Traps & Treachery

[Psion]

Traps & Treachery

Fantasy Flight Games is no stranger to the hobby game industry. They are the source of the Diskwars collectable disk game and the Blue Planet science fiction RPG. As is the case with many small game companies, they took the opportunity to support the D20 System with their own line of products. They call their D20 System line Legends and Lairs. Their initial entries were a number of mini adventures targeted at the D20 System fantasy (i.e, Dungeons & Dragons) segment.

Traps & Treachery is the first supplement-style product in their Legends & Lairs line. The central theme of Traps & Treachery is the rogue character class, and things that a rogue character is likely to deal with: thieves guilds, poisons, and traps. That said, this book is by no means merely a class book for the rogue. It is in large part a book for the erstwhile DM to present the rogue PCs with challenges.

A First Look

Traps & Treachery is a 176-page hardbound book. The book is priced at $24.95 US. The cover has the same ironbound leather look that the FFG's Legends & Lairs Instant Adventures have. The coloration is brown, which gives it a look very similar to the Dungeons & Dragons Player's Handbook, even more so that Sword & Sorcery Studios’ hardcover books (which also have an "iron bound book" motif but use more distinctive color schemes.) The front cover bears art that resembles engineering sketches on yellow paper, similar to the pages at the beginning of the D&D 3e PHB and DMG.

The interior is black-and-white. The margin design art is made to make resemble crinkled edges of sheets of vellum. Ink and pencil artwork decorates the interior and seems to be divided into two categories. Prominent in the first two chapters and sparsely in the rest of the book are crisply drawn action illustrations showing rogue like characters in a variety of situations. The last 3 chapters also include a number of illustrations of the mechanisms described in those chapters, and have a sketchier look.

The font used is rather large for the industry, and the column spacing is rather large as well. In addition to the content of the book, 7 pages are consumed by a preview of FFG's upcoming Mythic Races book, and 4 pages are consumed by ads. Combined, these give me some concerns about the use of space in the book; the book feels rather "padded" to me.

A Deeper Look

The book's content is divided into 5 chapters: Way of the Rogue, Trap Design, Mechanical Traps, Magic Traps, and Puzzles. In addition, an index is provided.

Chapter 1: Way of the Rogue

The first chapter, Way of the Rogue, is where all of the player oriented material is gathered. The first 15 pages or so are largely exposition, and focus primarily on how the traditional pursuit of rogues--thievery--is conducted. Although some of this is useful material for players who wish to model their rogues in the city thief style, DMs will probably get the greatest benefit from discussions of guild design.

The chapter has a number of prestige class options, primarily intended for members of the rogue character class. The prestige classes included are the discreet companion, the guildmaster, the roofrunner, and the trapmaster. The discreet companion struck me as a little odd at first, since I consider prostitution in a fantasy setting best handled by the NPC classes. However, upon closer examination I was please to see that the discreet companion is not made to represent a mere prostitute, but a member of a ring of well placed and talented information brokers. They belong to an order whose goals and nature are left to the DM (but is a rather convenient match for the Courtesans of Idra in Sword & Sorcery Studios' Scarred Lands setting.)

In addition to the prestige classes, it introduces a new NPC class in the same vein as those that appear in the 3e DMG: the thug. The thug is meant to portray the less talented counterparts of rogues in the same way that warriors are the less talented counterparts of fighters. The thug gets fewer skills and class abilities, and they get a watered down version of sneak attack called backstab.

The book introduces new skills, something I generally prefer that supplements avoid out of convention. However, it does not make the same mistakes that AEG's Dungeons does in introducing a flurry of new skills. Traps & Treachery introduces two new skills: mimic voice and urban lore. I personally wouldn't use mimic voice in a game: it seems way too specific for the general skill model used by the D&D 3e game. Urban lore is intended as the urban counterpart of wilderness lore and seems appropriately general and could be used to add detail to a city-based campaign, but it seems as if spot, hide, and gather information would already serve that purpose.

