Makeshift defenses and Booby Traps

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So how are you supposed to make a trigger pin fragile enough that someone can accidentally set it off, but strong enough that it can hold 400 friggen kg?

Ooh, devious.

you underestimate the power of leverage.

you don't need a very large pin.
you need strong cordage and a good ground-anchor

a light-pull pin-ring-pin would work great with that...

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the ever-popular caltrop

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Okay, I don't know what those floodbanks are made of, but they'd have to get that grenade lodged in there pretty fucking hard for the pin to come out before it does.

no, you pull the pin first and insert the grenade into a tin can embedded in the bank and just tie the string to it so kicking the trip--wire pulls the nade free and allows the spoon to trigger it

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I've had this pic for so long I forgot it had this shitty filename

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A bit hazardous to set up in murky, flowing water.

>I'm going to pretend to be an expert on combat/grenades
>but not have a clue about fucking Nam

alright bucko

Yeah sure, but that's not what's depicted.

not if you only partially open the can leaving the lid partially attached but secured shut until the end of setup tiime when you just wiggle the lid all the way off and leave

Ahh so it's autism

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a diagram of that nature doesn't need to show the exactitude of the system.

just the general jist of the device.

this looks interesting.

>revealing your secrets to the enemy
>not keeping vital information to yourself and to your peers

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>Assume that a reasonably professional-looking illustration of a trap should make some sort of sense
>Point out that it doesn't
>Be called an autist
I don't know what I expected, honestly

Thank you to all the anons posting these boobytraps.

I've never played or GM'd a game where this has happened.

It's an interesting idea though.

>Point out that it doesn't
but it does.

its an amalgam/generalization diagram. the tin can in is one way of rigging that particular trap other ways exist using slightly different variations and explosives. but the general idea is all that the diagram needs to show

a precise diagram would be or
as they include the finer details of the trap, trigger assembly(ies), and the layouts

you are being needlessly obtuse for no explicable reason by demanding a diagram designed to instruct soldiers what to watch out for show details they don't need to know.

you're welcome

I don't see how these are fun for anybody but the GM. Seems like it would make people paranoid and stressed out, unless everybody knows they are playing a high fatality game or something.

When the traps are too good they're not fun.

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The same way being hit by a sword doesn't automatically kill you in a lot of systems, falling into a pit of spikes or detonating a grenade won't either.

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Look at the ones he linked to again, they're all designed to be nearly impossible to escape once triggered, easy as fuck to trigger, and nearly 100% lethal. With the exception of the barrel and the Hop, Kip and a Jump trap. Both of which are fundamentally fair and just require you to think a little before hand.

Have been told stories of someone making some of these with some 9 penny nails back when we had scabs crossing the line.

all you need to make a caltrop is 2 reasonably stiff steel rods(nails) and a light welding rig

production time, like, nine minutes.

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Are you from the 1920's?

Saved

Well-made traps are a DM's way at getting back at the players for their bullshit.

That's just bad design. "Rocks fall, everyone dies, no save" is not an appropriate challenge for a game. It is also important to note that most of these traps rely on extremely high magic "thought exercise" level settings. How does a tiny enclosure full of hot lava stay hot? Why don't the walls surrounding it melt down? If the answer is just "magic", it's just lazy world building.

A wall of force or equivalent trapping someone in a pit of water would be a great trap. It can't be broken out immediately, it will force someone to start drowning and potentially face other effects while party members that are outside try to find a switch to turn off the wall of force or at least empty the water.

Back in the day, there weren't really any skill rolls. You were just expected to ask the GM for lots of details and to use trial and error to figure out your way through. The AD&D players handbook listed prices for crap like small wedges and 10-ft poles specifically because you were expected to use them when disabling traps. The traps you mentioned are extreme, sure, but they were saved specifically because they're extreme - stuff like that wouldn't be the norm unless the party is fairly high level, and at that point they should know what to expect.

