(Editor’s note: Here, fresh from the drawing board, are The
Dragon’s
first Dastardly Deeds and Devious Devices. After digging out from
under a small mountain of submissions for this new column, we
selected these contraptions to publish for DD&DD’s premiere.
Gerard Moshofsky of Eugene, Ore., drew up the three traps shown
on this page. More elaborate, but no less deadly, is the trapdoor-pit
mechanism outlined on the facing page by Robert Dushay of Fayetteville,
N.Y.
If you have a favorite trap or trick that’s at least as dastardly
and
devious as what you see here, send it to DD&DD, The Dragon,
P.O.
Box 110, Lake Geneva WI, to be considered for use in this column.)
-
-
Robert Dushay
While designing a level for my dungeon,
I dreamed up a pit design guaranteed to give
any player fits! Unfortunately, it was far too
nasty to even consider putting on level one
(the level that I was re-designing at the time)
but perhaps others can try this one in their
dungeons.
This trap consists of a hollow trap door
covering a pit. The trap door is pivoted at the
near end, and a ledge at the near edge of the
pit prevents the door from opening until a
weight touches the door beyond the pivot
When a person (or any other weight)
steps on the door beyond the pivot, the fun
begins! The door swings up as shown in the
diagram by the arrows and the weight inside
the door slides down to the long end. This
will hold the door upright. The unfortunate
person falls into the pit, possibly upon poisoned
spikes. A wall within the pit keeps him
isolated from the rest of the party.
In its basic form, this trap does three
separate things: confining, channelizing and
injuring/killing. Confining, by keeping the
victim trapped within the pit unless he has
some means of exit. Channeling, by sealing
off the corridor with a now-upright trap door.
(It is just as high as the ceiling.) And of
course, injuring/killing by the fall into the pit
or by the spikes which may be placed within
it.
In order to balance the door properly in
its unsprung position, the long end of the
door must be nearly equal to the weight of
the short end of the pit plus the weight inside
the door at that end. Notice that when the
trap is sprung and the weights slip into the
long end, it will weigh much more than the
short end, making it nearly impossible to
swivel the door back to its former position.
This ensures a near-permanent seal in the
corridor.
This trap has several interesting possibilities.
A spring-loaded door cover may be inserted
in the floor just beyond the door so
that it springs into position, sealing off the pit
on that side. Placing a few nasty monsters in
the pit to receive the victim as he falls is a
cruel idea. (Particularly if you use an ordinarily
weak monster for the level in question.)
Spikes, whether poisoned or not have already
been mentioned.
Lastly, this pit is nearly player-proof. If a
party is roped together to keep a point-man
from falling in a pit, the lifting of the door will
pull the unfortunate victim off the floor by
the suddenly stretched rope (as it must now
go over the top of the upright door rather
than straight across a level floor) to be
smashed/crushed against the door and the
ceiling. Merely tossing iron spikes ahead of
the group will not provide sufficient weight to
open the pit. Or, even if they do open the pit,
a player standing on the short part of the door
will be lifted up and thrown like a catapultshot
down the hall. If the player is too heavy
to be “shot” in that fashion, he will just be,
ungracefully dumped into the pit. If a player
is too heavy to allow the door under him to
lift him at all, the pit just won’t be sprung by
the weight of the iron spikes. Using carts full
of weights (As Michael Crane’s players
seemed to do— “Notes from
a Very Successful
D&D Moderator”—TD
#26.) will
destroy the cart as it falls into the pit and also
seal it off from the party permanently. Unless
the party has several carts, they will have lost
their trap finder.
The only way that I can see a party defeating
the trap is by passing over it en masse,
but even then, the last man on the long end
of the door will trigger it, falling into the pit
and sealing off the corridor behind the
group. To reopen the path back, magic must
be used. Few parties would enjoy wasting
their spells to deactivate a trap, and even so,
it will still weaken a party considerably.
Any way you look at it, the party is sure to
suffer. Have fun!
The Dragon #35
Trap designers, take note: Devious doesn’t always mean deadly.
Trap victims, pay heed: Sometimes a cool head is better than quick
action.
Those are the lessons embodied in the Devious Device depicted
below. It was submitted to The Dragon by
reader M. Dodds of Islington,
Ontario, Canada, who says, “I take no credit (or blame) for it It was
suggested to me by someone whose name I can’t remember.”
