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<blockquote data-quote="FormerlyHemlock" data-source="post: 6795183" data-attributes="member: 6787650">Real-life weak deterrents function differently than &quot;fun&quot; traps which are designed to support player agency and be fun for players to discover. Real-life deterrents are weak in cost-effective ways, not interesting ways. (And often they rely almost solely on social factors, like police arrests and criminal records, which don't exist in D&amp;D.)Consider this scenario:Statues that subtly cue which areas are trapped. Sounds like fun, right? But why would anyone in the world ever build the trap to give itself away like that? That's not a security mechanism, it's a puzzle.One idea I had just now was, &quot;What if the area is designed to be navigable by successive generations operating on hereditary knowledge, instead of by individuals who already know the terrain?&quot; Just as Jewish people automatically kiss the mezuzah, maybe Hephaestus's followers have it ingrained in them to always drag a leg behind them as they walk--and so if you want to build a temple which is accessible (only) to Hephaestus's followers, you can build in traps which go off if someone fails to trigger a tripwire.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="FormerlyHemlock, post: 6795183, member: 6787650"] Real-life weak deterrents function differently than "fun" traps which are designed to support player agency and be fun for players to discover. Real-life deterrents are weak in cost-effective ways, not interesting ways. (And often they rely almost solely on social factors, like police arrests and criminal records, which don't exist in D&D.) Consider this scenario: Statues that subtly cue which areas are trapped. Sounds like fun, right? But why would anyone in the world ever build the trap to give itself away like that? That's not a security mechanism, it's a puzzle. One idea I had just now was, "What if the area is designed to be navigable by successive generations operating on hereditary knowledge, instead of by individuals who already know the terrain?" Just as Jewish people automatically kiss the mezuzah, maybe Hephaestus's followers have it ingrained in them to always drag a leg behind them as they walk--and so if you want to build a temple which is accessible (only) to Hephaestus's followers, you can build in traps which go off if someone [I]fails [/I]to trigger a tripwire. [/QUOTE]

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