Trap Tuesday: A Pressure Plate

Wooden Door from Dungeon Keeper

Last week I dove into the basics of traps. This week I will give you a complete trap. Taking one of the basic building blocks, we will go through the parts of this trap, step by step.

The complete trap is as follows: A door hides a pressure plate, held down from the latch of the knob. Once the knob is turned, the pressure plate releases. This opens murder holes on both sides of the corridor immediately next to the door.

When the door is pushed open (because we don't want a door to stop 1/2 of our murder-hobo death machine), a second pressure plate is released, filling the immediate area with arrows. (And presumably one or more pesky thieves.

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That's the crux of the trap. And most of the people reading this could run it just from that information.

What makes this different form other traps? What makes this trap more fun than a pit trap?

Using a pit trap in a game goes something like this:
GM: "You continue walking down the corridor in your standard marching order, the thief is 20' ahead of the party." (dice roll) "When the fighter gets half-way to the thief, the floor open up underneath her, and she crashes with a loud thud at the bottom of a pit." (More dice roll) "She takes 4 damage."

Using the door trap:
GM: "Your thief has checked the door for traps, and found none." (The two pressure plates were nearly impossible to detect, being hidden by the door.) "As you turn the handle, there is a muted 'click' sound from within the door handle. Small holes open up in the walls on both sides of the thief. What do you do?"

As you can see, the players are given choices for their characters' actions. The fighter may use her shield to protect her companion. The wizard may cast a spell to protect the thief. The thief may just attempt to push the door open and hope that his save is high enough to avoid damage (or death, if those things are poisoned.) But, everyone has an option on how to engage the situation.

When you are designing traps, it is important to make them opportunities for your players' creativity and ingenuity to shine through. Simple traps that just become saving throw, take damage, become hum drum and drab after playing in a dungeon for awhile. Traps can be an opportunity for us as GM's to shine and release our creativity. They can become keystones in those stories our players tell about games ("Remember that door that trapped your hand!"). The element of suspense and surprise in these moments is what will make a trap and a gaming session memorable for your players. So get out there and make memories!

Until next time, I'll see your traps in the dungeon halls!