/Guide thread ✨ by IamSposta.
You can literally just tell them "So, this tunnel network seems to connect various parts of town. Very useful for the bad guys, but there's not anything more to them."
As a DM, I would certainly roll for the chance that someone else happens to be using these tunnels for something, but there's a pretty significant chance the answer would be no.
You can literally just tell them "So, this tunnel network seems to connect various parts of town. Very useful for the bad guys, but there's not anything more to them."
This is what I would do. Of course, if I were a player, I’d then say we should map it out so we can use it ourselves if we ever need to. That too can be hand-waived, but just something for the OP to consider.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
Minor spoilers for my campaign. If you're part of "In Over Your Head", look away please.
So, what do you do as a DM when you need to show that other paths exist, but aren't important for the players to follow? An upcoming adventure will have my players discover a cave that the badguys use as a hub for a network of tunnels underneath the city. That they found the hub is the important part. The tunnels themselves would be pretty uneventful passages to various parts of town. How can I avoid the players latching on to the idea of exploring the whole network?
General advice helps too. I'll probably run into this issue with various caves and ruins later.
Just let them search but don't try to make it a hex-crawl -- just ask them how much time they want to spend, and tell them what they find when they do.
For this particular instance, if you really don't want them to waste time exploring the empty caves, you can just narrate it.
"You want to explore the cave? Well, after discovering the underground cave, you explore a few hours and find that the tunnels connect various points of the city"
A lot of times, players only don't fully explore an area because they've forgotten that there are other places to go beside the main path. I think it's fair to just say, "Oh, and don't forget there was a fork in the road back there." Odds are, if they would want to explore it, the only reason they didn't do so is because they just kind of forgot that it was there in the excitement of it all. Something I've grown more comfortable with is the idea that I can casually remind players of things that their characters would know. Like... if a player is about to use a spell that would catch their allies in the AOE or that doesn't work in the way they're trying to use it, I know that some DM's will just let the spell go off and let them deal with the consequences. But characters often know things that their players don't, in the same way that players often have knowledge that their players lack. So don't be shy to remind the players of things that the characters might remember.
Watch Crits for Breakfast, an adults-only RP-Heavy Roll20 Livestream at twitch.tv/afterdisbooty
And now you too can play with the amazing art and assets we use in Roll20 for our campaign at Hazel's Emporium
A DM shouldn't tell players where they should search. They present/describe the area and let the players decide.
You could just have a map there to show where the passages lead. Generally speaking most "hubs" have maps because a hub is nearly useless if you cannot determine where to go.
Click ✨ HERE ✨ For My Youtube Videos featuring Guides, Tips & Tricks for using D&D Beyond.
Need help with Homebrew? Check out ✨ this FAQ/Guide thread ✨ by IamSposta.
You can literally just tell them "So, this tunnel network seems to connect various parts of town. Very useful for the bad guys, but there's not anything more to them."
You could also have a few random encounters in them- but summarize the rest.
Only spilt the party if you see something shiny.
Ariendela Sneakerson, Half-elf Rogue (8); Harmony Wolfsbane, Tiefling Bard (10); Agnomally, Gnomish Sorcerer (3); Breeze, Tabaxi Monk (8); Grace, Dragonborn Barbarian (7); DM, Homebrew- The Sequestered Lands/Underwater Explorers; Candlekeep
As a DM, I would certainly roll for the chance that someone else happens to be using these tunnels for something, but there's a pretty significant chance the answer would be no.
This is what I would do. Of course, if I were a player, I’d then say we should map it out so we can use it ourselves if we ever need to.
That too can be hand-waived, but just something for the OP to consider.