Challenges as opportunities for clever play

I’ve written a lot about different ways to place traps and challenges in front of the party. But I think the advice can be distilled into a single mantra: we shouldn’t place obstacles just to wear down the characters or their resources. Instead, we should see them as an opportunity to encourage clever play.

Over the decades and editions, Dnd has shifted from a gritty, deadly dungeon-delving game to character-driven heroic fantasy. In light of this shift, it makes sense to reexamine how we think about challenges within our dungeons:

• Are we excited when players find clever solutions, or are we disappointed when the characters emerge unscathed?
• Are we predetermining what the solution must be, or are we allowing players a fair chance to come up with their own ideas? (Not to say we have to allow every crazy idea to work.)
• Are we including objects to interact with and environmental factors that enable players to come up with these clever solutions?
• Are we providing visual clues for traps to encourage and enable clever play?
• Are we incorporating environmental challenges that allow for clever solutions?

Thinking about obstacles this way helps reinforce a cooperate play style: it’s the characters vs. the environment, not the characters vs. the DM. As DMs, we should be fans of the characters give them the opportunity to be heroes (if the dice allow!)