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What Are Traps For?
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<blockquote data-quote="EzekielRaiden" data-source="post: 9268363" data-attributes="member: 6790260"><p>Since I find most attritional gameplay pretty boring, regardless of which side of the screen I'm sitting on, I don't really use attrition traps.</p><p></p><p>I do use puzzle traps, but I also use what I would call "environmental" traps/hazards. That is, traps and hazards which aren't really encounters in their own right, but which complicate the process of doing other things. They aren't there to sap resources--they're there to induce critical thinking. "Okay, we need to get the statue out of that room...but there's a pit trap halfway down the only hallway out. How do we get it out of there?" That sort of thing. The trap might end up consuming resources, for sure, but it's not there <em>in order to</em> consume resources. It's there to enrich the process of interacting with the world.</p><p></p><p>When I use such things, I try very hard to both (a) make them very natural, so it truly makes sense that that thing would be there, and (b) ensure that they feel "fair," in the sense that it's not a <em>bottomless</em> pit trap, it's not a Sphere of Annihilation inside the mouth, etc., but rather an understandable and learnable thing that the players can then engage with and, potentially, even exploit for their own benefit. (My players always get very happy when they can do that!)</p><p></p><p>That "fair play," not in the sense of some mathematical formula (those are useful for other things), but in the sense of setting down what is and isn't true and sticking to it even if that "breaks" something I intended to do--that's a big part of DMing for me. It's also a big part of why I have a pretty dim view of the DMing style that mocks the concept of fairness, balance, etc. "Screw the rules, I have the power to do what I want" is a bullet-train (or perhaps a bulette train?) to arbitrary and capricious gameplay, and I <em>emphatically</em> never, ever want to be that kind of DM.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="EzekielRaiden, post: 9268363, member: 6790260"] Since I find most attritional gameplay pretty boring, regardless of which side of the screen I'm sitting on, I don't really use attrition traps. I do use puzzle traps, but I also use what I would call "environmental" traps/hazards. That is, traps and hazards which aren't really encounters in their own right, but which complicate the process of doing other things. They aren't there to sap resources--they're there to induce critical thinking. "Okay, we need to get the statue out of that room...but there's a pit trap halfway down the only hallway out. How do we get it out of there?" That sort of thing. The trap might end up consuming resources, for sure, but it's not there [I]in order to[/I] consume resources. It's there to enrich the process of interacting with the world. When I use such things, I try very hard to both (a) make them very natural, so it truly makes sense that that thing would be there, and (b) ensure that they feel "fair," in the sense that it's not a [I]bottomless[/I] pit trap, it's not a Sphere of Annihilation inside the mouth, etc., but rather an understandable and learnable thing that the players can then engage with and, potentially, even exploit for their own benefit. (My players always get very happy when they can do that!) That "fair play," not in the sense of some mathematical formula (those are useful for other things), but in the sense of setting down what is and isn't true and sticking to it even if that "breaks" something I intended to do--that's a big part of DMing for me. It's also a big part of why I have a pretty dim view of the DMing style that mocks the concept of fairness, balance, etc. "Screw the rules, I have the power to do what I want" is a bullet-train (or perhaps a bulette train?) to arbitrary and capricious gameplay, and I [I]emphatically[/I] never, ever want to be that kind of DM. [/QUOTE]
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