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What's the best trap you've ever unleashed upon your players?
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<blockquote data-quote="mrtauntaun" data-source="post: 2580327" data-attributes="member: 14429"><p>I love traps and puzzles as a DM. I love throwing them at my players and watching them try to figure them out. Doesn't go over well with the hack and slashers, but I believe it makes for a better, richer, overall gaming experience.</p><p>So I want to hear about your traps and puzzles! This thread doesn't have to be about traps that you've created per se, but can be about the best one you've used or incorporated into your game.</p><p></p><p>The best trap I've ever used was incredibly simple to solve, but due to the unique nature of player characters, it took a whole gaming session for the players to get past it. All, save one (the hack and slasher) thought it was one of the most rewarding sessions of the campaign. </p><p></p><p>A character walks through a doorway. He/she instantly dissappears. At this point, I take the player outside and describe the following:</p><p></p><p>'You arrive in a 30 foot square room. The room is well lit, but you can identify no source for this light, and no shadows are cast, even from you. The room is made of stone, and all surfaces, including the ceiling and floor, are an off-white color. What do you do?'</p><p></p><p>At this point i'll spend a few minutes with the character going over the results of various actions they try. Searching, attacking the walls, spellcasting, etc. After these attempts fail, i take them back to the group and start all over again with the next player, giving each instructions not to say a WORD. When they come up with more information, I take them aside again until they figure it out.</p><p></p><p>The solution? The room has an anti-magic field over it, so no spellcasting will work. There are no secret doors, no other traps, nothing on any of the surfaces of the room. As a player, they are driven to action, to try SOMETHING. To successfully get out of the room, the character must do NOTHING for 30 minutes. They must sit, meditate, read, but essentially remain in a state of low to no motion for 30 minutes. I eventually allowed sleep to count, as the hack and slasher was the only one who didn't figure it out, and it was holding up the group. After 30 minutes is up, a doorway appears to another room, where the other party members (who have escaped) are waiting.</p><p></p><p>I think it is a fiendishly clever puzzle, as a player just doesn't think about doing NOTHING, they must constantly act (as a general rule). Everything is action, little is reaction. You would be surprised how much time they spend trying to find out where the light is coming from.</p><p></p><p>I can't take 100% credit for it, a friend of mine in college used something similar, it's a variation of it, so it's not an original Mr. Tauntaun, but close. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f609.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=";)" title="Wink ;)" data-smilie="2"data-shortname=";)" /> </p><p></p><p>So what are your goodies?</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="mrtauntaun, post: 2580327, member: 14429"] I love traps and puzzles as a DM. I love throwing them at my players and watching them try to figure them out. Doesn't go over well with the hack and slashers, but I believe it makes for a better, richer, overall gaming experience. So I want to hear about your traps and puzzles! This thread doesn't have to be about traps that you've created per se, but can be about the best one you've used or incorporated into your game. The best trap I've ever used was incredibly simple to solve, but due to the unique nature of player characters, it took a whole gaming session for the players to get past it. All, save one (the hack and slasher) thought it was one of the most rewarding sessions of the campaign. A character walks through a doorway. He/she instantly dissappears. At this point, I take the player outside and describe the following: 'You arrive in a 30 foot square room. The room is well lit, but you can identify no source for this light, and no shadows are cast, even from you. The room is made of stone, and all surfaces, including the ceiling and floor, are an off-white color. What do you do?' At this point i'll spend a few minutes with the character going over the results of various actions they try. Searching, attacking the walls, spellcasting, etc. After these attempts fail, i take them back to the group and start all over again with the next player, giving each instructions not to say a WORD. When they come up with more information, I take them aside again until they figure it out. The solution? The room has an anti-magic field over it, so no spellcasting will work. There are no secret doors, no other traps, nothing on any of the surfaces of the room. As a player, they are driven to action, to try SOMETHING. To successfully get out of the room, the character must do NOTHING for 30 minutes. They must sit, meditate, read, but essentially remain in a state of low to no motion for 30 minutes. I eventually allowed sleep to count, as the hack and slasher was the only one who didn't figure it out, and it was holding up the group. After 30 minutes is up, a doorway appears to another room, where the other party members (who have escaped) are waiting. I think it is a fiendishly clever puzzle, as a player just doesn't think about doing NOTHING, they must constantly act (as a general rule). Everything is action, little is reaction. You would be surprised how much time they spend trying to find out where the light is coming from. I can't take 100% credit for it, a friend of mine in college used something similar, it's a variation of it, so it's not an original Mr. Tauntaun, but close. ;) So what are your goodies? [/QUOTE]
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