In searching the web for a good trap book and source, I find it somewhat lacking. There are many books of adventures and plots, but I was only able to find one trap book, and only after weeks of searching. It was good, but short. So I decided to make my own trap books, an ongoing project.
To me, traps are an integral part of an adventure. My players LOVE to find my traps, as I usually only place interesting and unusual traps (with an occasional normal one to catch them off-guard.) My players hate being killed by creatures, but usually don't mind being killed by a trap. Why? Because they have a lot of fun setting off my traps, just to see how they work. Most players seem to be like that. Traps are sometimes obvious (a chest sitting in the middle of an empty room, an unguarded treasure hall, etc.) and obvious traps are sometimes the best (especially if you have a hidden trap right next to it.) But everyone always has at least one player that HAS to know if it is a trap or not.
The main purpose of this book is to help Game Masters come up with an inventive game quickly, including traps. Traps are usually the point where I spend a lot of my time developing my game, and where I have the most fun as Game Master. The more sly and devious the trap, the more fun I have with it when it goes off. I just hate it when I have a good adventure put together and there are no traps when I wanted to put them in. And my players feel let down, too, since one of the most fun points of my adventures are to discover and try to disarm the traps without being killed in the process.
My idea of a good trap includes lots of fun details, one that will peak the curiosity of the players, and even if they die, will have fun doing it (Gee! That was NEAT!) I like the traps that are sometimes so obvious that players (mine especially) just HAVE to set off the trap just to see what it does. One or two of them generally get killed, but at least they enjoyed the show, and the other players had fun watching their 'companions' be squished, cut, sliced and diced to tiny bits.
The Trap Collection's home page is at: http://www.aros.net/~jseeley and my e-mail address is jseeley@aros.net. Let me know how you like it. If you want to submit a trap to be in the Collection, send me e-mail.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Rolling Hallway
From: Jason Seeley
When a character steps on a pressure plate, it causes every bit of that
hallway, even the 5' without pressure plates, to open a hole in one side of
each part (alternating each side -- one left, next right, etc.) Immediately
upon opening outward, a HUGE stone wheel will come out, roll in the groove,
roll up the inclined opposite wall, then roll back into the hole, shutting
completely and undetectably. This can, of course, be quite messy and
unpleasant for anyone caught BETWEEN the stone and the wall, or the floor,
or halfway between stones (yuck.)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Greedy Party
From: Jason Seeley
Now, what party is there out there that doesn't want to increase their
ability scores? Not very many, I'm sure. Well, here is a trap to make them
all wary of easy outs.
In a room, they will find various potions, scrolls, etc. (whatever, really)
-- maybe even an electric chair (hehe.) The first character to quaff a
potion, read a scroll, sit in the chair, or whatever, has some kind of
beneficial effect (temporary or permanent, GM's decision.) Anyone else doing
the exact same thing will have a malignant effect happen (ie, eletrocuted in
chair, poisoned badly, blinded by scroll, etc.) Of course, most players will
want to try it for themselves to try to duplicate the effect on the first
player. It is very fun to help the first player understand that there was a
beneficial effect, so that he can brag about it so that the other players
try it, too. Maybe even have a good effect at random after the first (like a
5% chance or something.)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Golden Chamber
From: Berg
This trap is one I once used to take the collective egos of a group of
players down a few notches. The players had stopped thinking about
scenarios, merely using magic to batter their way through. Rather than
pouring kobolds on the problem until it went away, I decided to let the
PLAYERS divest their characters of magic items, more or less voluntarily.
This trap only works properly with groups that use magic to solve
EVERYTHING, from locked doors and monsters, to ordering food and paying for
services (why pay when you can charm, for example).
The trap is a 40' long, 20' wide, and 20' tall chamber, at the end of a
side-passage. The walls, ceiling, and floor are all made of pure, solid
gold. This should certainly draw in most PCS, and for those who are less
greedy than normal, there is a shelf on the far wall, opposite the entrance,
with a glowing wand/sword/gem/statuette/whatever on it.
The trap functions fairly simply. When the object is lifted off of the
shelf, there is a loud *CLICK* noise, but nothing else happens, as far as
the PCS can see or hear. However, the floor is now a precisely balanced
scale. ANY reduction in weight will trigger the trap. Calculate how much
each PC weighs, including both body and equipment weight, and add 5 lbs. for
the object removed from the shelf. Removing 5 or more pounds from the floor
sets off the trap. Yes, replacing the object on the shelf WILL set off the
trap. Adding more weight to the floor won't do any harm, and can actually
disarm the trap, with enough weight. For example, putting 1000 lbs. of gold
in the room after the trap was armed, while the PCS collectively (including
equipment) only weight 900 lbs., means that they can now leave the room
safely.
When it goes off, a multi-ton slab seals the only entrance, and the chamber
is now airtight. At the same time, glowing runes appear on the walls,
ceiling, and floor. Finally, all non-permanent spells and spell-like magical
abilities within the room (and within 20' of the outside of the door) are
permanently negated. Permanent spells simply cease to function while in the
room, as do charged magic items. Permanent magic items function normally,
but with a NASTY side effect, explained below.
Attacking any surface of the trap with a non-magical item will easily cause
a hole. Attackers must strike ac 6 and do 10 points of damage to make a big
enough hole to get air through. As soon as any part of the trap is breached,
all magical effects of the trap (magic negation and that side effect listed
below) are permanently and irrevocably dispelled. A human-sized hole
requires inflicting 100 points of damage.
Now for the good part. Most magic-heavy PCS won't think of using a
non-magical object to force the walls, some groups don't HAVE non-magical
objects. Any person who strikes a surface of the trap with a magical object
SUFFERS. The object must make a save vs. crushing blow, with NO bonuses at
all, or be totally destroyed. Any object that is destroyed inflicts 1d4
damage on the wielder per level enchanted into the object (enchanted weapon,
used to add pluses to a weapon is a 4th level spell, so a +2 dagger does 8d4
damage). The explosive destruction of magic items does no damage to the
wall, nor does the weapon strike itself do any damage to the trap. The
wielder gets a save for half damage vs breath weapon. If the wielder is
resistant to magical fire (innate resistance only. Efreeti are protected,
spell-protected PCS are NOT), the save is for no damage, half if failed.
A special case occurs with items such as girdles of giant strength. Only
magic used to influence the wall is affected. So a warmth ring won't
explode, but a girdle of giant strength or a mattock of the titans will.
Treat each point of strength above the wearer's normal strength as a
separate strength spell for damage purposes. So a 16 strength fighter takes
less damage from an exploding girdle of hill giant strength than a 14
strength fighter would.
Each special power of the weapon is treated as a separate spell (FEAR
striking the wall with a sword that has 3 wish spells in it. *OUCH*).
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Spiked Stair Trap
From: Paul Middleton
on a set of stairs - somewhere near the middle is a false stair - when a
character of a minimum certain weight treads on the stair the stair cover
breaks - the characters foot falls into a group of angled spikes - the
spikes are angled 45% downwards - so no damage is taken when the character
steps on the trap the weight of the character and the force of the fall will
force the foot to the bottom of the trap - If the character does not try to
remove his/her foot very carefully and take their time doing so - they will
impale there foot on the spikes. (great on for catching thieves this one -
they are unlikely to be wearing metal footing!! :-)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sand Filled Room
From: neil@clo.com (Neil Watson)
I like to use a variation of the water room. Once the door locks I begin to
fill the room with sand, not water. Sand makes is harder for the PC's to
move, which useful because there are usually creatures in the sand,
scorpions, snakes, use your imagination. One last bonus about sand, you
don't have to worry about inconveniences like water breathing magic!
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Follow the Bouncing Boob
From: Berg
Take a room, at least 100' long, 80' wide, and 80' tall. Use a variant
reverse gravity to make gravity highly relative. Now fill the room with
pillars stairways that don't go anywhere, archways, statues holding assorted
sharp objects, etc. Each stairway, statue, pillar, or 10'x10' section of
floor, ceiling, wall, or other large surface is considered to be a room
'feature', explained below.
