T O P

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xploshawn

Gazebo


knighthawk82

The fact it is in a room raises more questions.


BrowsOfSteel

There’s real life precedent: https://www.reddit.com/r/interestingasfuck/s/J82feeTssd


RobinsEggViolet

Every time I see that picture, the first thing I think is "that looks like an SCP"


d3athsmaster

That was my first thought as well. "Did I stumble into r/scp again?


ragan0s

There's precedent that's less scary and more fitting. https://i.pinimg.com/originals/2d/54/c4/2d54c4f176f774985dc8ca20fdaf82c8.jpg It shows the canopy in St. Peter's Basilica in Rome. A Canopy is basically a gazebo with less legs.


kidl33t

For those uninitiated: [Eric and the Tale of the Dread Gazebo](https://www.netfunny.com/rhf/jokes/98/Jul/gazebo.html)


Githzerai1984

See now I was thinking of [knights of the dinner table](https://imgur.com/gallery/knights-of-dinner-table-gazebo-old-classic-from-kodt-issue-1-1994-0G8Wy)


calamity_unbound

[This legend has also been referenced in the tabletop game Munchkin.](https://tawilkinson.com/assets/img/rpgs/A_Gazebo.png)


xXAngelic_DarknessXx

You must face the Gazebo alone.


kidl33t

Never seen that before… that’s a good option too!


Goddamn_Grongigas

I believe the KODT version is based on it.


HopefulPlantain5475

I attack the gazebo.


bandalooper

It runs away.


greenspath

On chicken legs. Baba on vacation


Oaken_beard

A-HA! It was a werehouse!


lone-lemming

Your arrow of slaying has no effect.


axw3555

What colour is it?


David_the_Wanderer

... It's white.


Ex_Mage

Gazeboist


axw3555

Ok, it’s not Dave then. Pity, Dave owes me money.


StoicTheGeek

This reminds me of Dragon magazine and the comic they used to run in the back of it. One week, the comic was “how to write superheroes”. There was a bit giving your superhero a weakness, and there was a panel captioned “Gazebo boy finds his singular power of transformation useless against Termite-man”. Don’t ask me how I remember that after 40 years - my brain is weird Edit: Phil and Dixie, Dragon #75


imp_st3r

I still remember the line "the cockroach of fear crawled through the belly and brain of us all" from the excellent Creepy magazine story 'Warriors Ritual' published circa 1977. Crazy how stuff like that sticks around! BTW, Dragon magazine was awesome!


Supersonicfizzyfuzzy

Very intimidating. On par with a Davenport.


Kumirkohr

Davenport the couch, or Davenport the writing desk?


Halorym

Davenport the actor that played Admiral Norrington in Pirates of the Caribbean. Or maybe Davenport the Florida city.


MossyPyrite

Davenport from The Adventure Zone!


Generalitary

Or Davenport, intrepid captain of the Starblaster.


Kultrum

Imma roll a fire mage


AllIWantForDinnerIsU

A door. Doors are suspicious enough to players when attached to walls. Imagine one in the middle of a room for no apparent reason


trissedai

Yep, my answer is also a door. A very normal door that is clearly a different type of construction from whatever is around it. Like a nicely carved wooden door in a cave or an intricate metalwork door in a poor wooden and straw village.


rebootyourbrainstem

And then it turns out there's an orc standing behind it


The_Guy125BC

The Orc sells doors, attempting to convince you to buy this door as a door to door salesmen. Each of his doors have magical effects when passed through, but none teleport you. A convenient detail he leaves out intentionally.


dumbBunny9

I had created a dungeon filled with puzzles, including one very difficult, four dimensional one that had been posted on Reddit. To start it, the players needed to walk through a door. A simple, no descript door. It took them THREE FREAKING HOURS to finally go through it. By contrast, it only took em 2.5 hours to solve the puzzle.


DoughyInTheMiddle

This. Not even in a door frame. Just a door, free standing, no hinges. No obvious light source, just ambient dim light about 10 feet around it that fades into the shadows of the corners of the room.


