This One's for the DMs

SPOILER ALERT

This post is about an inconsistency in one of the maps in Skullkickers: Caster Bastards and the Great Grotesque. If you're a player in a group that's currently going through this adventure, for your own sake you should stop reading now. DMs only from here on out. Thanks!

An eagle-eyed reader sent us the following:

On level 3 of the dungeon, the rotating room in D50 is controlled by the wheel in room D51... but the only way to get into room D51 is to enter through the rotating room in D50.

Is there supposed to be another entrance to D51? Is there supposed to be another way to rotate D50? Maybe I'm misreading it, but I can't figure it out. 

First of all, thank you for your feedback, kind Kickstarter backer (I assume). It's a good question. And you know what? They're not wrong! But let me give you some reasons why it's probably okay.

1. The areas beyond D50 can still be accessed without messing with it or D51 at all. It's a more circuitous route, but it's entirely possible, and they don't have to miss out on anything by doing so.
2. This is a very old-school kind of problem. In that sense, this is fitting.
3. We've seen evidence that this level of the dungeon has some, uh... design flaws, let's say. Those flaws were intentionally written to be that way, even if this one wasn't, but it's inconsistent with some of the other over-thought traps and rooms down here. Plus, the dungeon is old, and most of it has fallen into disrepair. This level is in better shape than the two above it, thanks to the cultists, but still, it has its issues. There very well could've been a magical means to rotate D50 that's no longer operational. This is more of an explanation than a solution, but it makes sense, if you ask me.

So, speaking of solutions, I have some solutions:

• Go With It. This is a matter of DM fiat (like everything else), but nothing really precludes the PCs from finding a way in there anyway. Closely examining D50 could reveal that the space behind the north wall is hollow, a character on the Ethereal Plane somehow (using, say, blink) could see D51 from D50 (or even the east-west hallway north of there), a character with a pick-axe or even a portable ram could conceivably create an opening between D50 and D51, etc. Sure, this is a little far-fetched and really puts the onus on the players, but every other room they've seen that looks like this rotates. There's every indication that this one rotates too, but they don't see the mechanism that rotates it. I don't think it's unreasonable to say that this could prompt a party to investigate it, discover the existence of D51, and find a way to get in there. Totally in the DM's hands (again, like everything else).
• Change the Map. Put a wheel in D50 that rotates it. The wheels in D51 still rotate it too, but now there's an easier way in there. Probably the simplest solution.
• Change the Mechanism. Disabling the traps in D49 also rotates D50, just like using the wheels in D51 to disable the traps does. This is maybe the most old-school, unfair-dungeon-crawl solution, because they'd have to put quite a few puzzle pieces together to even notice what's going on, but it's an option.
• Change Another Mechanism. There's a pressure plate somewhere in D50 that rotates the room 90 degrees clockwise when triggered, then locks it into place until one or more wheels in D51 has been turned. After doing so, stepping on the pressure plate again rotates it 90 degrees for each wheel that was turned. The solution is turning two wheels, then going back into D50. Turning all three puts you right back where you started! This is probably my preference, I think.
• A Wizard Does It. Introduce a magical solution. A spell scroll of stone shape, a lyre of building, a Cli lyre, or some totally made-up thing like a potion of umber-hulk form could all solve it pretty readily. You'd have to seed that somewhere earlier in the dungeon, but that wouldn't be too hard. Heck, plant that spell scroll on a skeleton in D49. 
• Oh Yeah! Someone or something has already busted a hole in the wall between D50 and D51. This is only a partial solution, because they still have to figure out how to turn one of the wheels in D51 while standing in D50, but I'm sure they'll think of something. (I vote for unseen servant.)
• Oh No. If all this is more trouble than it's worth for you, nix D50 and replace it with a T-intersection. Done and done!

I'm sure there are a thousand other in-game solutions to this, though. If you have one, let me know in the comments!