Post by StoryTeller on Jan 22, 2006 7:10:47 GMT
Literal artifacts/magic Items
Chris Peckham (gen13_freak@hotmail.com)
One of the funniest tricks I have played on my PCs is to include items that do
what they are called. For example, a Bag of Holding that doesn't let go; a Ring
of Invisibility that you can't find; Intelligent swords that are afraid of open
places (ie. Agrophobia) and even swords that are afraid of enclosed places
(Claustrophobia).
Biozome@aol.com
This trap consists of a room about 40' long by 20' wide by 30 or so feet high.
The ceiling is lined with spikes about 3' long and they are close enough
together to prevent any PCs from winding themselves between them.. along the
walls are four or more small alcoves large enough for one person. The idea is
that the characters will jump into these alcoves in hope of saving their skins,
and it will.. However, there is an eensy weensy drawback, the spiked ceiling
doesn't go away.. It simply hits the ground and stays there, imprisoning the
PCs.. After this a sleeping gas fills the chamber, knocking the PC's out.. when
they awake, they find themselves in a prison cell, bound and gagged in front of
the head baddie..etc.
Mendossa's Very Cruel & Sadictic Trap (groy@videotron.ca)
The PCs are walking on their hands and knees in a tunnel which is about 4 feet
wide. The tunnel leads in a chamber about 60' X 120' , 30' high, and there's
another tunnel entrance on the other side of the room. The tunnel does not lead
on level floor but at the ceiling's level. That means that the PCs have to jump
down, walk and climb to the next tunnel entrance.
As soon as a PC touches the floor, the ceiling starts to go down, and in 1 round
the tunnel entrances on both sides are inaccessible. There is a hole in the
ceiling, just large enough for a human to stand in it (like 6' high, 2'
diameter). So the PCs have to fight to determine who's gonna stand up and fit in
the hole while the others are gonna be crunched by the ceiling. However, the
ceiling is made of a large block of stone, in which a tunnel is built. When the
ceiling touches down the floor, the tunnel fits right into the 2 tunnel
entrances. So if your PCs where smart enough to wait, they have a regular tunnel
in front of em.
Meanwhile, the PC who's standing in the ceiling hole is now stuck in this hole.
You can let him die there or have a trap open under his feet, trap that could
lead to some secret chamber or another part of the dungeon.
part 1 (ceiling up):
| stone |
|-------------------------------|
tunnel
|-------------------------------|
| |
| stone |
| |
| __ |
| || hole |
---------||----------------------
-----| ceiling |--------
tunnel tunnel
-----| |--------
| |
| chamber |
| |
| |
| floor |
---------------------------------
part 2 (ceiling down):
| stone |
-----|-------------------------------|------
tunnel
-----|-------------------------------|------
| |
| stone |
| |
| __ |
| || hole |
---------||----------------------
¯¯
The results of this trap: some dead PCs, some stuck PCs, some PCs goin' on.
Thrash (bob.towsley@sk.sympatico.ca)
This trap is best used on the house of a secluded crazy-man, but it will work
great anywhere you can fit it.
The house is made of brick, covered in plaster, so as to make it look like one
solid lump. The door is a plain, wooden door with a single knocker on it. The
knocker has a very small string of fishing line (or some other transparent
string) attached to it. Around the doorframe are about 20 small holes, each
containing one dart (poison is optional). These holes have had a very thin layer
of plaster put over them, to make them nearly invisible.
When the knocker is pulled, the string sets off the trap. The darts come flying
through the plaster directly at the arm and wrist of the player doing the
knocking. Each dart does approximately 1d4 damage. To make this trap easier for
low-level players, you can decrease the amount of darts, or the damage they do.
Of course, if that arm is the player's sword arm, their attack rolls will be
reduced by 3 until the damage is sufficiently healed (at the DM's discretion).
If you want, you can also have another set of darts pointed at the doorknob.
Chris McNorgan (chrismcn@mail.on.rogers.wave.ca)
Sitting on a small stone pedestal is an object of worth (or maybe THE object of
worth). While it isn't clearly protected by a physical barrier, glowing streaks
of light seem to shimmer in a field around the object. Touching the field
results in some bad effect (damage, reduction to 1hp, level loss, etc.).
Engraved into the stone is the command word that dispels the field. The words
are written in some ancient language requiring either A) someone able to read
ancient languages, or B) a skilled thief (in the AD&D world). The catch to the
command word is this: the letters of the word are written in the circle so that
depending on the time of day, one must start at a different point on the circle
to read off the command word (e.g., depending on where the sundial points to, or
where a ray of sunlight points to). The word in the circle should be something
that could be read in a circle, such as CAMERA, which might be read CAMERA,
MERACA, ERACAM, AMERAC, ACAMER or RACAME. In fact, using CAMERA would be
especially devious because players would likely think, "Oh, it says camera."
without considering different readings. Reading off the incorrect word causes
the object to sink into the pedestal. This would be bad enough were it not for
the triggering of some other nasty effect...
Arious(ddwjr@satcom.whit.org)
Three rooms are set up to look like giant bells. It turns out that they are just
that. The first of these bells, when rung, makes magic armor appear. The second
bell, when rung, makes magic weapons appear. The third bell, when rung, makes
money appear. However, here is the catch. If one player rings the same bell more
than once things go wildly wrong! All of the players are knocked unconscious,
when they awake, they find themselves surrounded by hungry monsters of the DM's
choice. (It is optional as to whether they have their weapons and armor still
on.) This same thing will happen If the singular player rings all three of the
bells as well. In some ways this trap may very well bring a grisly end to the
game.
