Trapfinding
Doors and treasure chests. That’s what the kids like to trap these days. Skeletons go inside the treasure chest, poison needles go in the keyhole, and the PCs get a nice double whammy. Except players aren’t stupid. They know where the traps are supposed to go, and nine times out of ten they’ll find them. Mention a door and they’ll examine it. Introduce a chest and they’ll assume it’s a mimic. Animated statues? We all know what happens to animated statues.
That’s why I’m careful to use more unconventional hiding places. Hollow stalactites and bas reliefs have been successful lately, but even there it’s a matter of luck. It’s un-freaking-canny how players manage to stumble onto my cleverly hidden secrets. I remember one encounter with a concealed treasure vault. I didn’t get through the room description before one of my players pulled on the correct sconce. Another time my players were just dicking around in a random room, rolling to find secret doors. There was zero reason for them to suspect secret doors.
Player: “Nineteen.”
Me: “You find nothing.”
Same Player: “Seventeen.”
Me: “Nope.”
Same Player: “Fourteen, sixteen, eleven, nat twenty!”
Me: “Nothing. Nothing. Dude, you don’t find… Nat twenty? Sigh. A trap door pops open at your feet.”
All: *much rejoicing*
Of course, that same group managed to trip across a clothesline with some cans tied to it. Twice. The goblins were summarily alerted.
How about you guys though? Have you ever stumbled across a ridiculously hard-to-find secret? And on the other side of the screen, have you ever managed to find the perfect hiding spot for your latest deathtrap? Let’s hear it in the comments!
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Perhaps my DM can learn a thing or two from this! He’s fairly new to the DM screen, it being his first campaign and all. He’s doing a good job so far, although he could use a bit of work on his traps.
So far, most of them have been disarmed by the simplicity of poking and prodding ahead with a spear, or jamming something into a hole in the wall by our Brawler… Or idiotically triggered by someone being impatient and running ahead OR not following the conga line. Either way, most traps thus far have been passed with but minor scrapes and bruises. A shame that our Rogue’s talents are put to waste by this…
SO I was hoping you could help a fellow reader make his DM’s campaign a little harder, and much more fun.
Sure! The first thing I would advise is ditching the trap spotter rogue talent. It makes the game less interesting. My rationale can be found way back in comic #6:
https://www.handbookofheroes.com/archives/comic/the-handbook-of-heroes-06
As for inspiration, there’s only one place to go:
https://www.amazon.com/Grimtooths-Traps-Game-Masters-Role-Playing-Systems/dp/0940244756
You can probably google around for scans, but that book is worth the $5 for the laughs. Note that GMs should not use these traps as written, mostly because it’s hard to torment dead players. They are, however, great for generating your own ideas.
My other piece of advice would be to mix traps with monsters. There’s a lot less time to check every 5′ square if you’re fighting for your life, and nothing makes a low-level threat more interesting like suddenly finding half the party at the bottom of a pit trap.
But whatever you do, don’t put bog-standard traps in a corridor. That becomes a series of skill checks, and while that’s great for your rogue’s ego, it’s otherwise dull as dirt.
Any of that sound useful? Let me know if you’ve got any specific “the GM did this thing, how could he have done it better” type questions. Good luck out there, and happy gaming.
We’ve already come to the conclusion that a corridor full of pitfalls and pressure plates only slows down the game, and while I expect a trap riddled encounter, we haven’t quite come across that yet.
Though, starting at lv1 (Currently 3), I can only expect there to be more difficult traps as we level up more. I wouldn’t put it past him to combine a trap with a skill challenge, I can only hope it’ll be well executed.
We’ll see what he does in time…
The other thing I’d recommend? If you’re dealing with a new GM, have him run a module. There is no better way to learn the game. By the time you’re through, he’ll have a much better sense of the way to introduce interesting traps.
I would say it’s a little late for that. It’s not like a dungeon’s traps make the campaign, unless it’s the Tomb of Horrors. But then again, what’s stopping one from sending a herd of cattle through it?
Anyways, I’ll probly send some ideas his way for future traps, or how to better implement them. That or he’ll surprise us with something completely unexpected.
