D&D 5E Indiana Jones The Last Crusade

[GwaihirAgain]

For my next session Im looking to have my players retrieve a holy artifact, Id like it to be guarded by some traps, much like Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.

"Only the Penitent man shall pass..."

Are there any modules that have good examples of this sort of thing?

G

 

[eyeheartawk]

Not so much a module but take your pick from any of the 500 mostly ludicrous traps from this boi.

 

[aco175]

Yawning Portal has Tomb of Horrors. You could skip time and just tell the players they are dead and roll up new PCs though.

 

[GwaihirAgain]

Yawning Portal has Tomb of Horrors. You could skip time and just tell the players they are dead and roll up new PCs though.

LOL. Im hoping to get a couple more years out of this campaign.

 

[Mort]

Yawning Portal has Tomb of Horrors. You could skip time and just tell the players they are dead and roll up new PCs though.

The Yawning Portal version is significantly less deadly than earlier editions!

It has quant things like saving throws and moderate damage, and even allows investigation checks. As opposed to did you turn left when you should have turned right? Sorry your PC is dead!

 

[LordEntrails]

The traps in ToH are not creative or interesting. They are poor and simple ports from the original.
Their is an old Unearthed Arcana article on traps in 5E that isn't a bad start for laying them out. I believe Xanathar's has another stat block/approach on traps as well. Then there are numerous products on the DMsGuild of various quality that are trap resoures/compendiums.

 

[Quickleaf]

Tomb of Annihilation has one. It's not perfect, needs a little work, and you're getting a whole lot of book just for one section... but the one I'm thinking of is the 3-page House of the Man and the Crocodile.

The answer to most of the puzzles is "get on another player's shoulders and work as a team." It feels a little like the "two footsteps in the sand became one when I was carried by the Lord" parable.

The setup needs better a better myth/riddle to foreshadow it & there needs more thought put into the explanation (see below), but if you do it could be awesome:

Spoiler

Camp Righteous (House of the Man & Crocodile)
Why does “get on my shoulders” avert the traps? As an alternative to “it’s magic”, I propose:

6A. Concealed pit trap
The concealed outline of the pit trap is immediately visible when viewed from 9 feet up (e.g. “man and crocodile” team, arcane eye, enlarge, flying/climbing, familiar, etc), due to vantage point. A gust of wind cast here will clear leaves and vines, revealing the pit trap’s outline too.

6B. Blade trap
The blades are triggered by a 10’x10’ pressure plate covering the entire floor. The first creature or object weighing at least 40 pounds to step on the plate triggers the trap. However, if 200+ pounds (e.g. “man and crocodile” team) are placed on the pressure plate at once, it angles very slightly and locks into place, preventing the trap from being triggered for 1 minute.

6C. Puzzle floor
The glowing tile is only visible when viewed from 9 feet up (e.g. “man and crocodile” team, arcane eye, enlarge, flying/climbing, familiar, etc), due to vantage point.

6D. Puzzle door
Door is 9-feet-tall, with tiles reachable by a “man and crocodile” team (or mage hand, etc).

6E. Treasure & trapped stairs
Glyph of warding with specific trigger

 

[not-so-newguy]

The Lost Shrine of Tamoachan from Yawning Portal! It's almost like Spielberg read this module before making Raiders of the Lost Ark

 

[overgeeked]

For my next session Im looking to have my players retrieve a holy artifact, Id like it to be guarded by some traps, much like Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.

"Only the Penitent man shall pass..."

Are there any modules that have good examples of this sort of thing?

G

If you’re asking for traps, Grimtooth’s is the answer. And it was already mentioned. 3E’s Book of Challenges also has a few. And a few funhouse dungeons like Tomb of Horrors.

 

[Eltab]

Use one of the Indy traps (the 'big seal on the floor which the artifact may not cross' seems good) and see if any of the players recognize it / identify the source.

Tomb of Annihilation has an Indiana Jones -themed background, if you want to introduce an NPC (rival?) as an additional challenge.