The Ice cream Cone
Curt Arrowsmith (curta@gorge.net)
A conical room, any size. The floor is made up of three stone pressure plates,
joined at the middle of the room. When there are 300 lbs. on any one pressure
plate, or 600 lbs on the three pressure plates combined, the trap takes effect.
The PCs all fall into a semi-spherical room beneath the trapped room. The room
is filled with Neopolitan Ice Cream, magically kept cool (and solid, the PCs
will give the DM a satisfying **SQUOOSH!**).
Column of Lightning
Curt Arrowsmith (curta@gorge.net)
Any room, with a 20' metal pole in the center and an open skylight above that.
Resting on the pole is any minor magical item. Whenever anyone enters the room,
a lightning storm appears in the sky within 1 turn +1d4 rounds. When someone
tries to climb up the pole, it begins rising into the air, about 20', through
levitation (so there is nothing holding it up to be grabbed). Of course, by this
time, there is a violent lightning storm happening. Lightning storm, metal pole.
. . . I would say maybe 6-10d8 points of damage, but it's up to you.
Elastic Sword I Curt Arrowsmith (curta@gorge.net)
There is a magical looking type sword sticking out (blade first) of a stone
wall. When the PC tries to pull the sword out of the wall, the sword just
stretches. He/she can't get it out even with the mightiest power!
Elastic Sword II Curt Arrowsmith (curta@gorge.net)
Same thing as elastic sword I, only the sword is on the long wall of a long and
narrow room. The PC pulling the sword is so intently concentrating on getting
this infuriating weapon out of this wall, he neglects to look behind him. And
when he steps on the pressure plate, MANY spikes come out of the wall opposite
the sword (which should be no more than 10'-15' away) and the PC backs into
them. Roll 5d4 for the number of spikes backed into, and 1d4 points of damage
per spike. If the PC survives, his fellow players should get a good laugh over
this. HA!
Drain Blades
Tas Vince Burrfoot (taselhof@whidbey.net)
This trap consists of a ten-foot deep and a 30 foot wide room filled with water
up to eight feet. The room above has a tilting floor that leads down a chute
which has 1d10 wooden stakes that do 1d4 damage per stake. A successful
dexterity check must be made to avoid all damage.
Then the adventuring party falls into the room with the water. At the very
bottom of this water is a drain. The party does not suffer any falling damage (I
guess you can if you want to--my party gets upset because of damage like that)
The vibrations of the parties falling bodies hitting the top of the water can be
felt by a mechanism in the drain. The drain opens and starts to pull the water
in with it.
The party can all make successful strength and dexterity checks to stay afloat
until all the water has filtered out. If they fail, then they get sucked into a
ten foot long tunnel with the rest of water. They very suddenly feel a breeze in
the tunnel that soon grows to a roar and two whirling baldes become visible
within the tunnel. The adventurer(s) must make a successful dexterity check to
grab a handhold in the drain and climb out. If failed, randomly determine which
part of the body is cut off beyond repair. The adventurer then falls another ten
feet into a plain room (or whatever,) suffering falling damage.
Bone Thug
Daniel Olson (daniel.olson@mail.cal.shaw.wave.ca)
The PCs walk into a room of any medium size with a small pillar in the center
and bones piled along the outside on the floor and shelves. If the players
search the piles they will find no skulls. On top of the pillar is a skull. The
skull is wearing a leather circlet with a crystal hanging from the center. If a
player puts the circlet on, a quantity of bones fuse themselves with the
character's armor. This bone armor has a cumulative AC of -4 (subtract 4 from
character's current AC) and gives +3 Str. This armor is really a type of
doppleganger that possesses the character after 1D4 turns. After 5D4 turns
(after possession) the doppleganger attacks the other players.
Variant: the armor causes mind rot as per the spell.
WOLF TRAP Daniel Olson (daniel.olson@mail.cal.shaw.wave.ca)
This was originally a wolf trap in colonial America but has been enlarged to fit
humans. There is a 20' deep pit covering a square area of floor. The walls are
slanted so the pit is larger at the bottom than at the top. the trap has a cover
over it. This cover is a board or thin piece of stone supported by one axis
which is stuck loosely in the wall so it can rotate. Any weight placed on the
cover causes it to rotate 45 degrees dropping the PC(s) into the pit, causing
appropriate damage, unless they save vs. death ray. On either side of the axis
is a counterbalanced weight which resets the trap. The measurements for this
trap are 10' deep(min) for every 5X5 area of the cover. The top of the pit is 3"
wider on all sides of the cover. The walls of the pit should be decorated and
slanted according to the DM's tastes of death and decay.
NOSEBLEED
Daniel Olson (daniel.olson@mail.cal.shaw.wave.ca)
The PCs encounter a normal door styled to the dungeon. The door is not locked
but if the knob or whatever means of opening is used the door swings rapidly
open until it hits something then closes just as fast. If it hits a PC's head or
body it causes 1D4 damage and immobilizes them for one turn. a variant is that
the real hinges to the door are on the same side as the knob. The result: the PC
is sandwiched between the door and wall.