The new feats in the book seem useful, logical, and well conceived. Some of the feats include acrobatic (bonus to balance and tumble checks), craft magic trap, empathy (bonus to innuendo and sense motive checks), eye for detail (bonus to appraise and search checks), fast talker (bonus to bluff and diplomacy checks), mechanical aptitude (bonus to disable device and open locks checks), perfect memory, shadow (urban equivalent of tracking), signature skill (similar to cosmopolitan in FRCS, allows access to a cross-class skill). Many of these feats are cast in the mold of alertness and threaten to make the skill focus feat obsolete unless you alter it (as the D20 Star Wars game does by upping the bonus to +3).

The chapter provides a number of new pieces of equipment for rogue characters, especially of the larcenous sort. The section is brief but should be useful for players of rogue PCs.

A system for categorizing poisons is provided, and gives a brief rundown on the expected effects of a variety of poisons. The section also provides mechanics for the creation of new poisons, including a brew poison feat. Though I found the poison design guidelines useful, I question the inclusion of the feat as it seems to break with the convention of making mundane item creation the task of skills and magic item creation the task of feats.

Finally, the chapter includes new magic items and spells, again primarily targeted towards larcenous characters. This includes a well-conceived thievery clerical domain.

Chapter 2: Trap Design

If you run a classical campaign with trap filled labyrinths, then you may have felt that the DMG scrimped a little on its guidelines for creation of new traps by the DM. Fear not--Traps & Treachery fills that niche and does it with a well designed set of mechanics.

The chapter begins with a discussion of ways to use traps in a game, including creative and logical uses and avoiding conceptual pratfalls such as deadly traps along a hallway that the inhabitants of a lair regularly use.

The meat of the chapter is a simple menu driven system for creating the details of a trap, defining the details of the trap, its CR and construction time and cost.

Finally, the chapter includes a creature created for the express purpose of explaining where some of these traps come from. The arkitek (yeah) is an evil outsider that can be summoned as a sort of "trap consultant."

Chapters 3-5: Mechanical Traps, Magic Traps, and Puzzles

The last 3 chapters, which I won’t go into too much detail over, are a catalog of traps and puzzles that you can drop into your game, complete with illustration and D20 System statistics. The traps and illustrations don't have quite the grim humor that the old Grimtooth's Traps books did. But when it comes to fiendish disposition of "delvers", Grimtooth would be proud.

Conclusions

This should make a decent addition to the library of a DM of a campaign that prominently feature either urban elements or trap filled labyrinths, and players who frequently play rogue PCs should consider it as well. The mechanics and supporting exposition are well done and for the most part should work well in a game. I found very few rules related entries that I wouldn't use. I found mimic voice too narrow to justify as a D20 System skill meant to be used as part of a 3e game, and would only use urban lore and shadowing if I had a heavily city oriented game, but the rest seems very good.

The main fault of this book is that it seems very padded. The text density seems very low, owing to the large font and column spacing. The large amount of ads and promotional material (10 pages) seemed excessive to me. I liked what was there, but felt that there could have been more. Given this, the book doesn't quite stack up to the substance of books like Sword & Sorcery Studios' Relics & Rituals.

Edit:Trying to use the traps in play, I find that the large and unportable nature of the traps make them harder to fit. I recommend WotC's Book of Challenges over this book for it's drop-in nature.

This, coupled with some of the mechanical weakness of the book compels me to lower the rating of this book to 3.

 

[bramadan]

If I only got the first 56 out of 166 pages of this book it would still be well worth its price. That is not to say that the remaining 110 are of lesser quality, but rather that this book succeeds in what no other d20 rules supplement (except maybe “Relics and Rituals”) did – to make its content 100% useful for me.

First third of the book (said 56 pages) are essentially the thief class book – done in the way one can only wish for in the WotC published class books. It starts the obligatory info on playing thieves and on their role in the world. This info is similar to one usually given in WotC class books but is less verbose and marginally more useful.

