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<blockquote data-quote="Kariotis" data-source="post: 9334952" data-attributes="member: 7035116">It's my number one advice on anything trap-related: reverse psychology. Common sense tells us the players are after the loot, and it's secured by well-hidden traps. Well, if you spring a trap you only got the one moment of discovery. Suspense is a much better dynamic at a gaming table. Put the traps out in the open. Make them big and elaborate. Avoid hiding them behind spot-checks, just tell the players what the obstacles are so that they can start racking their brains at it. Then you start getting the character interactions, the in-game anecdotes about how &quot;it's just like when we were under Waterdeep&quot;, the Rube-Goldberg disarming schemes, people volunteering for crazy experiments. You don't even need much of an incentive or none at all. You can hide the loot. If anything, they will assume that an elaborate trap means that there's something important it's protecting, making them want it more than if it's out in the open. All you gotta make sure is that you honor that assumption. Even if it isn't loot, it should be worth the effort.Now, of course that doesn't mean you can't have your trip wire or rolling boulder trap from time to time to mix things up. But in general I've found it much more rewarding to think of traps as obstacles that are to be investigated than surprises to be sprung on the party. Think more heist movie and less Tom &amp; Jerry.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Kariotis, post: 9334952, member: 7035116"] It's my number one advice on anything trap-related: reverse psychology. Common sense tells us the players are after the loot, and it's secured by well-hidden traps. Well, if you spring a trap you only got the one moment of discovery. Suspense is a much better dynamic [B]at a gaming table[/B]. Put the traps out in the open. Make them big and elaborate. Avoid hiding them behind spot-checks, just tell the players what the obstacles are so that they can start racking their brains at it. Then you start getting the character interactions, the in-game anecdotes about how "it's just like when we were under Waterdeep", the Rube-Goldberg disarming schemes, people volunteering for crazy experiments. You don't even need much of an incentive or none at all. You can hide [B]the loot[/B]. If anything, they will assume that an elaborate trap means that there's something important it's protecting, making them want it more than if it's out in the open. All you gotta make sure is that you honor that assumption. Even if it isn't loot, it should be worth the effort. Now, of course that doesn't mean you can't have your trip wire or rolling boulder trap from time to time to mix things up. But in general I've found it much more rewarding to think of traps as obstacles that are to be investigated than surprises to be sprung on the party. Think more heist movie and less Tom & Jerry. [/QUOTE]

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