Dimension Cube
Daniel Ettinger (skypilot@tfs.net)
The dimension cube is a curiosity trap. All a player has to do is touch it. They
are pulled into a square room with four doors. They must choose a door. DM rolls
d100. If 00 comes up, they're free, if anything else comes up, they must try
again. DM's discretion as to how often. Time passes normally and creatures can
be encountered, as they are also trapped. Players may even encounter deceased
adventurers who were killed or starved. Even if a party enters, each player
receives a percentile roll as they go through a door, even if its the same one.
Teleporting Door
Frodo11111@aol.com
This trap is nearly guaranteed to kill PCs who depend on brute strength to
fight. This trap works well at the end of a hallway. When the PCs reach the end
a door opens in the ceiling and an illusionary monster drops out of it. The PCs
should attack it and when they do it fades out and their weapons hit the door
behind it. When the weapons hit the door they are teleported behind the PCs and
they continue moving but at double the speed and causing double damage each time
they are teleported. If they hit a PC, they cause their damage but start moving
again at their original speed. The PCs can't stop their weapons unless they
teleport them to another area or dispel the teleporter. Then the PCs must travel
through the ceiling panel.
Eagle1 (Eagle1@sisna.com)
Both of these are cute little traps designed to keep PCs from advancing in a
dungeon. The first one was _very_ frustrating for the PC's in the game I
introduced it in. You need two rooms, EXACTLY IDENTICAL, right next to each
other. The first room is an empty room with a door leading to the second room.
The second room is identical to the first, except for the trap, a hidden
teleporter. It can be positioned anywhere in the room, but for maximum effect,
place it in front of the door out. When stepped on, it teleports the PC's to the
same spot in the first room w/o their knowledge. Thus PC's that never figure it
out would be stuck in an endless loop and keep going forever! (unless they go
back the way they came or disarm the trap, or open the door without stepping on
the trap, then jump over the trap, into or through the door way. Nasty DMs might
have a rock wall just behind the door, making the hassle a waste of time, or put
another trap in the doorway.)
The second trap involves a fairly large room, and illusion, a set of colored
floor tiles, and a magic barrier. First, the room. It's an empty room, with the
barrier going from wall to wall across the middle of the room like so:
|------------|
| |
|************|
| |
|------------|
Then, the tiles (which should be colored so that they stand out [i.e., green
tiles on a tan floor or something similar]) go through the barrier in a
footprint-like arrangement, but wide enough that the PC's would have to hop from
one tiles to the next. Now, the illusion. The illusion is of something humanoid
(a little girl, a little boy, a goblin etc. DM's choice) hopping from tile to
tile, on one foot, singing an odd little rhyming tune. The tune drops hints that
the PC's have to hop on the tiles too. If the PC's just hop on the tiles they
run smack into the barrier (or if the DM chooses, get zapped for whatever amount
of damage the DM sees fit) that prevents them from going through. However, if
they hop from tile to tile singing the song (which the illusion stops singing
when the PC's start), they can hop through the barrier.
Nicole Bélanger (nico@sympatico.ca)
The trap consists of a spherical room. The players must be compelled to enter
(magical objects, weapons or the like is perfect for that purpose). As soon as
the players enter, a stone door slide down and open the trap. A huge ball starts
rolling in the PC's direction. The room is large enough to let the PCs escape
the first attack. However because of the room's shape, the ball will
continuously roll around. Here's the trick: the spherical room is actually a
false room. The sphere lies on four blocks in a larger cubic room. Any blow made
with enough strength will make the sphere fall off the blocks and shatter on the
floor freeing those inside.
Shadowgold@aol.com
A short corridor leads to a mirror positioned at 45 degrees, pointed at a hole
in the ceiling. It thus appears that the passage leads out of the dungeon. When
a PC walks into the mirror attempting to leave the dungeon, the mirror
collapses, causing the PC to fall a DM-decided number of feet into a chamber of
sinister bats, ice toads, or whatever is the most suitable for the occasion.
There's generally no way out except by climbing, or the PC's adventuring
companions to drop him down a rope.
OR...
The mirror drops the PC directly into one of the "All fall down. And down... and
down..." traps.
The WOOPS! Trap
Sam (SAGECO@hotmail.com)
This trap works especially good on Barbarians because they have a tendency to
smash things. This works in any room, any size, any shape. The characters walk
into a room that looks crudely carved out of stone. Across the room, a massive,
unmovable, weak-looking stone slab is blocking off a door (the characters will
only see the door if they look at the side of the slab and see the door through
the space left between the wall and the slab). Absolutely no spells or
enchantments work in this room (it's good to leave anything living but the
characters stay out of this). No matter how many characters try, the slab is
unmovable. A very observant character would notice that an illusion portion in
the wall (this is the only spell that works in the room) that gives you a
passage around the slab to the door (which is VERY easy to open, no roll
required). If anyone attempts to smash the slab (it is very weak), sharp, little
rock shards that have a THAC0 of 11, and 1d12 will hit each character within 10'
of the slab, 1d10 to each character in the 10' after that, and so on down to
1d2. Each shard that hits will do 1d4 points of damage. After the slab is
smashed, the illusion will disappear, and reveal the illusionary passageway.
