Table: Secret Door Status

Sometimes a location in an adventure has secret doors that will never be discovered by the player characters using conventional means. This can be made easier for player characters who are actively searching in the correct area by giving them clues or by bestowing a bungling bonus, but if you need something a little more obvious, you could roll on this table...

Secret Door Status

Roll 1d12

1. Ajar.
2. Ajar and secretly trapped.
3. Cracked open.
4. Cracked open and secretly trapped.
5. Locked and obviously cursed.
6. Locked and obviously trapped.
7. Locked and showing signs of attempted entry.
8. Locked and showing signs of successfully activated trap.
9. Magically sealed with prominently displayed riddle.
10. Shut and marked by previous intruder.
11. Shut and obviously cursed.
12. Shut and obviously trapped.

N.B.: This can be used when creating an adventure location (such as a dungeon), but it's especially useful when applied to published adventures that might abound with dead ends and bottlenecks caused by the injudicious use of secret doors. Just make them impossible to miss.

Table: Secret Doors (Your Dungeon Tour Table)

Before a party can find a secret door (by whatever means the referee approves, whether it's by the (rule) book, descriptive searches, or coin toss, it's good for the referee to know if there is a secret door. (If such a door exists, there might be clues, and if you want inattentive parties to stumble upon it, you can also use the handy accidental discovery roll.)

This is the tenth table of Your Dungeon Tour Table.

Secret Doors

Roll 1d20

You find...

1. A secret door that swings inward. (1 in 1d6 chance of boobytrap.)
2. No secret doors.
3. Negatory.
4. A secret door that swings outward. (1 in 1d6 chance of boobytrap.)
5. Nothing of interest.
6. Ixnay on the ecretsay oorsday.
7. A secret door that slides to the side. (1 in 1d6 chance of boobytrap.)
8. An absence of anything secret.
9. A secret door that slides upward. (1 in 1d6 chance of boobytrap.)
10. An abundance of not much.
11. A secret door that slides downward. (1 in 1d6 chance of boobytrap.)
12. Nothing answering the description of a secret door.
13. No secret doors here.
14. A detachable secret door. (1 in 1d6 chance of boobytrap.)
15. No secret doors at all.
16. Nothing remotely resembling a secret door.
17. A secret door that revolves. (1 in 1d6 chance of boobytrap.)
18. No doors of a secret, concealed, or otherwise hidden nature.
19. A dreary lack of secret doors.
20. A secret door that tilts at the middle. (1 in 1d6 chance of boobytrap.)

N.B. Check secret door access to see what lies beyond it.

Table: Secret Door Clues

In response to some comments calling for a table of secret door clues (q.v.) to assist in the technique of descriptive searches for the same, I started just such a table. If anyone wishes to add any results, perhaps we could create a larger master table or at least a network of links to a variety of such tables. At any rate, here's my first attempt:


Secret Door Clues

Roll 1d10

1. Discoloration in a section of the wall
   
2. Faint flow of air emanating from a crack
   
3. Grooves in the floor in front of a section of the wall
   
4. Horizontal seam
   
5. Less debris/dirt/dust in front of a section of the wall
   
6. Newer material in a section of the wall
   
7. Scratches in the ceiling in front of a section of the wall
   
8. Tracks that disappear into the wall
   
9. Vertical seam
   
10. Worn area in front of a section of the wall
    

N.B. This table is concerned strictly with observation, not physical interaction. Touching or tapping objects or surfaces will yield logical, non-random results depending on the nature of the secret door.

Secret Doors 2

Have you ever noticed that, in movies and television shows, most secret doors are discovered accidentally? In an episode of The Bionic Woman I watched recently ("Sister Jaime"), Jaime bumps into a wall in a convent's winery and is surprised to find that it recedes, revealing a hidden room. How often has a character in a work of fiction leaned against a wall, pulled a book from a shelf, stepped on a loose brick, or otherwise touched something that revealed the existence of a secret door without intentionally searching for one? It certainly occurs more often than active searches. I think this supports the idea of the search roll as an accidental discovery roll when descriptive searches fail (because the wrong area is being searched) or when active searches are not even undertaken. Secret doors are inherently interesting, and they hopefully lead to interesting things, so why would a referee not want the player characters to discover them? I'm not suggesting that secret doors should always be revealed in all circumstances, but I think accidental discovery rolls ought to be a significant secondary method for finding them. With that in mind, I don't think it would be unreasonable to increase the standard chances. I would recommend a 2 in 1d6 chance for most player characters; elves would have a 3 in 1d6 chance. And for added amusement, I would give a bonus to characters with low intelligence and wisdom [and dexterity] (although there would be no penalty for those with high scores). Anyone with an intelligence or wisdom [or dexterity] of 8 or lower receives a +1 bonus to all accidental discovery rolls (or +2 if both are 8 or lower [or +3 if all three are 8 or lower!]). I call this the bungling bonus. Comedic solutions to common problems...

[See comments for other great ideas.]

Secret Doors

My approach to detecting secret doors is the same as my approach to detecting traps: description. The players listen to my description of their surroundings, then they describe what their characters do to search for them. If a secret door is in their vicinity and their efforts fail to reveal it, then I secretly roll for their chance to detect it. This represents a second chance to notice something they have overlooked.

I realize this is the opposite of the method used by many groups. Standard practice is for the players to declare that they are searching a particular 10' by 10' area. For each such area searched, the referee makes a roll for each player character who is actively searching. That's all there is to it. It takes 1 turn per 10' by 10' area searched, so the only thing preventing a party from inspecting every foot of a dungeon (and making hundreds of secret door rolls) is time and Wandering Monsters. This might be considered reasonable from an archaeologist's point of view, but from the adventurer's perspective, as a player or a character, this could be rather boring.

Allowing player characters the ability to search quickly in this manner (perhaps 1 round per 10' by 10' area) is not the answer. Sure, they might encounter fewer monsters and use fewer torches as they conduct speed searches, but they're still just telling the referee, "I search this area," and listening to the referee roll dice. One could literally check for secret doors at full running speed in Wolfenstein 3D, and guess what? It was boring (searching for secret doors, that is).

Even using the descriptive method can be boring if the referee doesn't provide details that are conducive to initiating a search. Tracks that end at walls and sounds heard in rooms where there is no egress other than the door through which the adventurers entered are good indications that there may be secret doors. Sometimes the secret door can be fairly obvious, but the means of opening it is the real puzzle. Ultimately, the best use of secret doors is one that encourages player characters to explore with a sense of purpose rather than a feeling that they need to painstakingly inspect every 10' square surface of their environment, unless that's how your group gets its kicks. Otherwise, use sparingly and never randomly.

[In retrospect, I think Secret Door Techniques was my inspiration for writing this. Read ye, read ye.]