The most paranoia-inducing dungeon

[JAL_1138]

At the room in the exact center of the dungeon maze is a housecat. Just a housecat. Looking completely unconcerned.

If there's a lvl 1 wizard (in 1e or 2e, anyway) in the group, s/he'll run screaming from the cat.

[goto124]

Don't forget to bring a housecat IRL, and watch the wizard's player run away from it screaming.

[Bard1cKnowledge]

Water.

Water in D&D is always, always, always bad.

Whether it's one of the innumerable horrible monsters, poison, disease, curses, or drowning, water is always bad.

"How did he drown?"
Water weird
"But...were in the desert."
That's what makes it weird

All jokes aside, if you see a pit, either drop something, and look/listen, if the light fades/sound barely heard/no sound, ignore pit

[Feddlefew]

How about a dungeon that stalks the players? Nothing quite as bad as seeing the EXACT same abandoned farm house show up again and again, right down to the tattered drapes and fugly carpet, in increasingly improbable locations.

[ZeroGear]

Writing on the walls. Only the first instance will be a set of explosive runes. Preferably written in stanzas.

Skeletons. Not animated ones (or at least not most of the time), but regular skeletons. Preferably of various species and sizes.

Sudden scene change. One moment the players are in a dark, dank, underground dungeon; next they walk through a door and end up in a steamy sauna...full of big macho men in banana-hamas that want to oil them up real nice.

[Bard1cKnowledge]

Forgot to put a thing

When I ran a homebrew, the players were in a gladiatorial setting

They just picked off a cube (new idea, narrow hallway, double cubes closing in from both ends, and one is already covering the "exit" door) so the ones running it decided to reward them with gifts, but they had to go back out to the arena before they could rest.

Large open space, three chests, experienced player got suspicious right there, huzzah games of chance (one was a mimic)

[Karl Aegis]

How about a dungeon that stalks the players? Nothing quite as bad as seeing the EXACT same abandoned farm house show up again and again, right down to the tattered drapes and fugly carpet, in increasingly improbable locations.

That's more likely to make your players feel like they're being railroaded than to induce paranoia.

[Karl Aegis]

Writing on the walls. Only the first instance will be a set of explosive runes. Preferably written in stanzas.

Skeletons. Not animated ones (or at least not most of the time), but regular skeletons. Preferably of various species and sizes.

Sudden scene change. One moment the players are in a dark, dank, underground dungeon; next they walk through a door and end up in a steamy sauna...full of big macho men in banana-hamas that want to oil them up real nice.

Watch out for hidden Xavers.

[goto124]

in a steamy sauna...full of big macho men in banana-hamas that want to oil them up real nice.

You forgot to give them beautiful women first.

And even then, the players will be suspicious of nymphs or succubi.

[JAL_1138]

Not paranoia inducing, except in the "horrible death" sense, but tangentially related on the mention of gelatinous cubes...

Deathtrap idea: 10' long, 10' wide, 30' deep pit (under hinged floor), with a Gelatinous Cube at the bottom. Triggering the collapsible floor leads to a one-round delay before the ceiling above the pit opens up and deposits another Gelatinous Cube into the pit, creating the world's worst adventurer sandwich.

[goto124]

The world's worst jelly adventurer sandwich.

[Strigon]

How about a unicorn? Or, for that matter, just about any mythical beast that typically represents purity/innocence. I've only ever heard of them being used to show just how bad things have gotten.
Also,

How does the wizard have the Str to carry the heavy warrior in platemail?

By being a wizard.
Seriously, you should've known by now that wizards can do anything.

[Bard1cKnowledge]

In 5e at least, add a bunch of portals totthe elemental planes and a bunch of those exploding mephits,

Its working for me in the elemental prince campaign. I now think everything is a portal to the plane of fire and has a bunch of fire cultists who command fire snakes and magma mephits.

Who the cleric holy smited making three who were bunched up around my warlock nearly killing her/scarring her for life

[MrStabby]

A large room with marble floors. In the middle of it a single white candle - lit and burnt half way down.


A table with a half drunk glass of wine on it and two dice - each with a number 1 face up.


A single grandfather clock at the top of a flight of stairs that lead nowhere else. The clock is counting down time.

[JNAProductions]

A room with doors that lock when everyone is inside. There's a button somewhere obvious in the room.