The illusion is a level 3 illusion that you can just plain walk through. Anyone
that teleports into the room will automatically teleport into the stone around
the room. What can be done, is give the characters a Wand of Dispel Illusion
which can be used in the room.
Really Steamed
Conway Brew (cbrew@fchn.com)
I use this for characters who like to wear a lot of steel armor or other bulky
garments. The trap, though seemingly harmless at first, becomes more difficult.
It begins at a wooden door, when the players open they are greeted by a small
gush of steamy air, not too much (by the way, this has to be the only way to a
particular destination, the only door, etc.). Players must enter to continue. At
first, it's not so bad. A little hot, very humid. After the first right or left
hand turn of the corridor (it doesn't really matter which way it goes) the door
becomes invisible (no one will notice yet because they are paying attention to
moving forward). After ten or fifteen minutes the steam becomes thicker, making
it difficult to see. In addition, the metal armor is now heated enough to cause
damage every turn to the players continuing to wear it (usually 1-3 points per
turn, depending upon player level). Everyone's constitution score is affected as
they become dehydrated, weak and tired from the humid and Variations include,
maze like passages that confuse and bewilder, and thus prolong exposure to the
steam. Or, some small creatures adept at hiding in or using steam for cover who
pester and attack the characters.
Raging Waters
TERRI MEADOR (terrijoe@swbell.net)
In this trap, death is an unimportant concept. A chamber, with illusions of
rings, trinkets, etc., is the bait. When attempted to snatch, it disappears,
causing all doors to lock. White panels raise to show holes in the wall.
Vibrations bring the victim to his/her knees, just as water rushes into the
room. Small snakes flow in, as well as weak poison. (The snakes aren't
poisonous, either.) As the water rises to their neck, the room shatters, leaving
the person swimming down dangerous rapids. The person falls down a 20 ft. high
water fall, and floats to shore, unconscious, but not dead. When they wake,
random items may be missing, and the poison causes severe sickness, but fades
quickly.
Fast Freddy (FastFreddy@webtv.net)
I have a trap that nearly killed my low level PCs. First, you need a square room
roughly 30 x 30. along one of the walls place a magical object against the wall.
Anyone taking that weapon must replace it with something more valuable or equal
to the value, or else the floor starts to drop in a spiral pattern (doors
automatically close) which kill any PC in that area. Placing the object back
will do absolutely nothing. I allow 30 seconds before anything happens.
PowderburnHarpel@hotmail.com
A glowing green cube appears around a victim or group, it can be as big or small
as the DM needs. The cube is like a cell or cage. The more force exerted on the
walls, floor, and ceiling the stronger the cage gets. It starts with a mere 10
hps but it increases with the number of damage done to it. There are only two
ways out of this trap, for someone on the outside to reach in and pull someone
out or to attack and destroy the square from the outside. For added fun you can
have the walls shrinking to get them to attack the walls.
Ghost Busters
Mephistopheles (Mephisto667@aol.com)
This traps is actually fairly simple. Throughout the dungeon, place various
programmed illusions of a ghost. Do this several times until the players are
confident that the next one isn't a ghost. Of course, they don't need to know
that this time it really is...
Every which way but up
Mephistopheles (Mephisto667@aol.com)
A room with various metal spikes on the ceiling, and any exit/entrance to the
room has trip wire that activates a reverse gravity spell.
Every which way but up 2
Mephistopheles (Mephisto667@aol.com)
Same as before, except there's no trip wire for reverse gravity. The ceiling is
highly magnetized and has enough force to draw up the PC's Extremely encumbered
PC's not carrying loads of metal items may be exempt. Good way to relieve PC
warriors of equipment and most weapons.
What does it say?
Mephistopheles (Mephisto667@aol.com)
Just give them a faulty fireball scroll that centers on the caster.
Telescope
Mephistopheles (Mephisto667@aol.com)
The PC's find a telescope. At the other end of the telescope is a reduced
medusa's head. You can figure out the results.
Invisible Bridge
Mephistopheles (Mephisto667@aol.com)
The PC's come to a large chasm. There is a single bridge connecting the two
sides, and somewhere nearby (on a wall or something) there are 2 levers. The
first lever makes the bridge disappear, making it invisible. The other lever
makes an illusionary bridge appear nearby. The result is the PC's assuming the
second illusionary bridge is the real one. For added realism you might want to
have an illusion of a creature or something appear to fall through the real
bridge and another illusion of another creature walking across the illusionary
bridge.
The Greek Fire Greed Trap
Brendan (Frodo11111@AOL.com)
This is a sure fire way to kill greedy PCs. Have the PCs stumble into a small
dwelling during a storm. The House is located near two lakes (hehe). In the
house there is a door on one wall marked *Do not open* and through a window the
PCs can see a small room with several magic artifacts. When one of them gets
greedy enough and opens the door one of the small rooms walls collapse due to
the pressure change; a jet of water hits the PCs knocking them out a second door
into the water. You may say a lit candle is knocked over and the house begins to
burn, to add effect. Next a Flaming Cloud of Sodium and Oil begins to rise form
the bottom of the lake. It rises at 10' a round (The lake is 50' deep). Any
characters hit by this cloud suffer 8d6 points of damage a round for as long as
they are in the cloud and 4d6 for every round out of following that. The Cloud
burns for at least 1 turn after reaching the surface. Diving under water only
doubles the damage.