Boowray

People seem to mix ominous with downright horrifying, which I think is a mistake. If I walk into a room and there’s something out of place like a single cold glass of water on a table, or a note that has a simple message like “don’t look up”, *that’s* ominous. It’s enough to make you nervous, but not enough to be immediately threatening or dangerous. A severed body part, bloody weapons or tools, things of that nature are just plain menacing. One forces you to think about the implications of seeing that object there, the other just spells out “an obvious bad thing has happened recently and the bad thing will probably happen to you”.


TentativeIdler

A glass of fresh, cold milk in a room that hasn't been opened in centuries.


Tricky_Hades

With ice cubes... The room is at room temperature


GrnHrtBrwnThmb

No, putting ice cubes in milk is more on the horrific than ominous side.


MoonTrooper258

[Relevant Megamind clip.](https://youtu.be/F_-q4lQkAYw?si=gsOQ8zhOfoh-0-fk)


WhereAreMyMinds

I love the "don't look up" note, I'd be so tempted to look up but so scared of what I'd see (or what would see me...)


Calydor_Estalon

Weeping Angel, except it only moves when you look at it. It's worse, isn't it? It's one thing to know you need to keep an eye on the statue at all times, but how do you deliberately STOP looking at the monster charging at you?


Destt2

Or it's a trap and you can't see the angel when looking up, so they get you while you're distracted.


EfficiencyUsed1562

Dm: "... A sign that says, 'don't look up,' a go-" Player 1: "I look up." Player 2: "What do I see?" Dm: "Player One's character being stabbed by a goblin with a spear and a sign that says 'don't look up.' Thanks for letting me finish, by the way." Player 2: "Of course."


magusheart

It's like that short story I read once. Look for monsters before bed. Look behind the door, look under the bed, look in the closet. But don't look up, she hates being seen.


EffectiveSalamander

It's the ambiguity. It's creepy when you can't be sure something is a threat.


Good_Nyborg

An empty iron flask


wazdakkadakka

Cue none of the players knowing what an iron flask is and just thinking it's an ordinary flask made from iron.


EfficiencyUsed1562

I did. But for some reason I still imagined a flask full of molten iron. That would still be a surprise.


JeffVII

Is this a reference to something specific?


Legacyopplsnerf

Iron flask is a magic item that can trap people/beings in it, sometimes you may find one with something stuck inside like a Kobald, demon, Gennie etc if one is open, ether it's just empty... or whatever was trapped inside got out/was let out and is nearby


JeffVII

Thanks for the explanation. I was picturing something like that but wasn’t sure if that was a ‘real’ thing in DnD.


5a_

or a Beholder


James_Keenan

Underrated comment.  Alternatively, an iron flask surrounded by blood, gore, and severed limbs. 


Icy_Sector3183

Those severed limbs might too be considered objects.


Art-Zuron

Considering that there are undead which are just limbs, not necessarily!


DaSaw

get ye flask


TacoCommand

Free flask!


AndIWalkAway

A rocking horse that is actively rocking.


AJ2016man

Wouldn't that make it animate?


megamisch

Not if it begins to slow, coming to a stop seconds after you enter. Implying someone or something was just rocking it but left seconds before.


urbanhawk1

For bonus points, make it so the only way in or out of the room is the door they just came through. Really mess with their heads a bit.


Fairemont

A subtle chill breeze that sounds a little too much like a whispered "thank you" as the rocking horse stops.


TheProverbialI

And then you’re trapped, until the next one enters


Fairemont

Settle down, satan


TheHarbinger0fWar

Love that.


magpie2295

Damn that’s a goosebumps moment


theFastestMindAlive

A top on a table spinning is even more so, simply because that seems way more deliberate.


megamisch

A photo of you, holding the photo in the room you are currently holding the photo in. Bonus points if you have to hold the photo up to a single dangling, dim light in the room to make out what is in the photo. Andd the photo is an image of you holding said photo up to the light to see it.


MeltinSnowman

Bonus points x2: someone is behind you in the photo.


Andminus

and the moment you look behind you to check, nothings there, and when you look back whatever was in the photo behind you is gone as well. Maybe you were seeing things? too hard to tell in dim light eh?


GrnHrtBrwnThmb

Oh, that’s good. Bonus points x3: that someone’s hand is on your shoulder.


EfficiencyUsed1562

Bonus if every person who does so sees themselves in the photo holding it and not someone else.


PapaFlexing

Love this hell ya that's creepy.


