One of my favorite moments in DnD was that of a long stairwell. As they descended down it I described how easy it was to go down based on the steps slanting downwards. Once they reached the bottom of the stairs, they found an enemy encampment and were surrounded on all sides, so they quickly stole the important artifact they had come there for and tried to go up the stairs.
This is where the fun began.
Going up the stairs required a athletic check due to how unfriendly they were to go upwards on. If they rolled decently, you got up a decent chunk of the stairs on your turn. If they rolled bad, they might either go a little bit upwards or trip and fall a few stairs down. If they rolled really badly, they might go to the bottom of the stairs, knocking down any enemies (and players) who were underneath them. The one holding the artifact had disadvantage on this roll. Do keep in mind, a ton of enemies were also climbing and pursuing the players as they climbed.
These stairs led to some of the funniest moments I’ve had with my dnd group, including that if people fell unconscious then they had to carry others up the stairs. At one point they almost all reached the top of the stairs until one of them rolled a 1 and knocked everyone down all the stairs. (which at point all the players and enemies were on)
Anyways, my players now have trauma whenever they see long flights of stairs. Fell free to use this in your next session!