Chris Peckham (gen13_freak@hotmail.com)
One of the funniest tricks I have played on my PCs is to include items that do
what they are called. For example, a Bag of Holding that doesn't let go; a Ring
of Invisibility that you can't find; Intelligent swords that are afraid of open
places (ie. Agrophobia) and even swords that are afraid of enclosed places
(Claustrophobia).
Biozome@aol.com
This trap consists of a room about 40' long by 20' wide by 30 or so feet high.
The ceiling is lined with spikes about 3' long and they are close enough
together to prevent any PCs from winding themselves between them.. along the
walls are four or more small alcoves large enough for one person. The idea is
that the characters will jump into these alcoves in hope of saving their skins,
and it will.. However, there is an eensy weensy drawback, the spiked ceiling
doesn't go away.. It simply hits the ground and stays there, imprisoning the
PCs.. After this a sleeping gas fills the chamber, knocking the PC's out.. when
they awake, they find themselves in a prison cell, bound and gagged in front of
the head baddie..etc.
Mendossa's Very Cruel & Sadictic Trap (groy@videotron.ca)
The PCs are walking on their hands and knees in a tunnel which is about 4 feet
wide. The tunnel leads in a chamber about 60' X 120' , 30' high, and there's
another tunnel entrance on the other side of the room. The tunnel does not lead
on level floor but at the ceiling's level. That means that the PCs have to jump
down, walk and climb to the next tunnel entrance.
As soon as a PC touches the floor, the ceiling starts to go down, and in 1 round
the tunnel entrances on both sides are inaccessible. There is a hole in the
ceiling, just large enough for a human to stand in it (like 6' high, 2'
diameter). So the PCs have to fight to determine who's gonna stand up and fit in
the hole while the others are gonna be crunched by the ceiling. However, the
ceiling is made of a large block of stone, in which a tunnel is built. When the
ceiling touches down the floor, the tunnel fits right into the 2 tunnel
entrances. So if your PCs where smart enough to wait, they have a regular tunnel
in front of em.
Meanwhile, the PC who's standing in the ceiling hole is now stuck in this hole.
You can let him die there or have a trap open under his feet, trap that could
lead to some secret chamber or another part of the dungeon.
part 1 (ceiling up):
| stone |
|-------------------------------|
tunnel
|-------------------------------|
| |
| stone |
| |
| __ |
| || hole |
---------||----------------------
-----| ceiling |--------
tunnel tunnel
-----| |--------
| |
| chamber |
| |
| |
| floor |
---------------------------------
part 2 (ceiling down):
| stone |
-----|-------------------------------|------
tunnel
-----|-------------------------------|------
| |
| stone |
| |
| __ |
| || hole |
---------||----------------------
¯¯
The results of this trap: some dead PCs, some stuck PCs, some PCs goin' on.
Thrash (bob.towsley@sk.sympatico.ca)
This trap is best used on the house of a secluded crazy-man, but it will work
great anywhere you can fit it.
The house is made of brick, covered in plaster, so as to make it look like one
solid lump. The door is a plain, wooden door with a single knocker on it. The
knocker has a very small string of fishing line (or some other transparent
string) attached to it. Around the doorframe are about 20 small holes, each
containing one dart (poison is optional). These holes have had a very thin layer
of plaster put over them, to make them nearly invisible.
When the knocker is pulled, the string sets off the trap. The darts come flying
through the plaster directly at the arm and wrist of the player doing the
knocking. Each dart does approximately 1d4 damage. To make this trap easier for
low-level players, you can decrease the amount of darts, or the damage they do.
Of course, if that arm is the player's sword arm, their attack rolls will be
reduced by 3 until the damage is sufficiently healed (at the DM's discretion).
If you want, you can also have another set of darts pointed at the doorknob.
Chris McNorgan (chrismcn@mail.on.rogers.wave.ca)
Sitting on a small stone pedestal is an object of worth (or maybe THE object of
worth). While it isn't clearly protected by a physical barrier, glowing streaks
of light seem to shimmer in a field around the object. Touching the field
results in some bad effect (damage, reduction to 1hp, level loss, etc.).
Engraved into the stone is the command word that dispels the field. The words
are written in some ancient language requiring either A) someone able to read
ancient languages, or B) a skilled thief (in the AD&D world). The catch to the
command word is this: the letters of the word are written in the circle so that
depending on the time of day, one must start at a different point on the circle
to read off the command word (e.g., depending on where the sundial points to, or
where a ray of sunlight points to). The word in the circle should be something
that could be read in a circle, such as CAMERA, which might be read CAMERA,
MERACA, ERACAM, AMERAC, ACAMER or RACAME. In fact, using CAMERA would be
especially devious because players would likely think, "Oh, it says camera."
without considering different readings. Reading off the incorrect word causes
the object to sink into the pedestal. This would be bad enough were it not for
the triggering of some other nasty effect...
Arious(ddwjr@satcom.whit.org)
Three rooms are set up to look like giant bells. It turns out that they are just
that. The first of these bells, when rung, makes magic armor appear. The second
bell, when rung, makes magic weapons appear. The third bell, when rung, makes
money appear. However, here is the catch. If one player rings the same bell more
than once things go wildly wrong! All of the players are knocked unconscious,
when they awake, they find themselves surrounded by hungry monsters of the DM's
choice. (It is optional as to whether they have their weapons and armor still
on.) This same thing will happen If the singular player rings all three of the
bells as well. In some ways this trap may very well bring a grisly end to the
game.
