AD&D: Secret Doors

There is precious little information in the Players Handbook regarding secret doors. In fact, there is precious little information on secret doors in the entire Dungeon Masters Guide as well. What  information does exist is not entirely clear on how such things are handled. I will try to elucidate on this subject as best as I can.

The first mention of secret doors ANYWHERE in the rules is under the racial entry for Elves. These sneaky, pointy-eared devils are the best at locating secret doors, having a 2 in 6 chance of finding one when actively searching for one. Note the stress on that last part - one has to actively search to locate a secret door. The wording is poor, but the intent is clear so long as you are not glossing over the details on the page. This implies that other races have a lesser chance of finding secret doors - but this chance is never stated in the Players Handbook. Half-elves inherit this ability from their elven parent, and it applies in full, not as half a chance better. It is not until we get to the DMG that the chance is defined as 1 in 6 for non-elves (page 97).

However, the process of finding secret doors has never really been properly explained. According to the rules in the DMG, it seems that locating and using a secret door is a 2-part process. One has to first locate the door, then one must find the means of opening said door once it is found. No secret doors in the early modules gave any indication of how they were to be opened - only later modules gave any indications (pull a torch sconce, push on one edge, hidden finger-pulls on the edge, etc.). Did you know that some secret doors could be locked, might be switched to open in two different directions, or could be trapped to prevent unwelcome users? All these were options in the original games played by Gygax!

But what exactly is a secret door? Obviously, it's a door that no one knows exists (other than the builder and a few others lucky enough to have found one). The DMG defines secret doors as "portals which are made to appear to be a part of the surface they are in." They are differentiated from concealed doors in that a concealed door, once found, is obviously a door. A concealed door is simply hidden from view or easy detection. A door in a pitch black corridor without a light source could be considered a concealed door. A trap door beneath a carpet is also a concealed door. A metal hatch at the bottom of a murky pool could be a concealed door. However, a secret door is camouflaged and does not even resemble a door - it could be made to look like the floor, a wall section, or even a portion of the ceiling. Essentially, if a door looks like a door, but is hidden from view, it is a concealed door. If a door is in plain sight but disguised to look like something else, it is a secret door.

In order to find a secret door, one must be actively looking for one. They do not get a sense that there may be one in their vicinity simply by passing it by. This is different for concealed doors, which do allow elves and half-elves to detect by simply passing by (with a 1 in 6 chance). However, what about dwarves and their ability to detect sliding and shifting walls or rooms (4 in 6 chance)? Well, a door is not an entire wall or a room, and the dwarf must also be actively searching for such things. Perhaps a door is simply not on the scale a dwarf is used to looking for...? Besides, the elven ability works on all surfaces - the dwarves only get this with stone constructions. Most dungeons, however, are built of stone, so this may be permitted by some DMs. In the spirit of the rules, I prefer to only grant increased secret door detection ability to elves and half-elves. Also, detection may be made by manually tapping on walls to listen for hollow spots, but this could just indicate a passage or room/chamber on the other side of a normal wall.

Discovery of a secret door doesn't grant the means of how to open it. This requires a SECOND roll OR physical investigation of the area around the door. Devious DMs may place the means of opening the secret door away from the door itself (pulling up the arm of a nearby throne, twisting a wall sconce 20 feet away from the door, stepping on a certain flagstone in a corner of the room, etc.). Perhaps the door is timed and will only remain open for 2 turns once opened, then closes behind the party once entered, requiring searching for a means to open it from the other side (if one exists - there can be one-way secret doors, too)!

The DMG provides two possible methods for discovering the means of opening the secret door. Method 1 is to just let them roll a second time with the same chance as detection (1 in 6 for non-elves, or 2 in 6 for elves/half-elves). You can alter the die used if the secret door is easier (d4) or harder (d8, d10, etc) than normal to find the mechanism. Method 2 is more frustrating and rewarding for those players that enjoy "theater of the mind" gaming and puzzles. With a complete description of the area (and DMs being prepared to adlib if necessary), the characters are free to figure it out by describing how they intend on opening the door. A DM must provide any and all details on the spot regarding this door, and may cause a delay in play as the players try to work it out. However, truly clever players will enjoy this more than rolling a die (which they can easily fail).

The DMG also provides some guidance on how long such a process should take (page 97). To detect a secret door, checking by simple tapping of the floor or walls in a 10' x 10' area takes 1 round. However, thorough examination for means of opening the door per 10' x 10' section requires 1 turn. Remember that wandering monster rolls occur at a given interval in dungeons (as determined by the specific module or DM-written adventure). For example, in T1: The Village of Hommlet, the lower dungeons of the Moathouse have a Wandering Monster check of 1 in 6 every turn. Checking every 10' x 10' area in the dungeon for secret doors becomes tiresome for the players AND the DM, but secret doors are so easy to miss unless you have some magical means of locating them (such as a wand of secret door and trap detection). If you spend all your time looking for secret doors, you essentially could be caught by several random encounters and never progress into the dungeon. It's important to note that wandering monsters rarely (if ever) have any treasure on them and aren't worth as much experience as monsters encountered in their lairs. Also, the method of searching for secret doors (tapping) might draw undo attention from nearby encounter areas - or even alert something on the other side of a secret door! These things have to be taken into consideration.

So, if the rules support NOT looking all over for secret doors, and they can only be found by careful examination, what are the characters expected to do? Obviously, explore the areas they can easily find and enter before starting to look for secret doors! Good gaming practice for AD&D players is to make a plan before entering a dungeon, stick to the plan, and leave when the current goal is accomplished (or when the party strength has slipped below 50%). My players enter a dungeon like a SWAT team, taking precautions that most would deem unnecessary or extreme. However, my players are 40+ year veterans of AD&D and are of a mindset that survival is paramount in all situations. If the goal is to explore all that can be explored, but then they assume that there must be more, a secret door is probably involved! Secret doors in rooms and chambers are easiest to find; those in corridors, floors, or ceilings are the hardest to find. The example of a first dungeon given in the AD&D DMG shows how devious Gygax was. He has the party facing an empty room with high ceiling. There are several square holes in the back wall spaced evenly, a pair at 3' height, and another pair at 6' height. Now, I would never have jumped to the same conclusion as the players in the example - they found splinters in one and determined that a wooden construction once existed there, attached to the wall! One climbed up on the shoulders of his comrade and checked the upper portion of the wall for secret doors, and sure enough found one! All this after spending a turn or so checking out the entire south wall (at the height of a normal Man). One must think in three-dimensions when exploring a dungeon, and always ask questions and seek details. But looking EVERYWHERE for detailed information ALL the time is tiresome, and this is why Gygax warns of wasting time in the dungeon (and probably why random encounters even exist). He wanted his players to be both cautious and clever!

But how is a neophyte player to know to even look for secret doors if they aren't playing an elf or half-elf? I've taught AD&D and D&D several times to new players, and they were completely impressed upon seeing a veteran player in the group suss out the location of a secret door! Once they new such things existed, they began searching for them, too! I don't think that there are enough examples or explanations in the Players Handbook to lead to such intelligent play. A pity really, since this is the only book that players are supposed to reference throughout their gaming experience.

One thing to take away from this is that secret doors can and do exist in just about every dungeon ever written. Their very nature prevents them from being easily detected unless magic is used (and even then one must have some indication that a secret door exists in a certain location as spell ranges and item usage vary). The problem with most of the older modules is that they tended to place the bulk of the adventure behind a secret door, which the party has only a 1 or 2 in 6 chance of locating. If they never locate the secret door, they lose out on the rest of the adventure (and the experience therein)!