Failing Spot Checks

Ars Ludi is a blog by a guy who's thinking and thinking smart about role playing games.

Last time we played D&D, there was a trap door that lead to a veritable trove of treasure, including some magic items that the PCs kind of needed.

I've said nice things about Red Hand of Doom before, but here's a place where things went sideways. The trap door was very hard to find. It was supposed to be something hidden enough that the occupying goblins never saw, but easy enough that the PCs could pick it out.

Normally, somebody in the party has a badass Spot check, and they see whatever it is you want them to see.

Except nobody did. So I gave them another chance, another round of rolls, which right away seemed silly. Nobody got it that time either.

So I just told them about it. Dumb dumb dumb. But, we were in the middle of something, and I needed them to have this treasure. Nobody seemed to mind really, 'cause, hey, magic items!

It wasn't until this post at Ars Ludi that I realized exactly how dumb that whole scenario was, since not only did it not have to be that way, there was no need for a roll:

...if it’s not a combat situation or about to become one (aka checking for surprise or attacks at unawares), don’t use Spot checks. At all. None. Zero. Let players describe what they look for or how they are behaving and just arbitrarily decide what they see or don’t see.