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Bookwyrm
Great Reader
USA
4740 Posts |
 Posted - 25 Jul 2003 : 10:06:29
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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!  )
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Hell hath no fury like all of Candlekeep rising in defense of one of its own.
Download the brickfilm masterpiece by Leftfield Studios! See this page for more. |
Edited by - Bookwyrm on 25 Jul 2003 10:29:45
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zemd
Master of Realmslore
France
1103 Posts |
Posted - 25 Jul 2003 : 10:18:46
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Niark niark niark!!!
Does the fact that i made my players travel in time to the ToT count?! No more divine spells, wild magic...
I also create evil clones of the wizard of the group, captured her and swaped with a clone... played by the wizard's player.
I sent them to Ravenloft... (there's a Paladin in the group )
And they befriend a Blackguard, former paladin of Torm
They were the cause of the creation of Necropolis (THOUSANDS of deads)
I captured the daughter of one of the pc and tried to make them trade her life against a very powerful artifact.
-- Other group. Lvl 1 --
Right now a wizard give them a ring and made them beleive if they don't do what he wants they'll die. It's false, it's a joke. They're going to a dungeon to get an orb, which only a simple bowl. The wizard made a bet with other wizards. They recruit a group and make them a Treasure chase around the globe. Right now they are passing the recruitment test
-- Other group. Call of Cthulhu --
One of the girl of the group will meet her dead brother as a zombie
... but there's some much on CoC i made that i won't go further, Alaundo would be angry |
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Bookwyrm
Great Reader
USA
4740 Posts |
Posted - 25 Jul 2003 : 10:33:47
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Niiiiiice.
I particularly like the evil clone bit. How did you work that one out? What was the storyline, and also how did you tell the player what was going on without the others knowing? How well did the player do it in the new way, and how long didn it last? What happened to the old wizard? |
Hell hath no fury like all of Candlekeep rising in defense of one of its own.
Download the brickfilm masterpiece by Leftfield Studios! See this page for more. |
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zemd
Master of Realmslore
France
1103 Posts |
Posted - 25 Jul 2003 : 10:51:58
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(When i refer to the PC, i'll say Eilinel, for the evil clone, i'll say the clone)
Well that's tough to explain...
First i decided with my player. I didn't want to force him. After all everyone can choose what to play. I said him: you have been captured and tortured. Do you want to play your evil clone? (I was sure of the answer... i know my players)
So she became a NE rogue. The clone had spy on the characters and she knew enough to make the others think that she was the 'real' one. First she said that she had lost her spells during a fight with one of their ennemies. She didn't know why. By the way, she had the equipment of the true PC.
But what the clone didn't know is that between Eilinel and the Druid of the group. Eilinel was still a virgin and she made love with the druid. But when the druid made love with the clone and found her still a virgin... he didn't react... 
During the next day, she attacked one of the NPC of the group (Midnight, yes the one everybody knows... but that's an other story), she nearly killed her without being noticed.
They travelled to Luskan. There she managed to steal the artifact she infiltrated the group for and fled away.
Eilinel was discovered nearly dead by a group of elf near waterdeep, they rescued her and teleport her to the group's destination (Ten Towns).
She never recovered her inventory but i awarded XP to her because of the player's role play.
I hope i made myself clear |
Edited by - zemd on 25 Jul 2003 13:20:37 |
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The Sage
Procrastinator Most High
Australia
31774 Posts |
Posted - 25 Jul 2003 : 13:06:46
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I once had a Lich's phylactery hidden on an semi-connected (by a portal from the Lich's laboratory) demi-plane. It was also enchanted as per the ethereal jaunt spell. There were a number of other defenses but the one thing I felt was really good was that the phylactery was also protected by a number of Energy Transformation Fields (from Magic of Faerun). Needless to say, the PC's had a difficult time actually acquiring and then destroying the phylactery.
I will list some of the other traps and tricks I used to protect this item when I find my notebook with the notes in it.
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Candlekeep Forums Moderator
Candlekeep - The Library of Forgotten Realms Lore
http://www.candlekeep.com -- Candlekeep Forum Code of Conduct
Scribe for the Candlekeep Compendium -- Volume IX now available (Oct 2007)
"So Saith Ed" -- the collected Candlekeep replies of Ed Greenwood
Zhoth'ilam Folio -- The Electronic Misadventures of a Rambling Sage |
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Bookwyrm
Great Reader
USA
4740 Posts |
Posted - 25 Jul 2003 : 13:44:44
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My brother was writing a story where the undead were returning to the world. He had some interesting bits in it. For instance (as in all his stories) there wasn't a polytheistic them. Just God and the devil. Paladins were very rare, and were clerics who had been called to the warrior's path. Clerics in turn were very rare. I think it was one in every twenty priests or so.
