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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Steverooo" data-source="post: 2236482" data-attributes="member: 9410">And now, a word about... Tripwires & Alarms!A bell may be worthwhile in a dungeon (maybe!), but in the wilderness, it is more of a liability than an asset!  It will attract monsters to your camp, not warn you of them!Y'see, in the great out-of-doors, THE WIND BLOWS!  And every time that the wind blows, the bell will ring (or at least tinkle).  An alarm that is always going off is little to no use.  Here are several more useful alarms and tripwires...The first is a series of clapper-less bells tied along a piece of wire, with both the wire and the bells darkened.  The bells cannot ring unless the tripwire is hit hard enough to make them sway enough to bang into each other, as they have no clappers.  Thus, light breezes won't set them off, but a storm still will.  By stringing bells made from different metals along three or four sides of a camp, when the ringing starts, the PCs can determine which direction possible opponents are coming from.A quieter idea is to take several screw-eyes and screw them into trees around camp, then use a length of snare wire strung through them...  By affixing two pieces in a hemisphere about the PC, and then running the free ends back to fingers/toes, the hemisphere something blundered into can be determined by whether the left or right finger/toe received the tug.Of course, PCs need not be attached to tripwires, at all.  They can be hidden with a Hide roll, the DC to Spot them being equal to the number rolled to Hide them.  A failed Reflex save then results in a fall for 1D6 damage (unless near a cliff, thorn bush, etc.)!  If the tripwire also has bells on it, it will also alert anyone nearby that something is afoot!Even if an impromptu alarm is needed, deep in the wilderness, and no bells are available, one can usually be rigged easily enough from common materials at hand...  Wire or string, bootlaces, a piece of leather from a dead animal, cut circularly with a pointed knife, all will produce tripwires.  For noisemakers, coins hung about an inch of so apart (depending upon size), pierced by a nail to produce a hanging hole, will suffice.  Again, various metals can be used for different sounds.  Be sure to cover or camouflage the bright and shiny ones (or use dirty, older ones) so that glints of sunlight don't give them away, though!  If your campaign is non-standard, and tin cans exist in your world, these can easily be used, as well.  Once again, a nail (or knife) comes in handy for punching some hanging holes in them.  Many other items of metal work might likewise be pressed into service.  Be creative!</blockquote>

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