Gaming block (Docks, and goblin traps)

[Ry]

I'm having a bit of a mental block for 2 specific scenes for my campaign on Sunday.

The game opens with a ship (the Coy Nixie) trying to dock during a storm, as it is attacked by a pack of Skum. I'm having a hard time thinking of what kind of stuff is lying around the dock during the storm. I want this to be a really full-color battle with the players having lots of ways to use the terrain, but I'm having writer's block.

The other scene that I'm drawing a blank on is really special: I'm going to introduce pathfinder's goblins in a cave that's really porous (with holes just big enough for goblins to peer through and be heard behind). They'll be cackling and placing bets on the party as the party tries to navigate their series of traps. I want that to be funny, aggravating, and dangerous, in that order... but I can't think of good traps or a good setup that fits the bill.

Anybody have suggestions?

 

[szilard]

Stuff on docks:

Barrels. Some of which have burst open. Piles of former-barrel-contents: fish, grains (wet), oil, pickles. Oil on the dock could catch fire. Fish could be slippery. Grains could make for difficult terrain. Pickles could be pickles.


Goblin traps:

Strings could be strung between holes. Some of these might be tripwires for traps. Others might need to be pulled or cut to disarm traps. Figuring out which is which could drive PCs batty.

Ooh! Batty! What about a bat trap?

-Stuart

 

[Ry]

Ooh! Batty! What about a bat trap?

How would a bat trap work (I mean, besides "pull this lever to release bat swarm")? I'm especially trying to think of ways to trigger traps after the first trap has gotten the players to wise up.

 

[Festivus]

Have two traps, one that is easy for them to spot and really really difficult to disarm, and another that is difficult to spot and really easy to disarm. Have them arranged so that it would appear that going down a passage on the one side would be safe (not spotting the trap) and the other dangerous, when in reality it's the other way around.

Have what appears to be the same trap twice in a row, however, the second time instead of triggering the trap it is the arming mechanism for a third unseen trap further along, and breaking / disarming it arms the third trap.

 

[awayfarer]

How about adding some old, rotten netting? If thrown onto someone, it's easy to rip, but...oh god...spiders, spiders all over it!

 

[szilard]

How would a bat trap work (I mean, besides "pull this lever to release bat swarm")? I'm especially trying to think of ways to trigger traps after the first trap has gotten the players to wise up.

OK.

So, they're in a cave, right? ...and it has a bunch of holes?

How likely are the PCs to try to plug up the holes? If the answer is "rather" or more, then:

Let's say there's a breeze in the cave. It disperses through the holes. If a significant number of the holes are plugged up, the breeze begins to whistle through the cave (more creepy than annoying). If more than half of the holes are plugged up, the whistling begins interfering with the sonar of the bats in the cave and they begin to swarm.

-Stuart

 

[szilard]

Have what appears to be the same trap twice in a row, however, the second time instead of triggering the trap it is the arming mechanism for a third unseen trap further along, and breaking / disarming it arms the third trap.

That's what I was going for with the string suggestion, earlier.

-Stuart

 

[TheAuldGrump]

Dockyard crane, the net and chain/rope/cable already weakened by the storm, or a bad guy waiting to release the cargo on top of someone.

Jellyfish washed up onto the dock, not dangerous if you are wearing shoes - unless you should happen to slip and fall on them.

Sail boat tied off to the slip, the boom careening in the wind.

Bad guys in the rigging, armed with missile weapons.

Weakened dock near collapse.

The Auld Grump