Intersections: Corners, but Better

I thought a lot more about corners. In the last post about them, I highlighted a lot of issues around dealing with corners I hadn't figured out yet. I think the most glaring of which is what to do in a natural cave. Maybe you could try measuring angles or something, but there would probably be too many, and more importantly nobody wants to measure angles on a dungeon map. Corners are also pretty nebulously defined. I still don't have a good definition. "Trust your gut" is the best advice I can offer, and that's not good enough.

I stared at dungeon maps and counted corners for a while. The spread between different types of modules was pretty wide, and I came to the conclusion that they're a pretty poor metric upon which to base the frequency of random encounters. But I noticed that some of the corners were the result of intersections in dungeon hallways, and I think they may be a much better substitute. Hallway intersections are just begging for traffic, whereas a corner that leads to a dead end begs the question of what the encounter was doing back there.

Intersections are also much easier to define and spot, and they occur in more consistently low numbers across the dungeon space. It's easy to just think of each intersection as a dungeon room for those who are using the Underclock like me. It adds a few more stops along certain paths, and will likely make the Players think harder about which routes they want to take through the dungeon. Having a few extra Underclock rolls is nice when none of the hallways in the module one is running are keyed. 

I'll just apply a few of the mechanics from the Corners post, and I think it would end up being a house-rule for the Underclock that looks like this:

Intersection Checks

  • An intersection is any place in a hallway that branches into at least 3 different paths. Do not count them in rooms or keyed areas.
  • When an intersection is approached, make a roll on the Underclock.
  • If an encounter occurs, the encounter is just around the corner from the party. The party must assume that they have been detected. The party gets a sensory detail from the GM giving them a clue of what's around the corner of the intersection.
  • Unintelligent encounters will always round the corner toward the party first.
  • Intelligent encounters will typically not round the corner first, preferring to defensively lie in wait or parley. Use your reaction roll as a guide.
  • If a roll on the Underclock is made at an intersection, do not check for any intersections with 20ft.
I think this setup would be fairly easy to adapt for anyone not using the Underclock in their game. Just make an extra encounter check whenever the party reaches an intersection in the hallway. Let them know that's what you're doing, and let them strategize around how to minimize the impact of random encounters while they explore. This is a game, after all, and I think this is an interesting gameplay decision to introduce. Let me know what you think in the comments, or let me know how you plan to adapt this for your own game!

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