 

[fba827]

Not exactly what you are asking but something to consider.
Perhaps think of a theme (7 deadly sins) - have some riddle etched near the entrance about how your spirit shall be judged and only the worthy shall find that which they seek
Then have different rooms with traps testing each of the sins. The one for greed might just have some coin but if any is touched/taken then it triggers a poison gas in the room
Have one that tests lust and there is a maiden that says she has been trapped there and seeks to just bed rescued and gets a bit amorous as incentive to leave. if she is embraced then she is revealed as a siren/harpy/etc that tries to consume the pc
have one that is a comfortable looking camp spot to take a rest - testing sloth- and if they rest there then there are spikes that come through the cot.
and so on for seven thematic traps

 

[Paul Farquhar]

The trap filled tomb did not originate in Indiana Jones, which is a homage to 1930s pulp adventures, and many of the examples in D&D predate the movies, like The Hidden Shrine of Tamoachan, which was published the year before Raiders. They are tapping into the same zeitgeist.

If you look at the specific traps in Last Crusade they are pretty standard. The Breath of God is a standard scything blades trap (kneel for advantage on Dex save). The Name of God is a standard hopscotch trap (for example there is one in Doctor Who: Death to the Daleks episode 3/4 in 1973). Easy to do, you just need your code word and an effect for stepping on the wrong tile. The Footsteps of God is the difficult one to do in D&D, since if the players can't see a bridge across the chasm they will probably bypass it using magic. But there are many other ways to test players' faith. But note that it is famously subverted in Tomb of Horrors, and players may be aware of that.

For clear deliberate references to Indiana Jones in 5e products, the archaeologist background in ToA is the only one I can think of.

 

[aco175]

There could be some ideas in other movies like King Solomon or Goonies. I liked the bone piano where pieces of the floor fell away when the wrong note was played. More appropriate if there is a bard in the party. You may also need to force some onto the players to get the idea.

 

[Haiku Elvis]

For my next session Im looking to have my players retrieve a holy artifact, Id like it to be guarded by some traps, much like Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.

"Only the Penitent man shall pass..."

Are there any modules that have good examples of this sort of thing?

G

Don't forget the full quote is
"only the penitent man who then rolls forward a bit to avoid the second blade may pass"

The last crusade ones are more focused on riddles to be solved. If that's the route focus on the clue and the solution first and you can tack something sharp/pointy/crushy at the end.

If it's pure traps to be spotted/disarmed etc. the temple at the start of Raiders is a better resource.

 

[DEFCON 1]

A 5E modules that was designed in the deathtrap dungeon style (although not as unnecessarily silly deadly as Tomb of Horrors or White Plume Mountain) is an adventure that was written by Chris Perkins and Scott Kurtz (of the webcomic PvP) for a DM tournament at PAX East a bunch of years ago called The Mines of Madness. I've run it and it I found it to be very enjoyable and fun.

Unfortunately I don't think they have it on DMs Guild for some reason, but if you go looking for it I'm sure someone has a copy.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

White Plume Mountain isn't particularly deadly, apart from the efreeti who show up at the end when the party is whacked. And that is worse in 5e because efreeti got buffed.

 

[Steampunkette]

"The Penitent Man shall pass" trap was designed to be Islamophobic 'cause Crusades.

The Penitent CHRISTIAN man kneels. The second blade spins in front of him and does nothing. (Indy rolled to make it look scarier for the audience)

The Penitent MUSLIM man genuflects, leaning forward to put his face down right where the second blade takes his head off.

If you design traps like this, where a person's knowledge of how to interact with the world and decipher the clues into actions to avoid dying to traps, you need to be aware of little details like how your players interact with such concepts. Otherwise you'll get someone who does exactly the right thing (from their experience) that gets them killed and potentially angry that the trap contradicts their life experiences.

 

[Voadam]

The Avalanche Press d20 module Doom of Odin had a great rune trap. A riddle puzzle is on the wall giving a clue about the floor full of runes ahead. Figuring out the puzzle you could identify the safe rune covered tiles to navigate without activating any. Just knowing Norse runes and their associations you could probably identify some of the bad effect ones to try and avoid. If you didn't there were still options, pushing through with your tough guy was survivable but used hp and potentially healing and coming out with some effects. Running long jump could clear a bunch of runes for less activations and damage/curse effects. Climbing walls or setting up a rope system to avoid the floor could potentially work. Dispel magic could get rid of individual runes and potentially protection from x type magic can reduce bad effects. It was possible to do the whole thing narratively based on the description with no die roll mechanics and allowed a bunch of different approaches.

 

[Micah Sweet]

Yawning Portal has Tomb of Horrors. You could skip time and just tell the players they are dead and roll up new PCs though.

No version of the Tomb of Horrors since the original has really be been that dangerous to PCs.