Should traps have tells?

[Argyle King]

Depends on the skill of the trap maker, the purpose of the trap, and the environment.

There's also a bit of a horseshoe to consider.

An unskilled trap maker who is in a rush might leave an obvious tell that makes it easy to spot and avoid (or disable) the trap.

An especially skilled trap maker with a lot of time may leave an obvious tell as a red herring to manipulate potential targets into the kill zone of something worse.

In either case, I think it should be possible for players to discover relevant information. In the case of the latter, it may be the reputation of the person credited with constructing a tomb or a reputation of a particularly troublesome Kobold tribe that gives some insight into what to suspect.

If the trap is intended to be more like battlefield terrain to spice up an encounter than an ambush or attack, I'm more included to make the trap obvious.

Typically, I like there to be some sort of cue either at the site of the trap or prior to venturing to where said trap is because I think that's more interesting. But I also think that there are justified circumstances for not providing one.

 

[Bill Zebub]

It's interesting how different people interpret the question "should traps have tells?". Some variations in this thread:

• What is realistic?
• What are the rules?
• What is fair?
• What is fun?

 

[Reynard]

It's interesting how different people interpret the question "should traps have tells?". Some variations in this thread:

• What is realistic?
• What are the rules?
• What is fair?
• What is fun?

I am mostly Team Fun, with a side of Fair.

 

[John Dallman]

Depends on the skill of the trap maker, the purpose of the trap, and the environment.

You've just caused me to realise that I need to use a trap that has gone off prematurely, killing the person who was installing it. Their body is still inside it.

 

[overgeeked]

It's interesting how different people interpret the question "should traps have tells?". Some variations in this thread:

• What is realistic?
• What are the rules?
• What is fair?
• What is fun?

Yep. For me it’s mostly about what’s realistic and fun is secondary. To me, old-school gaming with Tucker’s Kobolds and fantasy Vietnam can be incredibly fun. But that’s because it focuses on what’s realistic while ignoring what’s “fair” and the rules. Combat as war and all that. Players using their brains to solve problems. Etc.

 

[Bill Zebub]

Yep. For me it’s mostly about what’s realistic and fun is secondary. To me, old-school gaming with Tucker’s Kobolds and fantasy Vietnam can be incredibly fun. But that’s because it focuses on what’s realistic while ignoring what’s “fair” and the rules. Combat as war and all that. Players using their brains to solve problems. Etc.

Interesting.

It seems the word "realistic" is also being used in multiple ways.

 

[overgeeked]

Interesting.

It seems the word "realistic" is also being used in multiple ways.

Realistic in the sense that traps are built to harm, maim, and kill rather than be easily-spotted gameplay elements.

 

[Retros_x]

I enjoyed running Tomb of Annihilation

Thats interesting because I hated the traps in ToA and many of them did not fall under the three points you make in your post . We had multiple character deaths due to traps without tells hidden behind a roll. Maybe our DM naughty word it up I don't know. I only know the adventure from a player perspective.

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.

Most RL traps have tells if you're attentive, especially pre-modern warfare. The wire of a tripwire is not invisible. I just assume the PCs are experts, slow and careful, thats why I am telling them the tells. Yes, in 5e you could hide the tell behind perception roll, but I hate that. You can also use "indirect" tells, that the trap makers did not have intented, especially on traps that can get triggered multiple times. Less dust on the trapdoor, the remains of the last victim of a trap etc.

 

[TheSword]

Thats interesting because I hated the traps in ToA and many of them did not fall under the three points you make in your post . We had multiple character deaths due to traps without tells hidden behind a roll. Maybe our DM naughty word it up I don't know. I only know the adventure from a player perspective.

Most RL traps have tells if you're attentive, especially pre-modern warfare. The wire of a tripwire is not invisible. I just assume the PCs are experts, slow and careful, thats why I am telling them the tells. Yes, in 5e you could hide the tell behind perception roll, but I hate that. You can also use "indirect" tells, that the trap makers did not have intented, especially on traps that can get triggered multiple times. Less dust on the trapdoor, the remains of the last victim of a trap etc.

All pre-published campaigns are a starting point for me not the end.

 

[rmcoen]

From a "defend my place" perspective, traps are meant to discourage or kill intruders when you aren't there, or supplement your defense when you are there. Traps should never be about mildly inconveniencing the intruders... that's just a waste of the defender's time and resources. [This goes for most "puzzles" too... is this an ego-trip thing, or kind of a "password protecting your lab" thing?]

So when I put traps into a location, I am considering what the defender felt was a likely threat -- and how the defender would reasonably avoid/turn-off the traps for daily use. A 10' false floor on the main hallway better have an alternate way around, or a jam/block mechanism that allows the trap to be "off" -- I have enough trouble remembering to avoid the slippery spot on my own wood floor where I spilled the cleaning solution last week, and that'll break my neck as easily as a 10' fall! Likewise, if the hostile neighbors/invaders are kobolds, my traps need to be low, and "lethal" enough to inflict about 7 damage... which isn't a threat to most adventurers after 1st level, but in this case, I wasn't trying to kill adventurers!

Lastly, I think about the nature of the location -- this will come up again in a moment -- as this influences how the trap has potentially aged. In the old Palace of the Silver Princess D&D module, the players fall into a pit trap filled with oil, and then a torch is dropped in... an UNLIT torch, because the guards are gone (stone, iirc?) and couldn't maintain the lighting mechanism!

So that's the background thought behind the purpose of the trap. To the OP's question, though, "Should the trap have tells?" If this is a "ruin" or a long-inhabited location - i.e. time has passed since the trap was installed - then my answer is almost always "yes". It might have been hidden at first, but now the PCs can see the stone is worn on the left side of the hallway just in this 15' or so... or maybe the darthole cover weathered at a different rate/fashion than the surrounding stone, and now no longer blends in. Sometimes, though, I like to have the "tell" be discoverable information - perhaps during researching the dungeon or its creator, the PCs learn he has a penchant for scythes, or hired a master dwarf to create moving-stone traps? Or a receipt discovered in an earlier room for "18 dart throwers, 100 poison-tipped darts, and 3 trigger mechanisms"...

Is the trap meant to DISCOURAGE intruders? Then "yes"! It should be obvious - an OPEN pit, with spikes, and maybe even a ceiling-turret behind it to DISCOURAGE the jumpers.

OTHERWISE, "no"! The trap is meant to kill intruders, why the heck would I advertise it? HOWEVER, PCs are exceptional people with exceptional and often supernatural abilities to sense the hidden and avoid the unexpected. So I might set a REALLY high DC (for that Alert expert-Perception PC to try for) to notice something no one else could possibly see ("curious how the veins in the marble wall are almost perfectly circular in a couple places near the floor up ahead... on both sides..."). And love the mechanic I read about long ago: "Click! what do you do?"