Does anyone have any ideas for a gimmick for an ice temple

Does anyone have any ideas for a gimmick for an ice temple.

I'm having players go through temples for different elements and such. Need some sort of unique idea for the ice one.

Other urls found in this thread:

youtube.com/watch?v=o6I-n7xK03A
twitter.com/NSFWRedditImage

Melting and refreezing parts to move around. Slipping hazards, stuff shattering, freezing cold areas that put PCs on a timer, even in protective gear.

Also, basically everything that's horrifying about the cold; the desolation, how one slip up can kill you, getting wet can kill you, there's little in materials to help you, fire is hard to maintain because everything's wet and won't burn, slipping hazards and hard surfaces (a good combo for broken bones), getting caught under an ice sheet and drowning to death...

All of the floors are slippery, there's spikes fucking everywhere, and there's enemies that really like to push you.

Floor that freezes anything that stands still on it stuck in a matter of seconds, meaning they need to be in constant motion in those areas.

Metal does burn damage if touched with bare skin since it's being supercooled.

Maybe one or any of the following:

>It also has warped dimensions with loads of escher staircases and other non-euclidian geometry

>It's made entirely of ice and has nature as a theme, with life-like ice sculptures of flora and fauna everywhere. Maybe ones that come alive.

>The interior is in absolute darkness.

>The temperature gets increasingly cold as you head towards the center. The temperature at the center should be cold enough to pose an imminent threat to life (assuming average human).

>All the walls are translucent, giving both the party and the temple inhabitants a dim view of one another through walls. Could be a good way to scare a party if they see some massive coiling shape moving around in a chamber far beneath them, and heading closer.

>The ice the temple is made of insta-freezes anything it touches. This includes the ice floor. There are some safe paths marked by glowing crystals, shafts of light, runestones, or something more obscure (and hard to detect non-magically).

>gimmick for an ice temple.
Fire traps and rock falls everywhere.

For flavor; Scary shit frozen in ice. Like a huge demon or ancient beasts. We-nether or not they thaw out and attempt to murder the party or not is up to you.

It's actually a fire-and-ice temple.

Came in here to post both of these.

Temples should include some of the positive aspects of their subject.

Ice is often thought of as hostile to life, but glaciers actually store water and slowly releases it in ways which support ecosystems. Ice fishing provides people with food and ice can be used to preserve food. An ice temple should have warm grottos with lush plant life fed from huge blocks of eternal ice (i.e. miracle ice which "melt" by shedding water but never shrink), and holes for fishing (or even just stores of frozen fish and meat). Animals associated with frozen/cold conditions should serve as guardians.

The temple has some kind of area effect around it that changes the type of all fire spells into cold spells.

Sliding floor puzzles are a must.

I was going to mention this, but didn't. But I should have. I'm just wondering how well to represent this on the table, and it'd be difficult to figure out how to work one with multiple PCs, tools, and actions at their disposal.

If you move in a direction, you must move at least X spaces in that same direction before you can move in a different direction.

>Hailfire Peaks

God I loved Banjo-tooie. Never completed it, but loved it to pieces.

youtube.com/watch?v=o6I-n7xK03A

Mirrors, clone disguises, and clone disguises pretending to be mirrors.

Underrated post

There's terrible creatures or traps (like a swinging blade caught mid-stroke) frozen stiff or within huge ice blocks. Spending too long in those areas start a thaw (from body heat or magic or their torches, whatever) and the adventurers have to decide between hanging around and waking up the temples guardians/traps

See also: parts of the temple that just melt away, for good or ill. Locked gates that can be opened with sufficient heat, but also stairways and bridges are always at risk of crumbling

Well, depending on the toe you're going for, and how your dungeons work this could be a good idea.

Players core, but now must shut it off, take the power source, kill the heart, whatever your thing is. After doing this the Ice Temple starts to melt, sure this means it starts to flood, and maybe make it easier for them to escape since walls are no longer in the way.

Additionally if you really wanna make an impact, all the ice in the area has now melted, the temple was the source, this causes a massive flood in the surrounding area, even turning most of the land into a marsh, maybe wrecking a village if you are cruel.

and you can do this with every temple, clear the fire temple, begins to snow, earth one, mountains crumble earth shakes

If you loved it, you would have finished it.

Transparent walls, floors and steps

Let me get this straight, OP.
You want original ideas...
BUT you want other people to think of them...
AND the theme is "elements"?

Yup. Its entirely possible. Elements are often overlooked because of being cliche but there is lots of cool aspects of them ignored.

My water temple was based around illusions, hallucinations caused by magic steam pools. Players almost decided to settle there and live with the tribe of fish people before someone broke the spell and noticed their bodies were being burnt by the acidic water.

And it's awesome to ask Veeky Forums for ideas. I mean who doesn't like dungeon creation especially when you can use fun gimmicks and such

You bring out Ricochet Robots.

Pretty neat idea. Maybe also make certain spells/abilities more or less effective due to cold, if you don't already.

>water spells automatically become ice spells
>fire spells require longer channel times
>certain armors could lose durability or damage the wearer

Although fucking with the mechanics too much could get tedious.

The central chamber has been destroyed, and now the only way to cross the temple (about 7 stories tall too) is to dump snow in from the top until it makes an appropriate height platform.

The snow is constantly being melted by the (broken) heating system at the base of the central chamber, filling it with warm steam. The constant shock between cold and hot rooms speeds up fatigue.

Mirrors out of ice, and mirror-bazed puzzles.

When they get to the , then the entire temple melts.
They have to survive a flash flood that separates them, risks drowning them in their heavy winter gear, and leaves them soaking wet and exposed to the elements

Time.
As you progress further into the temple, older and older things are seen frozen in the ice, from a couple plants and animals to entire battlefields of frozen warriors, perhaps melted free as part of a trap.
At the center lies some primordial creature beyond the party's understanding. or perhaps an entire city, lost in time.

>Each layer has a different set of things that were frozen from an earlier time
>There's a village or festival or caravan set up outside the temple when the PCs enter
>When they leave, the temple has added another layer, and the kind souls they met have been flash frozen and entrapped as well