There were two major forms of undead: vampires (who can't actually pass for human without magical disguise, and whose blood is black and smells something vile) and liches.
In this story, a lich has to form his phylactory out of a piece of his or her own body. Typically, it's something like a toe, cut off and guarded. Usually it's in a very safe place -- of course.
The Main Bad Guy in this story is a traitor; he's almost transformed into a lich when he's discovered. He escapes, basically wrecking the capitol as he does. (He was a senior member of the royal circle, and not only was he a very powerful mage, he also had smuggled in some Forces of Evil.) He completes his spell at the peak of a nearby mountain. The peak is destroyed in this; he had mixed a very powerful extra spell into the transformation. It used the material to build him a stronghold, built right into the mountain, highly defensible, and all of one piece of stone.
The fortress itself was his phylactory. He'd drained his blood out, placed his life-essence into it, and mixed it with the stone. In order to kill him, the entire fortress would have to be destroyed as well -- and not just into rubble. It would have to be completely disintegrated.
Now how's that for a challenge?  |
Hell hath no fury like all of Candlekeep rising in defense of one of its own.
Download the brickfilm masterpiece by Leftfield Studios! See this page for more. |
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zemd
Master of Realmslore
France
1103 Posts |
Posted - 25 Jul 2003 : 13:54:12
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It's harder to put a fortress in the Mountain of Mordor than a ring!
Well, this Vampire seems a kind of Stradh... Noble, powerful, quasi unkillable (eng?) |
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Bookwyrm
Great Reader
USA
4740 Posts |
Posted - 25 Jul 2003 : 14:04:55
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He was a lich, not a vampire. The first lich in centuries, and the only one in the world at that moment. It's even more difficult to become a lich in this story than it is in D&D. Most people don't survive. Plus, the way to do it was lost for a while -- which would also cut down on how many liches there would be.
(That's understandable, but one would usually say something like "almost immortal." But there's no real problem with it. I wouldn't have added this bit except that you put in your (eng?) code.) |
Hell hath no fury like all of Candlekeep rising in defense of one of its own.
Download the brickfilm masterpiece by Leftfield Studios! See this page for more. |
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zemd
Master of Realmslore
France
1103 Posts |
Posted - 25 Jul 2003 : 14:31:41
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Oups... i should have thought twice before writing! 
I used unkillable because for i thought immortal meant "can't die because of old age" |
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Bookwyrm
Great Reader
USA
4740 Posts |
Posted - 25 Jul 2003 : 15:28:38
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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. |
Hell hath no fury like all of Candlekeep rising in defense of one of its own.
Download the brickfilm masterpiece by Leftfield Studios! See this page for more. |
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Mythander
Learned Scribe
USA
121 Posts |
Posted - 25 Jul 2003 : 16:05:37
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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.
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Wow! That has no saving throw written all over it. |
Edited by - Mythander on 25 Jul 2003 16:08:08 |
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Yasraena
Senior Scribe
USA
388 Posts |
Posted - 25 Jul 2003 : 20:21:21
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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!  |
"Nindyn vel'uss malar verin z'klaen tlu kyone ulu naut doera nindel vel'bolen nind malar."
Yasraena T'Sarran
Harper of Silverymoon |
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The Sage
Procrastinator Most High
Australia
31774 Posts |
Posted - 26 Jul 2003 : 03:59:30
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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.
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Candlekeep Forums Moderator
Candlekeep - The Library of Forgotten Realms Lore
http://www.candlekeep.com -- Candlekeep Forum Code of Conduct
Scribe for the Candlekeep Compendium -- Volume IX now available (Oct 2007)
"So Saith Ed" -- the collected Candlekeep replies of Ed Greenwood
Zhoth'ilam Folio -- The Electronic Misadventures of a Rambling Sage |
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Bookwyrm
Great Reader
USA
4740 Posts |
Posted - 26 Jul 2003 : 07:04:11
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| 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. ) |
Hell hath no fury like all of Candlekeep rising in defense of one of its own.
Download the brickfilm masterpiece by Leftfield Studios! See this page for more. |
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The Sage
Procrastinator Most High
Australia
31774 Posts |
Posted - 26 Jul 2003 : 08:04:32
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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?.
