Dungeon Room Appendix: Traps, and Hazards

Traps are a staple of dungeon crawling.

"Trap" is slightly limiting though; personally, I prefer the broader category of "hazards". Why? Well, simply put because "trap" invokes things like spike pits and swinging blades, but "hazard" includes mechanically-similar-yet-aesthetically-different things like "the air is full of deadly spores". (The distinction, maybe, is "was this constructed by something for the purpose of getting you, or is it naturally occurring", but the line there can be pretty fuzzy and, in practice, pretty unimportant if you ask me.)

See, if all you think about are "traps", then brains like mine are railroaded into mechanical constructions, and quickly get hung up on obnoxious questions like "why is this trap here?" and "how does it still function?" and maybe "how does it get reset?".

Don't get me wrong, those are good questions to ask, it's just that... it's kind of hard right? It takes extra work, and it's mentally limiting. So, I think by expanding our minds a bit we can increase our output of traps (and other trap-like things). In other words, we can output more trap-like challenges in our prep with at most marginally more effort.

Trap philosophy

Before I get into the creative material here, let me diatribe a bit about traps in role playing games:

Traps suck.

...Ok ok, what I really mean is, "conventional" traps suck. Here's what I'm talking about: you walk through a dusty hall, the game master asks for a roll related to dexterity, you fail, so you fall in a pit and take a dice's worth of damage, the game goes on. 

I hate this. 

Not only is it frustrating, but it's also uninteresting, and I think it generally has a negative effect on the game. Does turning your players into 10' pole wielders make the game more fun? Do you want to spend 50% of your sessions fielding questions like "is there anything suspicious about the door? is there anything suspicious about the floor? is there anything suspicious about the ceiling? is there anything suspicious about the walls??"

(Look, some people are surely going to say "yes, I love that!". Or defend mental stats blah blah blah. If that's you then traps are easy, and some of what follows may still be useful to you.) 

I won't carry on about this for too long; other minds have spoken eloquently on this subject, and I'll point you to some examples, but the gist is this: traps are more fun when they're more obvious, and more interactive. So don't be surprised when I lean into that assumption.

Trap Hazard anatomy

(Yes, I'm sticking to my nomenclature from here on out.)

First, lets discuss what characteristics hazards must have. We can think of this as the "anatomy" of a hazard, but it's also a good basis for a "taxonomy" so to speak.

• Threat: this is the effect of the hazard. It's "purpose". Does it kill or maim? Does it alert? Does it entrap? Is it an obstacle? Start by thinking about the goal of the hazard, then come up with the simplest description. If you were writing this in a dungeon key, you'd be going for the game-mechanical consequence.
• Mechanism: Sometimes this is very obvious from the nature of the threat, and sometimes it's an extra step. (e.g. a pit is an obvious threat--you fall in it; but a stone pillar is not an obvious threat until it falls on you.) The question is really how does the hazard enact it's threat? 
  
• Trigger: sometimes this may not apply (a room full of poison spores; I guess "walking in" is the trigger?), and sometimes it might not be obvious what the trigger should be (a pit is just a pit unless you hide it or surround it with slippery oil, etc.) but if your hazard needs something to "activate" the threat, that's the trigger.
• Tell: What are the signs of this hazards presence? How does this hazard present? A sight, a smell, or a sensation. This can be as simple and straightforward as "you can see a pit of spikes in front of you", or it can be more subtle "this room is unusually dusty" (implying that no one walks this way. For more on such implications, see my post on Secrets, and Hidden Things). If you're a mental stat dice chucker you are under no obligation to think about this at all, but if you think that's boring, you need to consider something that tips the existence of the trap.

Threats and mechanisms

With that in mind, we can start to generate an approach to imagining new hazards for our needs. Let's do this recursively: I'll start with a category of threat, then narrow that down into nested entries until we reach something a little more specific:

• Harm. (actually killing or maiming, or more broadly just attribute loss)
• Bludgeoning.
• -> Swinging hammers/stones
• Crushing.
• -> Falling ceiling.
• -> Falling/rolling boulder.
• -> Smashing/falling walls.
• -> Falling door.
• Falling.
• -> High place. (whether that be falling into a pit, or falling off of a tower)
• -> Launcher.
• Bloodletting.
• Slicing.
• -> Spinning blades.
• -> Bladed chute.
• Piercing.
• -> Spiked pit.
• -> Darts/arrows/javelins.
• Poisoning.
• -> Gas.
• -> Consumable.
• -> Darts.
• Burning.
• -> Fire.
• -> Lightning.
• -> Acid.
• -> Boiling liquid.
• Suffocating.
• -> Vacuum.
• -> Smothering.
• -> Unbreathable gas.
• -> Drowning.
• Exhausting.
• -> Dehydration.
• -> Extreme cold.
• -> Increasing weight/burden.
• Alert. (attracting a secondary external threat)
• Noise.
• -> Collisional. (e.g. bells)
• -> Phonated. (e.g. a horn)
• Light.
• -> Fire.
• -> Electricity.
• -> Chemical reaction.
• Color.
• -> Spilled paint/dye.
• Smell.
• -> Foul smell.
• -> Sweet smell.
• Entrap/Impede. (keeping someone where they are; impeding retreat or advancement)
• Falls.
• -> Deep pit.
• -> Chute. (relocation to a new area)
• Snares.
• -> Dropped cage.
• Net.
• -> Dropped.
• -> Raised.
• Blocked retreat or progress. (you may think this shouldn't be a "hazard", but in this case I'm thinking of the way being shut in response to some Trigger)
• -> Collapsing ceiling.
• -> Collapsing bridge.
• -> Wall of flames.
• -> Force field.
• Doors
• -> Locked.
• -> Shut. (e.g. a portcullis falling shut; think locked by weight rather than something mechanical)
• Incapacitating.
• Blinding.
• -> Gas.
• -> Liquid.
• -> Solid. (e.g. sand or dust)
• Snuffing torches.
• -> Dousing.
• -> Heavy gust.
• Deafening.
• -> Loud noise.
• -> Air pressure.
• -> Blunt trauma.
• -> Obscuring ear canal. (e.g. ear full of ooze)
• Immobilizing.
• -> Sticky surface.
• -> Freezing solid.
• -> Sleep inducing.
• -> Vomiting. (...and other expulsions.)
• -> Sneezing.
• -> Uncontrollable laughter.
• -> Insanity inducing. (Cactus juice anybody?)

(If you think of more, please let me know and I'll update the list!)

This probably isn't exhaustive, and we're probably crossing some wires at times, but surely you see the idea: there are a lot of ways to mess with your players. If all you're using are spinning blades or pits you're really missing out on some fun! Sure, you could just throw some javelins at them, but what about smothering them in mushroom honey that draws hungry giant cave bees in droves? That's way more interesting, and an impetus for actual role play and problem solving!

Triggers

With triggers the question is "does the hazard just sit there, being dangerous? or does it require activation?". An exposed pit of spikes is an obstacle, and certainly a hazard, but it's obvious and constant, so a trigger is not a necessity. Alternatively, you can craft a trigger meant to usher someone into the threat. Let's spitball triggers:

• Structural/physical.
• Mechanical.
• Pressure plate.
• Adding weight.
• Relieving weight. (like Indiana Jones!)
• Lever.
• String tension.
• Weight. (e.g. precarious rope bridges, or cracked floors)
• Friction. (e.g. slippery or sticky surfaces)
• Temperature. (e.g. body or torch heat catalyze a phase change that triggers the hazard)
• Chemical reaction. (e.g. a torch meeting a flammable gas or similar)
• Line of sight/proximity. (a little more obvious in a sci-fi sort of game, but it's not a total stretch to imagine something like a statue with magic jewels for eyes that detect motion, or a magic force field.)
• Sound. (magic detectors come to mind first again, else the most obvious ideas lean into actual creatures, which can be classed as "hazards" under the right circumstances)
• Smell. (ditto creatures as hazards)

Aside: in defense of static hazards

You might think that a big pit without a trap door or an oil-slick is boring, but I have to disagree. Consider this: as long as circumventing the hazard isn't trivial (say, a pit that's only 5 feet across), a static hazard is basically a soft-locked door you can see through. And that has great potential.

Say an adventuring party enters a room through it's south door. They can see another exit on the north wall. Also, there's a 30' wide pool of lava in the middle. 

The lava is clearly dangerous, and 30' is farther than just about anyone can reliably jump, but this is a completely static threat. The lava is not going to jump out and grab anyone. (It could, and that would be interesting, but I digress!) Even so, this setup is still ripe for adventure. Consider the possibilities:

• There could be something visible and desirable on the other side. Now it's a challenge to figure out how to cross the lava.
• There could be a side entrance across the lava. That means there might be another way around this lava pit; this is an impetus for exploration, but it could also present an impactful choice because the alternate route might take too long, or present an even less desirable obstacle.
• This could be an interesting stage for a future strategy. Do the game a favor and put some things in this dungeon that also die when tossed into lava. Now, the party could choose to a lure a target in here in hopes of pushing them in the lava.

