The Tricky Trap Thread

[Mark CMG]

All right, DMs/GMs/Referees/Facilitators of all stripes. You already have an idea of what you think this thread is about and are likely mistaken. Here's the challenge . . .

Without using any language that would allow a reader to know what system or edition you use, post how you adjudicate traps in a tabletop fantasy RPG. This is very difficult, so don't worry if you need to preview your post a few times before submitting it. Just describe the process in system/edition neutral languag. You can even use a trap description of one sort or another as an example, provided you don't tip off which system or edition you use . . . until the last sentence and then ONLY IN SPOILER TAGS.

As long as all of the system/edition info, and you can certainly clarify what you meant in the earlier part of your post with system/edition info if you feel it is necessary, but, again, only in the spoiler tagged section at the end.

Furthermore, don't read the other posts before you post and don't refer to someone else's post in your own post (what a giveaway that you didn't follow the instructions if you do!).

Lastly, the above rules only apply through the fifitieth reply. Once there have been at least fifty replies, and the thread has reached fifty-one total posts or more, can you jump in and begin discussing other people's posts and, hopefully, try to mostly discuss how someone might use the same system/edition you yourself use, only they use it differently than you do even if only in some small manner. House rules explanations are fine, and cross-system/edition explanations also, within the spoiler tagged section are likely.

If this is too difficult, though I'd imagine most creative people here on EN World should be able to do it with a bit of care, then please hold off posting in this thread at all or at least until after post fifty-one.

Things to be careful about include words like Skill Check, which while it doesn't definitively reveal system/edition, certainly narrows it down. Outright mentioning a system or edition by name is right out, of course. Watch out for mentioning certain measuring conventions, like ten foot poles and/or five or ten foot squares. Don't mention "Thief" or "Rogue," rather opting just to call a PC (might even watch out for that) simply an adventurer. Watch out for mentioning spells at all, let alone specific spell names, opting instead to perhaps use just the term "magic" to handle instances where that is necessary.

So, a narrative description of trap handling in a tabletop fantasy RPG, please, if you are up to the challenge!

 

[Celebrim]

Harpoon Trap:

The ceiling of this room is covered by spikes and dangling chains which are attached to a iron grill about 15' up. There are three trapped flagstones just beyond the entrance to the room. Each trap is 30% less likely to be detected than normal, and there is a 40% per untriggered flagstone that each will be triggered by someone passing beyond the entrance.

Whenever a trap is triggered, a harpoon fired from above the overhead grid makes an attack on the person who triggered it with a rate of success equal to a warrior with 10 degrees of skill beyond ordinary skill (or 50% more likely to deal at hit) and dealing damage as a spear hurled by a strong man. Anyone so struck is penetrated by the barbs of the harpoon, and the harpoon then immediately tries to reel in its catch. If the target weighs more than 400 lbs or is successfully resisted by the character's strength, then the barb immediately tears free dealing 100% of its original damage. Otherwise, the harpoon drags the character 20' across the room and 15' through the air toward the ceiling, where they are pinned against the down point spikes there recieving 1d4 additional attacks equal to a dagger wielded by a man with normal strength and with 6 degrees more skill than an ordinary warrior (or 30% more likely to deal a hit).

Anyone struck by 2 or more harpoons simultaneously, is pulled simultaneously in two directions. This ultimately rips both harpoons out, causing the barbs to deal 100% of the original damage, as well as rending the character for an additional 100% of the original damage.

A character pinned to the ceiling is bleeding and can not easily extricate themselves. The character can attempt to pull the barbs out himself utilizing his strength, but this operation is 20% less likely to succeed than normal because of the awkward position. Even if successful, he takes 100% of the original damage and now faces falling to the floor 15' below, though if he is skilled in climbing he can attempt to grab on to the chains or iron grid to which the spikes are attached. A character that is skilled in first aid may attempt to remove the barbs without further damage but this is a difficult act and further complicated by the need to reach the character (without setting off another trap). If the pinned character is skilled in first aid themselves, they may attempt the operation on themselves, but this is 25% less likely to succeed than normal.

 

[Deset Gled]

There is a long hallway that gently slopes downward. About halfway down this hallway is a very well hidden sensor on the floor. If this sensor is tripped, a portcullis closes at the opening (high end) of the hallway, leaving a few inches open at the bottom. A viscous slime starts to flow under the portcullis, slowly heading down the hallway. The slime is only about 1" deep when it starts to flow, but is extremely painful to the touch and seems to move by itself.

