A little dungeon help please?

[Coplantor]

I you are a player of mine stop reading! Now!

I'll count to three...

1
2
3

OK, here is what I want.

Basically, this weekend or the next one, I'll be DMing a campaign on a setting I homebrewed myself (project awesome at the bottom of my sig if you want to check it out:smalltongue:). the first mission the party will be sent to, consists on a somewhat particular dungeoncrawl... They have to reach a gold mine in the wild west, wich isnt working as it should. Why? you ask, well, because the goblins that work there recently formed a sindicate of goblin miners and they are on a strike untill the work conditions are improved, at the same time, they took control over the mine and filled it with traps. The players were hired by the goverment to recover the mine and keep things as smooth as possible.

What I really need are traps to humilliate the players, not deadly traps, well, perhaps a few deadly traps, but mostly I want harmless, humilliating, demoralizing traps. The few life threatening traps will be placed near the end of the dungeon where the goblin leader is, and e is protecting himself in case of hired assasins.

Things to consider, the goblins know the mines better than they know teir mothers... except for those who work with their mothers at the mines but that doesnt matter, so it is crucial for the adventure that the goblins take advantage of their knowledge as much as they can, like having a net of secondary tunnels that allows them to o from one end of the mine to the other fairly quickly and unnoticed, that would give them the upper hand whenever they'll try to ambush the plyers, also, that should lead the players that they are facing far more goblins than they actually are.

Any advice, tip, hint or friendly comment? I'll build an altar to the one who proves to be the most helpfull or hilarious (Yeah, that's important to, I want to laugh everytime the poor bastards fall into a pit of feces... That could work, a pit of feces... BUT I WANT SOMETHING BETTER!)

[holywhippet]

How about a trap that drops some hidden doors and unleashes some rust monsters on either side of the party?

Use mage hand spells to pilfer items from them at a distance - use viewing slots to prevent them from attacking.

Use illusion magic to completely change the parties appearance - focus on changing genders and body types.

[Coplantor]

Thanks, without knowing it, you just gaved me a good idea for a hook connecting this adventure and the next one.

[Kyouhen]

A boulder trap. With a boulder made of gold. You want loot? Here's your loot! :smallbiggrin:

Just do whatever you can to make sure they can't actually get their hands on this thing. Make it too awkward to move or have it chase them deeper into the mines so they would have to push it back up a steep hill to get it out. Also this'll generally work best if there's at least one greedy person in the party.

Actually, better idea. Have several ropes throughout the mines that have a note tied to them that says "Pull for gold". Have a few small pieces of gold drop for the first few so the more greedy players get used to the idea, then hit them with the boulder trap. :smallbiggrin:

[Olo Demonsbane]

Thanks, without knowing it, you just gaved me a good idea for a hook connecting this adventure and the next one.

3rd one wasn't it :smallwink:?

How about:

A trap within a trap within a trap. Specifically, a trap that flings the rouge backwards into the wall while he is trying to disarm the Poison needle. Note that the needle trap springs when he is flung. When the character tries to open the door, another needle hits them.

Put a trip wire in a coridoor, then smear just beyond that with that super adhesive stuff from DMG. Umm, guys, I think Im stuck....

An at-will item of shatter costs 12,000 gp, or 3,000 if its an immovable part of the mine. This could be good for mining, but it would also be an effective trap: The characters start walking across the room, but all of a sudden random items start shattering, including articles of clothing :smallbiggrin:

To make the goblins seem like more then they are, put lots of low to hit manual reset crossbow traps, set off by 1 lever. This lever is hidden nearby in the goblins tunnels, letting a goblin shoot lots of arrows at once. If its dark, they will think they're under attack. And don't worry about cost: according to the Stronghold builders guidebook, a trap about as effecient as a goblin saves money.

Hope some, all, or any of that was helpfull.

[VelvetThunder]

A trap that casts an extended Duration Light Spell on one of the players noses. They'll want the light since they are in some Mines and it's dark.... and so that character will have to play Rudolph for awhile.

[Farlion]

What has always worked best for me, is to describe a room in utter detail, so that the characters can imagine a whole lot of traps in it. Put a pedestal in the middle with something that looks precious (might even glow magically), but really isn't. If someone casts detect magic, have random objects glow faintly in totally random magic schools and just let the players be beaten by their imagination. Also, very important, roll the search check yourself, then make a funny face and say: "No, you don't find anything".

