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<blockquote data-quote="Bedrockgames" data-source="post: 7449476" data-attributes="member: 85555"><p>I think if you are in a campaign where death traps are known to exist, it can be incredibly suspenseful going into virtually any corridor. If you know for sure this place has traps, it is also going to be a suspenseful time getting through that gauntlet. Obviously if you don't like characters dying without forewarning, this approach isn't for you. As both a player and GM, I enjoy this sort of approach. But everyone in the games I play in, knows what the stakes are. </p><p></p><p>On character death, I just think it is really important if you want a sense of meaningful risk. I don't like it when it feels like the GM is protecting me from death. If the ogre smashes me with a club and does enough damage to kill me, even if it is anticlimactic or out of the blue, I'd rather that be what happens. That way, when I am staring down a corridor of blade traps, I know the GM isn't going to pull punches and the stakes are high (which for me is going to enhance the suspense of the moment).</p><p></p><p>On death traps: I quite like them. I think they ought to be used sparingly. If everything is a death trap all the time, then they become meaningless. I generally don't have them come completely out of no where. There are exceptions of course, but most traps in any campaign I run, can be discoverable or navigated around. </p><p></p><p>It doesn't have to be death though. Any permanent condition is pretty high stakes. I've also used traps that cut off limbs (in the game we play there isn't any kind of limb regeneration ability). In one recent campaign, there was a ghost at the bottom of a well who called for help and ripped tried to rip out the eyes of anyone who peered down (one character went blind). Even in combat, I'll have enemies do the same (we had one character get his leg chopped off with a thrown axe in my current campaign when they were ambushed by a group hired to kill them).</p><p></p><p>With traps, I don't think there is one size fits all. A lot of people like to avoid the ten foot pole situation for instance (and that can arise if traps are too frequent and too out of the blue). I tend to run smaller, more contained dungeons that usually have one or two traps in them (but they are often quite lethal). Keep in mind, for the past five years or so, I've been running almost exclusively wuxia campaigns and they are often modeled after films like Web of Death where you have this horrifying traps and characters frequently get taken out like flies.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Bedrockgames, post: 7449476, member: 85555"] I think if you are in a campaign where death traps are known to exist, it can be incredibly suspenseful going into virtually any corridor. If you know for sure this place has traps, it is also going to be a suspenseful time getting through that gauntlet. Obviously if you don't like characters dying without forewarning, this approach isn't for you. As both a player and GM, I enjoy this sort of approach. But everyone in the games I play in, knows what the stakes are. On character death, I just think it is really important if you want a sense of meaningful risk. I don't like it when it feels like the GM is protecting me from death. If the ogre smashes me with a club and does enough damage to kill me, even if it is anticlimactic or out of the blue, I'd rather that be what happens. That way, when I am staring down a corridor of blade traps, I know the GM isn't going to pull punches and the stakes are high (which for me is going to enhance the suspense of the moment). On death traps: I quite like them. I think they ought to be used sparingly. If everything is a death trap all the time, then they become meaningless. I generally don't have them come completely out of no where. There are exceptions of course, but most traps in any campaign I run, can be discoverable or navigated around. It doesn't have to be death though. Any permanent condition is pretty high stakes. I've also used traps that cut off limbs (in the game we play there isn't any kind of limb regeneration ability). In one recent campaign, there was a ghost at the bottom of a well who called for help and ripped tried to rip out the eyes of anyone who peered down (one character went blind). Even in combat, I'll have enemies do the same (we had one character get his leg chopped off with a thrown axe in my current campaign when they were ambushed by a group hired to kill them). With traps, I don't think there is one size fits all. A lot of people like to avoid the ten foot pole situation for instance (and that can arise if traps are too frequent and too out of the blue). I tend to run smaller, more contained dungeons that usually have one or two traps in them (but they are often quite lethal). Keep in mind, for the past five years or so, I've been running almost exclusively wuxia campaigns and they are often modeled after films like Web of Death where you have this horrifying traps and characters frequently get taken out like flies. [/QUOTE]
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