Then come prestige classes. I have grown to dislike prestige classes by now; they are largely unbalanced (Hospitaler) and in many cases so obscure (Acolyte of the Skin, Master of Chains) as to be of very little use in most campaigns. Prestige classes in this book, though, are tightly balanced to the existing classes and, in my opinion at least, fill in rather important niches in the fantasy landscape.
Discreet Companion is a highly skilled courtesan-spy. This is so far the best rendering of such a character in game terms and will see much use in the games with renaissance flavor, especially if a city like Venice features in it.
Guildmaster is just that, a thief prestige class for those who intend to run their own guilds or organizations. Fact that there is so far no equivalent class for the fighters does make it a bit of an experiment but hopefully upcoming “Fields of Blood” will give us something to compare this one with. Till then it looks imminently playabe and even more usefull as an NPC class.
Roofrunner is brilliant. A single city specialist; something absolutely necessary in the campaigns featuring Lankhmar, Greyhawk, Ankh-Morpork or any other huge fantasy city. Like the Discreet Companion this prestige class suggests a whole campaign worth of ideas which can not be said often.
Trapmaster is an important specialist and although it is a more useful as an NPC class I can well imagine the dungeoneering rogues who specialize in this class. It is probably the perfect example of what a prestige class should be – an opportunity for the character to specialize in one area at the cost of others.

Two new skills are very useful and although I am very skeptical with allowing the new skills into the game I believe that both of those are actually needed. Urban Lore particularly is a most worthwhile skill and its attendant feat “Shadow” (the equivalent of Track for the wilderness) are definitely adding a new urban dimension to the game.

New items section is as useful as such a section can be – it is nothing to be amazed at, but there are some items I have not thought before and prices and descriptions for some I have.

Poison section is way more interesting and informative then its equivalent in DMG including the much more detailed instructions on preparation, pricing and categorizing variety of poisons. Enchanted and supernatural poisons is also rather interesting concept that I have not thought of for myself.

Magical items are nice and useful and spells (including a thievery domain) whle not many in number put to shame in terms of sheer ingenuity anything out of the Tome and Blood.

By now, there is about as much, if not more, useful material as I expect to get from the upcoming Song and Silence book (at least from the Silence part of it) but, lo, here comes additional 110 pages of absolute utility. The book has finished with Treachery and is onto the Traps.

I have to admit, I suck at designing traps and as such any book that does that for me is a valuable DM aid. My players are already sick of “poisoned needle in the lock” and “pressure plate activated blade” routines. This book is chock full of possibilities for expanding on those.
First chapter of this second part is dedicated to teaching the DMs the trap lore, how they are made, why there are there, what purpose do they serve, what kind of challenge they are and so on. Whether this will help my trap building capacities remains to be seen but is definitely he best written text on traps in game book that I am aware of.
Next chapter is one for which I originally bought the book. It is mechanical traps – about 60 of them thus increasing my library of those about thirty-fold they are all imminently usable in the dungeons regardless of the magic level of the campaign and bunch of them can see the use in the non-dungeon adventures that still involve breaking into other people’s homes, vaults and similar places.
Next are the magical traps, not so useful to me as the mechanical ones but still very ingenious and interesting. They largely do not presuppose too advanced spell casting for their setup (although there are exceptions) and are thus very good for those types of dungeons that are part of a temple or wizards abode. Again the sort of things that are very difficult to come up on ones own (for me at least).
Finally, there is (lamentably too short) chapter of puzzles on the utility of which in any fantasy campaign one can not say too much.

All in all – this is a class book and the book of traps rolled into one, beautifully illustrated from the inside and hardbound and I got it for only $4 Canadian more then the WotC class book which speaks volumes about its value for money. I do honestly believe that no DM whatsoever should miss this one and that even the players who play thieves can find value in it even if your Dm makes you tear out the last 110 pages and hand them to her.

 

[Psion]

If you do your original reviews in a word processor, you might want to turn off features like matching quotes, or post-edit your review to get all of the funky codes out of it.

 

[KDLadage]

updated on 22-NOV-02

By what measure should any book reviewed on these pages be given the coveted 5/5 rating? There are many ways to measure such a thing. But the most important, in my opinion, is to ask yourself the question: "without this book, what I am missing?" If you have no answer for this question, then the 5/5 rating is more than likely not warranted.

This book answers that question. And it does it in spades. What would I be missing?

