Should traps have tells?

[overgeeked]

Tangent from another thread.

Simple question.

Should traps have tells?

 

[Morrus]

I think they’re more fun if they can be spotted, figured out, and circumvented by clever thinking rather than ability checks. The ability check should be available as a back up though.

 

[TheSword]

Tangent from another thread.

Simple question.

Should traps have tells?

Yes and no. It depends what you’re using them for. But the essence is that a trap is meant to be interacted with. That’s the key thing. If the trap isn’t interacted with then it’s kinda pointless.

1 The trap has a tell and the PCs are capable of spotting it. This gives the PCs chance to use some skills. I had a trap in undermountain where some sloped corridors and scuffed suggested an Indiana jones rolling ball. The PCs got to find the pressure plates and jump over them. In some cases climbing round the corners with some rope and pitons.

2. The trap has a tell. Is easy to avoid but interacts in some other way. Either to make a combat more interesting. In the ball case the party were combing back encumbered by treasure and the club/jump checks were harder. The last party member triggered a ball and they all had to run pell mell down the corridors deciding whether to drop treasure to run faster or hope for the best.

3. The trap doesn’t have a tell but is interesting and not just something to chip some hp off the players. A genuinely interesting encounter trap that that PCs can interact with. The Indiana Jones spiked roof trap. Or the crash compactor in Episode 4. Maybe the trap changes the dungeon in some way - Lost Ark sinking pedestal trap. In this case I think it’s fine that they not be discoverable. In this case it would be more dull if the trap was found and discovered.

Traps can be a form of world buildings. They’re part of the exploration Pillar of D&D and can tell players a lot about the kind of people that made the dungeon/locale.

I really like traps. I think they get a bad rap. I enjoyed running Tomb of Annihilation and Undermountain for the reasons above.

 

[Zaukrie]

I think they’re more fun if they can be spotted, figured out, and circumvented by clever thinking rather than ability checks. The ability check should be available as a back up though.

Agreed. Otherwise they are just resource drains.

 

[Basic Expert]

Yes and no. It depends what you’re using them for. But the essence is that a trap is meant to be interacted with. That’s the key thing. If the trap isn’t interacted with then it’s kinda pointless.

100% agree. Give the players choices at some point in the process. Part of that might be letting them know there is a trap and let them figure out how to avoid triggering it.

"Hmm, the floor is trapped...can I levitate over to the other side and pull the deactivation lever or perhaps someone can lasso it with a rope, but will a missed attempt trigger the trap?" is far more engaging gameplay than: "You step on a pressure plate causing poison gas to fill the room. Everyone takes 18 poison damage, save for half."

Surprise ambush traps might have their place to force basic attrition on a party, but they are rarely interesting. If overused they can slow a party to dull crawl as each square inch of the dungeon is carefully analyzed and probed. Which is not exactly the stuff of high adventure.

 

[Fenris-77]

I prefer some telegraphing for traps. I also think it's more interesting. I don't like gotchas, nor do I like groups spending a month of Sundays searching every 10' of corridor for pit traps.

 

[FitzTheRuke]

I like involved set-piece encounter traps that run like monsters, except the solution isn't (at least, not always) to just "hit it until it drops". An example would be the one that I call "The Grinder". It's a little "gotcha", but it's fun: The party is at a staircase leading down. The first one to the bottom step triggers the trap. A drum pops up at the bottom, which spins with chains that flail at the bottom ten feet (usually the triggering PC and maybe one behind them). When they hit the (stone) stairs, they create sparks. At the same time, the stairs flip flat, and oil starts pouring down from the top. It takes a few rounds for the oil to reach the sparking chains, but if it does, it will ignite. It's also slippery and slides people down to bunch up at the bottom.

The exact mechanics aren't important (to me, at least) but the players can "smash the drum" (or possibly jump over it), or they can plug the oil, or they can find a control panel (at the top of the stairs) or they can have stayed at the top and throw ropes down for the others, or whatever they come up with.

I've run it a few times. People tend to enjoy it.

 

[overgeeked]

From a game perspective, yes, of course traps should have tells. These are games about choices. Without choices to make, traps are just time/resource sinks.

From a verisimilitude perspective, no, of course traps should not have tells. Traps are placed to scare, harm, and hinder people. Giving them tells defeats the entire point of traps.

It's all down to which of those is more important to you. Game play or verisimilitude.