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Chibi's avatar

I like Shadowdark here. If I'm spending 10 minutes analyzing a small wall section (this is after walking into the room using a snail pace tier exploration turn), then I only get 16%? Come on. Secret doors can't be THAT well hidden.

This rule keeps being parroted in every retroclone but I wonder if anyone is actually playing it by RAW, where even if the party suspects the door is there and they all search together it's still likely they won't find it. And then most of these doors are just "cold" with no tells or anything!

If there is a secret door in an adventure, I want it to be found. Like you I will re-write the description to add a subtle tell. If they actually interact with the tell then there's a very good chance they'll find it.

I definitely do not want a generic "I search for secret doors" every time they walk into a room like those examples of play either.

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nick's avatar

You mentioned that you tell new players about one of the key features of OSR, that coming up with creative diceless solutions to problems is important, when they join the table. Would you consider writing a post about all the things you generally tell new players (or have you already made a post like that?)

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