20 Minutes: Tricks

Today's 2d4 Seed:

2: Treasure
3: Npcs
4: Gods
5: Adventure Hooks
6: Monsters
7: Traps
8: Tricks

Roll result: 8: Tricks

Tricks

Tricks are odd encounters in dungeons.  Some rooms contain treasures, and that's good.  Some rooms contain traps or monsters, and that's bad.  But some rooms contain tricks... and who knows what's going on with them?

Tricks are the things that make the players stop and proceed with caution.  The 30 seconds of prep you spend writing a line that starts "A creepy doll sits on a chair..." that turns into two hours of gameplay.  So let's see what we can come up with in 20 minutes?

1. Blood stained letters scrawled on the far wall: "WAS I NOT WORTHY?"  In the center of the room, channels gouged into the rock of the floor, in the circle-and-runes shape of some arcane ritual, connecting four small basins at the cardinal directions- currently dry.  A faint magic aura can be detected.
• If the four basins are filled with blood, the channels also fill.  When the blood flows to the center and fills the channels, a Sleep spell discharges on everyone in the area.  Anyone who sleeps in this room (at any time, spell or no) has dreams of intense disapproval from whichever god they worship.
2. A door with a gaping demon-maw forged in bronze in the center of it, where a doorknob should be.  Deep in the mouth, about a forearm-length back, you can juuuust make out the latch for the door.  A faint magic aura can be detected.  The handle must be grabbed and manipulated in order to open the door.  There's a clasp on the back that a finger has to pull.  Each time the player says "okay, I press the clasp," describe how another clasp pops out- requiring another finger to pull it.  
• Secretly roll 1d4+4: that is how many clasps pop out.  Every time beyond number 5, the player who is manipulating the door grows one additional finger to press the next clasp that has popped out.
• These new additional fingers live for 24 hours.  Having extra fingers gives advantage on sleight of hand, picking locks, disarming traps, or other tasks requiring manual dexterity.  One finger falls off at the end of each subsequent 24 hour period, and then begins inching in the direction of the closest undiscovered treasure.  No two fingers will head for the same treasure stockpile- they split up.
• When a finger reaches its selected treasure stockpile it pupates; if left alone overnight, it morphs into giant mucosoid fingers defending the goods (fight as a Carrion Crawler).
3. An ornamental cigar humidor of mahogany and oak- well polished.  Has- would you believe it??- just enough cigars for the current adventuring party.
• Once a cigar is lit- any one of these cigars, no matter where the players are- a spectral ghost appears, forming out of the smoke!  They are a jovial creature, delighted to see the players, and ravenous for news of the world- after all, it has been so long since they've had any.  They light up their own cigar, invite everyone else to join in (insist, really- they refuse to proceed with niceties until everyone is well situated and participating)- and then beg for details and news- of course, they promise to tell the players all manner of interesting and quest-relevant details once they're satisfied.  Once details and news are exhausted, they beg for performances and showmanship.  Once performances and showmanship are exhausted, they are ready to tell the players anything they might want to know.
• ... It's a shame all the cigars burn out JUST before the jovial spirit is able to say the most important words the players want so desperately to know.

That does it for our 20 minute (okay, 16- I had to seed the random table first) sprint of brainstorming!  I'll see if I can't come back often and make a new roll for a sprint brainstorm.  Cheers!

Seeding the Table

For next time!

2: Tricks

3: Treasure
4: Npcs
5: Gods
6: Adventure Hooks
7: Monsters
8: Traps