At the end of the hallway is a room that is always dark, even if the adventurers have a lantern or superhuman vision. The walls are lined with skeletons that had been chained to the walls. About halfway across the room, the stone floor suddenly drops straight down about 10'. This steep trench is about 10' wide. At the bottom of the trench (off to one side) is a lever. Pulling the lever once causes the bottom of the trench to slowly lower to a depth of more than 50'. Pulling the lever again causes the bottom of the trench to slowly raise to the floor level of the room. Pulling it again causes the floor of the trench to raise one foot above the floor. Continued pulling of the lever causes repeats this cycle (10' deep, 50' deep, floor level, 1' tall).

The adventurers can exit from the room in four different ways. 1) On the far end of the room, there is a well hidden door that can be found if they have enough time and skill to uncover it. This door can be resealed by the adventurers, blocking the slimy flow. 2) When the trench is in the 50' deep position, there is a door at the bottom that is partially covered by dirt. It is not immediately visible to the normal person, but can be found easily if there is a perceptive person who takes a little time to look around. This door can also be resealed by the adventurers. 3) Pulling hard on the chains on the walls (holding the skeletons) will pull down small parts of the walls, revealing passages to other parts of the dungeon. There is no easy way to reseal these holes, however. 4) If the party can neutralize the slime, they can lift the portcullis and return the way they came.

 

[Lanefan]

How do I adjudicate traps?

First off, traps certainly exist in my game and can be found in many of the usual places - needle traps in locks, pit traps, chute traps, spears-out-of-the-wall traps, teleport traps, puff-of-nasty-smoke traps, magic traps and glyphs, etc. Not everything is trapped, but they're common enough to be a known hazard.

If the players state their characters are searching for traps (an uncommon enough occurrence in and of itself except at doors - for some reason they always check doors) I roll some hidden dice whether a trap is in fact present or not, and tell them either that they find nothing or that they find something suspicious* about x-y-z. I'll go into greater descriptive detail if asked.

* - sometimes, on a really badly failed roll, I'll describe something suspicious when in fact there is no trap present.

The odds of success on said hidden dice roll(s) are tied to a bunch of factors - some to do with the searcher(s) and-or their methods of searching, others to do with the trap as in its type, concealment, familiarity, etc. - and said odds pretty much change every time.

Sometimes, I'll even roll to see if a trap the PCs blunder into doesn't trigger when it should. In other words, is the trap still working when the PCs in theory set it off? (on more than one occasion I've had characters fail to find a trap and then fail to notice it after they had in fact set it off and it didn't work - ignorance is bliss, ain't it?)

Lan-"I'll stop there as I don't know how to do the spoiler-hiding thingy"-efan

 

[Celebrim]

waiting

 

[Thunderfoot]

Traps are designed for three purposes in real life:

1. to alert nearby persons of the approach of intruders
2. to hinder/slow movement by inducing injuries to legs/trunks
3. to kill/permanently stop those that trip it

Therefore most "traps" as introduced in RPGs are rather impish or childish in my book.

A trap I like to use is a simple mechanical trap, a metal plate disguised with a "stone veneer" on a swivel pole. A pit with a 20' drop on large spikes at the bottom. Massive damage is incurred causing either death (point 3) or injuries and maiming (point 2)

A magical trap I use is a variation, an illusionary open pit is projected on the ground, behind it is a spike pit like the above with and illusion of whatever floor surrounds it is projected. if the first pit looks like it is only say 3' to 5' long and the entire width of the passage, someone will usually say "I just jump over it". The second pit is at least 10' long or longer and the width of the passage. The person jumps the first (usually making it easily) jumping directly into the spiked pit causing injury (point 2) or death (point 3).

 

[the Jester]

Interesting (and challenging) thread idea...

For me it depends. Obviously the mechanics are system-dependent, but a lot of how a trap runs depends on the trap itself. For instance, some traps are obvious: "You open the door and see a long narrow path above a gorge. Jets of flame shoot from the sides across the pathway. What do you do?" In other instances, there's no visible sign until the trap is either detected or triggered.

So I guess the first part of adjudicating a trap for me is determining whether the pcs are aware of it; depending on the system, this works in different ways- over the years, my rpgs have run the gamut from "You better ask what you see, hear, smell, feel and taste every minute or two or GOTCHA!!" to "You automatically notice a lot of stuff because you're naturally perceptive" and everywhere in between.

