Traps (Esp. Ancient Traps)

[mmadsen]

In a recent discussion of Robin's Laws of Good Game Mastering, ColonelHardisson suggested roleplayingtips.com for, well, roleplaying tips. I enjoyed this little tidbit from an archived article on traps:

Ancient Traps Are Different From Very Recent Ones

Ancient traps may well have become useless over the time. Some have been triggered, and some have otherwise become inert, either in part or in whole. For example, a trap that lets a monster loose on a party could once have been very impressive. The mechanism may still work, but the monster may no longer be a threat to the party.

I love the visual of the ceiling opening up and dropping a pile of snake skeletons on the party. Undead? No, just long dead.

 

[Crothian]

That is a good idea. My favorit is traps that don't work as they are supposed to. The trap door that opens part way or the arrow traps that the springs aren't as tight so the arrows just sort of fall to the ground after they are shot.

 

[mmadsen]

The second half of the article has another good tidbit on breaking down a trap into its constituent parts and tackling them individually:

Think of the trigger, the connection, and the effect separately. Then the players can use their ingenuity against the trap by pursuing any of the four basic ways to overcome the trap:

• Bypass the trigger. This leaves the trap intact. Doing so is often difficult and risky, but possible.
• Sever the connection between the trigger and the effect. The trap can still go off, but no longer cause harm.
• Prevent the effect itself.
• Trigger the trap, survive the effect. Many traps expend their potential all at once. Not all, but most.

Even if you're not particularly clever about it, you can turn a trap into multiple die rolls -- more like combat and less "oops! you die!"

 

[mmadsen]

My favorit is traps that don't work as they are supposed to. The trap door that opens part way or the arrow traps that the springs aren't as tight so the arrows just sort of fall to the ground after they are shot.

Hehehe. You could probably have a lot of fun with an Orc stronghold full of traps that don't quite work.

 

[Mistwell]

Traps & Treachery breaks every trap down in the book, so you know how it is supposed to be disabled...there are plenty of good ideas in there for traps that you could make partially function.

 

[Tonguez]

These are fun

When I create ancient ruins I always include a few acid jets in which the acid just oozes out corroding the metal casing, or rolling boulder traps in which the boulder is jammed (until the gnome dislodges it whilst attempting to disarm)

 

[JoeGKushner]

The title of this is an idea though. Ancient Traps of the real world. Might make for some interesting reading, especially if broken down into D20 terms.

 

[mmadsen]

Ancient Traps of the real world. Might make for some interesting reading, especially if broken down into D20 terms.

Now that you mention it, how much do we know about ancient traps in the real world? Someone out there must've written a book on it, right? Or at least traps (and other defensive measures) in Egyptian tombs.

 

[mmadsen]

On the subject of failed traps, I'm thinking of have a failed magical fire trap instead spew out those awful "snakes" -- you know, the fireworks from 4th of July that start as a black pellet and grow into a "snake" of ash.

 

[Maldur]

I used a ancient fire trap once that was damaged in the following way: Instead of a large cloud of flame, a large cloud of powder ( the dried up flaming agent) belowed out. The powder worked like itching powder and the party had to hold their breath until a safe spot, (or cough their heads off) and then strip and clean their armor, and equipment. (and yes while cleaning I had them attacked by undead ) Worked very nice, and my players didn't kill me for cheating them outoff their armor, cause it was a plausible scenario.

cheers, maldur

(edited due to terrible english, not that i was able to fix that completely)