tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6446461178381374626.post975532780365158743..comments2024-03-27T23:28:19.341-07:00Comments on Telecanter's Receding Rules: More Thoughts on Tumbling Your DungeonTelecanterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07238356788092725244noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6446461178381374626.post-39305493447676062952011-05-18T13:52:06.708-07:002011-05-18T13:52:06.708-07:00What if you could roof over the depressions to kee...What if you could roof over the depressions to keep the sand out of them? No: too much explanation: how would you ever explain that that was the plan? Except it would be an awesome secret passage - one you can't get to unless you reconfigure the machine. Maybe there's a scroll/player handout that shows you there's a secret passage under the hourglass, and then it's up to you to figure out how to get there.richardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13517340075234811323noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6446461178381374626.post-64157102127486882902011-05-18T12:12:41.330-07:002011-05-18T12:12:41.330-07:00Great thoughts as always. But look what I did, I ...Great thoughts as always. But look what I did, I forgot the depressions will never be free of sand while on the bottom! You only ever have depressions on the walls or the ceiling. That's why I made it a map, not pools holding liquids. Blarggh, I think the spatial part of my brain is stunted or something.Telecanterhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07238356788092725244noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6446461178381374626.post-58272225478220309692011-05-18T04:32:53.267-07:002011-05-18T04:32:53.267-07:00I see them entering the hourglass through a hollow...I see them entering the hourglass through a hollow tube that feeds into the middle, therefore at the fulcrum, but I bet other solutions are possible. <br /><br />Re sand filling depressions: these could be some kind of moulds? If you filled them with water or coated them with a reagent then you could cast stuff out of them? I don't know what you'd want to cast: statues, golems, maps/instructions, shrines, armor with special properties?<br /><br />Alternatively, if you got the hourglass really hot that sand could become glass. I don't know what the players would do with a giant melting pot of hideously dangerous hot glass, but I bet it would be useful to the alchemist. Heat it up and cool it down and you've cast all the heatproof items in the room into glass. That sounds like a mistake to me, but... If you could spin the dome while it's inverted then you just might be able to make giant lenses (yes I know IRL you'd then have to grind/polish them for weeks and they might be full of bubbles, but maybe there's a magic for that).richardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13517340075234811323noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6446461178381374626.post-42031136353946073292011-05-17T20:23:16.404-07:002011-05-17T20:23:16.404-07:00The way I ruled it, the tumbling was never fast en...The way I ruled it, the tumbling was never fast enough to become a hazard itself (except when they dawdled in places like the long hallways). But my players were terrified of being "smothered in sand" so they gave the room wide berth.<br /><br />A dome room with a representation of the sky might be nice, and I like the idea of a hourglass but I'm having trouble imagining where the entrance would be. Maybe at the pinched middle?<br /><br />It isn't quite alchemical but what if the hourglass' two chambers stored a collection of metal weapons or utensils, the sand's constant movement keeping them rust-free and sharp.<br /><br />I keep going back to the idea of the way sand fills depressions and maybe there could be various shapes of pools in the floor that magically fill themselves when empty of sand. Maybe the Pools of the Ancients.<br /><br />http://recedingrules.blogspot.com/2011/01/pools-of-ancients.htmlTelecanterhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07238356788092725244noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6446461178381374626.post-5243943965941301872011-05-17T02:53:49.142-07:002011-05-17T02:53:49.142-07:00Question: if you were in the sand room when it tum...Question: if you were in the sand room when it tumbles would you automatically get buried or could you stay on top of it? does the sand always form a triangular lean-to against the wall it just tumbled from? If you cause vibrations in the sand room do you shake more sand loose?<br /><br />I propose that Fireball is not hot enough the melt the sand into glass, but Lightning Bolt might well make <a href="http://www.minresco.com/fulgurites/fulgurites.htm" rel="nofollow">fulgurites</a>. Which in turn might make fabulous magic flutes.<br /><br />Maybe I'd make it a domed chamber with just enough sand to fill the dome, so it looks like a flat floor when you first come in. Or even do a giant hourglass thing with it: one chamber is (mostly) blocked off for 2 rotations, then the other. Too similar to the water room?richardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13517340075234811323noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6446461178381374626.post-80129552200491688132011-05-17T02:40:09.760-07:002011-05-17T02:40:09.760-07:00Somehow the sand room escaped me. That's brill...Somehow the sand room escaped me. That's brilliant. I'm picturing things that might keep their sand until they're almost completely inverted, or tip it out unpredictably, like cooking pots and funnels or bottles. Have I already mentioned the old gag from the Prisoner where No. 6 notices something written in the bottom of his beer glass so he drinks it down to see<br />You<br />have<br />just<br />been<br />poisoned<br /><br />? Sand clocks are such a powerful reference, I'd use the sand as a timer for some event. Or to power machines as it runs through them.richardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13517340075234811323noreply@blogger.com