| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| Bookwyrm |
Posted - 25 Jul 2003 : 10:06:29
Following off of the scroll Life in a Jar and an older one, Nasty Wishes, I'd like to provide an opportunity for people to share what they've done to make life . . .  difficult for players. (All in the name of the game, of course!  ) |
| 30 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| Cult_Leader |
Posted - 06 Oct 2003 : 14:10:41
HA! I would have gave him the sword to. Makes me look better.... Get it? HA HA HA!? Funny funny? *Sees them all looking at him, tears well up in his eyes* DOnt beat me again, I don't like the basement that much ....  |
| Jander Sunstar |
Posted - 21 Sep 2003 : 23:07:47
ý love to put paladins in difficult situations when ý'm dm. I once made my paladin dominated by a mage at the end of the session while he was guarding the sleeping party members in a forest and at the beginning of the other session he awaken with blood on his hand. he killed many innocent peasants.after this the party chased the mage and gave gold to the peasants but the poor paladin lost his mind.
ý also like to tempt my dedicated players with power. ý give them feats, spell like abilities but they have to pay the price.for example ý gave a sword with a +5 attack bonus and some kind of random magical effects to a very handsome and narsist fighter.but all succesful hit was destroying his beauty. he gave the sword to a rival in a love affair as a present at last |
| Bookwyrm |
Posted - 20 Sep 2003 : 06:07:01
Humor traps? They're the best. When I was making my "Jorlan’s Depilatory" spell, I was thinking that it would make for a great trap spell to use on a dwarf. |
| Trafaldi |
Posted - 17 Sep 2003 : 20:08:44
I like the crushing wall trap if they fail to disarm they either have strength chesk and if they fail that they have to tumble out of the way and if you choose it crushes what they were after. |
| Cult_Leader |
Posted - 09 Sep 2003 : 14:21:32
Personally I like humor filled traps. The other night our theif messed up and ended up being turned into a pig for a day. The fighter thought he was going to be the theif since the theif was being tugged along on a string and ended up getting blue ink in his face from a ink shooting chest. Taught them both a lesson. |
| Dodger |
Posted - 25 Aug 2003 : 00:00:28
quote:
Originally posted by Elf_Friend
One of my favorite things to do (and I keep this rare) is to put the PC's in what seems like an impossible situation with no solution. Whatever that may be, its going to start killing them slowly.
Key is, I don't have a solution to the problem I give them either.
Usually after the 3rd whackiest thing one of them can think up to get themselves out is the answer.
Keeps them from metagaming and on their toes.
Respect! Getting the players to come up with solutions to problems is one of the oldest tricks in the DM's book! And, one of the best. Especially if you have to run the game at somewhat short notice... :) |
| Cult_Leader |
Posted - 19 Aug 2003 : 18:39:40
Oh yes there were clues. The clues can be changed each time you use the same trap. However dont use it on the same group over and over again. The clues were actually letters. The group was just to stupid and over looked the large book that gave it away ... On each letteer they had, since there were four of them at first, had a number at the bottom ... Easy to figure out. The book even told them, "only those with the Soul Contracts may enter". Not my fault they were being dumb and not thinking.
Sadly the theif in said game managed to almost kill it... however it got a crit hit, I was not rolling the dice for the demon someone else was so once again I am not at fault for his cirt, and killed the theif.
All in all I leave most of the things the players run into up to them ... I don't need plot hooks ... half the time the run face first into my plans with blind folds on. |
| Bookwyrm |
Posted - 19 Aug 2003 : 06:08:01
First, did the thief survive?
And second, were there any clues to the combination, or was it complete guesswork? |
| Cult_Leader |
Posted - 19 Aug 2003 : 01:42:11
I have two old traps that I have used.
The first one was ment to just distract and or get rid of the theif within the group.
The door within the dungeon of an old temple had the words Andlayy Ubor, The words were spelled with gems, If the thief decided to go into the gem rich door he would find nothing but a single torch under the newly arranged words of gems, which simply spelled out Baylor and You, at about that time the door shuts and the theif either dies of some how wins the fight. Oddly enough the theif actually fell for it...
Another nice trap was a Treasure chest at the end of a hall way, in which you had to get past traps of flame, arrows, sprining blades etc, all to open the chest which said at the bottm. "I bet you wish you didnt come all this way for nothing."