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Candlekeep Forums Moderator
Candlekeep - The Library of Forgotten Realms Lore
http://www.candlekeep.com -- Candlekeep Forum Code of Conduct
Scribe for the Candlekeep Compendium -- Volume IX now available (Oct 2007)
"So Saith Ed" -- the collected Candlekeep replies of Ed Greenwood
Zhoth'ilam Folio -- The Electronic Misadventures of a Rambling Sage |
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Bookwyrm
Great Reader
USA
4740 Posts |
Posted - 26 Jul 2003 : 10:04:00
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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? |
Hell hath no fury like all of Candlekeep rising in defense of one of its own.
Download the brickfilm masterpiece by Leftfield Studios! See this page for more. |
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The Sage
Procrastinator Most High
Australia
31774 Posts |
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Bookwyrm
Great Reader
USA
4740 Posts |
Posted - 27 Jul 2003 : 11:45:02
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| Be my guest. Throw a whole bunch of this stuff in and get your fighters all antsy because they can't kill anything! |
Hell hath no fury like all of Candlekeep rising in defense of one of its own.
Download the brickfilm masterpiece by Leftfield Studios! See this page for more. |
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The Sage
Procrastinator Most High
Australia
31774 Posts |
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Bookwyrm
Great Reader
USA
4740 Posts |
Posted - 27 Jul 2003 : 12:54:48
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| I'll have to think about it . . . I had some stuff somewhere . . . . |
Hell hath no fury like all of Candlekeep rising in defense of one of its own.
Download the brickfilm masterpiece by Leftfield Studios! See this page for more. |
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The Sage
Procrastinator Most High
Australia
31774 Posts |
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Dodger
Acolyte
United Kingdom
16 Posts |
Posted - 07 Aug 2003 : 22:36:58
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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!
:) |
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Bookwyrm
Great Reader
USA
4740 Posts |
Posted - 08 Aug 2003 : 06:04:22
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Ouch. That sounds a little too mean.  |
Hell hath no fury like all of Candlekeep rising in defense of one of its own.
Download the brickfilm masterpiece by Leftfield Studios! See this page for more. |
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Yasraena
Senior Scribe
USA
388 Posts |
Posted - 08 Aug 2003 : 20:40:40
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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. |
"Nindyn vel'uss malar verin z'klaen tlu kyone ulu naut doera nindel vel'bolen nind malar."
Yasraena T'Sarran
Harper of Silverymoon |
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Bookwyrm
Great Reader
USA
4740 Posts |
Posted - 09 Aug 2003 : 05:22:18
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| 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 . . . . |
Hell hath no fury like all of Candlekeep rising in defense of one of its own.
Download the brickfilm masterpiece by Leftfield Studios! See this page for more. |
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Dodger
Acolyte
United Kingdom
16 Posts |
Posted - 12 Aug 2003 : 20:25:54
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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 :) |
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Mystery_Man
Senior Scribe
USA
455 Posts |
Posted - 12 Aug 2003 : 21:08:35
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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. |
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Salabasha
Learned Scribe
Portugal
216 Posts |
Posted - 12 Aug 2003 : 22:28:57
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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 |
Life is like a box of chocolates. Once you eat the poisoned one you die. |
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Bookwyrm
Great Reader
USA
4740 Posts |
Posted - 13 Aug 2003 : 08:41:30
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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 . . . . |
Hell hath no fury like all of Candlekeep rising in defense of one of its own.
Download the brickfilm masterpiece by Leftfield Studios! See this page for more. |
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Cult_Leader
Learned Scribe
USA
337 Posts |
Posted - 19 Aug 2003 : 01:42:11
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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 |
"Madness you say! Do you fear me? Are you afraid of what I might do, of what I might say? What a fascinating reaction. Don't you find it somewhat encumbering?"
Piddles assumes a deep and resonant voice. "Space...the Final Frontier. These are the voyages of the starship...Garou. It's mission: to slay Wyrm creatures where they live and breed. To accumulate more Garou than the world's entire population. To produce metis like no one has before." - Piddles
"Aren't you people supposed to be doing something? Like, entertaining me, the fascist wizard?" - InleRah
I have the passwords to the minds of everyone and the cheat codes to the universe - Me |
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Bookwyrm
Great Reader
USA
4740 Posts |
Posted - 19 Aug 2003 : 06:08:01
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First, did the thief survive?
And second, were there any clues to the combination, or was it complete guesswork? |
Hell hath no fury like all of Candlekeep rising in defense of one of its own.
Download the brickfilm masterpiece by Leftfield Studios! See this page for more. |
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DM tricks and traps