Every time a PC takes a step in this room, there is a chance that the
direction of gravity will shift (maybe just 1 degree, or maybe as much as
180). Roll two grenade scatters for every 10'x10' section traversed, or
whenever the PC steps onto a new room feature (stepping from stairs to
floor, pillar to statue, or walking 11' in a straight line, etc). The first
scatter is vertical, the second is horizontal. The point halfway between the
two results is the new direction of down. Or, for simplicity, roll 1d6. 1 =
gravity stays normal, 2 = down is now straight ahead, 3 = down is behind
you, 4 = down is to the left, 5 = down is to the right, 6 = down is straight
above you.
Whenever the down direction changes, unless a PC can grab something, they
will fall, taking normal damage. Check every 10' of fall to see if they hit
something. If they hit something, they stop falling, and take damage. To
make the check, roll under their dexterity, just like an ability check.
Success means they grabbed onto something before they fell, failure means
they fall. Another check is made, same way, for every 10' fallen, success
means they grabbed something, hit something, or otherwise stopped their
fall.
Unfortunately, hitting something else is moving to a new feature, so roll
another d6 to see which direction is now down (with all associated dex
checks to avoid falling)...
------------------------------------------------------------------------
All fall down. And down, and down, and down...
From: Berg
This one is one of my more humorous traps, but still, it is almost 100%
guaranteed to kill one PC (but the others won't be harmed at all, except for
their pride).
This is another variant reverse gravity trap, only this one is actually
fairly pleasant. At first, anyway. The trap is a spherical room, polished to
glassy smoothness, with a pair of doors on the equator. The entrance door,
and the exit door opposite it. Both doors are made of solid oak,
iron-banded, and cannot be forced open in the normal ways (even knock or
Bigby's clenched fist spells won't touch it, it's too strong). The entrance
door opens easily, but the exit door is securely locked and barred, from the
other side.
The trap has several fundamental laws of physics disabled. First, there is
no terminal velocity, or friction. Second, objects moving in a straight line
do not necessarily keep moving in a straight line. Finally, you don't lose
any momentum from hitting things, and gravity is towards the wall you fall
towards.
Basically, you walk in, plummet, bounce off the floor, which is now the
ceiling as far as you are concerned, and fall towards the floor, which is a
spot opposite the one you just bounced off of. And with no terminal
velocity, you just keep accelerating. In all cases, down is the direction
opposite the wall you just hit (and bounced off of). When you hit, you can
make a dex check to change your angle, so you bounce off at a totally new
(and random) angle. Make a dex check, success means roll 1d4, 1 = right, 2 =
left, 3 = back, 4 = ahead, and that is the direction of down.
There is one exception here. The exit door. If someone hits that, they do
not bounce, and if they have more than 20d6 of falling damage accumulated,
they smash through it (destroying the door, and probably dying instantly in
the process). Anyone who lands in the exit doorway (after the door has been
smashed), or in the entrance doorway lands unharmed on the floor (painful,
but no damage). Anyone who hits the closed exit door and takes less than
20d6 damage will weaken the door, and take full damage themselves (for
example, hitting the door and taking 15d6 damage means that the next impact
only takes 5d6 to shatter the door). Final note, anyone with the Spelljammer
skills of Zero-G combat or space fighting will be able to control their
bounces, so as to bounce where they want to go (on a successful dex check),
eliminating the 1d4 roll for new direction.
Special option: Eliminate the exit door, and make the entrance door a
one-way teleporter (or a one-way secret door). Then, wait for falling PCS to
hit lightspeed (remember, velocity will effectively double each time they
fall across the room), then teleport them somewhere else. Great way to get
them to another world, for some special adventuring (Athas, anybody?).
------------------------------------------------------------------------
What Goes Up, Must Come Down
From: aspring@k12.oit.umass.edu (Andrew Spring (FCTS-97))
The PCs see a shaft, like those in mines, with no ladder. looking up it,
they see sharp spike sticking out of a dead end. looking down, they see a
floor, with the shaft ending into a room maybe 20 feet down.
vvvvv<--spikes
__________I | I_________<----ceiling
|
__________ | _________<---floor PCs are on
I | I
I | I <-----shaft
__________I | I_________<---roof of lower floor, end of shaft
Rope--->|
________________________
The shaft has a reverse gravity spell on it, and the rope also does, so it
appears that the rope falls down as it should. it is tied to the spikes. if
a PC attempts to climb down on the rope, or to jump, they land on the
spikes, and take damage depending on the DM. Another variant is that if the
PCs try to climb down the rope, there is no revers gravity, but the spikes
fall on them instead. they hate these!
------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Painful Foot Dart
From: Viola Krings
This trap is triggered by weight on a part of the floor. The walls are
plated with wood. When someone steps on the trigger, a click is heard, and a
dart shoots out from the wall on each side, leaving the wooden panels ripped
off. The dart shoot out at the height of one's hips.
A few yards after that, again a pressure plate will cause the click, but
this time, the dart pairs come at foot level, and one pair in front of the
passing character, one a bit behind, so he will go unharmed unless he tries
to jump away.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Chooser Ain't the Loser
From: neil@clo.com (Neil Watson)
The party falls down a chute which was originally a set of stairs. Just as
they begin collecting their wits they hear the sound of stone grinding on
stone. They look up just in time to see a huge stone block sliding down the
chute to crush the players. Here's the twist, where the players are standing
there is an alcove to hide and be safe from the block. It's only large
enough for one person!!!! Will they die together or fight for survival
(every man/women for themselves)?
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Deadly Pit of Doom
From: Berg
This trap is for when the PCS venture into a truly lethal dungeon (drow
shrines and illithid strongholds for example). It is gonna kill the guy who
trips it, and probably anyone nearby as well.
The trap is a 30' deep, 10' wide square pit trap. The bottom 10' of the
shaft is filled with green slime. At the 11' mark, there is a side passage
off of the main shaft, at a right angle. Also at that point is an angled
mirror. The effect is of an empty-looking 30' deep pit. From the mirror, up
to within 4' of the top, is pure, clear water. For purposes of this trap, it
doesn't matter if it is open or closed, open is far more dramatic, closed is
more lethal. Place a skeleton in the side passage of the pit for aesthetics.
Further, the water is invisible, and has an illusion of a water filled pit
over it.
What does this mean? It means that the pit looks like a 30' deep pit filled
with water, with a skeleton at the bottom, as seen from the top. It's a
killer in 3 ways. First, you could drown, second the slime could eat you,
and third, you could die in the fall.
A clever party will try to disbelieve the pit trap, and if they succeed,
will see a dry 30' deep pit with or without a skeleton at the bottom. Anyone
who goes in in heavy armor is gonna have trouble when they hit the water.
But that isn't the worst part. The mirror is capable of supporting the
weight of the water on it, but NOTHING else. Entering the pit causes the
mirror to break. This drops a volume of water, 15'x10'x10' into a
10'x10'x10' volume of green slime. The water drops, and the wet slime
fountains up and onto the party around the top of the pit. Anyone in the pit
dies. Anyone within 10' makes a half dex check to avoid the slime, anyone
within 20' makes a normal dex check (30' total).
To make matters worse, waterlogged green slime does NOT burn.
To disarm the trap, cast dispel illusion, dispel magic, transmute water to
dust, shatter, and fireball. This will make it just a 30' deep pit. Possibly
with some sort of door at the bottom.
If someone falls in, make the next 2 or 3 pits water filled, dry and empty,
and/or illusionary, but otherwise fairly safe. It's far better to scare the
players with the possibility of character death than it is to actually kill
them all off.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Cold Feet
From: brian@stars1.den.mmc.com (Brian Martin)
A room of various dimensions can be used. A chandelier with various amounts
of oil burn above a pit trap. The walls of the pit trap a covered with brown
mold. The chandelier is rigged to fall in when the pit trap is sprung.
Most characters that fall in the pit will die as by the time they are able
to work on getting out, they are frozen. The people left out of the pit or
the trigger'er can also be caught as the brown mold can grow to epic
proportions Also, do not forget the flame damage of those in the pit from
the fire.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Chess Is the Best
From: jon_b@oldham.gpsemi.COM (Jonathon Buckel)
You need a chessboard, and a chess set to run the trap. Do not show the PC's
the chessboard and pieces until the first player steps on a square, else you
might give the trap away.