A tip of The Dragon’s derby to the unknown author of this cunning
scenario.
The party enters a 20’x20’x20’ room through the only entrance/exit
in the middle of the south wall. On either side of the door are two
1-foot-diameter pipes protruding about 3 inches out from the
wall. Across from them on the north wall are two more identical pipes.
There is a 10’ square hole in the ceiling covered by a steel grid.
After the party enters, the door slams shut; it is (for the moment)
a
1-way door leading into the room. Suddenly and simultaneously,
molten lava begins to flow out of the pipes on the north wall, and
icy
water pours out of the south pipes. Poison gas starts to seep through
the
grid, and the east and west walls begin to converge. This all happens
in
seconds, giving no time for spell-casting players to counter it. (The
look
on the players’ faces at this point is worth the effort of using this
trap.)
The lava and water flow into hidden
sluices, avoiding the party
entirely, and meet each other at the midpoint between the north and
south walls. The water causes the lava to begin to harden, and the
lava
turns some of the water into steam, which disperses the poison gas.
As
the lava hardens into rock, it causes the walls to stop converging.
When
the walls stop moving, the door opens and the party is free to leave
unharmed.
The only actual danger is a 15% chance per player that he/she will
suffer a fatal heart attack, no saving throw allowed, before the trap
deactivates itself.
But sometimes, the trap can be deadlier: One player, declaring that
he wouldn’t let “a lousy trap kill a 7th-level Ranger,” took his own
life
with a short sword just after the lava started to flow.
On the floor, almost covering the whole hallway, is a magical type of
quicksand, or Quickfloor. Ten feet away from the edges of the Quickfloor
on both sides are wooden posts (similar to the posts of a pier).
Anyone who falls in the Quickfloor will sink and drown in 4-7
rounds (3-6 rounds if wearing chainmail, 2-5 for plate mail). All rescue
attempts (magical or otherwise) will be futile, except for throwing
the
person a rope and tying it to either wooden post This will always work
if
done in time.
Each person in front of the marching order has at least a 40%
chance of noticing the Quickfloor before falling in; halflings have
a 60%
chance.
Any player may attempt to cross the floor without falling in, with the
chance of doing so determined by dexterity: For Dex
3-5, chance of
falling is 90%; for Dex 6-9, 75%; for Dex 10-13,50%; for Dex 14-16,
20%; for Dex 17 or higher, 10%.
A rope tied to both posts will form a magic bridge across the floor
which is perfectly safe. However, anyone trapped in the quicksand
when the bridge is formed will be instantly killed. Untying or cutting
the
rope on either side will make the bridge disappear.
Pedestal Room
Stephen Zagieboyo
Along the wall opposite the door are three pedestals. The bases are
made of mithral and the tops are made of glass. Most things that touch
the glass will disappear in a puff of black smoke. (Magical items are
given
a saving throw according to their powers. Parts of a live person’s
body,
instead of disappearing, take 2-7 points of damage.)
If any pedestal is picked up and studied, a keyhole will be found on
the bottom. (The key is a magic one and should be hidden somewhere
else in the dungeon.) Note: Being made of mithral, the pedestals are
very light and can be lifted by almost anyone; however, they will
disappear forever if carried out of the room.
The left pedestal contains a SPEED
Potion and will open only if a
Fighter or a Thief is holding the magic key.
The center pedestal contains a Staff of Healing and will open only if
a Good Cleric is holding the key.
The right pedestal contains a Wand of Fear and will open only if a
Magic-User is holding the key.
‘This is the place . . .’
Thomas Wolfe
Somewhere in the dark recesses of the castle is a door that is
much more than it appears to be. It is a door that leads to another
dimension, where time stands still. The room on the other side of the
door appears to be a perfectly normal room. Over in one corner is an
iron-bound treasure chest. The room appears to be normal but it is,
in fact, an illusion. As soon as a group or individual enters the room,
the illusion disappears in a flash of light, to be replaced by a glowing
blue corridor. At the end of this corridor is a black door.
The room on the other side of the black door has perfectly
smooth black walls, floor, and ceiling. It is lit by four torches,
set in
black iron stands in the center of the room. The torch stands form
the
four corners of a square, in the middle of which is a disembodied
head, resting on the floor. The head is perfectly bald and seems to
be
alive. There are three other doors in the room, one in each wall. The
doors are colored (from left to right) black, red, and white.
