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Nerdarchy > Dungeons & Dragons  > Out of the Box D&D Encounters  > “Shell Game”- Out of The Box D&D Encounters #19

“Shell Game”- Out of The Box D&D Encounters #19

"The Albatross"- Out of the Box #18
"The Menagerie"- Out of The D&D Encounters Box #20
Introduction:
Not every encounter requires a lot of set up or preparation. Some encounters just need the players to out of the box encounters shell gameshow up and be willing to have a good time. “Shell Game” is one such encounter. It uses the resources on the table as the encounter starts, and uses those limited resources to maximum effect to create an oddball moment that might come up in later conversations. And really, isn’t that what it’s all about?
Environment: Dungeon, but anywhere you wish to set up the conditions.
Suggested level: any.
The characters will enter upon a room or cavern that present the players with a series of challenging puzzles. There should be a Strength challenge, a Dexterity challenge, and an Intelligence/Wisdom challenge. This series of puzzles are essential to proceeding to the next room.
  Example:
  The players enter a chamber that is perhaps 30’ in diameter, but soars upward like a cylinder with a ceiling at least 100’ above them. Looking way up, faintly lit by bio-luminescent fungi, is the outline of the exit way above. No rope, ladder, steps, or handholds exist to reach this upper exit.
  Presented before the players will be a series of odd geometric shapes carved from a variety of substances like wood, stone, and crystal. Each item has a unique shape, and are scattered randomly around the room.

  A successful Intelligence (Investigation) (DC 15) check will determine that some pieces might fit into each other. You might even allow the party to know that they can be stacked in such a manner with the result of that roll, or ask for another. It will take a successful Strength (Athletics) (DC 15) test to lift these heavy objects so that they stack one on top of another. A successful Wisdom (Perception) roll will reveal

out of the box encounters shell game

AC5 Module Cover (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

where the first piece will lock into the floor to allow the pieces to be stacked like a climbable surface up to the upper exit. When one particular piece (identified by Investigation like above) is lifted to shoulder height (achieved by the Strength/Athletics above), it will glow slightly then hover upwards slowly to just beside where it could fit on the piece below. A successful Strength (Athletics) (DC 12) check will allow the odd shapes to be climbed upon like a ladder, and a successful Dexterity (DC 15) check will bring the piece in line and lock it into place.

  Here’s where it gets tricky.

  Every time anyone grasps a shape, Wild Magic will flash. Pick two characters at random. Each makes a Wisdom DC 15 saving throw. If both fail, have them swap character sheets. The effect is as if the spirit of one character swapped bodies with another character. The personality and such that the player of that character portrays does not transfer – just the physical body. So you might have a sage wizard’s traits, ideals, bonds and flaws  and such inside the body of the barbarian, and the primal barbarian in the body of the tiny wizard. To make it simple, have the skill sets, racial abilities and the like stay with the host body.out of the box encounters shell game

Otherwise this could get too complicated. This will continue to occur every time a piece is touched. A particular character may end up being swapped multiple times.

  This will make every player try to figure out a puzzle perhaps outside of how they normally would, but with the personality they are accustomed to playing.
  Once they have assembled a dozen pieces, they can exit the room above. When they complete the challenge and exit the room, all swapped personalities revert to normal.
Monsters: none, save those in the room. 😉
Treasure: None but hilarious memories
Complications: The only complications that may arise are the secrets written on a character sheets that another player may not know. In such a case, use a sticky note or other method over such secrets to protect the original players privacy. Otherwise, short of falling from a great height, there should be no issue.
Until Next Time, Stay Nerdy!
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Mike Gould

I fell into gaming in the oddest of ways. Coming out of a bad divorce, my mom tried a lot of different things to keep my brother and I busy and out of trouble. It didn't always work. One thing that I didn't really want to do, but did because my mom asked, was enroll in Venturers. As an older Scout-type movement, I wasn't really really for the whole camping-out thing. Canoe trips and clean language were not my forte. Drag racing, BMX and foul language were. What surprised me though was one change of pace our Scout leader tried. He DMed a game of the original D&D that came out after Chainmail (and even preceedd the Red Box). All the weapons just did 1d6 damage, and the three main demi-humans (Elf, Dwarf and Halfling) were not only races, but classes. There were three alignments (Lawful, Neutral and Chaotic). It was very basic. I played all the way through high school and met a lot of new people through gaming. My expected awkwardness around the opposite sex disappeared when I had one game that was seven girls playing. They, too, never thought that they would do this, and it was a great experiement. But it got me hooked. I loved gaming, and my passion for it became infectious. Despite hanging with a very rough crowd who typically spent Fridays scoring drugs, getting into fights, and whatnot, I got them all equally hooked on my polyhedral addiction. I DMed guys around my table that had been involved in the fast-living/die young street culture of the 80s, yet they took to D&D like it was second nature. They still talk to me about those days, even when one wore a rival patch on his back to the one I was wearing. We just talked D&D. It was our language. Dungeons and Dragons opened up a whole new world too. I met lots off oddballs along with some great people. I played games like Star Frontiers, Gamma World, Car Wars, Battletech, lots of GURPS products, Cyberpunk, Shadowrun, Twilight 2000, Rolemaster, Champions, Marvel Superheroes, Earth Dawn...the list goes on. There was even a time while I was risiding with a patch on my back and I would show up for Mechwarrior (the clix kind) tournaments. I was the odd man out there. Gaming lead to me attending a D&D tournament at a local convention, which lead to being introduced to my paintball team, called Black Company (named after the book), which lead to meeting my wife. She was the sister of my 2iC (Second in Command), and I fell in love at first sight. Gaming lead to me meeting my best friend, who was my best man at my wedding and is the godfather of my youngest daughter. Life being what it is, there was some drama with my paintball team/D&D group, and we parted ways for a number of years. In that time I tried out two LARP systems, which taught me a lot about public speaking, improvisation, and confidence. There was a silver lining. I didn't play D&D again for a very long time, though. Then 5E came out. I discovered the Adventurer's League, and made a whole new group of friends. I discovered Acquisitions Incorporated, Dwarven Tavern, and Nerdarchy. I was hooked again. And now my daughter is playing. I introduced her to 5E and my style of DMing, and we talk in "gamer speak" a lot to each other (much to the shagrin of my wife/her mother...who still doesn't "get it"). It's my hope that one day she'll be behind the screen DMing her kids through an amazing adventure. Time will tell.

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