Post by StoryTeller on Jan 22, 2006 7:15:31 GMT
The Voodoo Trap
Maria Izabel Perini Muniz (estag@npd1.ufes.br)
Imagine the players entering a room, when the old trap of the lances coming from
the walls and the floor. When they think that they are dead meat, the lances
only make a little wound, just the necessary to get some blood, then they
retract. The doors open and they are free. One hour later, one of then begins to
fill as if he has been wounded by a small lance. Then they find something that
explains everything. The objective of the lances was to get blood to help a
wizard to create voodoo dolls of them and now they have to do something for the
wizard or else he will kill them using the dolls. This can be the beginning of a
new Chapter, don't you think?
The Voodoo Trap, Part 2
Eduardo Perini Muniz (epm@npd1.ufes.br)
When the group enters a small room they find a big golden jar over a pedestal,
if they try to take the jar they fill something pushing their heads to the
ceiling. If the characters take the jar out of the pedestal they will be
decapitated.
The two voodoo dolls were placed with their heads through a hole in the bottom
of the jar, and their necks firmly held by two ropes, one with the sides
attached to the bottom of the trap and the other with the sides attached to the
inside of the pedestal.
David (Crystalthorn@hotmail.com)
A door is opened to a basement setting. It's dark and damp, but the players have
to rush. So they go down the stairs. After a few minutes, the players should
realize they're not getting anywhere. If they turn around, the door is gone.
They are really trapped in a time-teleporter trap. They can only get out if they
walk back up the stairs backwards.
David (Crystalthorn@hotmail.com)
Another trap is a good one for lonely thieves. Place them in a cell on a ship.
Have a group of pirates on deck down the hallway and a bunch of other dark cages
around, making no sounds and the occupants are unseen. The thief picks the
simple lock, and gets out. Fellow prisoners to take over ship probably comes to
mind, but they won't answer the thief. The thief may free all the cells, but
when he opens the last cell, he turns to find a lot of minotaurs armed and mind
controlled ready to attack him. For added fun, have a giant squid attack the
boat.
Spin-Cycle
Fireball (fireball@the-link.net)
This trap is intended for the greedy party, most likely the thief (of course).
It is a circular room of whatever size you want, two exits (the one they entered
and the exit, both easily opened and used), and a 5' wide groove around the
outside of the room. The entire area has a very faint aura of magic, ala
spell-casters. Whenever the party enters, the greedy is dragged to the center of
the room, lifted off the ground about 5' and, quite literally, put the spin
cycle. EVERY item on their person, except for the clothes on their back and a
normal weapon, if they have one left, is flung from them towards the outside
wall. This continues until the character is 'cleaned' completely of their stuff.
The trap then drops the character (for falling damage where you see fit), opens
the 5' wide along the wall into a collection pit, and dumps all the stuff into
it. For nice DMs, you may allow the character to find some of their things later
on. I can assure you, for those characters who figure themselves sneaky and
greedy, having nothing for awhile will humble them to an extent.
Having a Ball
Fehr@djschool.com
The party comes across an obstacle in a 10' wide hallway, with a roof a few feet
higher- a 10' spherical object, grayish-brown in color, pocked with small bumps,
leathery in texture. Slightly springy to the touch, it blocks the hallway!
Fighter-types will probably want to slice it open, or at least stab it. Striking
the object will let the players know what it is; a giant puffball! Anchored to a
small plot of earth at its base, it will pop quite loudly (50% chance of
attracting a wandering monster or guard) and fill an area 10-15 feet in front
and behind it with spores. The safe way to get around it is climb carefully over
top of it! Extremely heavy characters may pop it anyway, or it may be
accidentally punctured. A small puncture may release only a jet of spores, which
would affect only a single character. Throwing something like an axe at it from
further than 15' away will avoid the spores, but still get the noise.
Possible spore effects:
Coated characters are itchy for 2-8 turns, -2 on attacks and AC.
Characters are blinded for 1-6 turns, and smell really bad.
Spores are similar to Russet Mold (see Monstrous Compendium).
Spores eat into organic material, unless killed by salt, alcohol or fire.
Spores have individual effects like Myconid spores (see M.C.).
Spores are poisonous, like Yellow Mold (see M.C.).
