There are a lot of gameplay problems with the classic "Take 20 on every 5' tile before moving forward" approach to dungeon design. There's no interplay and the only one having any "fun" (if that) is the rogue. But I've been brewing up my own take on a Tucker's Kobolds type encounter and having some static traps to drain the player's resources before they're ambushed is a very important and obvious strategy. I'm just not sure how to include traps and have them be an interesting and enjoyable addition for the players.
An idea I've had is to basically use some of them to test and reward players for being careful and paying attention. For example, a simple tripwire tied at ankle height between two columns is hardly a threat when you're creeping around a room. But once combat starts if a player moves at full speed across it they'll get hit with a Reflex/Acrobatics check.
Also post traps and feel undeservedly clever when you post 'traps'.
Leave them with no time to scour the floor inch by inch. Something is chasing them, and it's taking its time about it, believing the traps down the path will kill them all easy like.
You need to tone down the power of the traps, making them less an instant "And you die" and more to slowly wither them down. This way, even a missed trap or three won't stop the party, but it will batter them up a bit.
Angel Taylor
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Robert Anderson
That sounds a lot like what I'm looking for. The only wrinkle is that my basic plan was to just let the players walk into the kobolds' den unopposed, poke around for a while, discover some Plot, then get penned in by the kobolds and forced to fight defensively on their turf. I could totally leave a couple enemies hidden around the place to ambush the players and harry them around the place. Keep the exploration a bit exciting too.
Jackson Turner
A sound plan. Have them follow a nicely human sized entrance, decked out with obvious kobold decorations, all strangely empty.
In reality, the actual entrance to the den is through a hidden path in a crawl space JUST large enough for a kobold to squeeze through.
The main path leads to a dead end and a kill zone, and the return trap has had all the traps activated. Bring the whole force of the kobold's defense brought up for this one area, forcing players to retreat while being harried by murder holes hidden behind decorations.
Wyatt Gonzalez
My favourite dungeon traps I ever ran were explosive runes. On everything.
Crooked painting. Stovetop. Attached to the trigger of a manual tripwire.
Most were save-or-suck not explosions, to be fair. I played up my glee at the players triggering traps every few steps and made the dungeon boss REALLY smug about it.
Daniel Collins
I love kobolds for many reasons, but the combination of 'small size,' 'underdog status' and 'viciously cruel engineering' makes for excellent allies and/or enemies in any campaign.
I'm already planning a kobold dungeon for my all-revenant-party campaign. Mostly so I have to design traps that can disable nigh-immortal undead with class levels.
Chase Jenkins
I'm honestly surprised this thread hasn't been doused in ladybois by now. Keep rolling those dice OP you're on a streak.
Kayden Garcia
I mean I like ladybois but this trap stuff is cool.
Maybe there is a way to combine the two.
Zachary King
Like the player goes to blow the ladyboi and the dick falls off and it was just a lady looking for heterosexual missionary sex?
Joseph Lewis
I was gonna say an effeminate golem made of scrap metal, bear traps, and barbed wire but that could work too.
>tfw just want a hug but fucking eviscerate everything you touch
Evan Hernandez
>>tfw just want a hug but fucking eviscerate everything you touch
Ian Myers
One idea is to make the trap also a puzzle. This forces the player to interact or examine the trap with skill. You can make it even more fun but having alternative ways to solve it (this stone door is weak why not smash it). The puzzle could be a red herring and all a player need to do is make a somewhat specific perception check to find out.
Sebastian Perez
You activate a trap and you fall through a trapdoor into a pit full of traps
Asher James
traps can be appropriately themed but have them hard to overcome so players then need to think about what traps they might face, and how to overcome them. based on where they are going they can prepare. they may need to leave a dungeon to get the right gear to neutralise a trap.
example: behind a door there are a fuckton of snakes. opening the door will let it be known but how do you deal with a fuckton of snakes? Chuck fire potions in there? crush throguh with a boulder? armour up and hack yer way through? take the risks or leave to get gear to beat this challenge?
Also: traps that aren't traps in the usual sense. Example: the layout of an area. enemies can know the layout and set ambushes etc. Obvious decoratiosn can be turned into weapons: massive statues become projectiles for a giant, and can be used as cover against, say, archery or dragonfire. These can make snese in context of the location. Also offers opportunities for interestign looting and terrain manipulation.
Don't be afraid to straight up lock players in a room. If they were clever and brought pickaxes or appropriate acid etc they can escape.
Noah Martin
It's a plant. They have an open flame. That was retarded.
Oliver Lee
oh fuck it's vietnam
Robert Martinez
The biggest gameplay problem with taking 20 on every 5' tile is that you can't take 20 on checks with a penalty for failure, but mistakenly thinking there's no trap is a penalty for failure.
James Smith
4e had a pretty good philosophy for traps. Having them as combat enhancers. Fight an iron golem in a room with electified floors or kobolds in gas masks in a room filling with toxins.
Nicholas Taylor
>file name
lmao
Joshua Russell
Been a while since I got to post this.
Thomas Thompson
>tfw just want to be pretty and wear cute outfits >tfw not only very masculine, but also ugly
I don't think traditional "you stepped on a tile, roll to dodge spikes" sort of traps are really that interesting, it's not particularly engaging for the player when taking damage or dying comes down to whether or not they took a perception check. I think traps that are more gradual are a bit better, they give the players time to react. Things like the room filling up with something, crusher walls, Indiana Jones boulders, stuff that you can see coming and possibly prevent from killing you. It allows a player to be reactive, which is more engaging than being proactive
Gabriel Phillips
Old-style traps are for when taking damage or dying is itself the interesting part. Ablative, hit-point-economy rather than action-economy specifically not ENCOUNTER but instead SESSION design.
Think of it like, say, the contrast between Dragon Warrior and FF in vidya. (Actually, it -is- that contrast.) It's not even that one is an easier taste to acquire than the other, just that for different userbases different ones were pushed to critical mass first.
Here's a really fun one. >A difficult to detect trigger that's very obvious when triggered, like a pressure plate >It doesn't fucking do anything
>Surrounding it are traps that vary from "mild and immediate annoyances" to "somewhere, a door has closed", or "sets off an alarm elsewhere", stuff that's complex but not really damaging
>and the one huge trap that's clearly going to murder everyone doesn't do a fucking thing
The sheer panic it causes, waiting for the hat to drop.
Chase Bailey
Dang I forgot what board I was on for a second and got excited when I click on this thread.
Elijah Myers
But here
Jordan Diaz
It's a living plant that's full of moisture. It probably doesn't burn easily.
