Interrupt Indecision with… “Something”

Whether running games at a convention, weekly game store event, or in the comfort of our own homes, we all eventually fall prey to session sluggishness. Sometimes your players just can’t seem to figure out what to do next, and they spin their wheels in futile pursuits. Other times, combat drags on for what seems like an eternity. You know they’ll eventually figure it out, or they’ll drop the Big Bad with the sack full of hit points. So, which joint do you have to pop out of socket to wiggle free form this straitjacket?

An underappreciated item on the first Dungeon Master Screen released for 5th Edition was the “Something Happens” table. Buried on the last panel of the screen were 20 random “occurrences” on the table with no other explanation for what to do with them other than the name of the table itself. From the mundane to the mildly innocuous, the table had entries like – “A door opens,” “Someone gets angry,” and “The lights go out.” While my players and other fellow DM’s scratched their collective heads in puzzlement over what to do with such a silly and pointless table, the gears in my head started turning.

Why not use the concept of “Something Happens” as a means to spur characters out of indecision and into action? Like the formation of clouds, players sometimes need a seemingly random event to grab hold of in order to gain momentum in the story again. While a random table may not be necessary, I’ve found that concept can get the thoughts and motivations of my players rolling again with a ostensibly unrelated ruse or incident.

For example, your players find themselves delving into the bowels of a long abandoned duergar stronghold. You’re kicking yourself in the pants because you’ve hidden a key path to the dungeon’s terminus behind a secret door that the player’s failed to find with an active or passive Intelligence (Investigation) check. Now your players are forced to backtrack through the labyrinthine halls to find what they missed. Or, worse yet, they leave the dungeon all together, out of frustration.

So, what to do? Use one of the following seemingly random events to get them where they need to go:

1. A ghostly moan echoes down the corridors of the dungeon
   • The source of the ghostly moan is the distressed spirit of an adventurer who was slain while searching this dungeon. The adventurer’s demise was caused by a pit trap on the other side of a hidden door. The spirit is supernaturally bound to the skeletal remains of its once living body.
   • Not only do you now have a breadcrumb trail for your players to follow with the specter’s moans, but you also have a fantastic opportunity to role play with the entrapped soul. You could even use the spirit as a means to provide an additional clue about the next part of the dungeon for less experienced players!
2. A jet of bitingly cold wind arcs up a character’s pant leg/skirt/robes
   
   • The source of the cold air is from an air current originating on the other side of a hidden panel in the wall. Over the long years, a gap has formed in the otherwise masterful stonework, allowing air from the frigid depths of this tomb to silently whistle through.
   • With this event, you can give depth to the personality and history of the place the players are searching through. How did the gap form? Decay? An earthquake? Was there something on the other side of the hidden door trying to get out?
3. Incessant dripping can be heard, but the character’s see no source
   • The natural shift of the surrounding earth and stone has opened a crack in the ceiling beyond the hidden door; allowing water from a subterranean stream to seep through. The water has collected in a large, deep pool – still and black as glass when light is cast near it.
   • The sound of the dripping can lead players to the hidden door with relative ease at this point. Now, what you do with the result of the dripping is the really fun part. The pool of water could be like a mirror when struck with torchlight; hiding something sinister below…
4. The faintest scent of lavender hangs unexpectedly in this room/hall
   • The scent originates from dried, hanging flowers on the other side of a secret door. The flora has been placed their ceremonially as a means of warding off “bad spirits” or something even more fowl that lurks in the deeps. The creator of this dehydrated bouquet could be friend or foe. Are they currently inhabiting the room or hall on the other side of the hidden door? Are they long dead?
   • A more obvious direct to the players, but effective none the less. The fun part in this one is what you do with it from here. Sure, you have the players sniffing around the secret door you lovingly placed, but why is there lavender here? Is this really the direction the party should go in, or is it a trap?
5. Ahead, a rat’s eyes glow ghoulishly from the characters’ reflected torchlight
   • The rat is chewing on a piece of knuckle-bone that its scavenged form a corpse on the other side of the hidden door. It hisses menacingly at the party, and drags the knuckle-bone into a crack in the wall.
   • This one will seem much subtler than the others, and would be a ploy to place in front of an experienced player group. To really play up that this is a story direct, you could have the rat noisily attempt to pull the bone into the crack, but it’s turned the wrong way and clacks fruitlessly against the stonework. When the players approach, it hisses again, and scurries into the shadows of the crevasse.

You can go on and on. Without context, the above “events” will likely cause most parties to stop in their tracks, and investigate the source. Like a game of “Hot or Cold,” you can use the opportunity to reign your players back into the direction you thought they’d have easily followed. Just keep your redirects generalized enough that you can use them in variant situations: a door slams shut, torchlight turns purple, sweat trickles from the NPC’s brow, the sound of children laughing echoes through the night, etc.

I like to have at least two “course corrections” like the above at the ready during sessions that I’ve plotted out ahead of time. After all, our meticulous planning can be for naught if we don’t have the right cheese placed in front of our beloved player group. Sometimes that means we need a few crumbs of other flavors at the ready in case they’re not feeling like Limburger that night.

Next Up!: When Combat Turns into a Session of “Beating a Dead Horse”