I like traps, to the point where I have written about them three other times.
As a DM, part of my job is to design adventure sites and encounter areas, which means traps.
While 'gotcha' traps have their place, I firmly believe that traps are far more entertaining when players know there is a trap and willingly trigger it. These traps use bait to tempt the players and through them, the PCs.
I'm talking about situations where the DM describes the scene and the players turn to one another and say 'you all know this is a trap, right? Who's gonna trigger it?' More vocal players may start voicing ideas about what might happen - and if those ideas are better than yours, there is no shame in using them.
Overall, these are traps that cannot be disarmed, only ignored and walked away from. The last part is key - the PCs can clearly ignore the bait and continue forward or head back, if so inclined. None of these baited traps should block forward movement.
Some may cry foul at the breaking of the fourth wall or some such, but the reality is that all these elf games are for the players to play, and for many, these traps make for a good session.
As a player, I love encountering these situations in game, trying to balance my curiosity with my desire to have a PC survive. Then again, risk big, win big, so I tend to give in - mostly with sensible precautions.
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Here are d10 examples of such baited traps.
1. A glowing sword pinning a fanged and horned skeleton to the wall.
2. A door hastily spiked shut, with the words DANGER and KEEP OUT scrawled across them.
3. A sarcophagus that is chained or caged shut, perhaps with muffled sound coming from it.
4. A sealed door with a curse (probably in rhyme) chiseled into it.
5. The 'helpless' person begging for help from the middle of a pentagram/pentacle (I get these two confused).
6. The glowing gem on the pedestal.
7. The floor covered with either sand or knee deep in bones.
8. Waist-deep, murky water with a shiny prize at the far end.
9. A corpse seated on a throne, grasping something valuable (a jeweled scepter or crown, perhaps).
10. The glowing portal in the wall, with visions of a far better place beckoning from the other side.
There is no doubt that something will happen when the item is grabbed, the portal opened, or the ground trod upon, but just what that something might be is unknown to the players until they mess with it
Goblin Punch writes about what is tested in an encounter, and in that vein, these traps all test the players - do they stifle their curiosity, missing out on danger but the likely reward, or do they give in and maybe get killed in the process.
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What types of baited traps have you used in your games? Or had used against you?
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