Polymorph gas
Ben Ramey (bramey@clark.edu)
A chest that is always chained shut (with the regular needle traps, so players
don't get suspicious), will release a small puff of gas when opened. This gas
will cause the player to be randomly polymorphed. How you determine the random
effect is left up to the GM's discretion, but I like to use the summoning
tables.
Ben Ramey (bramey@clark.edu)
Any thing that gives poison:
A poison that causes the person to change sex if they touch a magic item.
A poison that has a 20% chance of polymorphing the character every time they
are in a stressful situation . Must hit the 20% chance to change back.
Curses:
Every piece of gold the player touches turns to lead.
Every time the player thinks of a living creature he polymorphs into one.
This will not confer class abilities Thinking of an elf fighter will just
get you an elf.
Hear no evil. See no evil. Speak no evil.
Drew Wood (norseman@voicenet.com)
Within a Labyrinth the PCs will come upon a dead end. On the wall in front of
them they will see three statues of monkeys. One with his hands covering his
ears, one with his hands covering his eyes, and one with his hands covering his
mouth. Underneath each of the statues there is a lever. Player characters will
have to pull these levers in order to find the way into the next part of the
Labyrinth.
When the lever is pulled under the statue: Hear no evil, a creature that can not
be heard will be released into the Labyrinth somewhere near the group. The group
will have to fight this creature when it arrives, but they will not be expecting
it because there will be no sign that anything has happened when the lever is
pulled.
When the lever is pulled under the statue: See no evil, a gas that is highly
flammable will be released through small holes in the ceiling above the statue.
Any contact with flame of any sorts will instantly ignite the gas causing an
explosion that will make the group wish they had been hit with a fireball
instead. Note: Sparks from spurs or scraping of any metal on the stone walls to
a torch that is lit to magical fire will ignite the gas. PC's will not be able
to smell the gas, unless someone in the group has a very keen sense of smell.
When the lever is pulled under the statue: Speak no evil, a door will open up
next to the statues. The character who pulled the lever will feel a slight
numbness in his head and will become cursed. If he speaks anything even remotely
evil, he will be teleported away from the party into the lower levels of the
Labyrinth, even if he and the rest of the group has already made it out of the
Labyrinth. The curse will stay with the PC until a Remove Curse spell is cast
upon him, and only a Remove Curse spell will work on the PC.
Note: A Dispel Magic spell will have no effect upon the statues.
Corridor of Chains
Drew Wood (norseman@voicenet.com)
Within the labyrinth is a corridor about 50' long. From the ceiling hangs chains
of differing lengths and sizes. There is no floor, just a pit of spikes about
20' deep. What the PC's need to do is get across the pit without falling in.
Sounds easy enough, except that a few chains are attached to triggers. Many
different things could happen, use chart for easiness:
01-20: Chain pulls out of ceiling, make dexterity check to grab another
21-30: Triggers dart trap.
31-40: Chain falls 10', make strength check, spikes raise 5'.
41-50: Triggers fireball trap.
51-60: Triggers dart trap.
61-70: Chain falls 5', make strength check, spikes raise 10'.
71-80: Chain is wet(slippery), make dexterity and strength check.
81-90: Triggers fireball trap.
91-100: Chain pulls out of ceiling, make dexterity check to grab another.
The space from the bottom of the pit to the ceiling is 40'. The chains can hang
all the way down to the bottom, so the space from where a PC is to the top of a
spike will have to be left to the DM. Also, when a chain falls a certain amount
of feet, it raises the spikes up as fast as the PC's weight pulls the chain. So
in effect, a PC can impale himself on a spike because his weight pushed it up as
fast as he fell, and squuuiiishhhhh. OUCH!
Hall of Clones
Drew Wood (norseman@voicenet.com)
This hallway is about 20' wide by 40' long. Now, when a party member steps into
the hallway, everything seems fine. The further he goes he starts to notice that
he is walking beside himself. An exact duplicate of the PC is made but with only
half the hit points and without the ability to cast spells or use magical items.
At the end of the hallway the clone will attack the PC. The PC is fine until he
steps out of the hallway. Imagine the whole party entering the hallway at the
same time.
Note: Clones can use any ability, skill, talent, etc., that the PC can. Magical
items are not cloned. If a mage or spell user of any type is cloned, clone can
not use spells or spell-like abilities.