• An excellent system for setting the challenge rating for traps of all kinds.
• An NPC class that, after reading it, I realize _should_ have been in the DMG. In fact, I cannot imagine (in hindsight) how this was missed.
• A great set of rules for handling Thieves Guilds / Gangs / Rackets / Mobs / etc. and playing Rogues as the masters of the underworld they should be.
• A whole slew of traps, puzzles and so on that harken me back to the days of Grimtooth.

Yes, this book has a lot to offer any and every campaign that you could think of. Do not walk, run to your game store and buy this. If you cannot handle that, get online and go to TALON and order it. Do it now. You will not regret it.

 

[Simon Collins]

Beware! This review contains major spoilers.
This is not a playtest review.

Price: $24.95
Page Count: 174
Cost Per Page: About 14 cents per page

Format: Hardcover

External Artwork: Very dangerously similar to the three major WotC D&D Core Rulebooks - indeed, even has the term 'Core Rulebook' on it. If anything is going to challenge the OGL guidelines, this'd do it. I still dislike the design as much as I did the WotC ones.

Internal Artwork: Most of the black and white artwork, which includes a lot of diagrams of traps, is generally of good quality, with a few average pieces and a few excellent pieces. However, much of the artwork (as opposed to the diagrams) is not relevant to the text, but more to the theme.

Page Use: Inside covers are blank. Three pages at the front and five pages at the back include various things such as credits, contents, ads and the OGL. There is also a 7-page preview of FFG's Myhtic Races sourcebook, a 3-page index/trap-by-CR listing. Text density and white space are slightly above average and, as noted, there is a lot of art here.

Writing Quality: The text is well-written and concise.

Whats Inside: The book begins with a short (1-page) introduction.

Chapter One: Way of the Rogue is a mini sourcebook for thieves in and of itself. The chapter begins with a section on Trap Lore (3 pages), detailing methods of recognizing traps through the senses or well-honed experience. A section entitled The Business Of Thievery (12 pages) looks at thieves' guilds: the business of guilds (extortion, protection rackets, blackmail, corruption, banditry, smuggling, taxes and fencing - where is burglary though??), guild membership, guild organisation (guildmaster, captain, lieutenant, journeyman, enforcer, and apprentice), the guild's role, and designing a guild (purpose, organisation, name, base, leader, operations, rituals, benefits, allies and enemies, members, alignment and description). This section includes a sidebar giving a brief sample guild using the guidelines. The next section (12 pages) details four new Prestige Classes (Discreet Companion, Guildmaster, Roofrunner, and Trap Master). A new NPC class, the Thug (1 page) is covered, followed by two new skills (mimic voice and urban lore). Following (5 pages) are a host of new feats (Acrobatic, Casing Sense, Craft Magic Trap, Empathy, Eye For Detail, Fast talker, Improved Knockout, Improved Ranged Sneak Attack, Improved Sneak Attack, Improvise Thieves' Tools, Keen Vision, Knockout Attack, Mechanical Aptitude, Perfect Memory, Poison Immunity, Quickstrike, Shadow, Signature Skill, and Stealth). New equipment (1 page) includes: Acid Drops, Honey Paper, Iron Backbone, Ladder Box, Ladder Staff, Night Drops, One-handed Drill, and Shingle Pick. The next section (6 pages) deals with poisons; it begins with an introduction and overview. It then discusses Types and Effects (irritants, nerve poisons, allergens, asphyxiants, psychotropic poisons, narcotic, and stimulant) and discusses first aid for poisons. It then lists some common poisons with stats (e.g. alcohol, poison ivy, toadstool), discusses manufacturing the standard poisons from the DMG, before going on to discuss new poisons. Type, Save DC, Initial and secondary damage, special effects, and manufacturing are discussed. The adavantages of new poisons are outlined, there is a sidebar with a new feat - Brew Poison - and an example poison is given. The next section (2 pages) looks at magical toxins and splits them into supernatural (purely magical effects) or enchanted (magical and mundane effects). Nine new magical toxins are given (draught of wounding, enfeebling sting, ghastly mist, paste of pestilence, powder of paralysis, seasoning of shrinking, tasha's hideous laughing venom, touch of the unholy, and will-breaker). Several new magic items (4 pages) are offered up (e.g. ring of magic detection, sword of silence), and (4 pages) several new spells (e.g. true filch, detect traps, invisible object) as well as a new Thievery Domain (including spells such as Knock and Dimension Door, as well as some of the new spells) for multiclassed rogue/spellcasters.

