Today’s late for me theme for #RPGaDAY2020 is…

I was looking forward to today’s theme.

As you all know I’m a new DM running their first D&D 5e campaign that is a homebrew campaign.

The first “dungeon” that the players came across was one of my own designs.

It was the liar of the minotaur pirate Angrath.

The players had washed up on a beach after the boat they were travelling on had sunk during a storm.

Unclimbable cliffs loomed before them. There was no way off the beach.

However there was a cave in the base of the cliffs.

The players explored the cave discovering a stair well leading up.

This was the entrance to the pirate lair.

Whilst designing the pirate lair I was inspired a little by the original version of the video game Doom.

In Doom they had buttons that when pressed appeared to do nothing when pressed. But if you listened carefully you heard a door opening, or a lift lowering/raising. Often releasing some new imminent threat.

And it was this that I thought of when I added levers to my dungeon.

The party would pull the lever and hear something opening in the distance (maybe depending on their perception checks).

So the lever appears to do nothing. But just round the corner a surprise may now be lurking, or a door/portcullis is now open that was blocking them.

I like this design element. It’s something I’ll definitely use again in my own designs, and in maps I borrow from other sources. I just need to resist over using it. Which is a tendency everyone has when they hit on something they like.