How good is your spatial reasoning? (xpost from r/dndbehindthescreen)

So I've recently been working on the idea of a "mechanical" or clockwork dungeon for my players. Basic premise is your standard ancient dungeon that's been re-inhabited by an evil alchemist whose goal is, of course, to take over the world/region/town with an army of clockwork constructs which the dungeon has been retrofitted to produce. Players will go through a number of rooms with different purposes such as storage, waste management, manufacturing the constructs, and so on. The dungeon will culminate in an "escape the dungeon that's now attacking you" style scenario. In at least two of the rooms, I'd like to introduce the concept of a self-rearranging map whose paths change every 1d4 rounds, a la the staircases in Harry Potter, but just one level rather than multiple vertical tiers. The floor sections will be suspended/supported hundreds of feet above the gears and machinations that rearrange them periodically, creating another hazard where players will need to make Dex checks or something to stay alive.

 

I need help understanding the best possible configuration and functionality of the ways in which the tiles will be moved around on the table to create the most interesting/challenging scenarios for my players. I imagine someone's path being cut off before their turn, another whose position gets moved closer to the BBEG they'll be fighting, etc. There are pictures here to better illustrate what I've started thinking up.

 

For anyone curious, this all started when I bought a clockwork reliquary mini because it looked f'n killer. It will be the BBEG in this room, which I think will be the final room of the dungeon. When PCs enter, he will be lying dormant in a sort of Cryo-frozen state, and some trigger I haven't decided on yet will wake him up in 1d4 rounds. PCs will have to disable or destroy him to get out of the room alive.

 

Any insights you guys may have will be a huge help to me. I'm still unsure at this point where pivot points should be located, whether all tiles should move in identical directions, how many degrees of movement they should pivot, etc. I want to get at least 4-5 differing arrangements out of this setup so it doesn't get old or boring. I nearly failed geometry in high school, so you can imagine how completely I've baffled myself...

Posted Jan 5, 2017, 11:48 PM UTC

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