Dungeon Dressing: Concealed Doors
Concealed and hidden doors are a requirement for any suitably interesting dungeon, building or ruin. A secret door is generally a deliberate part of the dungeon crafted when the place is constructed. Concealed doors are somewhat more mundane, and can easily be added later.
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Major Features
The door is hidden in the rectangular wooden panelling covering the walls.
The wainscoting in the room conceals a small door sized for a human child or adult halfling.
The door is concealed behind one of several floor-to-ceiling mirrors fixed to the walls.
A large hanging painting of a pastoral landscape, in a gilded frame, covers the door.
An intricate and allegorical tapestry covers the door. The tapestry depicts a dark tunnel lit by faint, shimmering lights picked out with silver thread.
An image upon the door, and whatever conceals it, depicts a stylised tiger.
A rotating bookshelf allows access to the door. If the bookshelf is rotated vigorously, some of the books fall onto the floor.
A dumbwaiter, opening to a dark shaft, is concealed behind a sliding panel.
A narrow opening is revealed when a loose part of the wall’s baseboard is removed. The door is so low, explorers must crawl to enter.
The walls of this room contain inset pictures, framed by moulding; one slides aside into the wall.
An alternating series of plain and decorative tiles covering the walls, conceals the door.
A large wardrobe, flush to the wall, contains a hidden panel in its back which opens to a narrow passageway.
The room’s walls are papered with a geometrical design of bewildering complexity; the door fits unobtrusively in their midst.
The wood panelling along one wall can be opened like an accordion.
A wide section of wall slides freely along a slender, well-oiled track.
A portion of one wall is crudely and messily bricked off, but the masonry is easily broken away.
A ruined and collapsing canopy bed is shoved against the hidden door.
A hole into the room through the back of a fireplace has been clawed out, leading to an adjacent hearth sharing the same chimney.
Although painted to resemble the other walls, this wall is made of canvas stretched on a wooden frame. It is easily cut or moved aside.
A huge and rusty iron maiden stands against the wall, but has a trick back flush against a gap in the wall which opens once the maiden’s front is closed.
Minor Features & Dressing
Twisting a chair pinned by one leg to the floor opens the hidden portal.
A pair of rotten, once handsome, leather boots sit near the obscured door.
A picture, painting or mural on the opposite wall depicts a cloaked figure indicating the hidden door’s location with an outstretched finger.
A faint breeze hints at a hidden portal.
The door opens with a loud squeaking noise.
A brief sound of muffled footsteps comes from behind the hidden door.
A chalk “X” marks whatever hides the door.
Examination of footprints provides evidence for a hidden door.
The door cannot normally be opened from this room; the handles or levers are elsewhere.
The mechanism for this door is rusted shut.
Sticky glue covers the door’s handle.
The door slams shut with a thunderclap-like noise as soon as someone passes through the portal.
The door has clearly replaced a better fitting one, once it has been revealed.
The addition of this hidden door has badly weakened the fabric of the wall, ceiling or floor, making for a considerable danger of collapse if it is left open.
The door is intensely hot, burning exposed flesh pressed against it.
A distant sound of chuckling comes from beyond the hidden door.
The mechanisms for opening the door have been gnawed away by rats or other small creatures, which still live inside the wall.
Careful mapping, or examination of the plans of this part of the edifice, shows the concealed door and space beyond should not fit into the walls.
Debris and accumulated rubbish covers the door.
A carefully arranged stack of bones, artfully fitted and glued, obscures the door and part of the nearby wall.
Credit
This is a short system-neutral extract from GM’s Miscellany: Dungeon Dressing. The book is available in 5e, System Neutral and Pathfinder 1 editions. The OSR edition will be available in early 2023.
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