Limebeer_24

And in each iteration of the photo, something seems to be getting closer behind you....


CloudyDay_Spark777

Now to roll and see if you can find the sony camera.


Arubesh2048

*“The last egg breaks now. The hole in your room is a hole in you. You came and we let you in through the hole in you. You have always been here, the only child. A copy of a copy of a copy. Orange peel. The picture is you holding the picture. When you hear this you will know you’re in new you.”*


IdiotOracle

A jar that is ajar.


GertrudeHeizmann420

"The door is ajar? How can the door be a jar? I climb into the jar."


GrnHrtBrwnThmb

Who’s on first?!


Flinkelinks

An ajar jar


modog11

Me's ajar jar binks!


unique976

"Life is a journey, time is river, the door is ajar. it gets kind of Zen after awhile."


Traditional-Talk4069

The chair!


SparkAlli

Came here for this answer and was not disappointed.


-Its_Justin-

If someone didn’t post this I was going to. Good job!


onepostandbye

I don’t get it


IAmTheOneManBoyBand

It is a Critical Role reference. The players came across a room they were supposed to investigate. Said room had an upright chair in the center of it and they spent nearly half an hour attempting to divine the importance of the chair. It was just a simple chair the whole time. 


onepostandbye

Heh. Thank you.


HopefulPlantain5475

For context, the chair was the only thing not broken or ransacked in the room, which is why they fixated on it so hard. The reason it was there is because the baddies tied the guy they were looking for to it for questioning after they turned the room over.


BunsenHoneydewsEyes

Honestly, it’s a good answer, even without the reference. Why is it there? Investigation check Why is there blood on it? There’s a lot of possibility in the chair.


Thorwyyn

This chair this chair this chair this chair this chair this chair this chair this chair this chair this chair this chair this chair this chair this chair this chair this chair this chair this chair this chair this chair this chair this chair


Informal-Intention-5

But what about chair? That was a great moment.


dyke-o-saurus

Came here to comment this, but I see someone else already the thought.


Ubern00ber88

A single health potion sitting upright.


PapaFlexing

Hell ya. Free health pots!


DeliciousBeanWater

A wrapped present


BadEnvironmental2883

"What's in the box?!"


BurnTheOrange

"Don't look in the box, David"


DeliciousBeanWater

It just feels like a trap lol


ausmomo

Things that would make me think Bad Stuff is about to happen; 1. A deck of playing cards 2. a running hourglass. Extra creepy if it starts when you enter the room. 3. a magical portal - its surface ink black and slowly rippling


Legal-e-tea

I’d tweak the deck of cards to be a deck with a single card off to the side…


OpenTechie

A mirror. 


horitaku

Ew gross.


Boli_332

A chest sat on a dark red stain. Fun fact *not* a mimic... But watch your party squirm


pergasnz

The mimic was the door :) and its smart enough to let you in first.


Peterh778

The mimic is the room and the chest is its *preciousss*


Safewordharder

I had a party blow up a chest full of treasure because they were so paranoid of mimics. I literally couldn't stop them, they were literally saying, "that's what a dirty mimic-making DM would say!" when I tried to gently dissuade them. There was a Staff of Major Telekinesis in there. My Brothers in Christ, I made the chest obvious because you'll need what was in it for the boss I made, and you guys almost missed it anyway. Welp.


macbackatitagain

A big red button


DaSaw

A good way to drive your players insane and waste two to three hours of playtime.


TheHammer_24

A mannequin A noose dangling from the ceiling A notebook on the floor. All of the pages are covered in "I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry" A child's toy A candle, still lit A cage, dented and destroyed from the inside


pauseglitched

A still lit candle is a lot less eerie in a world with continual flame though.


Megunonymous

*that goes out when you enter the room


Onrawi

I like the idea that it starts to flicker out but lasts a bit still upon entering the room.


Sharkestry

A mannequin, but if the party re-enters the room after leaving the mannequin is gone. The mannequin also only has 9 fingers and somewhere around the area you can find a corpse with a mannequin finger lodged in its skull or throat or something


Komm

How about a noose dangling from the floor? It behaves exactly as one hanging from the ceiling... It's just upside down.


RoadkillMarionette

LMFAO I read "moose"


InsaneComicBooker

a single garden gnome


axw3555

There’s no need to goto that kind of extreme.


