Thread by @hexcrawl

Remember how I talked about why putting a Must Have Encounter(TM) on the opposite side of a secret door is a bad idea?

#DescentIntoAvernus:

Continuing the discussion from here if you want to catch up.

https://twitter.com/hexcrawl/status/1233482126160474112

So the PCs arrived in Elturel and the DMPC tells them they need to go to the High Hall. Once there they need to talk to Pherria Jynks, who will send them on a quest to find Grand Duke Ravengard.

And, yup, they've got Pherria behind another secret door:

I thought this secret door might exist because the designers were trying to justify why Jynks and the refugees she's protecting haven't been killed by devils yet: The devils haven't found the secret door.

But that's not it: The catacombs are already crawling with devils.

When I talked about the structural fragility created by the earlier secret door, a common response was to try to figure out how to add a bunch of clues to solve the problem.

Good impulse, but the solution is actually a lot simpler: Remove the secret door.

I'd basically do the same thing here, but with a twist: Leave the existing secret door, but have it lead directly to area H16 where Jynks and the refugees are.

Finding the secret door is now a reward for the PCs: You can skip the devil-infested catacombs.

(If they decide to help the refugees by clearing the devils who are threatening them out of the catacombs, more power to them.

IMO, it's almost always more interesting for the players to actively CHOOSE to face a challenge than to force them to do so as a gateway to content.)

Meanwhile, back up on the top level there are actually TWO altars. The one in H6 has been desecrated by devils.

So what we can do is make "stairways hidden in altars" a design feature of the cathedral. The secret door in the desecrated altar has been ripped open by the devils...

...(it's no longer secret, and actually serves as a clue that there might be stairs hidden in the other altar) and leads down to the ORIGINAL stairs on the map of the Catacombs.

We now know how the devils got into the catacombs and we've eliminated the secret door chokepoint.

I'd probably go ahead and add some barricades to the hallways leading to Area H16. Probably have one of the groups of devils attack these barricades while the PCs are talking to Pherria (emphasizing that the refugees are under siege here).

And give the refugees a cache of silvered weapons to help explain why the devils haven't already butchered them.

So the PCs head over to the cemetary to find Grand Duke Ravengard.

Weird map moment: The map of the ossuary shows a secret tunnel heading to the west which is collapsed but supposedly go to the High Hall Cathedral.

(a) There is no matching tunnel at the Cathedral.

(b) The Cathedral is nowhere nearby and also in the opposite direction.

I think this is actually an abortive video game-style quick exit from the dungeon. The text now separately recommends that you don't have any encounters on the way back to High Hall in order to speed things up (although it does offer some alternatives).

This random encounter system is actually pretty good: The adventure includes 10 meaty encounters for Elturel, many of them featuring interesting choices and dilemmas. These feel like they'll really make the players FEEL the journey across the hell-scorched city.

These encounters are triggered "whenever the players move to a named location".

Two things I would do:

1. Add more landmarks to Elturel to make navigation more interesting.

2. Go with a full-blown street crawl until the PCs figure out how to get to the top of a tower other vantage point that will let them see the whole city (at which point you can give them the poster map).

thealexandrian.net/wordpress/3657…

The other thing I would love to have is a pre-Avernus map of Elturel that smart PCs could have picked up before coming here.

Actually... (google) Looks like there was one in the old Forgotten Realms Atlas.

And I think this is a fan version, although I can't find credits for who did it.

Grab something like this and work it up with the other locations you've added. The mismatch between map and reality will lead to some potentially cool navigation and visceral sense of the disaster.

How maps can be used to best effect is really dependent on circumstance.

So in #Waterdeep or #Ptolus, for example, the map is a convenient reference for GMs and players to communicate about what the city looks. I just slap that thing up on the wall.

https://twitter.com/Quaesitor8086/status/1235632372084666369

In the case of Elturel, the PCs have teleported into Avernus and have no idea what the situation is. I don't want to divorce the players from that reality by giving them a map: I want them disoriented, confused, and motivated to figure out how to get their bearings.

One way to think of this is, "What are the BIG MOMENTS that the PCs & players will experience?"

An easy mistake to make as a rookie GM is to pile these up. That can work, but it's often more effective to space them out (even a little) so that each BIG MOMENT lands separately.

This is partly about pacing, but it's also about slowly building up a mental image for the players over time. By layering in additional details sequentially over time, IME, it's easier for the players to really immerse into the environment. You get more buy-in.

I've been doing this long enough I kind of do this instinctively. So here I immediately identified:

- Arrive in the street; hot air, crumbling buildings, the sky of Hell above
- Spot the High Cathedral on a distant bluff
- Huge clouds of smoke to the east; the city is on fire

- DEVILS!
- The first earthquake
- WE ARE FLOATING IN THE GODDAMN AIR!

You can see how whipping out the map would cause most or all of these moments to collapse into each other.

If/when the PCs climb a tower and get a view of the city (or talk to a refugee and get a situation report or anything else that orients them), it's still an artificial conceit for them to get the whole map.

But we've played through the "confused, disoriented, need to find bearings" beat and the advantages of the common reference point in the map now outweigh the disadvantages. (At least IMO and in this specific circumstance.)