If spoken to, the head will answer only questions pertaining to
what lies beyond a specific door, or where this black room is. If he
is
asked about the location of the room, he will answer with a contradiction:
“You are in Limbo. You are in all worlds and no worlds. This
is the place where all points of the Universe come together.”
If asked about the black door, the head will answer with more
contradictions: “Through that door lie life and death; power and
weakness. All life begins there and all life ends there. It is the
womb
of the universe and the tomb of the infinite.”
If questioned about the red door, the head will say: “Through
that door lie the ever-flowing waters of life; the eternal stream of
new
beginnings and early ends. Through that door lie hope and despair.”
If asked about the white door, he will say: “Through that door
lies the desert of man’s dreams; bleak and hopeless. Yet not all hope
is lost, for eventually any journey across that desert must lead you
back to where you belong.”
The black door can be entered by only one person at a time. No
one else can enter until that person comes out, or the head says, “It
is
finished; the portal is open.” Anyone who tries to enter before this
will be physically restrained by an unbreakable invisible wall, or
force field. When the door is opened, nothing can be seen while
standing in the room. Through the doorway all is darkness.
Once a player has passed through the doorway, the door closes
behind him and he loses all sense of direction. He seems to be
floating in an endless void, for there is nothing under his feet to
support him. Soon, he sees a line of pinprick lights in the distance
moving toward him. As they get closer, he can see that they are
torches, being carried by dark-robed figures. It soon becomes
evident that he is witnessing a funeral procession; two torch-bearers
in
front, two in back, the coffin in the middle, borne by four dark
pallbearers, and an ominous figure leading the way.
As the procession winds its way toward him he can make them out more
clearly
They are all dressed in plain, brown, hooded robes. No faces are
visible beneath the hoods; only darkness. The coffin is white with
gold trim and handles and has no lid.
The player cannot move or speak as the procession finally stops
before him. The pallbearers tilt the casket forward so that he can
see
the body inside. The body is dressed all in white, with a gold belt
and
rings, but a black cloth is draped over its face. As the casket is
tilted
up, the cloth falls away to reveal the face beneath. It is the face
of the
player.
The pallbearers set the casket down and step back into the
darkness beyond the torchlight. Eerie Gothic organ music can be
heard in the background. The procession leader steps forward and
sends a message into the player’s mind: “This is the womb of the
Universe. You have been brought here by destiny so that you may
alter your present state of being and become a more perfect individual.
You may attempt to better yourself in worldly experience,
physical strength, the ability to endure hardship, or any combination
of those three. You may find it impossible to alter yourself, in which
case you will die, or leave this place a lesser person. Fate must decide
the outcome of your choice, but the choice is yours alone to make.
What do you choose?”
After the player has made his decision, he, or the referee, must
roll on the following table to determine what fate decrees. Roll one
die for each applicable column. A result of “Death” on any of the
rolls will kill the player, regardless of how successful he may have
been on other roils. There can only be a maximum of three rolls; one
for each column. The “Level” column refers to worldly experience;
the “Strength” column to physical strength; and the “Hit Points”
column to ability to endure hardship. A plus or a minus to hit points
is
treated as a permanent change. A result of 100% would permanently double
that player’s every roll for hit points. A -50% result would
cut the player’s hit points to half of what is rolled. The strength
and
level bonuses simply add or subtract from existing strength and level.
If strength or level reach zero, the player is dead.
Table I: Black Void
| Die | Strength | Hit Points | Level |
| 1 | +5 | +100% | +3 |
| 2 | +3 | +50% | +1 |
| 3 | -2 | -25% | -1 |
| 4 | -3 | -50% | -2 |
| 5 | Death | Death | Death |
| 6 | Death | Death | Death |
If “Death” is the result, the player feels himself being sucked into
the corpse in the coffin. He is then carried away as he loses consciousness,
never to wake again. If any other result is obtained, it
takes immediate effect and the leader of the funeral procession turns
away. The player notices that the casket they carry away has no body
in it. The door behind him opens, and he is free to leave. This room
is
not open to any other player to enter but the one who just left it.
No
player may enter any of these three rooms twice in one day.
Beyond the red door lies a large room. On the other side of this
room is a glowing blue door. Running from left to right through the
room, so as to make a barrier between the two doors, is a stream.
