What do you do to make traps more interesting?

[Pbartender]

A suggestion I saw somewhere else, was to change the style of the trap encounter...

Think about how many traps in the action-adventure movies don't get noticed until after they get set off, but the trap works slowly before killing its victims, giving them the time to find the mechanism that disables it. Now you've got a bit of tension and excitement at the table.

Search helps you find the mechanism...

And don't let the players roll a Disable Device check until they describe to you how they're disabling it...

"I jam one of the skulls into the rollers to try to slow the ceiling down..."
*Roll - Failure*
"The ceiling stops for an instant, before crushing the skull into powder and continuing its inexorable descent."

Or...

"I jam one of the skulls into the rollers to try to slow the ceiling down..."
*Roll - Success*
"The ceiling grinds to a halt. The skull holds... for now... Though an ominous creaking leads you to believe you don't have much time."

 

[Roadkill101]

I don't often use traps in the games I run. As the OP said, it's reduced pretty much to a simple die roll to overcome a trap, something I don't care much for. So when I do use a trap, it's fairly obvious and the party is forced to find a way to bypass it. More of a challenge and obstacle than random damage.

The last session I ran I used the simple pit trap to inhibit progress down a very long and poorly lit corridor. It was uncovered, the opening was 10' wide (entire corridor width) and 20' long. Furthermore the walls were not only smooth but angled away from the opening (providing an incline if at the bottom). it was 30' deep and the floor had numerous holes in the bottom.

No one in the party was an experienced climber, though several had rope. One of the fighter types took his sword and slammed it into the ground to provide an anchor and tied a rope around the hilt. Another fighter type took his sword tied the other end of the rope around the hilt and hurled like a javelin to just below the opposing lip of the pit.

Surprisingly the hurled sword actually managed to stick, unfortunately the aim was off so it stuck close to 20' below the lip. So they were back at square one.

One of the players decides their character will attempt to jump over the pit after a nice long running start. Luckily one of the spell-casting types realized they could just dimension door to the other side and did so, discovering the mechanism that not only opened and closed the pit cover, but also one that raised and lowered the spikes at the bottom.

Further down the same corridor, they ran into a similiar pit a creature they were chasing had just opened in front of them. One of the other spell-caster types used a push spell to operate the mechanism (knowing where and what to look for) to close up the pit and the chase was resumed.

Two fighter types lost swords (one was recoverable, but no one said anything about grabbing it before resuming down the corridor ). Two spells were used and a rope was lost. More than one person was able to contribute in the attempt to overcome the trap and perhaps more importantly the group got to roleplay in character the group discussion in how to overcome the trap.