Monster Summoning With A Twist
Sean Hickey (smc@mindspring.com)
The PCs are facing a high-level spellcaster, and when they finally get close to
defeating him, he casts a spell unfamiliar to the PCs. Suddenly, half of them
disappear and pop up in front of the mage, facing the remaining PCs. The bad
part is that they act as summoned monsters. If any of the remaining players are
good, they will probably want to save the others - unless, of course, this gives
them a good excuse to pound on that evil/chaotic neutral character that has
their character pissed off. After however many rounds you want, the summoned PCs
flash back to where they were.
Sean Hickey (smc@mindspring.com)
The PCs reach the end of a large hallway with double doors at the end. They open
them and walk through, and enter a large chamber with a window in front of it.
Past the window is a room about 100' lower than the PC's room. Inside, they see
a huge red dragon chained up, with a gigantic axe hanging above it. They will
also see stairs leading down out of the room and a doorway leading into the
room. Also in the room is a rope that runs out of the room, and leads up to the
axe. They will, of course, chop the rope, killing the "red dragon". Notice the
quotation marks. The red dragon is actually some sort of beast that will split
up or release more monsters (in AD&D, a Grand Old Master Neogi). The new
monsters run up the stairs and attack the PCs. When/if the PCs actually go down
the stairs, they realize the monster room was off on a side passageway. This
will certainly make them scout ahead next time.
On Ice
Matthew (mimac@ATCON.COM)
The players have entered a room the floor is slick glass or ice and the ceiling
is low enough so a normal person has to bend a bit. There is also a null magic
zone covering the whole room. The players have to get across but they can't
walk, fly, or magic themselves across. The obvious solution (but nobody thinks
of it at first) is to stand on the ice/glass and throw a heavy item in the
opposite direction of where you wish to go, you slide right to the wall or door.
It's the PITS, again and again and again...
Stephen (SirDuane@gcip.net)
A pit in the floor of a dead end looks inviting, as a rope hangs down into it.
Looking down in the pit, it seems to be pitch black (A darkness spell has been
cast on a set of spikes on the floor some 110' below.) A slight smell of gas,
pitch-tar or some other flammable substance should encourage players NOT to drop
a torch into the pit. If a source of magical light is dropped it will pass
through the darkness spell and become hidden by it.
Seeing the rope is knotted for climbing, an adventurous PC might wish to climb
down to take a closer look. Now comes the part of the game where we find out
just HOW much stuff the character is carrying. If a player has more then 200gp
weight not including the player himself, the rope breaks and activates the trap.
The player falls but doesn't hit the bottom. Instead 1 foot above the spikes is
a teleporter that will send them to the top of the pit 10 feet below the opening
where they fall to the bottom and teleport to the top again. This will continue
to happen until the player can be saved. The sides of the pit can be either
slick with an oily substance on the walls, or it can be very jagged so if
someone tries to catch himself on the walls all they do is cut themselves up
pretty bad.
Damage: Well consider they fall 100'. That's 1d10 per 10 feet. so the first
time, they fall about 100' so its 10d10 damage. The second time they fall
another 100' that's 20d10 then 30d10. Assume they reach terminal velocity after
falling about 700 to 800 feet. Now damage doesn't matter. If dispel magic is
used then the teleporters are disabled and the player falls at his current
relative speed and distance of falling say 250 feet to the spiked floor below.
That's 25d10 points + 1d6 for every spike hit in the floor. The problem of
saving the player is apparent. If you try to catch him at some point the weight
and speed could easily tear an arm off someone. Does not make for a very fun and
friendly family game. Or it could knock another player into the hole as well. At
present I have no solution to this puzzle unless you can teleport the player
somewhere safe.
NOTE: The magical source of light passes through the teleporter because it has
magic on it. Anything magical will pass to the ground so if they lose the player
they might have a nice collection of magical items to pick from on the floor,
even if they have to pick through their friend. (Extra note. After the 3rd time
falling even a monk could not slow down.)
Candygram!
Ostraka
It is actually a ancient trap that was developed by a Chinese War Lord. You just
need a crevice with an oak tree and over a thousand bowmen hiding on each side.
Then, you carve the message: "Lord Badaud died under this tree." and wait until
dark. By this time Lord Badaud and his guards walking down the crevice comes by
the tree. Curious about what the message says, he orders a torch to be lit. This
is the signal for the thousand bowmen to open fire on him. Surprise surprise!