Chapter Two: Trap Design (14 pages) begins with a discussion of traps as challenges, security systems or dungeon special effects. Traps are classifed as either mechanical (simple/complex) or magical, and instant or extended. There is then a discussion of Trap Components (triggers, mechanisms (gravity, counterweight, spring, gear, pressure and magic), and effects (ensnarement, injury, movement, hindrance, and identification). Trap Construction looks at mechanical and magical traps separately. The next section deals with Challenge Ratings for traps, focusing on mechanical traps and linking DCs in with CR modifiers related to a baseline of CR 1. It also looks at different effects and relates these effects to different CRs. Two short sections discuss detecting and disarming traps in relation to DCs for Search and Disable Device skills. The chapter ends with a new monster, the Arkitek, an evil outsider with skills in crafting traps and poison use.

Chapter Three: Mechanical Traps (45 pages) introduces 42 new mechanical traps ranging from CR 1 to CR 10. each trap is given a set of relevant stats (Trap Type, Construction Type, Activation Type, Trigger, Mechanism, Effect, Attack Bonus, Damage, Save, Search DC, Disable Device DC, Challenge Rating and Construction Time/Cost. Most traps have a full dedicated page, with a diagram of how they work, and an accompanying description. Examples of traps from the book can be downloaded free from the company website.

Chapter Four: Magic Traps (22 pages) introduces 20 new magical traps again ranging from CR 1 to CR 10. The layout is exactly the same as the previous chapter, with stats, description and diagram.

Chapter Five: Puzzles (19 pages) discusses different types of puzzles that a DM could introduce into an adventure. The sub-sections of the chapter give examples of Logic Puzzles, Math Puzzles, Word Puzzles, Chess Puzzles, and Challenges And Tests.

High Points: Much of this book fills out roguish areas mainly untouched by the WotC core products - such as poison creation, and guild, trap and puzzle design. There is a lot in here for the DM but some useful stuff for players too (Chapter One is about 70% player-friendly). All of the information is presented in a very readable style. Despite not really quite living up to its claim as a Core Rulebook, there is enough really useful information in here to make it a significant and invaluable rules supplement.

Low Points: Forget the 174 or so page count. Be aware you're only getting about 150 pages of actual material, and a fair amount of this is art and diagrams (though at 150 pages, the price per page is still only 16 cents which isn't bad). Several of the feats are nothing that you couldn't come up with yourself, particularly where they have added together two vaguely related skills (e.g. Search and Spot), given a +2 bonus to them both and given it an appropriate name (e.g. Keen Vision).

Conclusion: Despite the padding, the actual content of the book really fills a gap in the market, and does it in a very palatable way. I personally wouldn't be without it for designing adventures, purely as a guideline for creating my own traps and puzzles. Invaluable to DMs and with some good crunchy stuff for players in the first chapter.

 

[Messageboard Golem]

Traps & Treachery is the definitive resource for traps, puzzles, mazes, and other tricks for d20 System fantasy games. Along with complete descriptions and beautiful illustrations of dozens of traps and puzzles, Traps & Treachery includes:

Complete d20 System rules for designing new traps; guidelines for creating memorable puzzles customized to your campaign; new rogue skills, feats, and equipment; new poisons, including supernatural toxins such as Medusa’s Tears and Demonblood; rules for creating and using poisons.

