DUNGEON DRESSING: CONCEALED 20.

A huge and rusty iron maiden stands against the wall,

but has a trick back ush against a gap in the wall which
DOORS
opens once the maiden’s front is closed.

Concealed and hidden doors are a requirement for

any suitably interesting dungeon, building or ruin. A M I N O R F E AT U R E S & D R E S S I N G
secret door is generally a deliberate part of the dungeon
crafted when the place is constructed. Concealed doors are
1. Twisting a chair pinned by one leg to the oor opens the
somewhat more mundane, and can easily be added later.
hidden portal.
M A J O R F E AT U R E S 2. A pair of rotten, once handsome, leather boots sit near
the obscured door.
3. A picture, painting or mural on the opposite wall depicts
1. The door is hidden in the rectangular wooden panelling a cloaked gure indicating the hidden door’s location
covering the walls. with an outstretched nger.
2. The wainscoting in the room conceals a small door sized 4. A faint breeze hints at a hidden portal.
for a human child or adult hal ing. 5. The door opens with a loud squeaking noise.
3. The door is concealed behind one of several oor-to- 6. A brief sound of muf ed footsteps comes from behind
ceiling mirrors xed to the walls. the hidden door.
4. A large hanging painting of a pastoral landscape, in a 7. A chalk “X” marks whatever hides the door.
gilded frame, covers the door. 8. Examination of footprints provides evidence for a
5. An intricate and allegorical tapestry covers the door. The hidden door.
tapestry depicts a dark tunnel lit by faint, shimmering 9. The door cannot normally be opened from this room;
lights picked out with silver thread. the handles or levers are elsewhere.
6. An image upon the door, and whatever conceals it, 10. The mechanism for this door is rusted shut.
depicts a stylised tiger. 11. Sticky glue covers the door’s handle.
7. A rotating bookshelf allows access to the door. If the 12. The door slams shut with a thunderclap-like noise as
bookshelf is rotated vigorously, some of the books fall soon as someone passes through the portal.
onto the oor. 13. The door has clearly replaced a better tting one, once it
8. A dumbwaiter, opening to a dark shaft, is concealed has been revealed.
behind a sliding panel. 14. The addition of this hidden door has badly weakened
9. A narrow opening is revealed when a loose part of the the fabric of the wall, ceiling or oor, making for a
wall’s baseboard is removed. The door is so low, considerable danger of collapse if it is left open.
explorers must crawl to enter. 15. The door is intensely hot, burning exposed esh pressed
10. The walls of this room contain inset pictures, framed by against it.
moulding; one slides aside into the wall. 16. A distant sound of chuckling comes from beyond the
11. An alternating series of plain and decorative tiles hidden door.
covering the walls, conceals the door. 17. The mechanisms for opening the door have been
12. A large wardrobe, ush to the wall, contains a hidden gnawed away by rats or other small creatures, which still
panel in its back which opens to a narrow passageway. live inside the wall.
13. The room’s walls are papered with a geometrical design 18. Careful mapping, or examination of the plans of this part
of bewildering complexity; the door ts unobtrusively in of the edi ce, shows the concealed door and space
their midst. beyond should not t into the walls.
14. The wood panelling along one wall can be opened like 19. Debris and accumulated rubbish covers the door.
an accordion. 20. A carefully arranged stack of bones, artfully tted and
15. A wide section of wall slides freely along a slender, well- glued, obscures the door and part of the nearby wall.
oiled track.
16. A portion of one wall is crudely and messily bricked off,
but the masonry is easily broken away.
17. A ruined and collapsing canopy bed is shoved against CREDIT
the hidden door.
18. A hole into the room through the back of a replace has This is a short system-neutral extract from GM's Miscellany:
been clawed out, leading to an adjacent hearth sharing Dungeon Dressing. The book is available in 5e, System
the same chimney. Neutral and Path nder 1 editions. The OSR edition will be
19. Although painted to resemble the other walls, this wall is available in early 2023.
made of canvas stretched on a wooden frame. It is easily
cut or moved aside.
For more free resources, visit ragingswanpress.com
fl
fi
fi
fi
fi
fi
fl
fl
fi
fl
fl
fl
fi
fi
fl
fl
fi
fi
fl