The other Trap that I used was one of my best friends own making. He game it some time, but he managed to work it out very nicely, Once far enough into a two door room, one of the only two doors (the one in which you used to walk in) would shut behind the group trapping them in. Infront of them was a dial from zero to 100. It was a simple four number combination that had to be spun on the dial. The sad part was if you stopped on the wrong number a randum diffrent trap would spring. Each trap was "recharged" as it were just in case they made the same mistake. The even bigger catch to this was that numbers 20, 76, and 45 all sprun a sand trap. Numbers 23, 76, and 99 all sprun from the top of the room from small holes all over it, trickles of salt acid... The trap was a pain but you have to under stand that it was a trap made for21st level chars, they seemed to use nothing but magic etc to get past all the other side tracking things, So we made this room... an anti magic feild ... YOU HAD to think and find out. Weather you got burned or not .... and most of the poisons were save or die, save or soemthing else, or mass loss of levels. .... Anyway this was a bitch trap and only two people found a way around it.
PS: Right combination- 12, 67, 87, 50 |
| Bookwyrm |
Posted - 13 Aug 2003 : 08:41:30
quote:
Originally posted by Dodger
There were plenty of non-lethal ones as well though, intended to make the PC's look like idiots :)
I think that would be my favorite -- assuming I were on the giving side, of course. [:p}
I'm actually trying to think up some similar sort of spells for this . . . practical joke-types . . . . |
| Salabasha |
Posted - 12 Aug 2003 : 22:28:57
quote:
Originally posted by Dodger
Anyone remember the old "Grimtooth's Traps" books? Absolute gems! Hundreds and hundreds of devious devices.
One of my faves:
Have the players being chased by something REALLY atrocious. They come across a door saying "Emergency Exit". It leads to a downward sloping tunnel, that becomes slippery and sheer. Halfway down they hit a teleport...
...and find themselves teleported outside the dungeon, but 5 miles up in the air! It is an exit, and unless they can fly has certainly created an emergency!
:)
Tumble Check |
| Mystery_Man |
Posted - 12 Aug 2003 : 21:08:35
One of my favorite things to do (and I keep this rare) is to put the PC's in what seems like an impossible situation with no solution. Whatever that may be, its going to start killing them slowly.
Key is, I don't have a solution to the problem I give them either.
Usually after the 3rd whackiest thing one of them can think up to get themselves out is the answer.
Keeps them from metagaming and on their toes. |
| Dodger |
Posted - 12 Aug 2003 : 20:25:54
Yeah a lot of Grimtooth's were OTT and I wouldn't use them either. Sure fun to read though ;)
Mind you, I would say the majority of them came with a "...if the players are stupid enough to..." kind of disclaimer. Most were avoidable with a bit of thought. Problem is, the ones that weren't tended to hurt.
There were plenty of non-lethal ones as well though, intended to make the PC's look like idiots :) |
| Bookwyrm |
Posted - 09 Aug 2003 : 05:22:18
I don't know about the rest of the examples, of course, but the only way I'd spring something like that one on somebody would be if I was sure the players could survive it if they just did it right . . . . |
| Yasraena |
Posted - 08 Aug 2003 : 20:40:40
I think Grimtooth's series were made for the truly sadistic GM's out there. In the four books that I have of that series, there are only a handful of traps that I'd feel good about springing on my players. Most are just eeevil.
Although, if you have a truly evil adversary, then they would fit right in. |
| Bookwyrm |
Posted - 08 Aug 2003 : 06:04:22
Ouch. That sounds a little too mean.  |
| Dodger |
Posted - 07 Aug 2003 : 22:36:58
Anyone remember the old "Grimtooth's Traps" books? Absolute gems! Hundreds and hundreds of devious devices.
One of my faves:
Have the players being chased by something REALLY atrocious. They come across a door saying "Emergency Exit". It leads to a downward sloping tunnel, that becomes slippery and sheer. Halfway down they hit a teleport...
...and find themselves teleported outside the dungeon, but 5 miles up in the air! It is an exit, and unless they can fly has certainly created an emergency!