I once managed to hold up my group for 3 hours, so the bad guy could get reinforcement. And guess what, the room was concipated exactly for the sole purpose of fooling cautious adventurers. :smallbiggrin:

Cheers,
Falrion

P.S: Oh, yeah. Have the room have random ropes hang form the ceiling and have multicolored tiles on the floor, pictures on the wall showing people hop from one color to the next, people dying horribliy through arrows, cryptic texts that noone can decifer and so on (I hope you get the picture).

As the poster below me points out, I never mention, the room is absolutely trap free =) But thats actually the intention of this room, looking awfully trapped, whilst being totally safe.

[JellyPooga]

P.S: Oh, yeah. Have the room have random ropes hang form the ceiling and have multicolored tiles on the floor, pictures on the wall showing people hop from one color to the next, people dying horribliy through arrows, cryptic texts that noone can decifer and so on (I hope you get the picture).

Tee hee, I love this idea! Especially if the room is totally trap free. I can just see a group of adventurers hopping, swinging, climbing and spinning their way awkwardly across this room, getting to the other side and the door opening behind them to reveal a big group of goblins amicably chatting away to each other as they stroll unmolested across the room before they notice the adventurers.

Some humiliating traps:

1)Swinging plank of wood at human-head height. Does non-lethal damage to the face. Breaks the victims nose on a critical hit.

2)Marble trap. Pressure pad releases marbles on to the floor. Reflex or Balance to stay upright. Works best on a slope (higher DC).

3)Trick ladders. Whilst climbing from one level to the next, certain rungs of the ladders they're using simply snap off or break, forcing a climb check or reflex save to stay on the ladder. A bruised rump results from a failure.

4)Ankle trap. Like a pit trap but twisty and only a couple of feet deep and designed to twist (or at worst, break) the victims ankle. Again, non-lethal damage or a temporary movement penalty.

5)Bucket of paint/whitewash/water above the door trap. Possibilty of non-lethal damage. Almost a guarantee of getting wet/multicoloured. If you want to be nasty, fill the bucket with rooting veg, mold spores, a weak contact poison or insects.

6)Soot/Flour trap. When sprung releases a large cloud of flour or soot into the viscinity. Visibility is impared for a while, breathing becomes difficult and afterwards the victim(s) are covered in soot/flour cue riots of laughter. Also foils any Invisibility spells the party may be under.

7)Reverse the 'bucket of X' trap to become a 'pit of X' trap which dumps the victim into water, paint, rotten veg, mold, poison or insects. Reduced or no damage as compared to a normal pit trap but all pose a suffocation/drowning hazard, rotten veg is slippery so harder to climb out of (even with a rope) and mold, poison and insects have their own dangers.

That's all I got for now, but let me know if you want any more from JP Traps Inc. :smallwink:

[archmage45]

Well, have a trap fling a sh**-load of poo at them. :-D Have it inflict a -2 to Charisma until they can wash it off.

Cover them in honey, or other sticky substances, and roll them in gravel -2 to Dex.

[Coplantor]

OK! This all sounds nice... I'll try some of them, specially the room full of everything but traps.

But I really need the humiliating traps, the goblins objective is to demoralize their enemies so they wont get further into the mine.

[Farlion]

I can only think of gender- or racechange traps... although this is highly magical... or maybe... behold:

Acne corporation brings you the ultimate trap: The Wart Hog!

Easy to use, simple to install, but devestating in effect! Simply apply the spraytube to a lock on the door, attach the trigger to the activator of choice and enjoy fun nights with the Acne "Wart Hog"!

Well, since players are known for looking through keyholes, why not spray them in the face with Acne Wartburst (R)! In just one minute, their face will be covered with warts, making them an attraction in every circus!


Cheers,
Farlion

[Olo Demonsbane]

How about this: a slide trap. The characters are near the end of the mission, when suddenly their meat shield falls down a greased slide. He slides down it into the room of a monster. Then he has to fight through several monsters just to get back to the start. That would discourage almost any player, especially if all of the traps were reset.

[Ellisande]

the goblins that work there recently formed a sindicate of goblin miners and they are on a strike untill the work conditions are improved, at the same time, they took control over the mine and filled it with traps. The players were hired by the goverment to recover the mine and keep things as smooth as possible.


No real advice on the traps... but I certainly hope (advise, suggest, whatever) that the goblins be sympathetic, or, better still, eventual protagonists of one stripe or another.