OUT
-------| |-------
| |
-----------------
h |w|b|w|b|w|b|w|b|
-----------------
g |b|w|b|w|b|w|b|w|
-----------------
f |w|b|w|b|w|b|w|b|
-----------------
e |b|w|b|w|b|w|b|w|
-----------------
d |w|b|w|b|w|b|w|b|
-----------------
c |b|w|b|w|b|w|b|w|
-----------------
b |w|b|w|b|w|b|w|b|
-----------------
a |b|w|b|w|b|w|b|w|
-----------------
| |
-------| |-------
IN
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Essentially you find a room with a chess board for a floor with a space at
each end. Some force prevents you from flying across or climbing the walls.
Or teleporting across, etc. A force also stops you from being able to stand
across or between squares.
Once you step on a square, you essentially become the chess piece for the
relevent square you stood on. You are white and thus move first. You can
only move as that piece can move. A rook up/down/sideways, a bishop
diagonally only, etc. Only the 8 back row pieces are available, no pawns.
Also a corresponding piece appears at the other end of the chess board. The
DM controlled piece.
Thus if you step on square a1, you become a rook and a rook appears at
square h1. At a2, you are a Knight and a Knight appears at h2. At a3 a
Bishop and a Bishop appears at h6. If you step on a4 you are a Queen and a
Queen will appear at h5. King similarly.
If a player reaches the DM's back row and is safe at that position, then the
player may leave the chess board. (Obviously if the PC takes the DM's piece
he can safely stand at the DM's side of the chessboard) The DM's opposing
piece also disapears.
The fastest way across is to become a rook, you get to move first, thus you
can immediatly move 8 spaces forwards and take your opponent. This of course
is how the owner of this little trap uses this room. The player characters
of course don't even know it is a chess game and will thus most likely not
do this. Usually you end up having 3 or more PC's on the board.
The PC's cannot afford to swap pieces to gain an advantage whereas the DM
can, thus giving the DM an advantage. 1 on 1, crossing isn't difficult.
Multiple pieces makes it more interesting. heh heh heh!
If a PC steps onto the same square as a PC's piece that is already in the
game, you can either allow 2 (or more) of the same piece, in which case
another DM piece arrives. swap the second PC for the first and the first
exits back to the PC side of the board, or not allow this.
What happens when one side loses the King is also variable, from all pieces
of that side then die, (ouch for the PC's :-)) to just the King can die.
What happens if a PC loses his piece is up to the individual DM, I usually
described a pretty horific scene of the PC being suitably killed by the
chess piece, (see the PC game battlechess for ideas) but was actually
transported to some prison cell less his equipment/clothes/etc. Whatever
equipment/clothes the DM was nice enough to return to the PC could be found
elsewhere, perhaps another cell in the same room. The cells could be found
by the other PC's at a later time in the dungeon.
The DM should play his chess game at the level of the PC's if possible. ;-)
After 2 tries at this, I always had more than 2 or 3 PC's on the board. Both
teams lost pieces before the others crossed safely. One team were in dire
trouble when they had a really good idea of getting another PC to join the
game as King so the King of the DM side appeared, their move then was to
immediately take the DM's King. Fortunately they had a piece positioned
appropriately. I removed all the DM pieces from play at that point. I was
feeling leniant and it was a good idea. And if they hadn't come up with
something quick, none of them may have successfully got across.
It is a very 'open' trap, it can be modified as the trap progresses. You
could also do this with draughts, rather than chess pieces.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ogre Fist
From: Leif Roar Moldskred
The Ogre Fist trap is a pretty basic, low-tech trap for a dead room (i.e. a
room that has no other function than being a trap.)
A large timber log is hung in the middle of the room. A rope goes from the
back of the log, through a couple of well-greased rings and to the door -
opening inwards.
Normally the log is pulled back a meter, the rope tied to the door and the
door closed (using considerable force) pulling the log even further back.
Then the door is locked, keeping the log in place.
When the door is unlocked it will spring open and the heavy log will come
swining through it. To prevent the log from stopping half-way, the doors are
made to be break at the sudden jolt at wide-open.
In addition to the considerable damage from the log itself, it contains more
than enough energy to throw anybody struck by it several meters back.
Normally, an Ogre Fist is made to throw anybody opening the door into a new
trap - a spiked pit, the trigger stone for a rockslide etc. Goblins are
especially found of revolving walls that locks after being used. The already
battered adventurer may find himself in a dark room, separated from his
companions and surrounded by dark-seeing and armed goblins.
There are also variations of this trap replacing the log with all manners of
heavy objects. Lead-cauldrons filled with acid, crates filled with
quicksilver, barrels of poision - sometimes even large monsters.
And since we are talking about a decoy-door here, and because of the
simplicity of the trap, it is almost impossible to disarm. The only safe way
to deal with it is not to stand right in front of the door when it is
opened.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: thijssen@ei.et.tudelft.nl (Andries Thijssen)
Just When Ya Thought it Was Safe
Build to pitfalls directly after each other. The PCs will discover the first
pit (sometimes the hard way, more often by being very careful). Since there
is no way around the pit, they will attempt to jump over it. That is when
they jump right into the second pit, which has been decorated with stakes
and other nasty stuff.
The Good Get Away
For your smart villians only. Have their escape route go through a (looking
for the right word here) chimney or other vertical hole. There are handholds
in the wall, which one uses to climb up. One of these handholds has some
poison needles in it, or a trigger for a dart trap or whatever. The villian
(sp?) knows which handhold is trapped and avoids it. Give each pursuing PC a
50% chance to set of the trap.
If PCs slow down to check each handhold before putting their hands in it,
have the villian drop a heavy boulder or flaming oil down the tube. However,
give the villain enough of a head-start that he cannot be capturted by the
PCs in the tunnel, or shot down.
Treasure Ain't Always Treasure
Mix in a some poison with the other treasure. You might even want to label
it as potion of healing. (In that case, label the other potions too.)
Another idea:
Place fake traps in your dungeon. For example a floor tile which is not 100%
stable. (There are a few pieces of gravel beneath it.) When a PC steps onto
the tile announce 'You feel the floor moving beneath you'. Ask for saving
throws and stuff. Jumping away makes a lot of noise when wearing armour and
might also leave you prone. A perfect situation to have a monster attack.
Works especially well in combination with the first idea: i.e. place a fake
trap in front and a real one behind it.
On a roleplaying note:
Only intelleigent and crafty creatures make traps. The defenses of a dwarven
stronghold are probably riddled with traps. Orcs rely on crude traps such as
pits. Remeber that each trap requires an engineering effort by their
builders and also maintainance (esp. for poison or dart traps.) There is a
difference between traps and defenses. Traps work always, but are mostly
one-shot and can be avoided. Do not underestimate the value of murder- holes
in the ceiling (esp. for tiny corridors where the PCs have to crawl
through). A door with murder holes in it and a pit in front makes an
impressive obstacle. The same with a set of steel bars blocking a corridor.
While the PCs are trying to open it, the monsters lurk just otuside the
infravision range of the PCs and open fire with crossbows. Of course, the
monsters are behind special defences, providing 75% or even 90% cover.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
The (In)Complete Teleporting Pit --
(NOTE: This was sent to me in many variations, but this was the first one I
got, so that is why this one is here, and the others aren't.)
From: aboulton@cix.compulink.co.uk (Andrew Boulton)
Okay, here's a good one. Have a deep pit, concealed somehow. The victim
falls down, then, just before he hits the bottom, a teleport device/spell
sends him back up to the top, with the same velocity. You could keep him in
this loop forever, but an alternative is, after a while, (say, when he
reaches *terminal* velocity :-), to change the destination of the
teleport...say, the same place, but the opposite direction (ie up into the
air - see if you can reach escape velocity!)
Another one is to put the teleporter at the end of a corridor, with the
destination point at the other end, facing it. You then project the image of
a monster in front of the 'porter, and wait for the party to shoot it (and
so shoot themselves in the back).
------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Gassy Pyramid
From: lawrence@msm.com (SL Nyveen)
It takes place inside an Aztec temple, but it could be anywhere underground,
so long as the surrounding soil, rock, and walls are porous to some degree
(mine had seams between the fitted stones).