Interesting enough, a descendant of this warlord had his own way of causing
confusion in his enemy's ranks. At the start of the battle, the front row of his
warriors would cut their own heads off. The opposing army would be so stunned
that it took awhile for them to react to being killed. However, if you do this
one I suggest you don't do it all the time as you will diminish the respect of
your henchmen not to mention diminishing the number of your henchmen.
Kavanagh (kavmacwa@iinet.net.au) One trap I like using is a secret door, which
is rather obvious. The party triggers the door, and the area is filled with
magical darkness. If they move close to the wall, they will all fall into a
slide. However, this slide is very tight, and they can only go in single order.
The slide actually twists and turns, and at one point, splits into two passages.
Both of these passages join back up later (characters crash into each other?)
The slide then ends in a large room with a swinging door entrance.
Once in the room, they can see a large monster, or if the DM is rather nasty, a
trap may have been rigged in the slide, blowing it up if they try to get out. Or
a large nasty monster comes sliding down the slide after them (Giant slug,
Metalmaster, etc.)
The only way to get out is via the slide but it cannot be climbed. Magic will
not work. The only way to escape is to dig handholds or something with a weapon
or something.
Descending Ceiling
Yingzhi Zhang (caily@vt.edu)
The players enter a room with a pedestal and probably very valuable item lying
on the pedestal (some powerful monster should probably guard the item, just to
keep them from getting suspicious). The moment the players touch the item, it
activates a Contingency which activates a Dispel Magic on the 50-ton stone block
that looks like the ceiling, which happens to have (or had, in this case) a
Reverse Gravity cast on it.
A Round Table Trap
Colin Nimsz (Rooster31@worldnet.att.net)
The PC enter a round room and there in the center of this room is a round table.
On top of the table is a large round cup, or statue or what ever your PCs are
greedy for. Now the wall is not smooth, each block has a hole in it. This room
has a 17' radius and the table has a 7' radius (which keeps the item just out of
the reach of the character.)
What happens is when the character leans on the table he trips the trap. The
table falls about 2" and poisoned darts fly out of the wall - all flying towards
the center of the room. That means that every person in the room will be hit by
several darts. The table is one solid piece of stone that is 2" thick and weighs
over 2000 lbs. After the trap has been set off, it resets itself and is ready to
go again. The secret to disarming this trap is to turn the table 180 degrees.
The characters may find this out by looking at the markings on the table. The
table is split up into sections, by lines. Each section is the same except for
one. You can make this one section stand out by any means you wish. I had mine
stand out by having a crown carved into the table and having a king's throne at
the seat opposite of the door, while the section in the table was at the door
you entered from.
A PC may try to wedge something into the bottom of the tabletop but with no
avail because of the sheer weight of the table and also because of the way the
table was designed. The table is held up by one center leg and the center piece
comes straight down so there is no way you could wedge the table top to the
center piece of the table.
Water Trap
Tom Holm (dnr@vbe.com)
This trap is found normally in a small room. When a character enters this
magical room he doesn't notice any magical auras or anything. Though, if he
steps on a certain spot on the ground, he will notice soon enough. When he steps
on the spot, he will be magically sent into the wall. His back is on the wall
and he is unable to move even with magical assistance. Then an invisible hose
attaches to his nostrils and his mouth. Next, water is heavily pumped into him
and there is no way for him to take his mouth away from the hose. The only way
to stop this horrible death is to cut the hose. (The man in the trap can't cut
the hose because he can't move.)
Marcos Monteiro da Cruz (sturm@esquadro.com.br)
In a straight long stairway (long enough that the PCs can not see the end),
somewhere in the middle one player will trigger the trap. Once triggered, the
trap will launch an Ice Storm Spell (the PCs take the damage from the spell if
the GM desires) so that the floor will be slippery and they will have only 50%
of chance to stay where they are. At the end of the stairway are 6 very long
iron spears pointing in the stairway's direction. Anyone that falls will be hit
by 3d2 spears. If anyone falls on top of the first person, the first victim will
take double damage and the second normal damage. If a third member of the party
falls, the first takes triple damage, the second double damage and the third
normal damage. If all the PCs fall this procedure must be done up to five times.
(Quintuple damage for the first, quadruple damage to the second, triple to the
third, and so on. Very nasty if you are the first to fall). Another aspect of
this trap is if the first member of the group stands his feet, the second
character can fall taking his balance away. There are only 15% of chance that an
off-balanced PC will not fall.