The Ice cream Cone
Curt Arrowsmith (curta@gorge.net)
A conical room, any size. The floor is made up of three stone pressure plates,
joined at the middle of the room. When there are 300 lbs. on any one pressure
plate, or 600 lbs on the three pressure plates combined, the trap takes effect.
The PCs all fall into a semi-spherical room beneath the trapped room. The room
is filled with Neopolitan Ice Cream, magically kept cool (and solid, the PCs
will give the DM a satisfying **SQUOOSH!**).
Column of Lightning
Curt Arrowsmith (curta@gorge.net)
Any room, with a 20' metal pole in the center and an open skylight above that.
Resting on the pole is any minor magical item. Whenever anyone enters the room,
a lightning storm appears in the sky within 1 turn +1d4 rounds. When someone
tries to climb up the pole, it begins rising into the air, about 20', through
levitation (so there is nothing holding it up to be grabbed). Of course, by this
time, there is a violent lightning storm happening. Lightning storm, metal pole.
. . . I would say maybe 6-10d8 points of damage, but it's up to you.
Elastic Sword I Curt Arrowsmith (curta@gorge.net)
There is a magical looking type sword sticking out (blade first) of a stone
wall. When the PC tries to pull the sword out of the wall, the sword just
stretches. He/she can't get it out even with the mightiest power!
Elastic Sword II Curt Arrowsmith (curta@gorge.net)
Same thing as elastic sword I, only the sword is on the long wall of a long and
narrow room. The PC pulling the sword is so intently concentrating on getting
this infuriating weapon out of this wall, he neglects to look behind him. And
when he steps on the pressure plate, MANY spikes come out of the wall opposite
the sword (which should be no more than 10'-15' away) and the PC backs into
them. Roll 5d4 for the number of spikes backed into, and 1d4 points of damage
per spike. If the PC survives, his fellow players should get a good laugh over
this. HA!
Drain Blades
Tas Vince Burrfoot (taselhof@whidbey.net)
This trap consists of a ten-foot deep and a 30 foot wide room filled with water
up to eight feet. The room above has a tilting floor that leads down a chute
which has 1d10 wooden stakes that do 1d4 damage per stake. A successful
dexterity check must be made to avoid all damage.
Then the adventuring party falls into the room with the water. At the very
bottom of this water is a drain. The party does not suffer any falling damage (I
guess you can if you want to--my party gets upset because of damage like that)
The vibrations of the parties falling bodies hitting the top of the water can be
felt by a mechanism in the drain. The drain opens and starts to pull the water
in with it.
The party can all make successful strength and dexterity checks to stay afloat
until all the water has filtered out. If they fail, then they get sucked into a
ten foot long tunnel with the rest of water. They very suddenly feel a breeze in
the tunnel that soon grows to a roar and two whirling baldes become visible
within the tunnel. The adventurer(s) must make a successful dexterity check to
grab a handhold in the drain and climb out. If failed, randomly determine which
part of the body is cut off beyond repair. The adventurer then falls another ten
feet into a plain room (or whatever,) suffering falling damage.
Bone Thug
Daniel Olson (daniel.olson@mail.cal.shaw.wave.ca)
The PCs walk into a room of any medium size with a small pillar in the center
and bones piled along the outside on the floor and shelves. If the players
search the piles they will find no skulls. On top of the pillar is a skull. The
skull is wearing a leather circlet with a crystal hanging from the center. If a
player puts the circlet on, a quantity of bones fuse themselves with the
character's armor. This bone armor has a cumulative AC of -4 (subtract 4 from
character's current AC) and gives +3 Str. This armor is really a type of
doppleganger that possesses the character after 1D4 turns. After 5D4 turns
(after possession) the doppleganger attacks the other players.
Variant: the armor causes mind rot as per the spell.
WOLF TRAP Daniel Olson (daniel.olson@mail.cal.shaw.wave.ca)
This was originally a wolf trap in colonial America but has been enlarged to fit
humans. There is a 20' deep pit covering a square area of floor. The walls are
slanted so the pit is larger at the bottom than at the top. the trap has a cover
over it. This cover is a board or thin piece of stone supported by one axis
which is stuck loosely in the wall so it can rotate. Any weight placed on the
cover causes it to rotate 45 degrees dropping the PC(s) into the pit, causing
appropriate damage, unless they save vs. death ray. On either side of the axis
is a counterbalanced weight which resets the trap. The measurements for this
trap are 10' deep(min) for every 5X5 area of the cover. The top of the pit is 3"
wider on all sides of the cover. The walls of the pit should be decorated and
slanted according to the DM's tastes of death and decay.
NOSEBLEED
Daniel Olson (daniel.olson@mail.cal.shaw.wave.ca)
The PCs encounter a normal door styled to the dungeon. The door is not locked
but if the knob or whatever means of opening is used the door swings rapidly
open until it hits something then closes just as fast. If it hits a PC's head or
body it causes 1D4 damage and immobilizes them for one turn. a variant is that
the real hinges to the door are on the same side as the knob. The result: the PC
is sandwiched between the door and wall.
