Death Traps and Enemy Bases

[Lisa Padol]

I went with a cooperative death trap that required non-speech communication. The players thought it needed more time pressure, but on the whole, it did what I wanted. It presented at least a minute's worth of challenge. It did not annoy the players. Nice, solid trap.

Should have taken more advantage of the fact that one of the PCs was able to a) stay out of the deathtrap and b) plant items on two folks in the death trap. That is, I could have made things harder, hence making the villain smarter, but compensated by what the villain could not know, that the PCs had extra items and a friend on the outside.

It's stuff like that that comes up in play, unexpectedly, that I don't always work in as elegantly as I might.

[chadu]

Anyway, where do I get ideas for good death traps -- ones that don't strike players as lame and stupid, but ones that PCs can be ingenious and get out of? Where do I go for good ideas of Secrit Bases, preferably system free?

If you're a Pyramid subscriber, see my article:

The Deathtrap Construction Kit

Or check here:

http://www.illuminated.co.uk/deathtrap/

For a little reload-toy based on the article.

CU

[Lisa Padol]

The Deathtrap Construction Kit was invaluable for my game's Keltopia arc, where I needed on-the-fly deathtraps that could be silly as all get up. Problem is, it's not as useful for me when I need to construct something for my group that has to make a certain minimum level of sense and follow certain parameters. Takes thought, but not too much thought, doesn't make the players think the villain is out to lunch -- you know, when I start to get picky.

Josh explained to me that the thing is that I need Indiana Jones type deathtrraps, not James Bond type deathtraps, if that makes any sense.

And exactly how one can be handcuffed to spiders or to an anthill, as that amusing perlscript suggested, is something I'm still not sure about.

[chadu]

And exactly how one can be handcuffed to spiders or to an anthill, as that amusing perlscript suggested, is something I'm still not sure about.

Simple: the handcuffs are attatched to a giant, somewhat fragile glass box full of venemous spiders. If one yanks too hard, the box shatters, releasing the deadly arachnids.

And for an anthill, easily simple: truck parked over anthill, handcuffs looped over the back axle.

Easy!

CU