The location is a 10'-wide passageway. It slopes up for a total rise of
about 20', runs along for any distance (I used 120'), then slopes back down
to the original level. The ceiling and upper walls of the elevated portion
are plastered over so as to make them airproof.
The trap is that the elevated, airtight passageway collects natural methane
percolating up through the bedrock and sediments. The methane passes
harmlessly through the seams of the hallway, but where the plaster prevents
it, it collects in deadly and flammable concentrations.
I had others pass this way hundreds of years before the PCs, and had this
temple undisturbed since.
My DM's notes follow. I had "buffer rooms" at each end of the hallway, hung
with many thick, loose curtains, to contain explosions and protect the rest
of the rest of the complex.
Light will reveal a thin, uniform layer of soot along all surfaces. Close
examination of the gassy area will reveal that ceiling and walls are lined
with smooth plaster made to look like the rest of the masonry blocks.
In the gas-filled region, any flame will set off an explosion causing 6d6
damage. Everyone in the hallway will suffer this damage; those in the buffer
rooms save vs. paralyzation for half-damage.
Anyone walking in the gas must save vs. Con every 10 feet after the first
20, regardless of speed, to avoid passing out. If a PC flies through, or is
carried, they must save only every 30 feet. If a PC is encumbered, they must
save every five feet. If a PC specifies he is holding his breath, the first
(5 x Con) feet do not require Con checks.
Three rounds after passing out, PCs must save each round vs. death or die of
suffocation.
Note that methane is colorless and odorless. My PCs found a good way around
this trap, the second time they tried it. They took large bags of water and
water-breathed their way through. They never use torches either. Oh well.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Altar Riddle Trap
From: QUAH SONG CHIEK
A long corridor, at the end of which are illusionary bars, with an
illusionary (fill in creature that is too tough for the players to handle)
behind the bars. Right in front of the bars is a teleporter that teleports
only size T or smaller items to behind the PCs. In between the two
teleporters is a numbing zone, where pain cannot be felt. If the PCs are
smart (and standard players), they will shoot arrows at the monster. Given
enough time, they will kill themselves.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Andy Wolff (arwolff@ppg.com)
The party enters a series of interconnected rooms arranged in an ascending
spiral with 15-25' corridors connecting the rooms. Each door opens towards
the party and all rooms and the corridors have a gentle but noticeable slant
to them (towards the party which is in fact climbing the spiral). The rooms
have the usual assortment of monsters. The corridors have a 1' deep by about
1' wide channel cut into them, and the corridors themselves are 5' wide. As
the party proceeds, fighting and winning, they eventually cone to the last
room. They open the door and find a room packed with iron cannonballs! The
balls exit the room; the party may or may not survive, although with 5'
walls it is certainly possible to brace against the walls and let the balls
roll by underneath. Beyond the balls is the principle bad guy and the
majority of the treasure. Meanwhile, unbeknownst to the party, the iron
balls have assembled in the bottom room into -- An Iron Golem!
------------------------------------------------------------------------
miki (miki@sky.net)
Give the players a set of miscellaneous arranged numbers: 1-5 right side up
then 5-1 upside down (written on a wall in magical writing or something.) It
is a combination. The players eventually walk out to a rock overhang and a
door appears on the other side of another overhang. On the left side is an
object the players are to retrieve and on the right side are 3 stone golems.
Everything except the players overhang is surrounded in lighting. There are
10 ropes hanging from the players' cliff each numbered. Also, in front of
each rope is a symbol of one of the elements. The player needs to step on an
element to get a rope. In the center of the room are 10 pillars, each also
numbered, with 10 ropes. To make things more complicated in between each of
the pillars are more ropes barley within reach of the pillars or
outcropping. The players need to grab onto the right rope to swing to a rope
not numbered, from that rope to a pillar of the right number, and from that
pillar swing from the right numbered rope and so on until the combination is
complete. If a player choses the wrong rope, the rope will detach itself
from the wall dropping the player to the ground. If the player lands on the
wrong pillar it will start to lower to the ground. On the ground is an
elemental corresponding to one of the symbols on the cliff. There is always
the same number of elemental as pc's. They will not bother any one unless
they are actually on the ground. Then they will attack. If a player falls to
the floor he has to run to the nearest "neutral" rope and make it back to
the original cliff. When swinging on the ropes, players have to make several
checks for dex, for the swing, and attack on an AC of 4 to grab the other
rope, (if that rope is missed, missed a str. and dex to hold on to the rope
swinging from) then a strength to hold on. IF you choose the wrong rope and
it fell (or if the pillars lower) then it would reattach itself and the pc's
would have to start all over again. Once the combination is complete the
floor raises, elementals disappear and the lighting around the golems also.
The players now fight to defeat the golems and when they are defeated then
the lighting around the door and the object disappears and they can grab the
object (which will be needed to solve another puzzle.)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ben Martin (bmartin@ATCON.COM)
The trap is very simple (but lethal) trap to set up and you can place it
almost anywhere. The trap starts off as a pressure plate. When the PCs step
on it will release another trap that is usually dormant. The second trap is
a pit with a revolving door that locks into place. As one or more PCs step
on the floor panel it drops, so that they fall into the pit, then it spins
on and locks into place, keeping the PC's into the pit. In the bottom of the
pit could be a green slime or if you wanted it to be non lethal, water (then
at least the poor PC at least has a chance to survive, for a little while.)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
KNOCK, KNOCK **BOOM**
Michael J. Champlin (AMIC@racoon.com)
Room is a perfect cube (10'+ cubed) with one or two doors (not locked!) The
trap is magical: inside the room is a sphere of pure magical energy (see
Note 1) held in place by 6 RINGS of Spell Turning (see Note 2) place in the
exact center of each wall, floor and ceiling, the door(s) just happen to be
in the center of the wall(s). When the door is opened the Ring no longer
contains the sphere's perfect integrity. The magical energy shoots out of
the room like soda pop from a shaken bottle.
Effects: ALL rods, wands, & Staffs become fully charged then overload as in
a retributive strike (see DMG on damage) other Items gain power then
overload as above. the each PC will take damage in the form of 1d12 / charge
in room save vs magic for half damage (except for the person who opens door
[no save])
Note 1. charge in room is size of room cubed (eg 10' room =1000 charges
[10*10*10] a 5'room = 125 charges [5*5*5]. The DM could be "Nice" and
subtract charges from the total used in "CHARGING ITEMS" to reduce damage.
Note 2. When Door is Opened all The RINGS of SPELL TURNING become
non-magical, but if removed without destroying the can be re-enchanted GP
value of rings : 1000 gp each
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Red light, Green light
Matthew T Sanchez (DJHF92C@prodigy.com)
When the party enters the room, a big flash of red occurs. They will
probably wonder what is going on. (If you have ever played the game Red
light, Green light, you should know that the party must stop or something
will happen.) Well for starters send out an enemy to show what happens when
you move when the red light is flashing. Then the green light will start
flashing. This is the time to move. Any other time they move when the red
light is flashing, have something really bad happen like the floor turning
into spikes.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Anti-Pit Trap
B.Murphy (sirdwarf@pullman.com)
This trap consists of a large chimney with either an opening to the outside
or something really nasty at the end of it. Directly under the trap there is
a "reverse gravity field." When a person steps into this field they will
immediately fall upwards and suffer the consequences. After the first person
in a adventuring party falls into the trap, I would hope that the other
adventurers would find a creative way around it as well as a creative way to
get their friend out of the trap. Note: This is not a trap used specifically
to kill everyone playing!!