Dimension Cube
Daniel Ettinger (skypilot@tfs.net)
The dimension cube is a curiosity trap. All a player has to do is touch it. They
are pulled into a square room with four doors. They must choose a door. DM rolls
d100. If 00 comes up, they're free, if anything else comes up, they must try
again. DM's discretion as to how often. Time passes normally and creatures can
be encountered, as they are also trapped. Players may even encounter deceased
adventurers who were killed or starved. Even if a party enters, each player
receives a percentile roll as they go through a door, even if its the same one.
Teleporting Door
Frodo11111@aol.com
This trap is nearly guaranteed to kill PCs who depend on brute strength to
fight. This trap works well at the end of a hallway. When the PCs reach the end
a door opens in the ceiling and an illusionary monster drops out of it. The PCs
should attack it and when they do it fades out and their weapons hit the door
behind it. When the weapons hit the door they are teleported behind the PCs and
they continue moving but at double the speed and causing double damage each time
they are teleported. If they hit a PC, they cause their damage but start moving
again at their original speed. The PCs can't stop their weapons unless they
teleport them to another area or dispel the teleporter. Then the PCs must travel
through the ceiling panel.
Eagle1 (Eagle1@sisna.com)
Both of these are cute little traps designed to keep PCs from advancing in a
dungeon. The first one was _very_ frustrating for the PC's in the game I
introduced it in. You need two rooms, EXACTLY IDENTICAL, right next to each
other. The first room is an empty room with a door leading to the second room.
The second room is identical to the first, except for the trap, a hidden
teleporter. It can be positioned anywhere in the room, but for maximum effect,
place it in front of the door out. When stepped on, it teleports the PC's to the
same spot in the first room w/o their knowledge. Thus PC's that never figure it
out would be stuck in an endless loop and keep going forever! (unless they go
back the way they came or disarm the trap, or open the door without stepping on
the trap, then jump over the trap, into or through the door way. Nasty DMs might
have a rock wall just behind the door, making the hassle a waste of time, or put
another trap in the doorway.)
The second trap involves a fairly large room, and illusion, a set of colored
floor tiles, and a magic barrier. First, the room. It's an empty room, with the
barrier going from wall to wall across the middle of the room like so:
|------------|
| |
|************|
| |
|------------|
Then, the tiles (which should be colored so that they stand out [i.e., green
tiles on a tan floor or something similar]) go through the barrier in a
footprint-like arrangement, but wide enough that the PC's would have to hop from
one tiles to the next. Now, the illusion. The illusion is of something humanoid
(a little girl, a little boy, a goblin etc. DM's choice) hopping from tile to
tile, on one foot, singing an odd little rhyming tune. The tune drops hints that
the PC's have to hop on the tiles too. If the PC's just hop on the tiles they
run smack into the barrier (or if the DM chooses, get zapped for whatever amount
of damage the DM sees fit) that prevents them from going through. However, if
they hop from tile to tile singing the song (which the illusion stops singing
when the PC's start), they can hop through the barrier.
Nicole Bélanger (nico@sympatico.ca)
The trap consists of a spherical room. The players must be compelled to enter
(magical objects, weapons or the like is perfect for that purpose). As soon as
the players enter, a stone door slide down and open the trap. A huge ball starts
rolling in the PC's direction. The room is large enough to let the PCs escape
the first attack. However because of the room's shape, the ball will
continuously roll around. Here's the trick: the spherical room is actually a
false room. The sphere lies on four blocks in a larger cubic room. Any blow made
with enough strength will make the sphere fall off the blocks and shatter on the
floor freeing those inside.
Shadowgold@aol.com
A short corridor leads to a mirror positioned at 45 degrees, pointed at a hole
in the ceiling. It thus appears that the passage leads out of the dungeon. When
a PC walks into the mirror attempting to leave the dungeon, the mirror
collapses, causing the PC to fall a DM-decided number of feet into a chamber of
sinister bats, ice toads, or whatever is the most suitable for the occasion.
There's generally no way out except by climbing, or the PC's adventuring
companions to drop him down a rope.
OR...
The mirror drops the PC directly into one of the "All fall down. And down... and
down..." traps.
The WOOPS! Trap
Sam (SAGECO@hotmail.com)
This trap works especially good on Barbarians because they have a tendency to
smash things. This works in any room, any size, any shape. The characters walk
into a room that looks crudely carved out of stone. Across the room, a massive,
unmovable, weak-looking stone slab is blocking off a door (the characters will
only see the door if they look at the side of the slab and see the door through
the space left between the wall and the slab). Absolutely no spells or
enchantments work in this room (it's good to leave anything living but the
characters stay out of this). No matter how many characters try, the slab is
unmovable. A very observant character would notice that an illusion portion in
the wall (this is the only spell that works in the room) that gives you a
passage around the slab to the door (which is VERY easy to open, no roll
required). If anyone attempts to smash the slab (it is very weak), sharp, little
rock shards that have a THAC0 of 11, and 1d12 will hit each character within 10'
of the slab, 1d10 to each character in the 10' after that, and so on down to
1d2. Each shard that hits will do 1d4 points of damage. After the slab is
smashed, the illusion will disappear, and reveal the illusionary passageway.