Maria Izabel Perini Muniz (estag@npd1.ufes.br)
Imagine the players entering a room, when the old trap of the lances coming from
the walls and the floor. When they think that they are dead meat, the lances
only make a little wound, just the necessary to get some blood, then they
retract. The doors open and they are free. One hour later, one of then begins to
fill as if he has been wounded by a small lance. Then they find something that
explains everything. The objective of the lances was to get blood to help a
wizard to create voodoo dolls of them and now they have to do something for the
wizard or else he will kill them using the dolls. This can be the beginning of a
new Chapter, don't you think?
The Voodoo Trap, Part 2
Eduardo Perini Muniz (epm@npd1.ufes.br)
When the group enters a small room they find a big golden jar over a pedestal,
if they try to take the jar they fill something pushing their heads to the
ceiling. If the characters take the jar out of the pedestal they will be
decapitated.
The two voodoo dolls were placed with their heads through a hole in the bottom
of the jar, and their necks firmly held by two ropes, one with the sides
attached to the bottom of the trap and the other with the sides attached to the
inside of the pedestal.
David (Crystalthorn@hotmail.com)
A door is opened to a basement setting. It's dark and damp, but the players have
to rush. So they go down the stairs. After a few minutes, the players should
realize they're not getting anywhere. If they turn around, the door is gone.
They are really trapped in a time-teleporter trap. They can only get out if they
walk back up the stairs backwards.
David (Crystalthorn@hotmail.com)
Another trap is a good one for lonely thieves. Place them in a cell on a ship.
Have a group of pirates on deck down the hallway and a bunch of other dark cages
around, making no sounds and the occupants are unseen. The thief picks the
simple lock, and gets out. Fellow prisoners to take over ship probably comes to
mind, but they won't answer the thief. The thief may free all the cells, but
when he opens the last cell, he turns to find a lot of minotaurs armed and mind
controlled ready to attack him. For added fun, have a giant squid attack the
boat.
Spin-Cycle
Fireball (fireball@the-link.net)
This trap is intended for the greedy party, most likely the thief (of course).
It is a circular room of whatever size you want, two exits (the one they entered
and the exit, both easily opened and used), and a 5' wide groove around the
outside of the room. The entire area has a very faint aura of magic, ala
spell-casters. Whenever the party enters, the greedy is dragged to the center of
the room, lifted off the ground about 5' and, quite literally, put the spin
cycle. EVERY item on their person, except for the clothes on their back and a
normal weapon, if they have one left, is flung from them towards the outside
wall. This continues until the character is 'cleaned' completely of their stuff.
The trap then drops the character (for falling damage where you see fit), opens
the 5' wide along the wall into a collection pit, and dumps all the stuff into
it. For nice DMs, you may allow the character to find some of their things later
on. I can assure you, for those characters who figure themselves sneaky and
greedy, having nothing for awhile will humble them to an extent.
Having a Ball
Fehr@djschool.com
The party comes across an obstacle in a 10' wide hallway, with a roof a few feet
higher- a 10' spherical object, grayish-brown in color, pocked with small bumps,
leathery in texture. Slightly springy to the touch, it blocks the hallway!
Fighter-types will probably want to slice it open, or at least stab it. Striking
the object will let the players know what it is; a giant puffball! Anchored to a
small plot of earth at its base, it will pop quite loudly (50% chance of
attracting a wandering monster or guard) and fill an area 10-15 feet in front
and behind it with spores. The safe way to get around it is climb carefully over
top of it! Extremely heavy characters may pop it anyway, or it may be
accidentally punctured. A small puncture may release only a jet of spores, which
would affect only a single character. Throwing something like an axe at it from
further than 15' away will avoid the spores, but still get the noise.
Possible spore effects:
Coated characters are itchy for 2-8 turns, -2 on attacks and AC.
Characters are blinded for 1-6 turns, and smell really bad.
Spores are similar to Russet Mold (see Monstrous Compendium).
Spores eat into organic material, unless killed by salt, alcohol or fire.
Spores have individual effects like Myconid spores (see M.C.).
Spores are poisonous, like Yellow Mold (see M.C.).
Polymorph gas
Ben Ramey (bramey@clark.edu)
A chest that is always chained shut (with the regular needle traps, so players
don't get suspicious), will release a small puff of gas when opened. This gas
will cause the player to be randomly polymorphed. How you determine the random
effect is left up to the GM's discretion, but I like to use the summoning
tables.