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Robert W. Murrhee (xadian@earthlink.net)
TRAP 'O' GREED
The characters enter a hallway 5'wide, 10'high, 50'long, with a door at the
far end. The walls are encrusted with huge gemstones, any one of which would
be valued at least 10,000gp. If any character tries in any way to remove one
of the gems (they can easily be pried loose with a dagger), the walls will
slam together, as each has a POWERFUL spring device which will be triggered
by the removal of any one of the gems thus slamming the walls together like
two giant hands clapping! Any character caught between the walls when they
slam shut will take 3d20 points of damage, and ALL breakable items must save
vs. crushing blow. The walls will automatically reset themselves after a
single such strike. If the characters pass through the hall without touching
any of the gems, nothing will happen to them, and they can go through the
door, which is unlocked, and untrapped, if the DM is feeling generous.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Robert W. Murrhee (xadian@earthlink.net)
BUBBLE-BUBBLE-TOIL-IN-TROUBLE
When characters enter this room, they will be unable to see using ANY means,
as there is a magical darkness in the room which can not be dispelled. The
floor is held steady by clamps in the walls. When a character nears the
center of the room, a pressure plate activates the release of the holding
clamps, which withdraw into the walls. At this point, the door to this room
will disappear, and if any characters are in the doorway when this happens,
they will be either caught inside or outside the room, or trapped in the
wall where the door used to be (determined by how far through the door they
were),being killed instantly if caught within the wall. The floor is now a
disc upon a pivot. ANY! movements by characters within the room result in
the character losing his/her balance, unless a dex check is made
successfully. Any attempt to cast spells will not only result in the
requirement of a dex check to maintain balance, but will result in automatic
spell failure. The characters will notice a bubbling sound below them as of
liquid boiling. In actuality, this boiling liquid is water with a device
which agitates it causing the bubbling. The water is actually about room
temperature. Also hidden within the walls below are small furnaces which
create a heat & burning smell, which wafts up through small vents from
below, creating the illusion of a boiling death waiting below. In the room,
above the floor, several small blind flying creatures will make swooping
attacks upon the characters doing 1d4 damage per attack. The only way out of
this room is to dive into the water, where they will find a grate at the
bottom, which leads out to a small tunnel. The tunnel will take them to
another room and from there they can get to the rest of the dungeon and more
of the DM's nasty toys and devices. The grate can be removed with a
successful strength check.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Knight (af213@lafn.org)
The Scheel
The PCs are running after a nemesis, and into a tiny room (back rooms work
well). They just catch a glimpse of their foe running into one of 5
shimmering colored portals. [There should be 1 portal for the foe and 1 for
each PC.] As soon as the foe runs through, it disappears. Hopefully, the PCs
will want to follow. As each PC goes through a portal, it closes. Eventually
all the PCs will enter the portals.
The PC's find themselves in a cavern or room. There is a deep pit with acid,
lava, etc. at the bottom. The sides of the pit are slick and no holds are
available to lasso, etc. Slowly lowering into the pit by ropes is a
structure made of 2 small platforms 15 feet apart, connected by a HEAVY 3
inch diameter rod. Two of the PCs end up on the platforms (1 on each). The
others are in a small room with a glass window watching. They can talk to
the PCs on the platforms, but their oxygen will run out about 10 seconds
before the platform hits the acid, lava, etc. The nemesis is watching from
an elevated look out room behind glass.
The task at hand is straight forward and the solution is quite simple,
although it'll take some thinking by the players. The rod is attached to the
platforms with a simple catch mechanism (make this fairly apparent). If one
side is unhooked, it will rise, while the side attached to the rod will
fall. If both are unhooked, the whole thing will still fall, just a little
slower. So all the players have to do is figure out how to get both platform
PCs on to 1 platform and then release the rod. They will rise, the nemesis
will be pissed and take off, and they can free their friends from the glass
room however the GM sees fit.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
castor (castor@ns1.cosmosbbs.com)
This is a fairly simple trap. I usually use it as a second layer. Place a
torch or lantern near a trapped door. Usually, the PCs forget the light and
concentrate on the door. When they successfully open the lock it triggers
the real trap in the wall. Oil runs out of a trough through the flame of the
torch and onto the party. It isn't usually deadly, but it is a good nuisance
trap.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Shamus Peveril (peveril@isn.net)
Fake Treasures
When entering the area (generally a series of rooms and halls) the players
see valuable treasures scattered along the halls. These range from silver
and platinum figurines to gold brooches (very, very valuable). The players
will follow along, picking up the treasure (don't let them stop because of
encumbrance). When reaching the end, they will enter a room through a door.
When all the players bearing the treasure they picked up get through, a
stone wall will drop over the door, sealing them in. Then a powerful
monster(s) will be teleported into the room, and the treasures will turn to
tin and lead. When the monster is defeated, and only then, the stone wall
covering the door they entered through will disappear, thus letting them
out.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Eli the Unnamed (EGMeyer@tiac.net)
A really simple trap: an illusionary pit. When the PCs try to jump or swing
over it, they hit a tripwire , suspended a few feet off the ground. This
will trigger poison darts or whatever other type of trap you want.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Rodney "Atlas" Dunn (DLSLD@worldnet.att.net)
TITLE: It's Weird
Explanation: The PC's open a door and are immediately teleported to the
center of a room right next to a well filled with water. The room is
circular and has eight doors all around. The well is in the center. There is
also a hole in the ceiling (2 inch radius) that is shining light onto the
well(also the reflection of a gold key). Whenever a PC touches any part of
the door, they are teleported back to the center of the room.
The well has 3d10 water weirds in it that will attack whenever anything gets
close enough. In the well, the PC's see a gold key (which is really a
reflection from above) in the bottom of the well. The gold key will let the
one holding it get out, but then it disappears and appears back where it
was.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Jason Kahler (carolyn2@bellatlantic.net)
Title: Those Pesky Shriekers
This is a very simple trap. Cast an invisibility spell on a shrieker
mushroom and put it in a narrow hallway (so the PCs will have to come near
it but won't touch it). Then have the hall lead into any room, where any
large and hard to beat sleeping monster or NPC awaits.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Shea Leonard --- "StormShield"
Right now I don't have a place for the magic items and NPCs, so I'll just
include them with Shea's trap submission.
TRAPS
*DAGGERED FLOOR: The party finds a treasure chest with many thin slits in
the floor before it. Natch, the chest is opened and many daggers fly upward
into the feet of the person opening the chest (5d4 damage, possible Poison).
*DOOM DAZZLER: A special pattern of hypnotic lights flies from a mirror the
PCs carry --- save vs Death at -4 or die. In this case, Raise Dead will not
work --- the mind is completely destroyed.
*SPIKE SPINE: This is hidden in the ceiling above a pool of black liquid
and falls to impale for 1d12 + a save vs Poison or fall in the black liquid
(actually black pudding mixed with acid) for a further 2d12 damage +
paralysis until magically cured.
*WIND BEAM: This is a "Trick" trap, anyone hit by it gets hit by an
Improved Invisibility spell (which doesn't make this trap too bad).
*BEAM LASER: This fires from a magical lock on a chest to do 5d12 damage
(talk about powerful traps) Save vs. Spell and avoid all damage.
*ELECTRIC FIREWATER: One of my favorites, it hits a PC first with a 3d6
fireball, then cools off the PC with a 3d8 Icebolt, then as the Ice finishes
melting, a Lightning Bolt hits the PC for 3d10 damage, and we ALL know what
happens when electricity touches water!
*FISTCRUNCH: Another favorite of mine, this causes a stone fist to pop up
out of a chest, hitting a character on the jaw. Save vs Death to live,
otherwise your skull is shattered.
NPCS:
*DIALSLADE: This is a Dwarf with a "Captain Picard" personality. He offers
to buy gems off of the characters for 35% of what they're worth. If the PCs
do not wish to sell, he leaves while if Dialslade is attacked, he is a F8
with an AC of -4. He is worth 2500 Xp and has 100 Hp.
*DWERF: This dwarf delights in killing the enemy. Who his enemy is, he
doesn't really know. He'll join the party on his own and is a F5 with 37 Hp
(ac 3, 450 xp). If he is attacked, he will use his magical Ring of
Teleportation (5 uses) to zap himself away.
*ALAHANDRA: This bare-chested beauty carries a battle axe and will take
offense at wisecracks directed at her. She has a permanent strength of a
Stone Giant, is Ac 6, and is worth 6000 Xp. She has 146 Hp, and there is a
50% she will strike before the PCs will be able to say or do anything.
*KITANDRA: This female Elven Mage is a M9 and wishes to be left alone to
explore wherever the PCs are on her own. If attacked, she will use her Wand
of Fire (44 charges) in one hand and her Wand of Lightning (16 charges) in
the other in order to obliterate her opposition. She has 72 Hp and is worth
4000 xp (Ac 2 due to her Bracers of Prot AC2).