:) |
| The Sage |
Posted - 27 Jul 2003 : 12:59:46
No hurry...take your time  .
|
| Bookwyrm |
Posted - 27 Jul 2003 : 12:54:48
I'll have to think about it . . . I had some stuff somewhere . . . . |
| The Sage |
Posted - 27 Jul 2003 : 12:00:23
Do you have any other particularly nasty surprises...
|
| Bookwyrm |
Posted - 27 Jul 2003 : 11:45:02
Be my guest. Throw a whole bunch of this stuff in and get your fighters all antsy because they can't kill anything! |
| The Sage |
Posted - 26 Jul 2003 : 11:43:06
No, more like your second suggestion. I would really like a few of these to throw into my Wednesday night Waterdeep campaign.
|
| Bookwyrm |
Posted - 26 Jul 2003 : 10:04:00
You mean like a really, really delayed-spell feat?
Or do you mean something like a rogue thinks he's disarmed the trap, walks through, only to be hit by a lightning bolt in the back two rounds later? |
| The Sage |
Posted - 26 Jul 2003 : 08:04:32
I have been thinking about time-related traps of late...traps that are triggered after a pre-determined time has passed. Does anybody have anything like that as an example?.
|
| Bookwyrm |
Posted - 26 Jul 2003 : 07:04:11
Yes! Practical joke traps! I like this. I'm going to have to write that one down someplace. Not every trap has to hurt someone in a physical way . . . . (Plus I like humor. ) |
| The Sage |
Posted - 26 Jul 2003 : 03:59:30
This is definitely something I would like to see used against some of my more extreme players. Although I would probably alter some of the effects produced by the statue.
|
| Yasraena |
Posted - 25 Jul 2003 : 20:21:21
I once created a magical trap of sorts that wasn't deadly, but sure frustrated the hell out the PC's.
It was in a dungeon of an archmage that had a penchant for practical jokes. The trap was in a circular room that had eight exits around the perimeter in the form of corridors. In the middle of this room was a stone statue of the mage who created the dugeon. It was created to look like the mage standing up with his right arm pointing outward, while his other arm was grasping two scroll tubes to his chest. At the bottom of the statue was a point, like an arrowhead, pointing in the same direction as the statue was pointing. This statue sat on a circular stone base that had small holes all around it's bottom.
The trap was that whenever anyone went down any of the corridors without saying the appropriate password, the statue would turn to that corridor and cast a spell that would affect a random PC, while an illusion caused the statue's pointing finger to wag back and forth and a magic mouth said "Uh! Uh! Uh!". The effects ranged from changing their hair color and/or style, to unraveling their clothes, to putting them to sleep, to a single magic missile or a 1d6 lightning bolt. (seeing a dwarf's reaction to his beard turning bright pink and then form in the shape of a heart was just priceless. Hee hee!)
The solution to the trap was that the scroll tubes the statue was holding were actually metal, capped and hollow, but there was another illusion on the statue to make them appear as part of the stone. Inside the tubes were two metal rods that were supposed to go in the holes on either side of the little point, therefore preventing the statue from turning to the corridor they were going down.
The PC's figured out that they needed to put something in the holes on either side of the little point, but everything they tried either didn't fit or broke when the statue turned.
They finally figured out the solution after most of them felt the effects of the statue. They got real lucky on a dispel magic cast at the statue, which revealed the scroll tubes for what they really were.
They still give me crap about that one!  |
| Mythander |
Posted - 25 Jul 2003 : 16:05:37
quote:
Originally posted by Bookwyrm
Following off of the scroll Life in a Jar and an older one, Nasty Wishes, I'd like to provide an opportunity for people to share what they've done to make life . . . difficult for players. (All in the name of the game, of course! )
Difficulties for PC's hmmmmmm..... well here is a list off the top of my head.
I had a Paladin of Torm a Elven Bladesinger and a Cleric of Tyr sent to Ravenloft.
I had a party enter a Citadel of Chaos and after a unsuccessful will save, the temple convinced one of the Pcs to sell their soul for a Lawslaying sword.
Created heavily trapped and well defended doorways that went no-were.
had a NPC convince a PC to stick his head into a dark passage, that in fact was a sphere of inhalation.
and much, much more.
|
| Bookwyrm |
Posted - 25 Jul 2003 : 15:28:38
Well . . . strictly speaking, it does. But the way most people use it is to describe someone/thing that is so powerful it's really hard to kill.
I wouldn't worry about it too much. |
| zemd |
Posted - 25 Jul 2003 : 14:31:41
Oups... i should have thought twice before writing! 
I used unkillable because for i thought immortal meant "can't die because of old age" |
