doors

[cynthialee]

In the rules it says something to the effect that once open a door stays open.

I have alwys thought this was a dumb rule and have allowed Heroes to close doors behind them if they so choose.

Why is that rule even in the book?

Also it says that when at a door the player will ask Zargon to open the door. Another lame one. Obviously the Hero is opening the door.

[LordZeke]

It probably has to do with the rule about monsters not being able to open doors... If you allowed heroes to open a door, look and then close it, it would allow the heroes prep time. Now if you allowed monsters to open doors after a hero hand closed it that would work. But thats also kinda silly because opening doors is not an action.

If I recall somewhere around these forums someone has some alternate rules for doors...

As far as the ask to open the door thing... probably just to add a little RP to the game.

[cynthialee]

hmmm

Brings all sorts of things to mind. All of which would have to be house rules.

[drathe]

Also it says that when at a door the player will ask Zargon to open the door. Another lame one. Obviously the Hero is opening the door.

Probably to ensure the Hero is ready to open the door. If a Hero previously performed an action, then moved to the door, they may not want to open it right away. The Hero may also have movement which limited them to the space in front of the door. They might want to continue on to explore other areas instead.

[Goblin-King]

Actually I think the door rules makes pretty much sense. Opening a door "activates" the room. You can't really deactivate a room. What about the monsters and stuff?

And again asking for a door is asking for the room to be activated. You may not always want that.
It is not meant in the way that you have ta ask Zargon for "permission" to open the door

[Ethica]

I play that doors can be reclosed, and held closed to stop monsters attacking. Monsters can also open and close doors and hold them closed. But monster's will only hold doors until heroes have moved away. Monster's can potentially open other doors to bring in more monsters. It's the way it would be in real life.

[Sjeng]

I play by the rules. An open door stays open.
When I want to open a door, I stand in front of it, and tell the DM that I'm going to open the door. She then places the open door piece and everything in the room.
Then I decide if I run on in and attack something if I have movement left, or if I search for traps in the dooropening if there are no monsters.
Or if I suspect traps, I just wait and see what the monsters will do. I can only be attacked by one anyway if I'm in front of the door.
Placing the barbarian in front works good, and having a dwarf or elf with a spear beside him makes short work of monsters daring enough to charge at us.

[Daedalus]

I play that doors can be reclosed, and held closed to stop monsters attacking. Monsters can also open and close doors and hold them closed. But monster's will only hold doors until heroes have moved away. Monster's can potentially open other doors to bring in more monsters. It's the way it would be in real life.

Do you use some kind of opposed roll if one tries to hold it shut while the other tries to open it? Also, how does a monster know when the Heroes have moved away, meaning could a Hero fool a monster (or vise-versa)? Could a Hero stop opening the door for a turn and feint moving away, then return to open it on the Hero's third turn without opposition? Does a monster make a check using Mind Points to decide if things are safe? Sounds like an interesting bluff game if Morcar/Zargon is required to limit his game knowlege.

[cynthialee]

There are diferant ways I handle monsters knowing stuff.
If it is a basic/intermediate level of play due to eqipment shortages or players new to the concept of gaming theory and tactics then the monsters must rely solely on thier own Mind points. If I see a reason to roll a monsters Mind points like in the door holding scenario mentioned above then only the monsters Mind points will be rolled. (looking for a black shield to do the smart thing)
If it is an Intermediate/advanced game then I asume that the evil wizard is watching the Heroes in his dungeon through a crystal ball and issueing orders to the Boss of the dungeon via message spells. So monsters are typically allowed a +1 or +2 dice bnus to make the smart move.
If it is an advanced/severly dificult mission then I asume that the evil wizzard has complete and total inteligence on all things happening in the dungeon via crystal ball and is in direct comunication with all the minions of the dungeon via message spells. Each minion will do exactly what the evil one desires and will always act in the best interests of the evil wizzard.

[Ethica]

Do you use some kind of opposed roll if one tries to hold it shut while the other tries to open it? Also, how does a monster know when the Heroes have moved away, meaning could a Hero fool a monster (or vise-versa)? Could a Hero stop opening the door for a turn and feint moving away, then return to open it on the Hero's third turn without opposition? Does a monster make a check using Mind Points to decide if things are safe? Sounds like an interesting bluff game if Morcar/Zargon is required to limit his game knowlege.

The monsters holding doors until heroes move away is only a mechanism for stopping heroes from doing the same. I don't roll strength checks or anything like that. Success in holding a door for as long as necessary against any monster is guaranteed (I conceed that I've opted for simplicity over realism here).

I initially decided to allow door closing, but what happened was a player would open the door, get frightened and close it again, then from this you also need to include that they can hold it closed (otherwise theres limited use in closing it). Anyway, situations arose where monsters would run up to the door and try to get through, but they would eventually have to move back or there would be a stalemate, and then heroes could pile in and get the first attack. Giving monsters the ability to hold doors closed just promotes initiative amongst the heroes to seize the opportunity to attack and not just meat wall the monsters in doorways, it also gives monsters the ability to trap heroes in with other scary monsters. As for 'how would monsters know what's happening out of their own sight'? I just try and play it as genuinely as possible (apart from this one circumstance I suppose).