Ben Ramey (bramey@clark.edu)
Any thing that gives poison:
A poison that causes the person to change sex if they touch a magic item.
A poison that has a 20% chance of polymorphing the character every time they
are in a stressful situation . Must hit the 20% chance to change back.
Curses:
Every piece of gold the player touches turns to lead.
Every time the player thinks of a living creature he polymorphs into one.
This will not confer class abilities Thinking of an elf fighter will just
get you an elf.
Hear no evil. See no evil. Speak no evil.
Drew Wood (norseman@voicenet.com)
Within a Labyrinth the PCs will come upon a dead end. On the wall in front of
them they will see three statues of monkeys. One with his hands covering his
ears, one with his hands covering his eyes, and one with his hands covering his
mouth. Underneath each of the statues there is a lever. Player characters will
have to pull these levers in order to find the way into the next part of the
Labyrinth.
When the lever is pulled under the statue: Hear no evil, a creature that can not
be heard will be released into the Labyrinth somewhere near the group. The group
will have to fight this creature when it arrives, but they will not be expecting
it because there will be no sign that anything has happened when the lever is
pulled.
When the lever is pulled under the statue: See no evil, a gas that is highly
flammable will be released through small holes in the ceiling above the statue.
Any contact with flame of any sorts will instantly ignite the gas causing an
explosion that will make the group wish they had been hit with a fireball
instead. Note: Sparks from spurs or scraping of any metal on the stone walls to
a torch that is lit to magical fire will ignite the gas. PC's will not be able
to smell the gas, unless someone in the group has a very keen sense of smell.
When the lever is pulled under the statue: Speak no evil, a door will open up
next to the statues. The character who pulled the lever will feel a slight
numbness in his head and will become cursed. If he speaks anything even remotely
evil, he will be teleported away from the party into the lower levels of the
Labyrinth, even if he and the rest of the group has already made it out of the
Labyrinth. The curse will stay with the PC until a Remove Curse spell is cast
upon him, and only a Remove Curse spell will work on the PC.
Note: A Dispel Magic spell will have no effect upon the statues.
Corridor of Chains
Drew Wood (norseman@voicenet.com)
Within the labyrinth is a corridor about 50' long. From the ceiling hangs chains
of differing lengths and sizes. There is no floor, just a pit of spikes about
20' deep. What the PC's need to do is get across the pit without falling in.
Sounds easy enough, except that a few chains are attached to triggers. Many
different things could happen, use chart for easiness:
01-20: Chain pulls out of ceiling, make dexterity check to grab another
21-30: Triggers dart trap.
31-40: Chain falls 10', make strength check, spikes raise 5'.
41-50: Triggers fireball trap.
51-60: Triggers dart trap.
61-70: Chain falls 5', make strength check, spikes raise 10'.
71-80: Chain is wet(slippery), make dexterity and strength check.
81-90: Triggers fireball trap.
91-100: Chain pulls out of ceiling, make dexterity check to grab another.
The space from the bottom of the pit to the ceiling is 40'. The chains can hang
all the way down to the bottom, so the space from where a PC is to the top of a
spike will have to be left to the DM. Also, when a chain falls a certain amount
of feet, it raises the spikes up as fast as the PC's weight pulls the chain. So
in effect, a PC can impale himself on a spike because his weight pushed it up as
fast as he fell, and squuuiiishhhhh. OUCH!
Hall of Clones
Drew Wood (norseman@voicenet.com)
This hallway is about 20' wide by 40' long. Now, when a party member steps into
the hallway, everything seems fine. The further he goes he starts to notice that
he is walking beside himself. An exact duplicate of the PC is made but with only
half the hit points and without the ability to cast spells or use magical items.
At the end of the hallway the clone will attack the PC. The PC is fine until he
steps out of the hallway. Imagine the whole party entering the hallway at the
same time.
Note: Clones can use any ability, skill, talent, etc., that the PC can. Magical
items are not cloned. If a mage or spell user of any type is cloned, clone can
not use spells or spell-like abilities.