*RIKO: This little Psuedodragon is locked in a cage when the PCs first find
him. A keyboard magically locks the cage, and a riddle is inscribed on the
underside of the keyboard. The riddle: "What keeps a couple together, yet
can drive a couple apart if what keeps them together is voiced to the
public?" --- TRUTH. If this word is spelled out on the keyboard, Riko will
be free and will be a PCs Familiar for life (choose a mage over another
character).
MAGICAL ITEMS:
*STAFF OF DIAMONDS: The Staff has 50 charges and any number of them can be
used in a round. Each charge protects against 12 points of any type of
damage, be it weapons, magic, Breath weapons, etc. It creates a purple force
field around a character which provides the protection. It cannot be
recharged.
*GEM CRYSTAL: When held in the hand, it energizes. The longer it is held
before it is dropped and its magic is used, the more damage it will do. It
will cause sharp crystal spikes to appear and impale a monster for 1d8 per
round it was held before using (up to 8 rounds). Note that if a character
holds it he can't do anything else until he decides to drop it to release
the magic.
*GLASSES OF ANALYZATION: One of my favorites, when a PC puts on these
glasses, he can stare at an unknown magical item and magically learn its
name AND function. When this item is used there is a 50% chance +2% for
every use that it will break and become useless.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Robert St. James (rstjames@earthlink.net)
Title: Flipping Door
There are two doors one going up and one going down. When someone tries to
open the door it flips forward and makes the top door the bottom door but it
also pulls the character with it unless they make a saving throw (any one
will do). If they don't make it the fall 20' and land on a hard stone floor
and are trapped unless someone pulls away some of the bricks in the floor
and pulls the trapped character out.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
flagg@Alpha.Fact.Rhein-Ruhr.De
Magnetic Passage
I used a magnetic passage (like an open door) which can only passed through
without any metal. If a player tries to pass with any metal in his hand or
on his body, he feels a resistance and can not walk through. Any non-metal
substance passes through without resistance (but there is a magnetic field
which will repulse the whole hand if there is a ring on, etc.)
Examining the door the PCs can see a little piece of metal (e.g. a nail),
which is hanging at the wall near the border. Every PC can try to take or
move this piece in vain. Even a tool or weapon can not move it but a metal
weapon will be captured by the wall and cannot be removed, too. The only way
to get through is to lay down all metal things. I know that only some metals
are magnetic but this passage is a magical passage so that every metal is
banned.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Robert W. Murrhee (friend's e-mail: xadian@earthlink.net)
"CHUTES & WEDGIES"
When the characters enter this hallway, they'll be in for a rude surprise.
The hallway floor is actually balanced on a pivot, with the side they enter
on supported underneath. The other side, however, is unsupported, as there
is a chute underneath. When enough weight is put on the unsupported side of
the floor (such as characters walking on it) the floor pivots like a teeter
totter, tilting to about a 45 degree angle. As this happens, the edge of the
floor (that the characters are not on) strikes the ceiling, causing the
release of several gallons of oil, which will pour down the chute, covering
and dislodging any characters in the hallway. Characters will be unable to
climb back up, as the chute is now much too slippery. As the characters
slide helplessly down the chute, they will notice two torches pop out from
the wall as they pass. About 20 seconds later, they will hear the torches
ignite, and if they look back, they will see the flames gaining on
them...thus realizing (if it had not occurred to them before now) that they
were covered in "flammable" oil! If the characters do nothing to slow their
descent, they can stay barely ahead of the searing flames. Wondering about
the "Wedgie" part? Well here it is.... At the end of the chute (a 1/2 mile
joyride) is a wall with a roughly triangular wedge cut into it, just big
enough for one person. When the first character hits the wedge, it rotates,
locking the first character in and simultaneously opening another wedge for
the next character in line. It is a large stone wheel with wedges cut into
its edge, which turns like a gear, locking into place as a wedge is filled
then clicking to the next empty wedge. The characters can barely hear each
other, but this is to no avail since breaking through the walls that
separate each section will release the green slime that is inside the walls.
As the wheel rotates (provided there are enough characters entrapped), one
wedge at a time will open on the opposite side of where they entered it,
freeing that character onto a ledge just wide enough to inch sideways
across. Below is what appears to be a vast pit containing 1-20 (DM's call)
Kobolds skeletons or other such nasties. At the bottom of this pit is a
narrow trail that goes up the side of the pit to connect to the ledge on
which the character is standing, at the opposite side. On the ledge above
this trail is the only door out. If the character is still standing on the
ledge when another character comes out of the wheel, said character will be
flung off the ledge into the embrace of those waiting below.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
James R. Fricton (frict001@maroon.tc.umn.edu)
Don't let the dog out!
The PCs come across a 10' long hallway. At the end there is an angry looking
monster or impossible-to-beat beast securely tied to a strong yet thin rope
that goes into a hole in the wall behind the monster. About 5' down, the
hallway turns right.
As the PCs walk down the hall to the exit there is a weak tile that has a
razor under it with the rope running under the razor, so as the PC in the
front steps on the tile it will cut the rope letting the monster free to
tear the PCs apart. Depending on the DM's mood you could have the tile also
trigger a trap that makes two doors close (and maybe lock) off both exits!
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mark Hill (altasrch@knox.mindspring.com)
Pit and a Spike
This trap should be positioned in a thin hallway. When a player steps on a
pressure sensitive block, the block falls 20 feet, setting off another
mechanism which drops a 7 foot spike from the ceiling.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Marc Menier (marcm@imaginet.fr)
The Trapped Telescope
The PCs come across a telescope which radiates a strong magical aura. If a
PC looks through the telescope, it views through to the lair of a medusa.
Perhaps the telescope has command words to change where it is looking?
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Janice Fitzgerald (janicef@csd.uwm.edu)
The Un-Openable Door
There is a rope attached next to a door. The player must pull the rope to
the side of the door. If the player yanks it, then the door will spin and
spikes on the other side will get them. It also helps to limit their time by
having them be chased by a minotaur or something.
Collapsing Columns
This works best on first level guys. You bait the ground with gold. They
rush towards it (when your at the beginning of the game you want gold to buy
stuff.) When they pick it up you can do anything you want. You can have the
room collapse in and crush them, but have an easy way out so they don't die.
also archers could be alarmed and shoot them.
On the Lookout for Magic Weapons
Once a guy has gotten farther they can use special weapon. You can put this
on a giant minotaur head only the top is flat like a table. If the guy grabs
something off of it, the horns come in and prick their arm. This can be
poisoned if you want. Anyway they pull there arm away without the weapon.
they must first put something else there. The pressure plate will go down
and the horns come in and retract back to their old position. Then they may
grab the weapon, but lose what they left.
Indiana Jones Rock Chase
If a person enters a preferably small tunnel and hasn't searched the other
floors of a dungeon then a wizard could make a giant rock fall and chase the
people through a giant maze.
It Ain't Nice to Kill Everybody
If there is a person that kills anybody he can, and there is no mage in the
party, you can have a magician in a bar talk jibberish. Most likely the
player will try to kill it. Then the magician turns into a giant creature
and wails on the guy.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ramon Dailey (ocs@olympus.net)
Watch Your Back!
The first is this. The characters walk into a room, which seals up behind
them. There's a large chasm, lava pit or some other type of stumbling block
between the characters and the far wall. The far wall is blank except for a
very visible target, complete with bullseye. The idea is that the players
think that if they shoot an arrow into the bull's eye, the door will open
back up. So, their best archer lines up to take his best shot. He hits the
bullseye... BUT... the bullseye is actually a transporter pad, and its mate
is directly opposite it... in other words, directly behind the archer. So,
the arrow hits the bull's eye, and is transported to shoot the archer in the
back! Or, anyone who is in the way. The DM can use whatever means he wishes
to finally let the players out of the room. I would make it that the arrow
has to hit any part of the wall EXCEPT the target to set them free, so a
really bad shot would be best to start with. Which would be embarrassing.
Use the Handrail!