This stream is flowing rapidly, though there appear to be no openings
in the walls where it originates and terminates. Any person
wading into the stream must roll on Table II. Here, there is no choice;
a die must be rolled for each column.
The columns labeled “Level,” “Strength,” and “Hit Points” are
used the same way as in Table I. The column labeled “Constitution”
simply adds to or subtracts from the player’s constitution. The
column labeled “Age” adds to or subtracts from the present age of
the player’s character. It may send him into doddering old age or
revert him to childhood; it may even send back into the womb or to
a
time years before conception. This column requires the discretion of
the referee. He must decide what is to be done with a player who has
gone over to one extreme.
The column “Deformities” also requires the discretion of the
referee. A result of - 1, -2, or -3 would deform the player. The
severity of the deformity would depend on the number. A - 1 might
only give the player a limp, while a -3 might make him blind. A
result of +1 or +2 would have the opposite effect; it would cure
deformities. If the player has no deformities to cure, this result
would
simply add one or two to his charisma. A result of a deformity might
subtract from charisma, depending on the deformity. Blindness
would not reduce charisma, but if the deformity is something that
affects physical appearance, such as a hunchback, charisma would
be reduced.
Table II: The Waters of Life
| Die | Level | Deform. | Strength | Constitution | Hit Points | Age |
| 1 | +2 | +2 | +2 | +2 | +50% | +25 years |
| 2 | +1 | +1 | +1 | +1 | +25% | +10 years |
| 3 | - | - | - | - | +10% | - |
| 4 | -1 | -1 | -1 | -1 | -10% | - |
| 5 | -2 | -2 | -2 | -2 | -25% | -10 years |
| 6 | -3 | -3 | -3 | -3 | -50% | -25 years |
The door on the other side of the room will not open for anyone
who has not gone through the waters. Even if someone who has
gone through opens the door, only he may enter. The door is the
same door that got them here in the first place. It transports any
who
pass through it back to their own time and dimension, and places
them where they were before they entered the illusionary room. As
with the void beyond the black door, the effect of the waters may be
felt only once per day by a person.
The white door simply opens on to a great endless desert. From
the desert, the white door appears to be two-dimensional, just a door
standing up in the middle of the desert, and cannot be reopened.
The party must travel for an uncertain number of days (1-6), being
subjected to random monsters as in a wilderness campaign, until
they finally reach another two-dimensional door. This one is blue
and glows. It is just like the door in the room of waters: It teleports
any who pass through it back to the castle.
Notes to the DM
This is a very powerful place, and if it is always available for
players to go to, many of them might simply take all of their first-level
characters there to attempt to get a high-level character the easy
way. A first-level has little to lose and much to gain from a place
such
as this. Therefore, it may be advisable to place some restrictions
on
it. For example, only use it once, and then turn the door into an
ordinary door; or have the door move at random about the castle
from time to time so the players will never know when to suspect it.
When explaining to a player the events that take place beyond
the black door, do it in private; and if he dies, don’t allow him to
tell
the other players what to suspect. This will keep them from knowing
something their character shouldn’t have an opportunity to know.
Water, water everywhere
David Sweet
The only access to the treasure area is through a long corridor
which slopes downward after branching off from the connecting
passageway. No matter what direction the party approaches the
treasure area from, members will notice a red line drawn across the
floor at a certain point (indicated by dotted lines on the diagram).
There may also be other obstacles in their path, such as a pit (marked
by “X”).
When the characters reach the corridor which leads to the treasure
area, the first thing they may be able to find is a secret compartment
(A) on the right-hand wall which contains three levers. Moving
these levers into a particular position (up or down) in a certain
configuration will cause the trap mechanism protecting the treasure
area to be neutralized. There is a 1/8 chance of this occurring each
time the levers are manipulated, but a maximum of three attempts
with the levers is allowed.
Just beyond the secret compartment are what appear to be
ventilation shafts, 2 feet square, with grilles covering the openings
(B). There are three such openings on either side of the passageway.
The passage continues to slope downward and widens into a
cavern-shaped opening 40 feet wide at its widest point. A large pool
of salt water is located about 50 feet south of where the passageway
widens into the cavern. Dark, moving shapes may be detected in the
water by a character who wishes to gaze into the pool, but no amount
of gazing will determine for sure what the shapes represent. The pool
is hundreds of feet deep, and the moving shapes will never come
close enough to the surface to allow them to be identified.
