[Necro] Grimtooth's Traps is HERE!

[Orcus]

Hi everyone!

The Wurst of Grimtooth's Traps is at your FLGS Now!

I have to say I am really proud of this book. We were about to put it out before the v3.5 revision but decided to wait. We didnt want to release and obsolete book. I am so glad we did.

For those who dont know Grimtooth, he is a carnage loving troll and perhaps the lead trap designer in the world. Boy does he like to kill adventurers.

The book is 224 pages, hardcover, $34.99, and contains over 200 illustrated traps all fully statted out for v3.5 in a "monster manual" format where each trap gets its own detailed entry as if it was a monster. We love the format. There are new trap rules. Traps and triggers are seperated. Effects are divided. Contains expanded and revised content from the original Grimtooth books by Flying Buffalo. Also includes the Traps Bazaar as well as the entire Dungeon of Doom--a dungeon of nothing but traps! (though you can also use them individually where you see fit).

This book is not just a collection of character killers. We chose traps that range from CR 0 cursed items to CR 10. There are a good mix of all CRs (by the way, though we added CRs, we kept the "death head" rating too. we just couldnt take that out). There are also two handy dandy indexes of the traps by CR and alphabetical so you can find the one you want easily.

We use the original art by Steve Crompton. But we added a storyline where Bill and I from Necromancer go visit Grimmy to show him the 3.5 rules and try to talk him into statting out the traps. Grimtina is involved The storyline is woven through the book with all new art by Steve Crompton. Of course it ends badly for Bill and I once Grimmy lures us into the Dungeon of Doom.

For those wanting a preview, visit the Necromancer Games site at www.necromancergames.com. Or click here to get the preview directly: http://www.necromancergames.com/pdf/grimmy_preview.pdf.

We included the two appendices in the preview so that you can see the names and CRs of all the traps found in the book.

The Troll is BACK, baby!

Clark

 

[BSF]

Woot! I have been waiting for this since you announced it way back when.

 

[BSF]

Look! It's the Delvermatic in the preview. Ahh, what joy to see that baby all statted out. The appendices were a nice touch in the preview Clark. My old Grimtooth's books are worn out. It will be nice to have a revised version where the stats are already done.

 

[Orcus]

And Scott Greene (of Tome of Horrors fame and all around 3E rules guru) is responsible for the vast majority of the statting for the traps. He did an amazing job. I did a few things here and there but he did the huge majority of it.

I'm glad you liked seeing the appendices. I was worried people would think, because of the tonge in cheek "kill the pcs" attitude Grimmy has, that the book was just nothing but CR100 meatgrinder traps. It isnt. It really has some creative stuff.

Plus, I think it really brings the fun back to traps. 3E is great for alot of things. But when you over-detail rules (which 3E has done, generally for the betterment of things) you run the risk of turning some things into dice rolls. To me (YMMV), traps in 3E were little more than a d20 roll to find and a d20 roll to get past. Gone was any incentive to find solutions to traps. I thought they lost their magic. I like to think our Grimmy book brings a bit of that magic back.

Clark

 

[Grazzt]

I must say I had quite a lot of fun working on this book...digging out my old Grimmy books (and borrowing the ones I didnt have from Clark) and looking through them. Clark pretty much had the layout and outline for what he wanted in the book. Then we simply started statting out and updating the traps to the 3e/3.5 rules. And then came the Dungeon of Doom stuff....even more fun.

Hopefully this book puts the fun back in traps and lets you relive the 1E days when "evil DMs" used Grimmy to terrorize...errr...challenge their player's characters. The traps in this book are definitely diverse (covering all bases from meatgrinder to challenging to puzzle- and riddle-like) and should provide a ton of useful stuff for DMs. And hey, even if a DM stumbles across a trap he doesn't like, perhaps it could function as a springboard for designing his own Grimmy-badness.

 

[physicscarp]

I saw this at the store yesterday and I can't wait to get it! I'm going to get it at Origins though along with Glades of Death. Will any of the Necromancer crew be at Origins this year?

 

[Vraille Darkfang]

Saw this the other day at the gaming store.

Flipped thorugh it real quick, but wasn't looking to hard as this week's purchase was going to be the DMG II.

I like monster books. And a Trap Book is sort of like a specialized monster book. So I'm interested. But...

I don't want to drop 40 buck on variations on the 'Yep, you're dead' theme.

Is The Wurst of Grimtooths Traps a collection of usable encounters to throw against your PC's? Or is it more of the "Let's see the most evil, vile, cool, excuriating way I get to kill you" trap? (Like most of the 1st ed traps were).

It seems to be striving for a 1st ed feel (whcih is fine), but I'm worried it also includes that 1st ed heart of "Yep, you're dead, make a new PC; He's Dead too. Yep, new one? Dead, 5 minutes, a record for longevity."

I HATED all those 1st ed dungeons that were nothing more than a series of Find/Rmove Trap rolls until you failed one. Then you died. Wasn't fun then, isn't fun now.

To summerize, does 'The Wurst of Grimtooths Traps' Challenge Players, or simply kill them?

 

[BSF]

I would encourage you to check the preview and review the CRs that are listed in the appendices. Grimtooth's traps were always interesting. Many times they could be bypassed with good thought. Many of them also relied on basic greed to get the adventurers into trouble. If your players are easily targeted through greed, or are generally careless, then I can see these all being very dangerous. Much will depend on individual groups.

 

[Orcus]

Vraille-

You are exactly the person we made the preview for.

I was worried that some people might think Grimmy's is all nothing but CR100 meatgrinder traps. So we did the preview so that you could see for yourself that there are a wide range of traps. Check out the appendix of traps by CR so you can see that there is a nice wide spread of traps of all levels of usefulness from simple to totally evil.

Clark

 

[DaveMage]

Well, despite Grimtooth's objections, I for one am very glad to see the d20 stats in there.