If the party is aware of the trap, they may try to disable, bypass or spring it, although it is sometimes impossible to do one or more of these. Some traps, if the party can't figure them out/doesn't want to (or dare) spring it, they will turn around and leave, maybe coming back later.

If the party triggers the trap, we play out the consequences; again, there is a long spectrum running from "You die and your soul is devoured" to "You stub your toe" and everywhere in between.

The details are too system-dependent, and I do or have played too many different systems, to really be more specific. I try to run traps to the strengths of the system they are in, if that makes sense.

 

[Aberzanzorax]

In my campaign, as DM, the adventurer who is to find traps must state that they are looking for them. Depending upon the size of the room or location they need to investigate, a simple "I look for traps" may be sufficient, or specific areas may be required.

Usually, it is important for those looking in locked areas to specifically state they are looking in those same areas (chest, locked drawer, etc).

In essence, there are clear "trap triggers" such as doors and chests and the like. Other areas, such as hallways in dungeons or other volatile areas that are renowned to be trapped usually just require an "I search the room".

Other areas, like an inhabited manor, tend to have MUCH less lethal traps, but searching is about the same.


Sometimes traps will be obvious as well (needing no detection). This can include a wide pit in the ground that must be traversed, a series of moving blades to quickly move through, etc. Some might consider these "hazards" or "monsters" rather than traps (depending on nomenclature and edition), but since they can be disarmed/disabled, I disagree. Think "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade with the webs and scything blades that only the penitent man could pass."

Sometimes traps are obvious and sometimes they are hidden. The story denotes the reasoning behind them.


One thing I do that is a houserule as part of the skill that allows for searching for traps is to provide the difficulty of removing the trap if the player exceeds the searching type of roll by more than a certain amount. It also allows players to learn the nature of the trap so that they can potentially disable the trap without using a roll to do so...e.g. it's a pit trap...so jump it.


In terms of getting past or disabling the traps, that depends upon the resources of the party as well as the type of trap itself. An adventurer trained in trap disabling might be able to disable the trap. This depends upon rolling. There may be no competent adventurer able to disable a trap. They must either suck it up or attempt to bypass it relying upon their toughness, agility, wits, or some out of the box thinking (10 foot pole, e.g.).

Due to my houserule, players will sometimes elect to engage the trap with other skills in the hopes that there is a deactivation lever on the other side of the trap, or they may use other abilites besides disabling the trap to bypass it.

Spoiler

I've done traps in this way in ad&d, 3.0, 3.5, and pathfinder.

 

[Janx]

Since the OT is about how I abjudicate a trap, I'm going to describe my general process, rather than a specific trap.

As a general rule, I assume that failed detection of a trap means that when I tell the PCs there's no trap, that it's final. If they check directly, I usually phrase it as "you don't find any traps." The PCs, at that point are doomed to step on the trap if they proceed as expected.

I also assume that PCs operate in one of two states, alert mode, or not. If PCs are alert (cautiously exploring a dungeon), then I assume they are always looking for traps and I roll for their detection automatically. Success means I reveal the trap before they trigger it, failure means I don't and that they trigger it.

For example, PCs in alert mode and exploring a dungeon and just walking down a hall are about to step onto a floor trap. I roll before they get to it. Success means I tell them "you sense something wrong with the floor in front of you". Failure means I tell them "as you are walking along, the flagstone you step on lowers and a trap activates..."

I do this automatic checking as a means to speed up play, and bypass metagaming on what I did or didn't say as to the existence of a trap. It also seems justifiable in the slower than molasses movement rates most RPGs grant.

PCs who are not cautiously exploring (walking through a familiar place, not wary for danger) do not get this assumption of trap searching. They must explicitly declare they are checking for traps. At this point, if they fail, I tell them "you did not find any traps".

Whenever they detect a trap, I tell them the nature of the trigger, or the effect or both, depending on how well I feel they did. They are then free, in character to explore the object further to force the trigger, bypass the trigger or avoid it.

Since looking for traps is always assumed for alert PCs, if PC further declares "I check for traps" it has no mecanical benefit.

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Since the topic is RPGs, I am writing assuming PCs, and dice rolls to determine success. Technically, that rules out dice-less games, but it also makes writing even more cumbersome to say "the GM determines if the PC is successful". Given that the topic is how I abjudicate traps, rather than what the players percieve, divorcing from any game nomenclature just isn't worth it. I think the most significant point about my method is that I automatically roll and then explain to the PCs what happened. Players who fail to detect a trap trigger the trap when they interact with it because their PC is convinced there is no trap.