Traps

[Toad-Killer-Dog]

Humming Birded to death that is just Evil.......I like it!

[cram]

Well it wasn't really a trap that I set on purpose but I once had a TPK and destroyed an entire dungeon once
as an unexpected consequence of a dwarf wielding a broad ax managed to break open a never ending keg of wine, just for S&Gs-so they all drowned within minutes.

[order99]

After long reflection, I have to say that the BEST trap I ever sprung on the Gang of Four...wasn't.

One of our early games was assembled rather hastily due to scheduling difficulties, and I hadn't quite finished all of the last minute details that I normally do-end result, one room had a small chest of perfectly-crafted jewelry and polished gems just sitting there on a dias...unprotected...all alone and vulnerable...not even locked...

I could have improvised something, but-hey, I forgot to write down the traps, the guards had rushed off for some reason...fair cop. The PCs get some loot gratis.

Except that they didn't. They spent two Turns carefully checking EVERY INCH of that room, walls and floor looking for traps. Then the Wizard levitated the Rogue for two more Turns and the latter spent that time carefully probing the ceiling with a staff. This of course prompted a few Wandering Monster rolls, and Our Merry Band was attacked by the returning Guards, one of whom was the Temple Kennelmaster and a handfull of Attack Mastiffs...

The Gang pounded the opposition into paste so fast that not a single one of them escaped to get help-then the group wasted another Turn while the Rouge checked the UNLOCKED chest for hidden traps or tripwires and the Wizard cast several Divinations in case of sorcerous curses and the like-

Naturally, this gave the rest of the Temple Denizens a chance to investigate the noise and missing personnel,and the Gang was ambushed by two Crossbowmen and a strange dead thing that bled river clay when attacked...

After which the Four got very, very angry, and went on a Roaring Rampage of Murder and I put on the Kill Bill soundtrack. The PCs had better Tacticals than some SWAT teams, the dice ran hot and they punched so far above their weight class that night I couldn't help but applaud them...guards fell like flies before insecticide,a Giant Snake became cutlets without getting a single attack in (death by Ambush in ONE COMBAT TURN), an oozing SOMETHING rising up from a fountain was blasted into a shadow on the wall before the party even got a good look at it, Vorpal Blade on the Warriors axe and exploding 6's on a Berserker attack turned a Rune-covered 12' Clay Golem into an explosion in a Play-Doh factory in three Combat Turns...for the coup-de-gras the Warrior(low on ST from the Berserk mind you) Pulled off an Anvil of Crom moment, rolled several Doubles and blew the roof off a ST SR, and knocked a massive stone column directly onto the Evil Kingpriest before the hapless fellow got off a single spell!

The Players then decided to retrieve their ill-gotten treasures and depart-but they first wrapped the chest 'o jewelry in layer after layer of old tapestries(ruining the resale value) and created a crude sledge with poles to drag the 'possibly cursed' chest behind the Mule.

Two Random Encounters later (after I rolled a Ghoul attack and then a Bandit-abandoned Deadfall which claimed the poor Mule)the Gang decided that the Chest was definitely 'cursed by some angry God we probably offended somehow'(maybe by TRASHING THE TEMPLE AND MURDERING THE PRIEST AND SERVANTS???) and carried it on poles to the nearest town, afraid to touch it...

The first thing they did was have the contents appraised by several experts 'in case the contents were counterfeit or turned into leaves or something'...the appraiser gave the party a lowball estimate-and proceeded to alert both the local Bandit tribe operating near town and the greedy and somewhat corrupt Town Watch.

Later, my Players...acted somewhat predictably. SIGH.

Leaving what was left of the village behind and utterly annihilating Bandit activity for miles and miles around, the Gang found a somewhat more thriving and active city, located the Wizard's Guild and sold the entire lot of jewelry (including the chest) for much less than they could have easily have haggled for-but since the treasure had OBVIOUSLY summoned demons, lamed their mule and sent the vengeful dead after them, AND 'mind-controlled' dozens of men to attack them, well then GOOD RIDDANCE to it all...

That was the night the Four decided I was a "Dangerous and Cunning enough GM to suit them"-and to this day THEY WILL NOT believe that I didn't trap that chest...

Go figure.

[unclecranky]

To REALLY mess with their minds... bring the chest BACK. With legs. Have it follow them around.

[unclecranky]

Pit Trap for Wizards:
Setting: In a high-domed (200' tall) room, right in front of a HUGE library bookcase full of all manner of magic goodies and spells.
Now this looks like a standard pit trap (concealed, of course - MUST give the thieves something to find), but around the top of it is an anti-magic spell, so they can't use any of those pesky spells to see it coming. Furthermore, the thing has a teleport spell cast at the bottom (200' down, right above the spikes) good for three uses. It teleports the falling character to the top of the high-domed room, right above the pit. To make matters worse, there is an ADDITIONAL spell down at about the mid-point of the pit that drains all of the relevant spell-powering attribute right down to zero (for those of you with a penchant for 5th ed... well, it's game over for any leprechauns or wizards. Give the player involved a new character sheet - on me). For the rest of you... I suppose that if a warrior in the party can make a level 7 or so Speed SR and another one on Dex, they can loop a line around the falling character - the first time around. For those who can't, the difficulty of the Speed SR doubles each time the character passes - until the fourth pass, at which time the teleport spell at the bottom shuts off to recharge.
Did I mention the spikes at the bottom? They're three feet tall, and poisoned with Dragon Venom.
This will not kill flying characters, of course, but everyone else (except, perhaps, Rasputin) should be toast by now, even if you DON'T go in for the optional oil spigots and fire-lighter right above the teleport spell - designed to first fill the pit with oil, then set it ablaze.
If anyone lives, let them find that the goodies they were trying to loot include a complete list of spells. They'll have earned it. Then spring some acid on them.