The characters come to a staircase, which has a sign reminding the
characters to use the hand rail. I realize that this is pretty obvious, but
I'm willing to bet a lot of players will ignore it. Well, when they get so
far down, if all characters aren't touching the hand rail, it turns into a
slide and ends in whatever nasty that the DM feels necessary. Or, for an
even more evil version, this could be a bridge across a great chasm. When
someone takes their hand off the rail, it becomes ethereal for that
character, and (s)he falls through. This would be a good time to send some
winged nasties at the characters! It's hard to get off any arrows with only
one hand...
------------------------------------------------------------------------
VampD (jballou@inlink.com)
And we all fall DOWN!
The PCs come to a circular room, with two doors, one the PCs are at and the
exit. Along the edge the room is a red border about 1/2 foot to 1 foot wide.
In the center of the room is a pit. Have a delayed pit fall (i.e. wait 1
rd., wait for the 3rd person out, etc.). The pit falls out. There are now in
another circular chamber. Where the two doors were there are two long
ladders. As the PCs climb the ladders one of the rungs will slip free. This
sets off a cave in from above (ceiling). The rocks knock the PCs off the
ladder (even into the ladder). All the rungs after that still do the same
(or any other traps (all the rungs fall off, etc.)). The PCs have to fly,
jump, or climb out of the pit. The edge is really slick so make dexterity
checks and remember how close the character is to the wall with nothing to
hold on to.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Palidorn@aol.com
The Rolling Hallway
There is a slanted hallway, angled at 45 degrees, and no less than 12' long,
(for 4 adventurers, and adding 3' for each over 4.) The point of the trap,
is to pretty much kill the last person in the hallway, so.. it's angled, and
at the end of the hallway, is a pressure plate, that when stepped on, seals
off the lower portion that has 6" spikes in it. If they try to run, the top
gets sealed off. Then, every three feet, a hand hold opens on each side of
the wall, but have spikes on them. And, if grabbed, cause 1d6 points of
damage. The floor then slides away to reveal rollers under the floor, which
force the players to either grab the hand holds and pull their way to the
top, (taking the damage) and the person to fall on the spikes automatically
loses half their life, and if someone falls on them, they die.. and the
person who falls on them also loses half their life.
P.S. the dimensions of this hallway is 6" over the tallest persons head and
3" to either side of the widest person (within reason).
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Palidorn@aol.com
A Stitch in Time
The first part of the trap is a standard orc/ogre type door smash trap, with
the log behind the door so that when it is opened, all persons in front of
the door get slammed, usually into something. Now.. when someone touches the
door, Time Stasis is cast on them. And if the door is opened, the log, or
whatever the DM decides on, comes down and smashes the PC (or PCs) and they
then take 2d6 damage for it, then the PC(s) are flung into yonder wall,
which is enchanted with a Reverse Time spell. When hit, the Reverse Time
spell is cast, and the Enchanted PC's are flung back to the time a
millisecond before they got hit, so, there stuck in an endless loop until
they die... and if anyone is enchanted and not hit, they are forced to watch
as there friends die right before their eyes and they can't stop it anyway.
Of course, all those NOT enchanted wonder what happened, because even that
simple type of trap shouldn't kill their ally, right?
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dan Ackerman (Felikide@ix.netcom.com)
The Dart Room
The PC's come to a door at the end of a corridor. They will likely search it
for traps. There are none. If the PCs open the door, they cannot see
anything beyond the doorway. It is dark, and the players get a feeling of
vastness. There is, in fact, something there: a very, very thin thread is
suspended from wall to wall about 3 feet beyond the doorway, and one foot
above the floor. A PC within 2 feet of the thread has a chance see it (1/3
Wisdom score). When it is broken, the PC may not even feel it, depending on
clothes worn on the shins. However, ten seconds after it is broken, the
front few players feel a slight puff of air on exposed skin. Half a round
later, all PC's are struck by a shower of whizzing darts, taking 2d20 hits.
Each dart causes 1d2 points of damage. The darts can be retrieved by
surviving PC's. They are about an inch long and the fletching is skewed,
causing a very irregular flight path, which makes them useless for any
weapon, but ensures that all PCs within the room are struck. It the PC's
collect the darts, there are 1000 darts found lying about the room. This
trap doesn't sound like much, but for some masochistic reason, my players
got a real kick out of it.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Gerald Dupuy (gdupuy@pcisys.net)
Thieves' Revenge
A party comes upon a clearing. In the middle of the clearing is a small hut
or building of some sort. The ground around the hut is barren and covered
with stones and gravel. Any player who steps into the clearing wearing metal
armor is struck by 1-5 stones with no visible creatures to have thrown them.
This can be quite perplexing to the players because no magic is involved or
detected. Though players struck must make intelligence rolls to see if they
notice that the stones are still adhering to their armor. The stones in the
clearing are LODESTONES, natural occurring magnetic rocks. Thieves don't
usually wear metal armor so are able to walk freely into the clearing
without too much trouble (maybe a dagger could cause minor problems). Hence
the name Thieves Revenge.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Andy Warner (awa@wpo.nerc.ac.uk)
The Troll Trap
The entrance to a dungeon is near a waterfall, hence area is always wet and
misty. The dungeon is ancient and sealed. DM describes the old, ancient,
dusty and dry corridor, and the dust clouds caused as the door finally gives
way. The players complete the dungeon but on return, the dust has gotten
wet, revitalized and reformed the HUGE troll it once was. Just love
regeneration, don't you?
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Joseph BlackBear (blackbea@ntrek.com)
Hot n' Cold
This trap involves 2 rooms in a dungeon (or castle or whatever) that are
joined to each other by a single doorway (no door, unless you want to make
it REALLY hard on your players)
The first room of the trap is enchanted to make it very cold (I run
Palladium FRPG so I use hundreds of wards on the walls that are permanent)
and the doorway (or door) to the other side is a good 100 feet away. The
party must pass through this room in order to get to their goal.
The 2nd room is enchanted in the same way, except that it is to the HEAT
extreme. Most players that I throw this trap up against make themselves
resistant to cold to get through the 1st room, but once they do that, then
they can't make themselves resist fire for the 2nd one (there is a time
period to prepare, and since they are in the extreme cold room, they would
freeze to death before the time period expired)
Therefore, they have to REALLY think (or get really lucky on their saving
throw, that is at -10 if they go through the heat room while resisting cold)
in order to get past the Heat room. Once a player gets trough the trap, the
rest can follow easy enough provided there is a mage in the group that can
Teleport each member to the one that got past it all.
BTW, failure to make the saving through when passing from the Cold to Heat
room (if the player is resisting cold) means death. Ashes, to tell the
truth. No hope of reincarnation.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Shawn Marion (wizard@ca.securenet.net)
The Mirror Room
The PCs enter a room made entirely of mirrors. at the far side of the room
is a group of pedestals with spiked armor, stone armor, and black armor.
When a character takes one, the others disappear. (All armors are equivalent
to plate mail) (The door open and closes)
Spiked Armor: Suddenly the characters hear something moving. A pillar
covered with spiked smashes down at random locations, and the number of
pillars keep growing. Any character that is smashed by the pillar get his or
her HP halved, and next time the character is killed. The characters must
escape the room before they die.
Stone Armor: The PCs cannot get out of this one unless they use some kind of
spell. A stone pillar breaks through a random mirror and smashes another
mirror. Then a pillar breaks out of that mirror and smashes diagonally. Then
it smashes straight, etc. After that, the door opens again and they can
exit.