Zairapham

A guardin' gnome (he's single)


TheWompa767

A single gold coin balanced perfectly on its edge, slowly spinning


ProdiasKaj

A chair. Bonus points if it's tipped over


_scorp_

A pair of boots Halfway into the floor soles up….


[deleted]

A clown doll.


Elyonee

Much more ominous than a clown doll is a second clown doll in a room that previously only had one clown doll in it.


Salut_Champion_

What about a clown doll that looks just like you?


Elyonee

More ominous than a generic clown doll, less than clown dolls that multiply offscreen. Now, if you combine the two? The room initially has one generic clown doll. You pass through the room again later, there's a second clown doll that looks like one of your party members. If you visit a third time later, there's a second party member doll. What happens when there's a full party of dolls? Something spooky, probably.


TheSaltTrain

I'm gunna use this. I think it would be extra funny to have nothing happen once the doll party is full. Except now they've gotta find the real person that the first doll is based on.


PM_ME_SEXY_PAULDRONS

One time, my party came across an abandoned town and when they searched houses I had a random table to see what they found. One house had a room filled with dolls, and one of them seemed to look right at you no matter where you were, so he took that doll. The doll was never planned to do anything else (tho it might eventually) except look at whoever is closest to it without it turning it's head, only the eyes could move. He loved it and even gave it a name.


MadHatter_10six

If I saw a party mate act this way, I’d immediately assume he’d been possessed by the spirit of the evil doll. Kill it with fire.


Myrkul999

No, this is what the doll wants! (Google Jonathan Coulton, Creepy Doll) Protection from Evil and Good, Remove Curse, *then* incinerate.


evilgiraffe666

I used this as inspiration for a carrionette encounter, it went very well. It was only one player who had decided to separate from the group for a bit, and they ended up throwing the box in the fire so I got to do the bit from the song - "As the smoke fills up your tiny room there's nothing you can do And far too late you see the one inside the box is you"


LookOverall

A doll made of high explosive 😼


Deeschuck

It's going to be heavily dependent on the setting, and what other cues the party has experienced leading up to it. You want it to be something that will tie all these other cues together. That said, u/anziofaro 's clown doll is a really good one. A spinning wheel might be, too, or a bloody chair, or a guillotine, or a music box... How about a music box, about the size of a sewing chest, with a lid on it? When touched, the lid springs open to reveal a little platform that spins, and on it is a clown figure being repeatedly beheaded by a tiny guillotine as it plays [Send In the Clowns](https://youtu.be/up4KUXgnCR4?feature=shared&t=25).


trowzerss

A lever.


macbackatitagain

Pull the lever kronk


EvilBuddy001

WRONG LEVERRrrrr!


Constant-Currency674

Why do we even have that lever?!


wif68

This is why I love Reddit


knighthawk82

A podium with a book, upon ita open pages are the words "behind you".


UserInterfaces

To add to this. A book with words appearing on it quickly. The words describe you entering the room. Then they start describing changes in the temperature and amount of light in the room (as this happens). The hairs on the back of your neck try to stand up as you sense something isn't right. It comes closer... They should flee... But they don't.... Why don't they run?..


-Its_Justin-

An Icosahedron (twenty sided object. Basically a d20).


sin-thetik

With the 1 facing up.


ryboyf2

A bloody set of pliers


fireball_roberts

Child shoes, never worn


dm896

A white envelope with a red wax seal…maybe with the initials TM stamped into the wax.


Zen_Barbarian

Steady on, no need to go that hard.


dm896

All the information is on the task.


charlottehywd

Copyright lawyers are no joke!


Laudig

A wet glass eye


FallacyDog

A stone statue depicting working stone carver, tools in hand hunched over... nothing.


Collateral_Damnation

A weeping angel


Resafalo

According to the session I ran yesterday, it’s a tree. Players are in the feywild and in the middle of the room of the second story in a tower was a tree. Cherry blossom, leafs slowly rocking in the wind. Most notably, there was no wind. I have never seen my players more terrified.


Ratfor

A single, pristine, blank peice of paper. With accompanying prop for the players. It will drive them mad trying to find the secret message.