 

[gweinel]

This is a good piece of work.
Lets see what it has:
(I will not give many details since many of the above reviewers of this book descibe it very well)

1) Way of the Rogue: It has:
Prestige classes - Average at the best, not something spectacular. There is a new NPC (Thug) maybe the best part of this section. (Rate: 2/5)
Feats: Some feats are like +2 on 'a' skill plus +2 on 'b' skill but few others are good. (Rate: 3/5)
Poisons: One of the best chapters in the game. Many poisons and poison making rules. Great feat! (My assassin will have very good time!!) (Rate: 5/5)
Equipment - Magic Items: Not something above average (Rate 3/5)

2) Trap Design: Good instructions (Rate: 4/5)

3 &4) Traps:
The biggest part of the book and the best. Many traps mechanical and magical with challenge rating given for better use. The best book of traps. Many nasty tricks for your players. (Rate: 5/5)

5) Puzzles: Very good idea but i would really like more on this subject and more sample puzzles (Rate: 4/5)

Other notes: The greatest drawback is the text density and the price. It is very sparse written, it is not 174 pages what you get much more less. The quality is of the interior pages for a hardcover should have been better. The price for what is given should be lower.

Conclusion: The title of the book is what you get. They have done very good work with traps. If you are intersted in traps then go and get it. The other chapters of the book is average to good. If you are not annoyed with the average quality of the paper (although i admit that the artwork is fairly good) and expensive price then it is a must for any DM. Final Rate 4/5

 

[Nail]

Overall Rating: 3 stars (but a *high* 3 stars....maybe jus' 3.5 stars...)

A break-down of the factors:
Presentation: 4 stars (good enough....)
"Cool Idea" Factor: 4 stars (for most of it...)
Game Mechanics: 3 stars (Playtesters! Where are the playtesters!)
Value for my Money: 3 stars (I paid $30??!! It better be good...)

So.....I have to admit I bought this book on a whim. I said, "Hey, I'm in the mood ta buy a d20 product....an' look! It's being touted on EN World. What the heck...I'll support them an' get me a highly rated book too." So I plunked down my $30 (!!!, including the shipping) an' felt like a good net-izen.

Am I happy I did? Is all happy-happy in my world after I received this book? Errrrr......no.

I knew with a name like "Traps and Trechery" that I'd be gettin' a book about traps. (The book's got 174 pages, and 118 o' that is traps and puzzles.) An' I was also sorta hopin' for a book about treachery....you know, thieves guilds, PrCs, feats, special equipment, an' such. Hey, the advertisement said so, didn't it?

I'm afraid the book's a bit short with the treachery part, an' what's there is...err.....it could use a bit o' work.

This book could have been great, and blown any WotC presentation out of the water (like that pathetic peice of excrescence: Sound and Silence). The "Thug" class is a great example of this. An excellent concept overall: an NPC class equivalent to a rogue, like the NPC warrior is to the fighter. Fantasy worlds need these guys...after all not every low-life scum the PCs meet should be a Rogue. Being a Rogue implies training, focus, and exceptional talent. Being a thug jus' means you've worked the streets and picked up a few skills, but have little talent and no future. Perfect!

...But the PrCs in this book are poorly developed, the feats and skills are uninspired, and the thieves guild stuff is just....lame. <engage sarcasm shield> I'm fairly confident I could have figured out how thieves guilds use blackmail or protection rackets as a source of income. Telling me how corruption and banditry work is just insulting. And the much vaunted "d20 stat blocks for thieves guilds" is a huge waste. Why couldn't they have given me some more crunchy bits, like how the size of guilds varies with city size, how many guilds are viable in a given population center, what is the range of income a given sized guild can expect, what are the levels of the guild's members,...........etc, etc, etc.

Note to other d20 publishers: Please don't waste my time with fluff. Do your work an' give me the crunchy bits. It's your *job*.

"Okay, okay", you say, "but what about the traps section?"

Be patient, young jedi.........

First, about the poison section..... If you've read the other reviews, you'll see a pack of people (Monte Cook, fer one) that was impressed by this. Well.....it was interesting. It did give me ideas. And the mechanics are mostly worked out. But I was hoping for even more. They give a classification system, like allergens, psychotropic poisons, and narcotics, but with little in the way of game mechanic-outcomes. These are just stuck in for flavor, an I'm left with the job of filling in the rules. I can do that, I guess, but I was hoping a book on treachery would do it for me.