This is play. Just because the hazard doesn't force itself upon you doesn't mean it isn't interesting and valuable.

Tells

I'll be very brief here, because this overlaps heavily with my post on secrets.

I believe hazards are more interesting and gameable when they're implicitly detectable. That can mean that they're just obvious, but it at least means that a hazard has some sort of sign of it's presence. Let's go through some broad categories of tells. I'm going to roughly order these from most obvious to most subtle:

• The threat is visible. There is a pit, it has spikes, and the floor is visibly oiled.
• Evidence of trigger. (You know there's a threat, you just don't know what kind it will be.) The floor is obviously tilted. Those flagstones are obviously raised. There's a string pulled taut across the hallway at ankle height. The rope bridge creaks as it swings and the boards are cracked in places.
• Evidence of mechanism. (You know there's a threat, but you don't know what will trigger it.) There are obvious fist sized holes in the wall, or a long slit in the wall. The air is unusually hazy with some substance.
• Evidence of prior victims. (There may be a threat; best be cautious.) This hallway has a decapitated skeleton in it. There's a huge blood splatter in the middle of the floor.
• Evidence of oddity. (Well, this is weird. Wonder what it means.) This hallway is unusually dusty. It's especially quiet here. Conversely, there's an unusual constant sound in this room. 

Obviously these are not cut and dried categories, nor does categorization matter as an end unto itself. The point is just to highlight how many ways you can go about this. 

Finally, how obvious or subtle you wish to be may be a function of how deadly the hazard is and how much mischief your audience can bare: some may delight in the fact that you dangled a clue at them and they walked into it anyways, others may be particularly bad at sniffing out trouble and particularly frustrated at failure.

Tools for the table (or the desk)

As a final gift to you, I present a few spark tables to help you think outside of the box:

d6	Threat
1-3	(Harm)
4-5	(Impede)
6	(Alert)

d6	Harm
1	Bludgeoning
2	Bloodletting
3	Burning
4	Poisoning
5	Suffocating
6	Exhausting

d6	Impede
1-2	Falls/snares
3-4	Blocked retreat/progress
5	Blinding/deafening
6	Immobilizing

d6	Alert
1-4	Noise
5	Light/color
6	Smell

d6	Triggers
1-3	Structural/Physical
4-5	Mechanical/Chemical
6	Sight/sound/smell

d6	Tell (kind)
1	Visible
2	Trigger
3	Mechanism
4-5	Victim
6	Oddity

d6	Tell (sense)
1-4	Sight
5-6	Sound/sensation/smell

d6	Nature
1-3	Constructed
4-5	Static/natural
6	Plant/fungus/animal

d6	Target
1-4	Body
6	Mind

d6	Form
1-3	Solid
4-5	Liquid
6	Gas

d6	Power
1-4	Mundane
5-6	Magical

Just roll 9d6. One for the type of threat and one on the corresponding table; one for the trigger, one for the kind of tell and the sense of detection. Finally, one for the "nature", one for the "target", one for the "power", and one for the "form" of the hazard. (Really, the goal here is to hammer your brain with traits and push it to the creative limits; feel free to reroll results you can't make sense of, or ignore elements as inspiration hits. A few results definitely make even rolling on some of the weirder tables incoherent; this is fine, these are spark tables, not encounter tables)

Here are 3 examples of my rolling the tables and what I came up with.

threat (harm: burning), trigger (sight/sound/smell), tell (kind: mechanism, sense: sight),  nature (static), target (body), form (liquid), power (mundane)

- apparent floor vents (spew boiling water), excessive floor vibration triggers the pumping mechanism
(I ignored "static", but if I didn't I might make these hot water geysers; same trigger applies; heck, maybe that makes more sense)

threat (alert: noise), trigger (mechanical/chemical), tell (kind: visible, sense: sight), nature (constructed), target (body), form (solid), power (mundane)

- hanging scrap metal connected to a tension wire, clangs when disturbed, poorly hidden

constructed, mind, mundane, gas, harm, suffocating, mechanical/chemical, victim, sight

threat (harm: suffocating), trigger (mechanical/chemical), tell (kind: victim, sense: sight), nature (constructed), target (mind), form (gas), power (mundane)

- in this room there is a corpse of someone huddled in fetal position; pressure plates in the floor cause a gas to flood the room which induces severe anxiety

(The combination of "mind" and "mundane" through me for a moment, but "gas" was my salvation; "suffocating the mind" is a neat idea to chew on)