Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 edashen Apr 22, 2010 18:26:44	Hey all, I had a crazy idea for an encounter, but i need help fleshing it out.  My idea came to me while playing Zuma on my cell phone.  Imagine a room like the one below.  The red square represents a make-shift turret of some sort.  The green arrows represent exits and entrances of giant boulders. Somehow the PCs enter this room and must activate a series of glyphs on the floor in a particular order (glyphs not shown on map).  As soon as they activate the first glyph, a light on the one of the walls begin to glow as does one on the opposite wall.  Suddenly, a large boulder appears, rolling directly to the opposite wall, where it dissapears.  The lights above where the boulder appeared/disapeared momentarily fade.  More lights begin to illuminate and more boulders begin rolling around the room.  Unfortunately, the rolling boulders make it impossible for the PCs to stay in one place long enough to activate the glyphs.  That is where the turret comes in. Some previous adventures must have left it behind.  A PC can operate it fairly easily.  With it, a PC can shoot at boulders, destroying them, and giving the rest of the party the time they need to activate glyphs. Here are some thoughts: *  The boulders only move a certain speed.  The same goes for whatever ammunition the turret shoots.  Therefore, the PC using the turret will have to lead its target. *  The turret is restricted to shoot only at certain angles.  (To make things simplier, i was thinking that the turret can only aim directly for the boulder entrances/exits.)  I think this is best because then I could have designated paths that the ammunition would travel. *  The turret ammunition would not harm the PCs. Questions: 1.  What do you think of my idea? 2.  Is there anything that you think i should do differently? 3.  How fast do you think the boulders / ammunition should travel? 4.  Any ideas on how to determine which boulders get activated on each turn? Thanks in advance! -Dash
#2 ErikSilverblade Apr 25, 2010 5:00:30	I always liked puzzle rooms, this would be fun. You can say the boulders are rather large and a nuisance and make them slower (5 or less) or fast and dangerous and be 5+ in speed. Or you could have them move 1 square in between every PC turn. You could make the turret work as a type of "painter" where you paint the target in need of being hit, much like the laser guided missle dealies you see in the movies. The ceiling could possibly have some sort of contraption that when something is painted it gets zapped/froze/exploded/incinerated. Something being the boulders or the PC's. Make sure someone can aim As for your Rune Puzzle, I've got nothing that comes to mind.
#3 monstro Apr 25, 2010 14:10:00	I really like this idea.  I think you could run this as a skill challenge off of a few skills, say history, thievery, and arcana to move the glyphs, but force people to be in a certain place to work at the challenge and then zap the boulders through those squares.  I also don't like the idea of the boulders necessarilly moving straight and in a totally predictable pattern.  Maybe straight for a turn.  That's just me, maybe.  In any case, the main focus, for me would be to make sure the boulders disrupted the skill challenge.  Have them hit players only when people get a bit too cocky with how long they stick around to fiddle with the puzzles.