Once the doors lock, start a five minute countdown. Hitting the button resets it.

When the timer runs out... The doors open. :P

[Gnoman]

I find large scale mosaics or tapestries on the wall can have a pretty good effect on players that aren't used to your style. Probably because a lot of DMs don't bother to write quite so much fluff text, some meaningless tapestries of battle scenes or a mosaic of a god can cause a bit of "this place is super important, so it must be super dangerous." Of course, this is dependent on your own style - I've had players actually be surprised when the statues in the city parks walked off to war.

[NRSASD]

Not so much paranoia-inducing as evidence I've been inducing paranoia a little too much.

The PCs had to scour the dungeon to find the password to a vault, thus disarming the forcefield blocking it. Behind the barrier was a short 30 ft corridor, completely unmarked, with a large pile of treasure sitting in plain sight at the feet of a statue of the Elven god of Peaceful Resolutions at the end. No traps whatsoever.

25 minutes, 200 ft of rope, a heavy crossbow, a sledgehammer, and about 20 search checks later, the party makes it to the end of the hallway.

[Angel Bob]

How about a dungeon that stalks the players? Nothing quite as bad as seeing the EXACT same abandoned farm house show up again and again, right down to the tattered drapes and fugly carpet, in increasingly improbable locations.

Oh, I like this. Do this properly, and it could be magnificent.

[Bard1cKnowledge]

A large chessboard themed with missing prices equal to the number of party members

One of which is the king

[MrStabby]

A gallery of portraits of royalty. On inspection one is one of the PCs.

A room with a sold stone floor. 8 paces into the room there is silence and even footsteps are no longer heard.

A round dinner table set with places equal to the number of people in the party.

A series of four doors. Each leads nowhere - opening the door just reveals the wall behind.

A child's bedroom. In the corner is a rocking horse that rocks gently of its own accord.

A dais at the top of a flight of 5 steps. On the dais is a water pump made of polished brass with no signs of corrosion. Carved into the floor is an inscription that reads "Thirst first, then drought, then servitude"

A tall vaulted room with an Organ at the far end. The walls and pillars in the room are old and cracked. A single large chunk of masonry has fallen from the ceiling about two thirds of the way down the room.

[JAL_1138]

An opening for a large cistern or well with a strange glow some distance down. Two very faint points of blue light, which sometimes move, and seem to be placed on the same object. The bottom can't be seen.

[ellindsey]

An otherwise empty room, containing only a desk. On the desk is a book. Written on the cover are the words 'Learning Experience'.

Depending on your players, you may not even need to bother deciding what's inside. When I did this, not only did my players refuse to look inside the book, they were so paranoid they wouldn't even search the room.

[Bard1cKnowledge]

A pile of dead bards for which the party may cower behind

[DigoDragon]

An otherwise empty room, containing only a desk. On the desk is a book. Written on the cover are the words 'Learning Experience'.

I remember one important NPC librarian who was very helpful to the party for several adventures. One day the NPC was out on lunch and the party went throuh her desk looking for something. Scratched on the back of the name plate was the phrase 'I never returned'.

But the NPC did come back and continued being helpful as ever. Made the players real paranoid. :3

[Bard1cKnowledge]

A shop right before the end of the cave

[JAL_1138]

A floating black orb of darkness about 2' in diameter floating about waist-high, which begins to move toward the party at a slow speed whenever they enter a room, and returns to the center of the room if they step back outside.

Rather than being a Sphere of Annihilation, it's just a small area of magical darkness which is entirely harmless, although it can't be dispelled easily by the usual means. There are dozens of these in various rooms.

One or more of them is the real thing.

[Brookshw]

Call your campaign 'Tomb of Horrors'.

Even if it isn't that particular Tomb of Horrors.

Go one step further and leave a copy of the module there, the actual module itself.

Describe the opponent as a wizard.

Tell them that they're starting to get a cult following in Sigil.

Paintings on the wall of the PCs looking at the paintings.

[JAL_1138]

An extremely-heavily reinforced cell door, with multiple locks, bars, chains, braces, and supports shoring up the door, from the outside of the cell, the same side the players are on. The keys to the locks are hanging on a nail in the room.

Through the bars on the window of the door, the players see a small fuzzy adorable critter. And a pile of bones.

[Bard1cKnowledge]

Llamas with hats, one of which is named Carl

[JAL_1138]

The Death Minnow.