Ancient Traps of the Real World?

[JoeGKushner]

Is any publisher planning on doing a book based on real historical traps? I enjoy the Trap & Treachery series but would like to see something based on historcial stuff. This would be great for those using history as setting.

 

[RangerWickett]

Well, aside from ancient diseases and fungus in Tut's tomb, what type of ancient traps do you know of? Nat20 received a proposal for a book on real-world tombs, but the author sadly never responded when we asked for more details. I really was interested in that one.

What type of things did you have in mind? I think most traps are just creations of the modern imagination, and that few tombs had actual traps like we see in D&D games. I think most tombs were protected by just being hidden, or by having really thick doors, and not so much by rolling crushing balls, antigravity pits with spikes on the ceiling, or floors that tip sideways to drop the tomb robber into acid. But then again, I might be wrong.

 

[trancejeremy]

I think they were mostly just limited to false and secret doors and pits. I have read of some cases where grave robbers got squished by heavy stones falling on them, but I'm not sure if that was meant to be a trap, or a grave robber doing something stupid.

 

[Wulf Ratbane]

You mean like marriage?

 

[JoeGKushner]

Well, aside from ancient diseases and fungus in Tut's tomb, what type of ancient traps do you know of? Nat20 received a proposal for a book on real-world tombs, but the author sadly never responded when we asked for more details. I really was interested in that one.

What type of things did you have in mind? I think most traps are just creations of the modern imagination, and that few tombs had actual traps like we see in D&D games. I think most tombs were protected by just being hidden, or by having really thick doors, and not so much by rolling crushing balls, antigravity pits with spikes on the ceiling, or floors that tip sideways to drop the tomb robber into acid. But then again, I might be wrong.

I personally don't know of any offhand. That's one of the reaons I was asking!

This may be something to look into and research. If nothing else, it might make for an interesting change of pace to design traps that could've been made in the real historcial world ala Indiana Jones which to my young brain seemed pretty real.