I once made a very simple pit trap in the forest covered with leaves. Inside was a gelatinous cube. It couldn’t get out. It was easily spotted. The player ran away at full speed and kept having their character peer behind them to make sure it wasn’t following them, waiting for the moment to strike.
Another tale about traps is second hand. A friend was in a long(ish) running game that was very high level and involved a lot of very whacky stuff. Earlier in the game they had encountered a trap involving poisoned money. Then later on a trap involving exploding money. When finally much later in the campaign they stumbled on a massive hoard of gold, they careful searched for traps and discovered that there were large amounts of exploding poison money. This tale sticks with me mostly because of how my friend says “exploding POISON money”.
That gelatinous cube is how urban legends get started. I can picture the upperclassmen at the local adventurers guild scaring newbies with it. “Some say it’s still out there, waiting. Watching. Covered in leaves.”
But holy crap yes to “exploding POISON money.” The all caps is how you can tell the player was properly traumatized.
I really like this- trapping the treasure is wicked and devious and bound to earn you some dirty looks from your group.
The best answer to players finding and disarming your traps is to trap your traps.
One of my favourites (from an Exalted game) was inside an ancient dam wall that formerly functioned as a hydro power station, but was now out of commission. The PCs, aware that it was a first age building probably riddled with traps, were quite cautious as they entered, and quickly identified that the floor of one of the halls was actually a massive and carefully balanced trap door. Further examination revealed a concealed pin that, when slid across, would hold floor in place. Easy peasy. They slide the pin across.
Even closer examination would have revealed that the pin was the only thing holding the concealed vents in the wall closed against the pressure of all that water. The PCs are flushed from the room through some pipes and into the river below, while a small waterwheel powered mechanism resets the trap.
Props to you for knowing how the trap reset itself. That mess is usually handwaved, and it’s cool to see an on-theme method all thought out.
I’ve always wanted to do a D&D-style campaign in Creation. Head to the Scavenger Lands, grab some first age tombs, and really go to town. The closest I’ve done so far was a prison break. I’d invented this prison where the immaculates imprisoned anathema. The theory was that, as long as they could keep their prisoners alive, they wouldn’t reincarnate and the order wouldn’t have to worry about tracking them down all over again.I believe that one ended with a boss fight against a panopticon/octopus mech.
I suppose my favorite trap is the exploding wine trap. An individual drinks the elvish wine and in about half an hour the individual would explode unless an appropriate heal check was made to force the individual to cough up the exploding glob. They are now very careful around all inns and taverns except for the barbarian that is still trying to find another bottle of the poisoned wine in the stash they picked up after that party. There is more to that story but I believe that gets the jist of the actual trap across pretty well.
Exploding comestibles are rock solid. I was improvising a bit last time my players visited a tavern, and wound up inventing something similar.
Player: “What’s the tavern called?”
Me: “The…erm…Lazy Pickle. Sure. We’ll go with that.”
Player: “Why’s it called that?”
Me: “They’re famous for their spicy pickles.”
Player: “I order some.”
Me: “Give me a fortitude save.”
Player: “High numbers!”
Me: “The bartender nods sympathetically and points to an open window. You barely make it in time before a gout of flame leaps out of your mouth, 20′ long and hot as a blowtorch.”
They still don’t know what happens when they fail that fortitude save, but suffice it to saw that there will be two gouts of flame.
I was actually amused enough by tthe whole “I check my buddy for traps” idea to write up a usable version. It’s written for 3.5 D&D, but should be pretty easy to adapt. Here you go:
ETHEREAL EXPLOSIVES
SUMMARY: A trio of magical bombs await the unwary. Quick-fingered players may succeed in disarming one, but the other two will prove more difficult.
READ ALOUD: This chamber seems like it was once some sort of lab. Workbenches line the walls, all covered in flasks, boiling tubes, and retorts. A few of these are still intact but most are long since shattered. Black stains and scorch marks mar one of the corners, and the lingering smell of sulfur hangs in the air. At the center of the room is a low table, and on the table are three devices, each covered by a bell jar. These devices are of odd design, all clockwork and wires and dials.
