What's your favorite trap?

[fireinthedust]

I don't like any traps. Either you spot them beforehand and nothing happens, or you trigger them and the next chance you get to do anything is after the trap has already done its work and there's nothing you can do about it.
You can't interact with traps, they just happen and reduce some HP in most cases.

I'll have to disagree! There are those traps, but there are also some great ones with foreshadowing involved. You have to interact with the environment, and that's what does it. On top of that, there can be hints, riddles, puzzles... a good trap is a thing to enjoy, and does involve interaction.

That's what makes it a trap!

Question: how would you make a trap so that it isn't the kind of trap you dislike? I've read your posts, you could come up with some fun ones I'm sure.


Fave trap: Riddles and puzzles. Things I have to figure out.

 

[fireinthedust]

also: Marriage! (jk!!!!)

 

[jedavis]

RV Loans

... amusingly, actually kind of a trap. The bots are getting smarter.

Also, [MENTION=6670763]Yora[/MENTION], I recommend Ars Ludi's classic Bad Trap Syndrome. He looks at exactly the problem you cite and considers solutions.

[MENTION=40522]Dykstrav[/MENTION] - I've been considering something similar to the armor+water trap that you mention, though I was going for a party-wide blast of a salt which forms a strong acid when dissolved. Fire in water is probably more fun just on a juxtaposition basis, especially if they're carrying alchemical fire or lantern oil.

[MENTION=91988]valis[/MENTION] / C - Always happy to link to quality material, and yeah, I find your focus on agency inspiring. Keep up the good work!

As for anti-gravity tricks, I think one of my favorites is a 20-foot high room where the bottom 10 feet have reversed gravity, the top 10 feet have normal gravity, and both floor and ceiling have spikes. That and the one in Tomb of Horrors with the pillars that induce levitation.

 

[DMH]

I also like places that are alien, not because of magic but because the laws of nature/physics are different (i.e. they can not be dispelled). Invisible portals between planes, places where verbal language don't work, areas that don't support intelligence (feeblemind or worse in effect) and places where distance and direction don't make sense (walk what looks like a straight line and find yourself 90 degrees to the right and 5 stories/levels down). And then there is the tesseract (sp?)- that was a Dragon article that made dungeon design interesting.

Aberrations love places like that.