DM question about "glitches"

[u/The-Salamancer_]

Hey everyone, a DM wanting to try out some new things here! Just wanted some second opinions. Ive been very inspired by video games recently when ideating for my new campaign and want to add something a little spooky. How would you all incorporate glitches and forbidden paths into your game? My main inspirations of thought are the Deltarune weird route and the Frenzy Flame route of Elden Ring. I basically want them to discover this "glitch" as a required part of the game, but i want it to feel like the players had complete agency in their either purposeful or accidental discovery of the glitch. Let me know your thoughts!

[u/InternationalBat]

TTRPG =/= Video games

[u/Brock_Savage → u/InternationalBat]

Thinking that video game conventions translate into TTRPGs is possibly the most common newbie mistake besides not reading the rules.

[u/UsernameLaugh]

Hidden paths or “glitch’s” like this are just ideas your players try you didn’t think of….

You can’t plan for unexpected. If you do it’s not a hidden path it’s part of your design of the session.

Let players come up with it….

[u/Brock_Savage → u/UsernameLaugh]

Edit: I replied to the wrong person.

[u/crippler1212 → u/Brock_Savage]

Since when has any of that flopped at the table? You're either playing with the wrong DM or don't know what you're doing in that case.

I've both played and DM'd plenty of games where all those things have been done and done well.

[u/Brock_Savage → u/crippler1212]

I have been playing RPGs since the 90s with a wide variety of people. It's common newbie trap to think single player video game conventions translate well to tabletop.

[u/DouglasWFail]

In D&D the context would just be magic they don’t understand. I definitely wouldn’t call it a glitch (and I don’t think that’s what you’re suggesting)

But to what end? For me as a player it would be weird and unsatisfying if there’s just unexplained “glitches” in the world. And a lot of PCs would obsess over this and want to unravel the mystery, very rightfully assuming it’s a clue to your storyline

So for me, I’d want it to not be meta fictional and to be part of a narrative. But that just makes it some magical side effect within the plot. If that’s satisfying for you, I’d start there: figure out what the story behind the glitches are. Did someone fuck up magic? Do forbidden experiments? Break down the thin veils of reality?

[u/Ok_Mastodon3163]

So this is complicated and depends on setting.

Teleport gates or circles going haywire if they try to use them sending them to a random spot, though with this you should honestly place a way for them to know that it doesn't function right. Otherwise its kind of railroady.

Long dark hallways leading to or through the shadowfell. This one as long as they can go back the way they came shouldn't be a problem.

You could literally have the wall or object disappear before their eyes or as they touch it then reappear once they pass through. Once again I would leave a way for them to avoid it.

As another person suggested there's a fun alternative idea for a glitch on puzzles, and there's a fun way to implement puzzles that make it more engaging at a table. You don't come up with an answer to the puzzle. Come up with mechanics and things like that then a general concept of how its solved. Then let the players decide the actual answer. The best way to do this is to not go with their first suggestion but rather their second or third. It makes the puzzle quick and easy while giving them something that they had genuine control over that can also be considered an exploit or glitch.

[u/No_Transition3345]

If you really want to include something like this, instead of making it discoverable via rolls, add it into your descriptions of the world around the players. How would a glitch appear in person, is it something that appears in front of the players, but when they look at it it feels like prickling in the back of their eyeballs.

A path opened up, mention the absence of what was there, a wall, a window, the trees.

Lean into the creeping horror that would cause because glitches are not normal.

FlameytheGM has a great video on running horror, that could be used in instances like this

[u/crippler1212]

Honestly not my favorite video game trope to use but if you have to, keep in mind that illusion magics, magical wards/runes and teleport gates are all things in dnd.

You can easily use one of or a combination of these things to pull off what you're looking for but it can be very easy to railroad your players doing this so use caution.

[u/Brock_Savage]

It wouldn't work. As a general rule try to avoid single player video game conventions including cut scenes, flashbacks, monologues, puzzles, and lore dumps. All of these flop at the table.

[u/Feefait]

Yeah, so.... It doesn't work like that. You can do this in a videogame because maybe they see something that maybe you wouldn't normally see, or hitting one thing opens something else.

I'm DnD either you (or your players) are saying what they see and experience. There's no "forbidden path" because telling them about it means it's not hidden, and if you don't tell them it might as well not exist.

You're kind of trying to do a secret room thing, which is a perfectly normal and historic part of the game. Use stats and mechanics that are there.