RPG a Day #17 Trap

 

I’m going to try and take part in the #RPGaDay writing prompts for 2021. The idea is there’s a prompt every day that asks you to write about something in RPG’s you really like. There are a couple of alternate prompts offered but I’m going to try and do the main one every day. If you want to try it yourself, you can head here for the calendar for this year.

I like traps. Grimtooth and I go way back, and I realize that’s a reference some of you are too young to get. For thos of you who are, Gritmtooth’s Traps were a series of books that were filled with incredibly unfair traps that were almost guaranteed to kill entire parties. The books were written in a catalogue style and given a bit of humor by Grimtooth’s utter disregard for players. While I don’t recall ever using any of the absolute murder pits that were Grimtooth’s design, I did learn for the books.

One of the things that I picked up and still use is this; not all traps are mechanical or in nature. Sure, a good number of them have springs, counterweights, hidden levers, and so many other moving parts. However, some of them are something else entirely. One of my favorites was a little trap I designed to get play on my player’s reliance on dark vision.

The trap was simple enough. A blind samurai was positioned in a fifteen foot round room. There was there were two exits from the room. The samurai was kneeling in the center of the floor with a bandage wrapped around his head indicating that he couldn’t see.

The group approached the samurai and talked to him. He was a decent fellow who followed the local lord out of a sense of duty. He was sworn by family honor to obey the lord despite his terrible ways. He also told them if they tried to get past him he would defend the hallway and the castle.

The group liked the character, and figured that since he was blind and outnumbered they would have an easy win. That is until he drew his sword. It was a magic katana with a Permanent Darkness spell cast on it. This worked a treat since my players had all chosen races that had dark vision so they wouldn’t have to worry about torches. It also meant that none of them had taken blind fighting.

This was my trap. No moving pieces, no bits of machinery to disarm, and no way to detect it via spell. It was a simple trap with exactly one piece in play; a blind samurai with a magic sword.

I love doing things like this. These little traps that get people without them really understanding what’s about to happen. I think we forget that a trap can be much more than a pit full of spikes. Though the pit of spikes can be a ton of fun.

That’s traps, tomorrow I’ll look at Write.

Until next time. Stay safe and be well.