Okay, now to the traps and puzzles:

The traps section was very interesting. It got me thinking quite a bit about how traps work, how I can design them in the d20 system (DCs, Crs, attack and damage, etc) and how to make them "cooler" for the players. (BTW, this is an EXCELLENT consideration, and one that should be stamped onto all DM's foreheads: If stuff <like traps> ain't fun for the players, what's the point?) I loved the diagrams, and I'm still trying to figure out how to use those in a game as a "post-trap", "de-briefing" hand-out. If you like Grimtooth, et al, you'll love this (although, you've also actually seen most of these already, in one form or another).

But again, my quibbles are with the game mechanics.
#1) They give a "Stat block" format to each trap, complete with search and disable DCs, CRs for the whole trap, etc. Hey, that's great. But if you look at most of the rest of that stat block, you'll find it doesn't actually add anything -- it's just filler. "Construction type", "Activation type", "Mechanism", etc are just flavor. They don't determine cost, DC, or CR...or anything else. They don't simplify the description. They don't provide an "abstract" of the trap's abilities. (Compare a spell stat block to a trap stat block. You'll see the difference pretty quickly.) I kept getting the impression that half of the stat block was there just to make it "look official". Guys => knock it off.
#2) The construction times and costs don't seem in line with other sources, or even common sense. For example, "Blackstone's Killer Kennel", a complex mechanical trap, costs 2000 gp and takes 2 weeks to build. But it's composed of a 30 foot diameter circular room, with at least 5 ajoining rooms (to keep the beasts in -- hey, it *is* a kennel, after all). I'm left wondering if the "cost of the trap" is really just the cost of the mechanisms and gears, and just BYOD (Bring Your Own Dungeon). And what about upkeep costs? Up-keep is crucial!
#3) The magical trap cost (gp and xp) is *way* off. They forgot that for magic items (of which a magical trap is one type, I'm sure) have a base price determined by: (Spell level) x (caster level) x (some factor, see DMG). I went in and re-did a few of the costs......as you can imagine, most costs are off by a factor of 2 to 9 or more. But I suppose this is a sorta "errata"-type mistake, and easy enough to fix. Just remember to add in the cost of the mechanical trap too.

There's more, of course, but it's all minor quibbles.

The puzzles section was good, but...err....stolen. I've got a few logic puzzle books, and I'll quote you the pages T&T stole out of 'em, if you like.

*************************
OVERALL IMPRESIONS
*************************

Hey, I know there's alot of grumblin' here. "It's my job." And I'll use the silly book occasionally. The presentation overall is good, the "cool idea" factor is moderately high (but for just the traps and poison sections), and the book does fill (much of) its niche. But it could be better. I'll give it a 3 star, though it might deserve a 4. Maybe my standards are too high. I must admit, I've bought few d20 books, so my perspective is limited. But darn it, if yer gonna publish d20 stuff.....well, make sure your mechanics are sound, the useful info is there, and it's not full of fluff. Give me the crunchy bits!

Give me somethin' ta work with, er yer back side'll feel me boot-leather!

-Nail

 

[Messageboard Golem]

This week's review is Traps & Treachery by Fantasy Flight Games. This is the first book in their Legends & Lairs series for the d20 gaming system and it is one of the best sourcebooks out there. The first 56 pages contains information that primarily concerns rogues. Much of it is nothing that hasn't been presented before, but there are some interesting things nonetheless.

Besides presenting the heirarchal structure of a guild, there are four prestige classes that are primarily designed for urban campaigns but have a nice feel to them regardless. The new NPC class (Thug) and the new skills do come across as a little lame, but some of the new feats compensate for this deficit. The section on poisons gives new options and new poisons from those listed in the Dungeon Masters Guide. Finally, the magic items and new spell listings are mostly interesting but do lack a certain luster and shine.

The remainder of this 159 page book represents the real meat and potatoes; traps, traps, and more traps. A very brief section is devoted to the creation and disarmament of traps, but the rest is a compilation of all kinds of mechanical and magical traps. One of the strongest points of this book is how each trap is presented. Not only is there a detailed description of exactly how the trap works and how it has to be disarmed, but there is an accompanying diagram complementing the text. Most of the traps are very original and some are downright lethal. I have used some of them in my campaign with devastating effect. Needless to say, the party's rogue has gained a new measure of respect.