Black Armor: The room goes dark for a while and when the light comes back,
it is from a glowing sphere held by a dark magic user. The rest of the
monsters in the room should be equal or less (For larger amounts of
monsters) to the PCs. When all the monsters are dead, you may leave the
room. All the stuff on the monsters can be taken if your game allows it. All
the stuff is non magical, and usually the weapons are maces, axes, and stuff
the PCs find weak.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Shawn Marion (wizard@ca.securenet.net)
Objects of Envy/Pity
The characters enter a room made out of red metal, and it has a small mirror
at the far side. The room is filled with every from potions with awesome
labels, magical weapons, legendary armor etc. The characters will probably
take the stuff. If one looks in the mirror, the swords will be glowing with
an evil aura, the potions will be labeled 'HEAVY POISON' etc. when the
characters leave the room, the objects will be cursed and instead of girdles
of giant strength etc. they will be girdles of giant brain, girdles of unfed
person strength, broad sword of missing, mace of crumbling, scrolls of
destroy brain, helmet of amnesia etc. stuff that may kill the characters
before they even get a chance to uncurse it.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
VampD (jballou@inlink.com)
The PCs reach a room with metals bars going across the room. The First Bar
is 2' from the ground. The second is 5' from the ground. The Third is
doubled up, one 2' from the ground, and one 5' from the ceiling. Then the
fourth is 4' from the floor and 4' from the ceiling (10 ft. Tall ceiling,
ground refers to hall level). The floor drops 20ft from the hall level and
then there is a pool of acid. The acid is any contact acid you chose. You
might not want it to do much damage cause it would really be hard to rescue
the PC in the first place (acid on there hands when they grab the rope to
pull them selves out, and there would be acid all over them in the first
place. The acid is only like 1 1/2' deep.
____________________________________
o
o o
---> o o o ---->
______ o o o o ________
| |
|~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~|
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Chris Disch (dischc01@TIGGER.STCLOUD.MSUS.EDU)
CHEMISTRY KABOOM!
Have the adventurers walk through a room that negates all magical light
sources, a rock with continual light and/or magical weapons, then the
characters are forced to use torches. A side view of the room follows:
---\ /----\ /----\ /----\
IN-> \--/ \--/ \--/ \________
--\ /--\ /--\ /--\ OUT->
\____/ \____/ \____/ \_________
Each dip in the gradually sloping floor is filled with chlorine gas, just
enough to make the adventurers gag and run to higher ground, the next rise
in the floor, without thinking. In each of the vaulted ceilings there is
hydrogen gas, and when hydrogen comes in contact with fire...KABOOM! Add in
the amount of damage you feel is adequate. The sound from the explosion will
cause deafness for 2d6 rounds. This is great for spellcasters! Of course all
flammable materials will catch on fire (this a nice way to burn the clothes
right off the back of the pc's). See if the pc's figure it out by the third
ceiling. If a couple of the pc's continue naked, add another trapped room
that is extremely cold, and watch what happens.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Vince Tasslehoff Tomasso (taselhof@aztec.asu.edu)
Drain Blades
This trap consists of a room that is twenty feet across and ten feet deep. A
tilting floor leads to the trap room, dumping the players on the floor,
taking falling damage from 1d4 spikes in the chute. The spikes cause 1d6
damage each. After the players hit the water in the room (which is eight
feet high), they fell a sucking sensation below their feet. There is the
sound of a mechanism moving, then water is sucked out of the room at the
rate of a 1/2 foot per round. The players have to make a successful strength
check to stay afloat in the water every round the water is sucked out. If
they fail the check, they get sucked down with the rest of the water into a
long, narrow tube. In about a round, they feel a soft breeze that turns into
a roar. A blade is below the players. It spans the entire tunnel and the
players cannot escape it. Roll a 1d10 to see what part of the body is cut
off:
1-3 left arm
4-5 right arm
6-7 left leg
8-9 right leg
10 decapitation (death)
After getting part of the body cut off, the player falls into a plain room,
two levels lower than they were originally.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Vince Tas Tomasso (taselhof@aztec.asu.edu)
Dark Mirror
This trap consists of a large, tunneling room and a tilting floor in the
room above. As soon as the players are dumped into the tunneling room, they
land about twenty feet down, suffering falling damage. They then see a
mirror that seems misty and cloud-like. All of sudden, out comes a duplicate
of the player looking into the mirror! It has all the same abilities of the
player it is duplicating! Even weapons, knowledge and abilities like
Strength. And if the player is a wizard, the duplicate has all the same
spells as the wizard. All successful attack go right through the duplicate,
but all the successful duplicate attacks have real damage! The only way the
duplicate can be destroyed is by destroying the mirror. Then the duplicate
will scream and dissipate into the air. Then the DM can use any means of
exiting the room he wishes.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Jeremy Smith (taselhof@aztec.asu.edu)
Its So Simple You're Sure To Die
The PC are walking down a hallway, room, passageway, etc. They discover
without much observation that there is a tripwire near the bottom of the
floor. It is much thicker than most trip wires, so it can be seen very
easily. Once it is seen the PC will most likely avoid the trip wire. The PC
go a few more steps, and then the entire floor will crumble to dust. The PC
will then end up in a torture chamber, dungeon, pit, watery grave, etc.
However, if they had hit the trip wire a secret passageway would have opened
up in the right side of the wall. If they go down it they will have avoided
the collapsing floor.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Strangeling (The_Strangeling@wow.com)
Unseen Spikes by Kevin Burke
Start with a large room (at least that's what it looks like) . Its best to
use this trap with intelligent monsters using DETECT INVISIBILITY scrolls .
The room is actually a maze with caltrops/spikes lining its walls . What
makes it really dangerous is that the maze is enchanted with invisibility so
that no one except the monsters can see the spiked walls . Characters will
probably head straight for the monsters (or you could pile gold around a
little) and run right into the spikes . However , the monsters can't see the
party because of the walls that only they can see . The only ways that I've
figured out to get through are to poke the air all through the area, which
isn't very convenient when you get to the monsters , use any number of
spells (the easy way) , or attempt to bribe the monsters . Note that the
monsters will most likely either be employed by a high level mage or have
many additional scrolls nearby . The spikes do 3d4+the character's AC when
walking or 3d6 +AC when running .
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Adrian Gudas (gudas@interlog.com)
The Poison Arrows
An oldie but a goodie. A pile of gold sits in one corner of the room. As the
players cautiously step into the room, nothing will happen. They will then
cautiously walk further into the room. Still, nothing will happen. But as
soon as someone reaches for the gold.. Tzing! Poison arrows shoot out of the
wall. The damage they inflict is up to you, but in my AD&D adventures, there
are 2d4, each THAC0 14. The poison is type K (contact, 5 points of damage
without save, 0 w/ save).
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Adrian Gudas (gudas@interlog.com)
The Spider
As the players enter a room, a huge spider is waiting for them. It does not
move; it is simply clinging to a huge web. There is a torch in the wall, and
the players will notice that the web is quite flammable. The spider is, in
fact, a bomb. Lighting the webs not only sets everything aflame, it also
detonates the bomb. Ouch.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Paul Henrichsen (henryrap@ix.netcom.com)
Sword in the Falls
This is an item trap. It consists of a room behind a waterfall. The bigger
the waterfall the better. The doorway to this room has a magical field to
keep water out. (Note this will do no harm to typical adventurers, but it
will exclude water elementals and the like.) The room is lit by a glowing
sword set in a large white (marble) stone in the center of the room. (Think
of Arthur's test.) A crystal dome covers the hilt and the portion of the
blade which extends from the sword. The stone and the crystal are enchanted
with a spell to destroy water. (Again this will not harm the typical
adventurer.) The crystal dome is fairly easy to break and any warrior worth
the name should be able to pull the sword from the stone without difficulty.
There is no sheath for the sword and it is silver of very high workmanship
and obviously enchanted. If the adventurers leave the sword and the crystal
dome alone, nothing happens. The room would even make a good place to camp
since everything but the adventurers ignores the place entirely. If the
crystal or stone is broken or the sword somehow removed from the stone, all
the spells against water in the room vanish. If they look the party will
notice that spray from the falls now enters through the doorway, but it did
not earlier.
Upon further examination it will be noted that the sword is actually made of
two very soft silvery metals--sodium and potassium. (The sword is soft
enough that you could cut it with a butter knife.) If the party has the
sword in the air in the room for more than 2 hours they will notice that it
has tarnished. If they carry the sword from the room, without taking extreme
precautions, it will spontaneously ignite and do lots (6d6 GURPS or 6d10
AD&D) of damage to whomever is carrying it. If the sword is left exposed in
the room, for more than one hour after the protective spells fall, there is
a 10% chance per ten minutes that it will ignite.
Editor's Note: ooooh! I can't resist making comment! This one is such a
nasty and devious trap!! The possibilities with this one...
------------------------------------------------------------------------
This is the end of the Trap Collection.