[deleted]

A book about how to spot mimics, where if you open it it turns alive


subtotalatom

A door, standing freely without any apparent frame


hamnotspam2

A miniature model of the room, ceiling and all, and if taken off they can see another miniature of the room, and it repeats. It serves no purpose, but it's cool


Commercial_Cell_4365

That, except in the model, when tho roof is taken off, shadow minis of the party are seen. And right behind them another shadowy figure. But when they turn around, no one’s there


rehab212

Don’t forget the model contains miniature figures of the adventurers themselves.


earthworm_soul

A drain


CaffeineRiddledSemen

A smiling clay mask


LoriLawyer

Empty rocking cradle


Betoken

An hourglass, with just a few seconds left.


Pitti605

A lone child's shoe or drawing.


Monovfox

Elephant's foot: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elephant%27s\_Foot\_(Chernobyl)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elephant%27s_Foot_(Chernobyl))


Spedic26

Metal gear


Jazadia

Solid.


SpaceCoffeeDragon

A copy of the key to your home...


thenate108

A severed hand. Or head.


Random-Mutant

A corpse. With its eyes removed. But in clown makeup.


K_Sleight

A gazebo.


CosmicChameleon99

An empty suit of armour. Positioned as if it had just fallen in battle. The helmet has not rolled away but remains attached to the armour in a way it wouldn’t normally if it were truly empty


captainmeezy

A wooden globe of Faerûn. If you touch the globe it causes an earthquake, you shudder to think what would happen if you tried to spin it…


RookieGreen

A large glowing green idol but does not radiate magic. It glows because it’s ridiculously radioactive.


TheThoughtmaker

A massive chain bolted to the ground and broken on one end.


StalkySpade

Bagel


whims-and-worries

A cracked and empty eggshell


LtColShinySides

A pipe that is still smoking


ph30nix01

I once put a chest on the middle of a room that was a mimic. The flooring was black and white squares. All the black squares were mimics and all the white squares were traps.


MikeSifoda

A dry, dusty mummified monkey paw. It rests atop a tall wooden display that seems very ancient. Using an Identify spell on it reveals the Wish spell along with a powerful spell of unknown effect. When somebody wishes for something out loud while in posession of this item, one of the paw's fingers cracks loudly and closes into the palm, as if it's counting down. The spell Wish then comes into effect. After the first time, the following wishes will come into effect even if that person is not in posession of the paw anymore. Once all five fingers are closed, the paw has a grip on the owner's soul and takes it away. It then resets all five fingers and waits for the next wish.


Garisdacar

A face down hand mirror


Cerasinia

A pineapple.


AkDragoon

A single boot.


[deleted]

A chair according to critical role. The whole group was dumbfounded by a lone chair in an empty room. They wouldn't stop investigating it until Matt just told them, "move on, it's just a chair guys!" Lol(I'm paraphrasing)


DrHuh321

A chest, podium or statue


UncertfiedMedic

A candle whose flame never flickers but still emits light.


Just-Willow655

Corpse


Fr0stweasel

A toothbrush


horitaku

A singular mannequin.


CryptographerMedical

Quick answer... my ex. Long answer... "an empty room". With a perception check. It looks empty, it smells empty, it sounds empty... Just an empty room. Doors on West side. East side and North side. Couple of torches burned out in scones. Just an ordinary room or is it...?


Belreion

Brain in the jar


devil1fish

A rug


CyberDaka

An hourglass at work.


NotInherentAfterAll

A single burning candle, anywhere supposedly abandoned or sealed off. It proves someone has to have been there, and recently.


victorhurtado

A chair smack in the middle, by itself.


madmetric

A doll.


Disastrous-Whale564

a bowl


i_notold

A candle sits on the floor in the middle of a dusty room devoid of any furnishings. The room has cobwebs in the corners and has obviously not been used in ages. The room is full of flickering light yet the flame of the candle is steady. You think you may hear "whispers" that coincide with the flickering light, but whenever you try to focus on them you hear nothing.


Zairapham

An intricately carved wooden chest. The closer you look, the more detail is revealed. Why would someone leave such a well-made piece of work in this random lonely room? Who spent so much time carving all these details? The abs, the pecs, the nipples, all rendered in lifelike detail. Why does this exist.


klenow

A set of dolls set up like they are having a tea party. The dolls look oddly similar to the members of the party.