Overall, this book comes highly recommended. It now serves as an integral part of the core rules that I use in my campaign. At a retail price of $24.95, it is worth every penny for any DM who designs his own adventures or likes to modify published ones.

To see the graded evaluation of this product, go to The Critic's Corner at www.d20zines.com.

 

[Vanuslux]

There were three major reasons behind my decision to purchase Traps & Treachery. Reason #1 was that rogues are one of my favorite classes. Reason #2 was that I really love the d20 mechanics for traps. Reason #3, probably the most important factor, was the heaps of praise I heard lavished upon this product. It took me quite a while to obtain a copy of Traps & Treachery, and once I did I must say my reaction was luke-warm.

Appearances - A hardbound book with 174 pages, give or take a few ads. I find the cover quite inviting, and the interior art really impressed me. The layout is pretty uncomplicated and easy to follow. If I have any complaint is that the font size seems a bit large. That's pretty common to d20 products though.

Contents -

Chapter 1 - Way of the Rogue: This 52 page chapter is most useful chapter for players. It starts with some exposition about how to really get into the roguish role. It's about as good as this sort of information gets. Hot on its heels is a small set of urban oriented prestige classes (Discreet Companion, Guildmaster, Roof Runner, and Trapmaster) and a new NPC class (Thug). The first two prestige classes didn't impress me much, but I liked the latter two. Though I may be biased, as the Roof Runner reminds me a lot of my first character ever...a 2nd Edition Thief who never left his home city. The Thug is pretty basic, though it seems little more than a simplified Fighter/Rogue multiclass.

Then we get a pair of new skills. Most people are adverse to new skills (Mimic Voice and Urban Lore), and I understand the reasoning behind the sentiment. Urban Lore seems worthwhile, but Mimic Voice seems to be a throwback to games were every slight specialization of a skill was treated as an independent skill.

After that, we get a nice selection of feats. Most of them are just different combinations of +2 to two different skills, but most are fairly reasonable. My particular favorite is Casing Sense, which helps a rogue quickly recognize the most valuable items in a room.

Next is some new equipment. There's some pretty cool things in here like honey paper and one-handed drills. Then there is a sizable section on poisons, both mundane and supernatural. There's also some supplemental rules regarding creating these substances. After that is the magical items sections, which frankly didn't feel very inspired.

The last part of the chapter is a new clerical domain (Thievery) and a small assortment of rogue related spells like Detect Traps and Invisible Object. Nothing really exciting, but they seem balanced and could easily find use in the hands of a magic using rogue.

Chapter 2 - Trap Design: A nice set of trap construction rules. I've not gotten a chance to tinker with it much, but I haven't encountered any major problems using them so far. The last page of this short, 14-page chapter is a new creature, the Arkitek. Basically a humanoid-like outsider with a penchant for devising traps. I'll probably end up using it at least once in my DMing career.

Chapters 3 & 4 - Mechanical Traps and Magic Traps: These two chapters combine to 83 pages and make up the main point of the book. Traps. A lot of them. Most of them are pretty darn cool. There's a pretty good variety here, which is important. Many of them are more elaborate than I'd ever actually use, but there's still plenty of useable stuff for a guy like me who prefers his traps to be effective and straightforward rather than goofy, bad comic villain style complexity. I especially like the magic traps, as they at least have some inherent explanation for their quirkiness. Magic users are typically show offs, sadists, or just nuts.

Chapter 5 - Puzzles: The last real chapter, 20 pages in length, consists of a few dozen (well...almost) nifty puzzles of various types. Some could also be considered traps, but others are just meant to confuse and discourage the characters that encounter them. They are pretty neat, and I really stink at concocting puzzles. Thus I'm fond of the chapter.

Free Preview - Traps & Treachery II: Ten more traps to inflict on the PCs. Good stuff, though they don't entice me to purchase the book they're previewing. I think I have enough traps to last me a good, long while

In Conclusion - This is a really good book that does what it sets out to do quite well. It is attractive, reasonably price, and has solid content. The only reasons I don't rate this book higher is because of the frequent lapses into the realm of boring. A lot of the book just doesn't leap out at me as particularly fresh or exciting. Just nicely done. Even so, it's a worthy book for any collection.