Space station traps

[chase88]

I have an encounter coming up: players have to access the collection of a non-human who controls all or part of an orbital platform and uses it to hide from (perceived) enemies & stash their wealth. I want some security systems that will challenge the PCs without blocking them from achieving the goal - maybe slow, scare, harm, and/or cost then resources.

Thoughts?

[Saintheart]

I have an encounter coming up: players have to access the collection of a non-human who controls all or part of an orbital platform and uses it to hide from (perceived) enemies & stash their wealth. I want some security systems that will challenge the PCs without blocking them from achieving the goal - maybe slow, scare, harm, and/or cost then resources.

Thoughts?

Depressurise section of station, then hit them with a low-velocity dart trap; won't kill, but will puncture a vac suit. If they don't have an instant puncture repair kit when going into hard vacuum environments they deserve death. Or you can just have them scramble around madly as the oxygen percentage counter counts down and they look for an airlock.

[Storm_Of_Snow]

Some thoughts.

Gravitational effects - double it to slow them down/fatigue them (or massively increase it to crush them), or invert it, especially if you do it for a couple of seconds so they float off the deck, then balance it so they remain floating in mid air.

Strobing lights to disorientate or induce seizures (or at least migranes), ultra-bright lights to dazzle or blind, or complete darkness (possibly then going to ultra-bright to burn out any low-light vision systems and/or their users' eyes). Sounds could potentially be used in similar ways, especially if comms systems can be jammed.

Fake docking ports with mines or one shot weapons behind them.

Armoured doors to separate the group into individuals, or allow the defence system to pump up the atmospheric pressure in one section, then open all the doors between there and the outside to expel intruders into space.

What I'm going to call "Salamanders Tails" - sections of the station that can be sealed off, disconnected and cut adrift from the main structure.

A section without oxygenated air, so intruders have to use pressure suits or at the very least oxygen masks, then spray paint or something similar to cover visors and prevent them from seeing.

[mucat]

The nature of the traps could reflect important aspects of the non-human entity that controls the place. What are its intentions? Does it have a specific plan to do something with its stashed hoard? Why exactly does it perceive outsiders as enemies? Is it willing to kill intruders, or does it just want them to go away and leave them alone? How much does it understand about humans -- both their biology and what motivates/scared them?

Both of the last two questions will help decide if the traps are potentially lethal, or just a deterrent. In particular, if the creature doesn't understand humans well, then what it considers a deterrent or not-a-trap-at-all might be seriously dangerous to the PCs...or what it thought was deadly serious might be harmless.

Also, what is the creature's own biology? Are there things that it could shrug off harmlessly that would seriously harm or inconvenience a human? (Radiation, intense light or sound, caustic or poisonous chemicals, temperature extremes, hard vacuum, Celine Dion...) If so, these things could be part of the ambient environment, or suddenly sprung on intruders as traps, without inconveniencing the owner. (And if it's at home when the PCs invade, it could use the moment when they're distracted/disabled by the traps to engage them more actively.)

In short, unless the entity's only importance is as an absentee landlord who left this obstacle course of traps, let its lair be a reflection of the creature itself, who it is and what it wants.

[Mastikator]

Robots/turrets
rooms/passages without life support/filled with toxic gas/electrified floors/walls
xenomorphs/alien monstrosity/macrobacteria stuck in cryotubes that are released and hunt the party
alien pathogens
teleporter/blast doors that requires decryption/analysis to operate
strange alien artifact that mess with people's minds
holograms that mislead the party/holographic enemies that waste party ammunition

[farothel]

Have the traps be part of the station's normal operations. For instance standard fire fighting could be to seal of a section and flood it with inert gas to smother fires. That can be a very nice trap if the system is tricked into thinking there is a fire (or if the players bring or start a fire).

[Witty Username]

Make hallways detachable.

[Pauly]

it’s a space station. The last thing the owner wants is anything that could cause physical damage to the station or impede it’s operations or harm it’s crew.

Some things that could achieve that goal.
1) idiosyncratic airlock. A regular airlock won’t interface properly with station.
2) automatic encryption of transmissions. Effectively it scrambles all non-friendly transmissions to or from the space station.
3) “forbidden palace” architecture. Every room and every passage looks the same. Since you don’t have automatic mapping (see [2]) anyone unfamiliar with the layout will easily get lost. Use false perspective, false bulkheads, mirrors to create an even more disorienting experience.
4) use of 3D (i.e. up/down as well as left/right and front/back and non-euclidian geometry (eg donut shaped interior) to mess with attempts to map using pen and paper. If you want to be really mean the interior of the station may be hidden with a false exterior so that the interior maps differently to what you may expect by looking at the station from the outside.
5) with [2] [3] and [4] sections that seal and either lock or get cut off like the salamander’s tail mentioned above when intruders enter. Used by the alien as both an alarm and to catch and examine intruders. Works best as the end of a longish section so multiple intruders are caught, not just the scout. Using the donut shape example from earlier there may be a central hub with 4 passages leading to it. However 3 of the 4 are trap sections
6) Non standard ‘air’. Due to alien biology there is an element in the air mix that is non harmful to it, but noxious to other species. Can be anywhere from mildly irritating, to debilitating to deadly toxic.
7) bulkheads that you push a button to open. They will open for 10 seconds, then lock, seal and re-pressurize for 30 seconds during which time they can’t be opened. This will prevent the party from getting clear lines of sight for mapping, combat and exploration. If they choose to split up will leave members isolated if anything bad starts to happen. These bulkheads are on every door and passageway,

[Pauly]

Wrong thread.

[Grim Portent]

I'd go with things like very secure doors that are hard to hack, alarms that will attract guards or activate security turrets and lockdowns.

Systems to flood areas with inert gas like CO2, intended to stop fires but also useful for choking people who aren't in sealed suits.

Depending on tech level, a system for photographing and copying biometric data of intruders, using that data to identify them, and then throwing assets at making sure that even if they escape the vault they'll have made a bunch of new enemies in the process.


I don't know if it's practical for your particular game, but it is a heist premise, so what about framing the space station as a front as well as a hideout? Casino and luxury hotel resort orbiting a scenic view, vaults filled with legitimate business profits, hidden vaults filled with the secret stuff sourced from illegal business. Mechanisms of the station that can be altered to suit different guests, a seemingly innocent thing, but which can also be used to frustrate attempts to penetrate the vaults, like altering gravity or flooding areas.

[Psyren]

How fantastical is your setting? If there are nonsapient sentries, especially the kind that can synergize with the defenses, it can add spice to an encounter. Like a depressurized section of the station is bad enough, but if it's also got patrolling drones or undead it becomes that much more dangerous, especially if the PCs don't spot them because it's also dark.

[AdAstra]

Quick-hardening sealant foam dispensed from walls would be a useful way to stop hull breeches, prevent easily cutting through said walls, and potentially ensnaring careless intruders. It's also a mechanic the players can leverage if they want to get creative, which could be fun to interact with.