There is an arched stone bridge leading to a treasure room, and
the door leading to the treasure room is Wizard locked. There is a
short flight of stairs leading from the south end of the bridge to
the
door to the treasure room. The surface on either side of the stairs
(C)
is sharply slanted toward the pool and is made of very smooth stone
which can only be climbed or descended with great difficulty.
There are four triggers for the trap: One at either end of the
bridge, another on the stairs just below the door, and a fourth trigger
which is activated by opening (or destroying, or otherwise disturbing)
the door. The first three triggers can be detected and, with some
care, avoided or removed. The fourth trigger can also be detected,
but is virtually impossible to avoid or remove.
If any of the triggers are activated, the stairs will suddenly flatten
out to become a slick surface like the slanted walls on either side
of
the stairway. Water will begin to pour out from the “ventilation
shafts” and cascade down the sloping passageway toward the pool
(and the characters). The current is fast, but most characters of
reasonable strength will have some chance of being able to swim
against it.
Because of the slope of the passageway, the water will fill the
large cavern and the wide corridor from floor to ceiling all the way
back to where the secret compartment with the levers is located. The
dotted lines represent the limits of the water’s spread; it will lap
at the
floor at those points and get gradually deeper the further one proceeds
toward the treasure area.
If the current sweeps a character into the pool, or if the water
level in the passageway becomes deep enough to allow the “moving
shapes” in the pool to swim out, it will be discovered that the shapes
are six giant sharks. They will attack any character who winds up in
proximity to them.
The water will fill the chamber to its capacity in two turns, and will
remain at peak level for two turns after that. Then it will begin to
drain, and the passageways will be clear of standing water three
turns after that.
The Fear and Fall Prison
Ken Hughes
The smaller room is where a band of intelligent but relatively
weak adversaries, such as gnomes, make their last stand against an
invading party. When faced with an obviously hopeless situation,
the gnomes abandon the treasure which the room contains and
scurry off down the long corridor.
The treasure includes one distinctive item, a beautiful tapestry on
which the scene depicted changes every few seconds. Any members
of the party with Intelligence or Wisdom higher than 14 will be able
to discern the message woven into the tapestry: “Only through your
combined efforts may you learn the truth.” When all characters in
the party heed that advice and stare at the tapestry together, the
next
scene change it undergoes causes the tapestry to radiate a Fear aura.
All characters who fail their saving throws will flee in terror down
the long corridor, running through a one-way door into a large
chamber which has a floor coated with Oil of Slipperiness. Characters
are trapped in the chamber, since the door on the far side is also
a one-way door, operable only from the other side. (The door on the
treasure room could also be a one-way device, to discourage characters
from leaving that room the same way they came.)
In the oil-floored room, the base chance for spell casting is 55%
plus Dexterity, and climbing walls is done at a penalty of 85% less
than the usual chance, for the initial attempt to climb only. (Once
a
wall has been scaled, it may be traversed at will by the climbing
character, but no method of escape from the room or other benefit
will present itself as a result.) There is a 95% chance per round that
any character or creature standing on the floor will slip and fall,
and
any attempts to walk or crawl across the surface will fail. Characters
can “move” only by sliding in a random direction.
If a character slides to the location of the handle (marked “+” in
the diagram) in the wall and succeeds in standing up at that spot,
he/she may turn the handle. This will cause the floor to tilt downward,
pivoting at the point indicated by the circle in the side-view
diagram. All characters (with the possible exception of a character
who held onto the handle after turning it) will promptly and rapidly
slide down the incline and be deposited in the enclosure beneath the
floor.
The floor moves back to the horizontal position after one round,
more than enough time for everyone to slide into the cell. After the
floor resumes a level position, a careful search of the floor by a
character who did not slide into the cell will reveal a secret compartment
which contains a lock mechanism. The lock is guarded by a
poison needle which will always strike the first character who attempts
to trip the lock. After the needle has been used, the lock can
be manipulated—but only by a character other than the one who
was hit by the needle. Thus, at least two members of a party need to
“survive” the slide into the cell in order to be able to free their
comrades.
When the lock is manipulated, the effect of the oil of slipperiness
is negated within 1-3 turns. Then the floor tilts back to its previous
position, enabling the trapped characters to find their way out.
The effect of the one-way doors is negated when the floor tilts
back to horizontal for the second time. The characters, if they notice
this fact, can exit the large chamber through either door quite easily.