Monster Summoning With A Twist
Sean Hickey (smc@mindspring.com)
The PCs are facing a high-level spellcaster, and when they finally get close to
defeating him, he casts a spell unfamiliar to the PCs. Suddenly, half of them
disappear and pop up in front of the mage, facing the remaining PCs. The bad
part is that they act as summoned monsters. If any of the remaining players are
good, they will probably want to save the others - unless, of course, this gives
them a good excuse to pound on that evil/chaotic neutral character that has
their character pissed off. After however many rounds you want, the summoned PCs
flash back to where they were.
Sean Hickey (smc@mindspring.com)
The PCs reach the end of a large hallway with double doors at the end. They open
them and walk through, and enter a large chamber with a window in front of it.
Past the window is a room about 100' lower than the PC's room. Inside, they see
a huge red dragon chained up, with a gigantic axe hanging above it. They will
also see stairs leading down out of the room and a doorway leading into the
room. Also in the room is a rope that runs out of the room, and leads up to the
axe. They will, of course, chop the rope, killing the "red dragon". Notice the
quotation marks. The red dragon is actually some sort of beast that will split
up or release more monsters (in AD&D, a Grand Old Master Neogi). The new
monsters run up the stairs and attack the PCs. When/if the PCs actually go down
the stairs, they realize the monster room was off on a side passageway. This
will certainly make them scout ahead next time.
On Ice
Matthew (mimac@ATCON.COM)
The players have entered a room the floor is slick glass or ice and the ceiling
is low enough so a normal person has to bend a bit. There is also a null magic
zone covering the whole room. The players have to get across but they can't
walk, fly, or magic themselves across. The obvious solution (but nobody thinks
of it at first) is to stand on the ice/glass and throw a heavy item in the
opposite direction of where you wish to go, you slide right to the wall or door.
It's the PITS, again and again and again...
Stephen (SirDuane@gcip.net)
A pit in the floor of a dead end looks inviting, as a rope hangs down into it.
Looking down in the pit, it seems to be pitch black (A darkness spell has been
cast on a set of spikes on the floor some 110' below.) A slight smell of gas,
pitch-tar or some other flammable substance should encourage players NOT to drop
a torch into the pit. If a source of magical light is dropped it will pass
through the darkness spell and become hidden by it.
Seeing the rope is knotted for climbing, an adventurous PC might wish to climb
down to take a closer look. Now comes the part of the game where we find out
just HOW much stuff the character is carrying. If a player has more then 200gp
weight not including the player himself, the rope breaks and activates the trap.
The player falls but doesn't hit the bottom. Instead 1 foot above the spikes is
a teleporter that will send them to the top of the pit 10 feet below the opening
where they fall to the bottom and teleport to the top again. This will continue
to happen until the player can be saved. The sides of the pit can be either
slick with an oily substance on the walls, or it can be very jagged so if
someone tries to catch himself on the walls all they do is cut themselves up
pretty bad.
Damage: Well consider they fall 100'. That's 1d10 per 10 feet. so the first
time, they fall about 100' so its 10d10 damage. The second time they fall
another 100' that's 20d10 then 30d10. Assume they reach terminal velocity after
falling about 700 to 800 feet. Now damage doesn't matter. If dispel magic is
used then the teleporters are disabled and the player falls at his current
relative speed and distance of falling say 250 feet to the spiked floor below.
That's 25d10 points + 1d6 for every spike hit in the floor. The problem of
saving the player is apparent. If you try to catch him at some point the weight
and speed could easily tear an arm off someone. Does not make for a very fun and
friendly family game. Or it could knock another player into the hole as well. At
present I have no solution to this puzzle unless you can teleport the player
somewhere safe.
NOTE: The magical source of light passes through the teleporter because it has
magic on it. Anything magical will pass to the ground so if they lose the player
they might have a nice collection of magical items to pick from on the floor,
even if they have to pick through their friend. (Extra note. After the 3rd time
falling even a monk could not slow down.)
Candygram!
Ostraka
It is actually a ancient trap that was developed by a Chinese War Lord. You just
need a crevice with an oak tree and over a thousand bowmen hiding on each side.
Then, you carve the message: "Lord Badaud died under this tree." and wait until
dark. By this time Lord Badaud and his guards walking down the crevice comes by
the tree. Curious about what the message says, he orders a torch to be lit. This
is the signal for the thousand bowmen to open fire on him. Surprise surprise!