The illusion is a level 3 illusion that you can just plain walk through. Anyone
that teleports into the room will automatically teleport into the stone around
the room. What can be done, is give the characters a Wand of Dispel Illusion
which can be used in the room.
Really Steamed
Conway Brew (cbrew@fchn.com)
I use this for characters who like to wear a lot of steel armor or other bulky
garments. The trap, though seemingly harmless at first, becomes more difficult.
It begins at a wooden door, when the players open they are greeted by a small
gush of steamy air, not too much (by the way, this has to be the only way to a
particular destination, the only door, etc.). Players must enter to continue. At
first, it's not so bad. A little hot, very humid. After the first right or left
hand turn of the corridor (it doesn't really matter which way it goes) the door
becomes invisible (no one will notice yet because they are paying attention to
moving forward). After ten or fifteen minutes the steam becomes thicker, making
it difficult to see. In addition, the metal armor is now heated enough to cause
damage every turn to the players continuing to wear it (usually 1-3 points per
turn, depending upon player level). Everyone's constitution score is affected as
they become dehydrated, weak and tired from the humid and Variations include,
maze like passages that confuse and bewilder, and thus prolong exposure to the
steam. Or, some small creatures adept at hiding in or using steam for cover who
pester and attack the characters.
Raging Waters
TERRI MEADOR (terrijoe@swbell.net)
In this trap, death is an unimportant concept. A chamber, with illusions of
rings, trinkets, etc., is the bait. When attempted to snatch, it disappears,
causing all doors to lock. White panels raise to show holes in the wall.
Vibrations bring the victim to his/her knees, just as water rushes into the
room. Small snakes flow in, as well as weak poison. (The snakes aren't
poisonous, either.) As the water rises to their neck, the room shatters, leaving
the person swimming down dangerous rapids. The person falls down a 20 ft. high
water fall, and floats to shore, unconscious, but not dead. When they wake,
random items may be missing, and the poison causes severe sickness, but fades
quickly.
Fast Freddy (FastFreddy@webtv.net)
I have a trap that nearly killed my low level PCs. First, you need a square room
roughly 30 x 30. along one of the walls place a magical object against the wall.
Anyone taking that weapon must replace it with something more valuable or equal
to the value, or else the floor starts to drop in a spiral pattern (doors
automatically close) which kill any PC in that area. Placing the object back
will do absolutely nothing. I allow 30 seconds before anything happens.
PowderburnHarpel@hotmail.com
A glowing green cube appears around a victim or group, it can be as big or small
as the DM needs. The cube is like a cell or cage. The more force exerted on the
walls, floor, and ceiling the stronger the cage gets. It starts with a mere 10
hps but it increases with the number of damage done to it. There are only two
ways out of this trap, for someone on the outside to reach in and pull someone
out or to attack and destroy the square from the outside. For added fun you can
have the walls shrinking to get them to attack the walls.
Ghost Busters
Mephistopheles (Mephisto667@aol.com)
This traps is actually fairly simple. Throughout the dungeon, place various
programmed illusions of a ghost. Do this several times until the players are
confident that the next one isn't a ghost. Of course, they don't need to know
that this time it really is...
Every which way but up
Mephistopheles (Mephisto667@aol.com)
A room with various metal spikes on the ceiling, and any exit/entrance to the
room has trip wire that activates a reverse gravity spell.
Every which way but up 2
Mephistopheles (Mephisto667@aol.com)
Same as before, except there's no trip wire for reverse gravity. The ceiling is
highly magnetized and has enough force to draw up the PC's Extremely encumbered
PC's not carrying loads of metal items may be exempt. Good way to relieve PC
warriors of equipment and most weapons.
What does it say?
Mephistopheles (Mephisto667@aol.com)
Just give them a faulty fireball scroll that centers on the caster.
Telescope
Mephistopheles (Mephisto667@aol.com)
The PC's find a telescope. At the other end of the telescope is a reduced
medusa's head. You can figure out the results.
Invisible Bridge
Mephistopheles (Mephisto667@aol.com)
The PC's come to a large chasm. There is a single bridge connecting the two
sides, and somewhere nearby (on a wall or something) there are 2 levers. The
first lever makes the bridge disappear, making it invisible. The other lever
makes an illusionary bridge appear nearby. The result is the PC's assuming the
second illusionary bridge is the real one. For added realism you might want to
have an illusion of a creature or something appear to fall through the real
bridge and another illusion of another creature walking across the illusionary
bridge.
The Greek Fire Greed Trap
Brendan (Frodo11111@AOL.com)
This is a sure fire way to kill greedy PCs. Have the PCs stumble into a small
dwelling during a storm. The House is located near two lakes (hehe). In the
house there is a door on one wall marked *Do not open* and through a window the
PCs can see a small room with several magic artifacts. When one of them gets
greedy enough and opens the door one of the small rooms walls collapse due to
the pressure change; a jet of water hits the PCs knocking them out a second door
into the water. You may say a lit candle is knocked over and the house begins to
burn, to add effect. Next a Flaming Cloud of Sodium and Oil begins to rise form
the bottom of the lake. It rises at 10' a round (The lake is 50' deep). Any
characters hit by this cloud suffer 8d6 points of damage a round for as long as
they are in the cloud and 4d6 for every round out of following that. The Cloud
burns for at least 1 turn after reaching the surface. Diving under water only
doubles the damage.