BACKGROUND: The alchemist who once plied his trade in this chamber was killed by his own handiwork. He sought to create a special form of explosive which could damage the phase spiders that haunt this level of the dungeon. His ethereal explosives are designed to be armed in the material plane, dematerialze, and form again on the ethereal plane. Unfortunately, the first experiment transported both the alchemist and his bomb to the ethereal plane, where his blasted remains remain.
THE BOMBS: The bell jars are air tight, and have thus far prevented the devices from detonating. As soon as the seal is broken, however, the alchemical reaction begins. The bombs begin to dematerialize, leaving any would-be thieves with a single attempt to disarm. Success disarms one of the three, allowing the bomb to be stored for later use. However, the localized disturbance in the ethereal plane begins the reaction in all three bombs simultaneously.
When a bomb begins to dematerialize, it takes on a misty form only half-visible in the material world. This “bomb mist” drifts towards the nearest creature, where it fuses with a random mundane item in that creature’s possession. The item immediately begins making a low ticking sound. In 1d4+1 rounds, that item explodes as a fireball (10th-level wizard, 10d6 fire, DC 16 Reflex saves for half damage). Before that, PCs may make a DC 32 Listen check to determine the source of the ticking. If the afflicted creature has not divested itself of the ticking item before it explodes, they receive no saving throw against the explosion. Note that, if a PC simply chooses to take off all of their gear, those items no longer receive the benefit of the character’s saving throw against the damage.
Ethereal Explosive Trap CR 8; magic device; touch trigger; no reset; spell effect (see description), Search DC 32; Disable Device DC 32. Cost: 4,550 gp, 364 XP.
I’ve seen a few amusing traps, but my favorite one is as follows. In the room leading up to a certain dungeon’s end boss, we found a locked box. It was the only notable feature of the room/ Our cautious party made perception checks, played it safe, and there seemed to be no traps. We get our Rogue to pick the lock and open the box.
What’s inside? Spider Swarm. Boom. Roll for Initiative.
And carved on the lid of the box: “When is a trap not a trap?”
Stealing.
I like our method of searching trapped corridors. The party trap finder rolls after each trap so the DM will know if they find the next one when they cross it. It really smoothed things out while avoiding the whole roll me a perception check thing with all the meta suspense.
But what happens if they roll super low? I’m betting it’s just a creeping sense of dread every time they ask, “Is it trapped?” and wondering if this will be the time their character explodes due to that Nat 1 they rolled an hour ago.
Lol
It is a bit of a tease, but that’s part of the fun too.
I mean your character could be walking around wondering if he is missing something too…
But the roll is still the roll, be it now or a couple of hours from now.
That’s fair. And as you say, a roll is a roll…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QRSkCIx_-Qo&t=0m5s
Once, while making our way through a maze, we came across what appeared to be a pit-trap covered by a solid, and yet invisible floor. It seemed to hold plenty of weight easily enough, but being the paranoid crew we where, not a single person walked across the floor. Every one of us jumped, even the wizard (with some help) so we wouldn’t have to touch it.
A couple sessions later we eventually got the GM to tell us what was up with that- turns out the invisible floor was rigged to allow ONE person to walk across it without problems, but the second one would have cause it to collapse. The theory was that you bait your high-reflex-save rogue into arming the trap, essentially, and then one of your less agile characters gets caught in the drink. But we managed to avoid that despite never actually figuring out (in character anyway) what the whole deal was.
Hey, it doesn’t matter how you solve the puzzle. You survived. You got XP. A winner is you!
I do appreciate those traps that require some experimentation though. They tend to be so much more interesting than “make a save vs. wandering damage.”
years ago (just after the 1st lord of the rings movie came out). i GM for the group inside a ruined castle. playing online on roll20. using voice chat.
party’s new rogue check EVERY door he come across. this IS a castle, big one. each room has a door or three. this takes time. after the 15th door other players urge him asking “why are you checking every door?, there will just be more”
his answer:
“one does not simply walk into more-doors”
(voice chat, sound like ‘Mordor’)
In my experience, this is more of a bard problem: https://live.staticflickr.com/1412/777621887_249deca67d.jpg
Before the Thief shows up (Supllement I Greyhawk), Cleric has all the trap finding spells. Wizard have all the trap disabling spells.