[grrraall]

Feb 18, 2014 18:50:11 GMT -5 mahrundl said:

Feb 18, 2014 13:47:53 GMT -5 cram said:

#1) Here's a question: How do folks handle the tendancy for the select group of "lunk headed" players who declare, at every instant after the GM has given a fresh description of the environment, "I am checking for traps!"?

There's always the option of having occasional traps that are only triggered by someone explicitly searching for them, and not otherwise. Schrödinger's Trap: whether or not it's there depends on whether or not someone tries to open the box...

To be constantly searching for traps can be dangerous. Sometimes, a trap is triggered precisely when one searches for it!

[unclecranky]

Trap-checkers' trap: This gizmo is part magical, with a spell on it that causes it to follow delvers around on the ceiling, and another to keep it invisible until the moment after it's triggered. Whenever a party states that they are looking for traps, a timer starts on the machine. Thereafter, and for the next hour (in game terms) the party states that they are looking for another trap, a hinged, spiked, silvered, iron paddle on a pole drops silently from the machine, and spanks the delver doing the checking.

[unclecranky]

Kicking and Screaming: Picture a normal (uncovered, clear for the eye to see) pit, extending the width of the corridor. At the bottom, 50' below, there are spikes. The pit is only 3 feet across. Giggling at their good fortune, the party starts to make their way across.
And a panel slides aside in the wall of the pit, an arm comes out, and grabs the strongest party member by the ankle, dragging them back into the pit, where they are slammed onto the nice, poisoned spikes.
Pick a troll to stand guard in the pit, or one of those wonderful "plastic man" type monsters I know you've just been itching to use.

[unclecranky]

On a path, through a forest, three dead, skinned ogres appear to be hanging over a too-neatly spread batch of ground-cover. Use dead leaves, cut grass that's a LITTLE too old, whatever. Investigation reveals, surprise, surprise... A pit. On the other side, the delvers see a battering ram tied back to a tree by a vine that's just a little too long, and looped around a nearby tree on this side of the pit. Obviously, whoever jumps the leaf-pile faces the ram, which is designed to knock them back into the pit, where they'll die - just like those poor, skinned ogres.
The trap is already sprung. On the other side of the tree around which the vine is looped, there is a thick rope trapped under the vine, granny-knotted to itself at the end, and the rope leads, of course, up to the ogres.
The pit the delvers see is an illusion. When they cut the vine, the ogres fall, driving the hapless tinned dinners through the thin pebble and twig arrangement over the REAL spiked pit at their feet.
And the battering ram? Well, if they had un-looped the rope around the nearby tree, they would've moved off the trail, AWAY from the pit, and it WOULD have made a nice, safe bridge...

[unclecranky]

On a path, leading up into the mountains, a hand-lettered sign:
SEE WHAT HAPPENS WHEN DRAGONS MATE. 6 MILES.
Every half mile, another sign, sometimes off to the side pointing the way up a different path.
Finally, the delvers come upon a cavern entrance, brightly lit, with a little Gnome huckster saying, "Step RIGHT up, folks, just step inside to see what happens when Dragons MATE!" From inside the cavern the delvers can hear LOTS of thumping and hissing, an occasional roar.

Now think about it.

What happens when ANYTHING mates?


The Gnome is an evil little thing to begin with, and has been permanently Befuddled. Even if he were in his RIGHT mind, this would seem like a good idea to him. Inside are six, count 'em SIX baby dragons with Mama. Like all babies, playful, and like all babies, permanently HUNGRY.

Yes, there IS lots of treasure to be had, if you can get it away from the current residents. Oh, and Papa is out... Hunting.

[unclecranky]

In the middle of the world, well away from most towns, but on the way to most of them, there is a river. The natives, (Everyone, in every settlement, of every kindred) call it Abin a' Urah - a corruption, the historians say, of it's original name. Over this massive river, there are bridges. Place this one over such a place.
The bridge is rickety, wooden, and about ten feet over the water. Not too far to fall, even if the delvers are timid about such things. In the middle (always the middle of the span, there's a week spot - just on one side, just breakable enough to tip any wagon or heavy horse over to the right, break the rickety handrail (it was rotten), and plunge the rider(s?) into the drink. Under the water, anyone failing an SR on Luck (I'd put it high) will fall on several spines growing from the riverbed. The spines aren't poisonous - they're just abnormally high thorns from a natural plant native to the river. The water is the real trap.
A drink will do the trick. A splash will not, unless there is an open wound, caused by say, thorns. And who wears armor on a journey?
Thereafter, every day, until cured or dead, every time the affected tinned dinner has to make a decision, no matter how small, they must make an SR on IQ, beginning at L1 and going up each time. Failure means that the delver loses the amount the SR was failed by from IQ. This will present as ever-increasing dithering over decisions as time goes on.
Right or left? Up the stairs or down? Hobbit Pipeweed or Dwarven? Eventually the delver will be struck motionless at a critical moment deciding which weapon to use - or should they run? At this point, they're paralyzed forever, and any self-respecting gremlin with a butter knife has plenty of time to saw the poor delver's noggin off. They cannot fight until they decide! Such is the curse of the water, the water of Abin a' Urah.
The River of Doubt.


Thanks to Teddy Roosevelt (yes, THAT one) for the idea and the name.

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