One of the things we as DMs often do is sprinkle 4-5 hidden areas somewhere in the game world each reset. We fill these areas up with monsters and loot, and they're basically a small quest in waiting for whoever finds them.

If you come upon an area marked "@" (which indicates it isn't an area normally accessible), you should feel free to go in and explore. However, bear in mind:

(1) A DM may not be watching, so we can't balance the monsters you fight (we recommend caution) (2) They're intended as a reward for explorers and really designed for groups. Simply going in invisible is discouraged, as with everything we think players will have more fun if they involve other players when possible.

Hopefully this will be a good reward for explorer players, and also something to help out people who play in time zones when less people or no DMs are on.

I wanted to remind people about the existence of these things. Just because you stumble into an @area doesn't mean you've stumbled onto a DM quest. If you want to try to interact with the hostile monsters, you should feel free to again send a dm tell, "I'm in @Small Mines, do I have a DM to possess these monsters?" However, it is very possible that no Dms are even on.

As a side note, I've noticed it's extremely common for players to assume that whenever they die it's because the DM got them by adding spawns or whatever else. This attitude is extremely aggravatating to DMs. If you feel you died in an unfair way, a polite question is fine -- but please, please do not assume that DMs are trying to kill you.

The most important thing I'd like players to avoid is making erroneous assumptions. We are extremely receptive to criticism or politely phrased suggestions, however it is not enjoyable to have players spread untrue falsehoods to other players.

Two years later, I'm going to start doing these a lot more. I'll try to have at least one or two up every day.