Interesting enough, a descendant of this warlord had his own way of causing
confusion in his enemy's ranks. At the start of the battle, the front row of his
warriors would cut their own heads off. The opposing army would be so stunned
that it took awhile for them to react to being killed. However, if you do this
one I suggest you don't do it all the time as you will diminish the respect of
your henchmen not to mention diminishing the number of your henchmen.
Kavanagh (kavmacwa@iinet.net.au) One trap I like using is a secret door, which
is rather obvious. The party triggers the door, and the area is filled with
magical darkness. If they move close to the wall, they will all fall into a
slide. However, this slide is very tight, and they can only go in single order.
The slide actually twists and turns, and at one point, splits into two passages.
Both of these passages join back up later (characters crash into each other?)
The slide then ends in a large room with a swinging door entrance.
Once in the room, they can see a large monster, or if the DM is rather nasty, a
trap may have been rigged in the slide, blowing it up if they try to get out. Or
a large nasty monster comes sliding down the slide after them (Giant slug,
Metalmaster, etc.)
The only way to get out is via the slide but it cannot be climbed. Magic will
not work. The only way to escape is to dig handholds or something with a weapon
or something.
Descending Ceiling
Yingzhi Zhang (caily@vt.edu)
The players enter a room with a pedestal and probably very valuable item lying
on the pedestal (some powerful monster should probably guard the item, just to
keep them from getting suspicious). The moment the players touch the item, it
activates a Contingency which activates a Dispel Magic on the 50-ton stone block
that looks like the ceiling, which happens to have (or had, in this case) a
Reverse Gravity cast on it.
A Round Table Trap
Colin Nimsz (Rooster31@worldnet.att.net)
The PC enter a round room and there in the center of this room is a round table.
On top of the table is a large round cup, or statue or what ever your PCs are
greedy for. Now the wall is not smooth, each block has a hole in it. This room
has a 17' radius and the table has a 7' radius (which keeps the item just out of
the reach of the character.)
What happens is when the character leans on the table he trips the trap. The
table falls about 2" and poisoned darts fly out of the wall - all flying towards
the center of the room. That means that every person in the room will be hit by
several darts. The table is one solid piece of stone that is 2" thick and weighs
over 2000 lbs. After the trap has been set off, it resets itself and is ready to
go again. The secret to disarming this trap is to turn the table 180 degrees.
The characters may find this out by looking at the markings on the table. The
table is split up into sections, by lines. Each section is the same except for
one. You can make this one section stand out by any means you wish. I had mine
stand out by having a crown carved into the table and having a king's throne at
the seat opposite of the door, while the section in the table was at the door
you entered from.
A PC may try to wedge something into the bottom of the tabletop but with no
avail because of the sheer weight of the table and also because of the way the
table was designed. The table is held up by one center leg and the center piece
comes straight down so there is no way you could wedge the table top to the
center piece of the table.
Water Trap
Tom Holm (dnr@vbe.com)
This trap is found normally in a small room. When a character enters this
magical room he doesn't notice any magical auras or anything. Though, if he
steps on a certain spot on the ground, he will notice soon enough. When he steps
on the spot, he will be magically sent into the wall. His back is on the wall
and he is unable to move even with magical assistance. Then an invisible hose
attaches to his nostrils and his mouth. Next, water is heavily pumped into him
and there is no way for him to take his mouth away from the hose. The only way
to stop this horrible death is to cut the hose. (The man in the trap can't cut
the hose because he can't move.)
Marcos Monteiro da Cruz (sturm@esquadro.com.br)
In a straight long stairway (long enough that the PCs can not see the end),
somewhere in the middle one player will trigger the trap. Once triggered, the
trap will launch an Ice Storm Spell (the PCs take the damage from the spell if
the GM desires) so that the floor will be slippery and they will have only 50%
of chance to stay where they are. At the end of the stairway are 6 very long
iron spears pointing in the stairway's direction. Anyone that falls will be hit
by 3d2 spears. If anyone falls on top of the first person, the first victim will
take double damage and the second normal damage. If a third member of the party
falls, the first takes triple damage, the second double damage and the third
normal damage. If all the PCs fall this procedure must be done up to five times.
(Quintuple damage for the first, quadruple damage to the second, triple to the
third, and so on. Very nasty if you are the first to fall). Another aspect of
this trap is if the first member of the group stands his feet, the second
character can fall taking his balance away. There are only 15% of chance that an
off-balanced PC will not fall.