Honoring Pit Traps

[Celebrim]

I'm shocked at the missing teleporting, infinite free fall pit in one of the Desert of Desolation modules (I3-5) where you not only slam into one another a terminal velocity but there's also a couple mummies in free with you. Nothing cranks up a pit trap like mummy rot.

It's in I4: Oasis of the White Palms, and I was going to mention it but I couldn't remember if it was an actual covered pit trap that you could fall into.

 

[Stoat]

[MENTION=4937]Celebrim[/MENTION]

Out of curiosity, why did choose the pit trap from the Tomb of Horrors?

 

[jmucchiello]

It's in I4: Oasis of the White Palms, and I was going to mention it but I couldn't remember if it was an actual covered pit trap that you could fall into.

Pit traps do not need to be covered for folks to fall into them.

 

[Hussar]

The Shaker pit trap from the first Shackled City module was darn cool. Fall in the pit, but then it's weighted so that you swing from side to side, slamming into the spikes repeatedly.

I managed to save my character by using a tanglefoot bag to stick myself to the wall.

Very cool idea.

 

[Summer-Knight925]

Pitfalls are a STAPLE of D&D

That said, i can´t remember the module, but i have been always fond of the hole in the ceiling with a "reverse Gravity" under it.

Oh, and Grimtooth Traps are one of my favorites, when my old schoolfriends and I get together for an "do you remember the old times" weekend, and i can dish out some random death during pointless dungeoncrawling

I doubt it, but you wouldn't happen to be Olli westguard the 3rd?
sorry if it is you and I misspelled your name, but you would know my fatehr

and also, the reverse gravity is always ALWAYS fun, the high ceiling always makes players think something big is in the room, but if you know dungeon design, reverse gravity can be the only way to get to the other half.

 

[fba827]

Would you say the pit trap is an iconic part of the D&D experience

I would say that pittraps are an iconic D&D play experience because they are an iconic part of many tomb-adventure movies/media; indiana jones, laura croft, etc all had them.

dungeon crawls make for an easy pittrap location partially because of their use in media making them something that people can envision as being appropriate as well as easy to visualize on the part of the DM as well as the players.

that's my thought on it anyway.

 

[Celebrim]

[MENTION=4937]Celebrim[/MENTION]

Out of curiosity, why did choose the pit trap from the Tomb of Horrors?

Several reasons. One, Tomb of Horrors is one of if not the most iconic D&D modules. Many players that have never played a published module at least know of it by reputation, and a good many players who have only played one module have played that one. That particular pit is one of the infamous traps in the dungeon, second perhaps only to the Devil's Mouth, if only because it can be encountered so early. Also, if you are to google "pit trap" and D&D in addition to the SRD many of the links you'll pull up are discussions of Tomb of Horrors. Nothing else comes up so frequently in context.

 

[Celebrim]

Pit traps do not need to be covered for folks to fall into them.

No, but a pit trap without a cover is just a pit IMO. It falls under the general category of 'hazard' rather than 'trap'.

 

[Celebrim]

The Shaker pit trap from the first Shackled City module was darn cool. Fall in the pit, but then it's weighted so that you swing from side to side, slamming into the spikes repeatedly.

I managed to save my character by using a tanglefoot bag to stick myself to the wall.

Very cool idea.

Good one. Trap design is one of my favorite topics.

My favorite pit trap in a published module is also in I4: Oasis of the White Palm. It falls into the general category of pit traps where it is not the fall that kills you, but the destination.

Spoiler

The widemouthed pit drops the characters on to soft sand, so that they suffer no damage from the fall, but the bottom of the pit is filled with poisonous obscuring smoke and the sand at the bottom proves to be (effectively) quick sand.

And the quick sand contains 20 skeletons.

I love that sort of ongoing-just-when-you-thought-it-couldn't-get-worse-it does-trap. Anyone can design a trap to dish out a massive amount of damage. Anyone can design a trap with a one way tour of events that add insult to injury. What I really like to see in a trap is an encounter that has duration and gives oppurtunity for the players to do something in response.

 

[TheAuldGrump]

Pit Trap by TheAuldGrump, on Flickr

I actually do that sometimes.

The Auld Grump