Of course, yeah, a bad dm could make it unfun, but that's not any different from today. A good dm didn't just kill you off unless being stupid. Think of it more like Indiana Jones, or the traps in Dark Souls: if you slow down and look, there's always a clue the trap is there.

And of course, games were a lot more lethal back then. Normally you'd always start from level 1, and if you died, guess where your new character goes back to?

I think the point is, with some of those traps (most notably most of the Grimtooths stuff) there isn't much you can even fucking ask about and once they're triggered that's it, rocks fall everyone dies.

this shit for example, how would you ever figure that out? seems innocuous enough

>How would you ever figure that out?
Never operate a switch/lever/knob while part of your body is pressed against the machine. Just like you wouldn't put your hand into a small hope in order to push a button (I hope). All you would need to do to catch this one is twist it without having your face next to it first.

Basically, standard precautions. Yes, it's paranoid, but if you found it in a dungeon you knew what you were getting into. Or at least, that was the style - I think you'd be a bit of a dick to throw this in today.

>Never operate a switch/lever/knob while part of your body is pressed against the machine.
Hm, fair enough. I've not run any OSR dungeon crawls just yet so those little bits of wisdom elude me.

It's a different mindset. A dungeon crawl was a real event at one point. You're expecting to walk away with thousands of gold pieces, so it wouldn't be unusual for the DM to expect you to spend a few hundred at least on hirelings. Hired guards to watch the camp at the entrance, porters to carry your loot, and probably some foolish 'Junior Partners' in ye olde adventuring company to go through doors for you and walk down suspicious hallways. Think of it more like an expedition to the pyramids - there's a dozen local servants for every British archaeologist.

That's in the grandiose side of things, sure, but even on a lower-level dungeon crawl you'd be expected to budget for enough lamp oil, poles, and rope to deal with the common pitfalls. DMs were expected to have detailed maps and descriptions, and the players were expected to put in some thought as well.

>this trap only works in two dimensional space

Not in the small scale, but one of my characters was a General, Trapper, Alchemist and master Illusionist... Entire "castles", fake-tunnels, fake-trenches, garrisons, etc. were made and demo-trapped to halt a big-ass demon army's progress. Was pretty successful, got them paranoid as hell and saved lots of actual soldiers lives.

Some unexploded ordinance and fake tunnels never got used and can be reused as dungeons in the setting for some other time, my GM said.

So your Character was essentially Creed?

Not really, my guy died 10 times in that campaign due to retarded decisions or heroic plans going badly.
On the flip side, also had the most influence on everything despite being a semi-joke character among anime heroes.

>General, Trapper, Alchemist and master Illusionist
too much work.
just be a booby-trapping bounty hunter

Take a loaded, cocked crossbow. Use pitons and wooden blocks to hold it in place, pointed at the door from somewhere out of the way where it won't be immediately noticed. Tie a simple slipknot in some thin, strong cord around the trigger bar. Run the line coming off of the slipknot through a series of small eye ring bolts, with the very end tied to a nail hammered into the door. Leave enough slack that the crossbow won't fire until the door is just more than half-way open.

read the thread amigo

Crossbow beats bow.

I don't understand what's happening here.

Basically, the obvious trap is held above ground on a stake, which when in the ground keeps the spoon of the underground grenade down just below the surface. The moment somebody tries to disarm the obvious trap by pulling the stake out of the ground, the subterranean grenade goes off, killing or maiming whoever is standing directly above it. Multiple redundancy traps are the most clever.

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Ehh I think the invisible wall on the other side of a pit trap is totally fine just maybe not with the listed stats. Could also telegraph a hint or two by describing the placement of a skeleton at the bottom.

Also one of those is clearly satire.

>dying because someone's prank went too far

I don't get the bottom image in context to the top.
> if the head-chopper fails, drop a bucket of glass on them!

it's a diagram out of a book, thats part of the next trap printed on the same page.

>Pro Union

I bet you don't think children should fix complex machinery with their tiny hands too.
You people are why America is shit now.

You must have been pretty damn important to be brought back from the dead 9 times.