trap Archives - Paths Peculiar

Death Roll – rolling boulder dungeon trap

Here’s an idea of a classic rolling boulder trap (like in Raiders of the Lost Ark) with a little twist. It should fit into any Dungeons & Dragons or other fantasy tabletop roleplaying game adventure.

Trap description

The rope ladder is attached to a chock keeping the boulder in place. When weight is applied to the ladder (as in trying to climb it) the chock is yanked and the boulder starts rolling. The dungeon master should describe how the ladder comes loose and that the player characters can hear a rumbling sound from above.

Since the boulder is only half as wide as the corridor, there should be a 50% chance it misses each character in its path. the DM could also allow for a relevant save (depending on which gaming system you use) to avoid damage.

The stone hand is a powerful artifact construct. It can cast a potent telekinesis/levitation spell to slow down the boulder as it rolls towards it. The hand will then animate and pick up the boulder. If properly instructed, the stone hand can use its spell to aid in resetting the trap. It can also use telekinesis to open the secret door behind the rope ladder. This does however require that the player characters figure out that there is a secret door and how to operate the stone hand – perhaps it requires a magic rod that can be found in a different location in the dungeon.

I’ll leave it to the dungeon master to decide what riches are hidden in the secret chamber.

Download this trap

Click the link below to download a high-resolution image file. Please note that this is free for personal use only and may not be published elsewhere without my written consent.

Death Roll Dungeon Trap Download

Behind the scenes

Here are a few work-in-progress shots of my work on this trap. 95% of my work is done with traditional media, mainly ink fineliners. The last few steps is done digitally where I remove guides and add shading and text. This is a good tutorial on how to remove blue lines from a scanned drawing.

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Expedition Log – a journey through strange lands of myth and legend

I made a book! Expedition Log is a fictional travel journal based on the works of an adventuring cartographer and explorer. It recounts the fortunes and misfortunes of a mysterious voyage in search of the legendary lost library.

The book is designed to function as an in-game artefact: a dusty old tome that the characters themselves might unearth hidden in an obscure library or remote dungeon. It can also be used as a GM tool to spark the imagination with tons of intriguing locations and adventure hooks. Or it can simply be read as a novel.

A5 dressed hardback encased in an embroidered cloth binding, 86 pages, high-quality print and paper, black & silver.

American customers can get Expedition Log at Exalted Funeral.

European customers can get Expedition Log at Games Omnivorous.

Dungeon pit trap – Entombed

Do not fall into the pit, and if you do: do not pull the lever. When the three-hundred metric tonne dormant golem “LORD SLABATHOR” comes crashing down he’s not getting up again. There is little that could save you from spending eternity in this dark tomb.

This is a one-time trap, and you need to a be a special kind of stupid to trigger the full severity of it. How curious are your players?

Click here for full a size image.

For more nasty dungeon traps, check out Boulder Dash and Leap of Faith.

Dungeon pit trap – “a Leap of Faith”

Yet another unfair and deadly dungeon trap to make your players hate you. The “Leap of Faith” trap consists of two pits with spiked floors. The first one is easily spotted and likewise easy to jump over unless you are encumbered or wearing heavy armor.

The other pit, however, is more sinister as it is covered by a trapdoor that is activated by pressure. Jumping over the first pit and landing on the other side will therefore trigger a nasty surprise.

The mechanism of the trapdoor can be locked by turning any of the two torches 45 degrees clockwise. This is apparent for a character examining the torch holders. Turning the torch will temporarily deactivate the trapdoor and make it safe to stand on for one turn (10 minutes) as the torch slowly moves back to its upright position. The trapdoor mechanism makes a sound when the torch is turned. The characters may hear this sound if the party is otherwise quiet. The mechanic sound could give a careful party a hint about the trap.

The Dungeon Master should probably place some treasure at the bottom of the covered pit trap. Perhaps the remains and equipment of a not-so-lucky thief?

A word of warning on traps in roleplaying games

Keep in mind that some of the traps like this one and the rolling boulder trap will almost certainly kill characters that walk into them. You might want to consider the experience level of your players (players, not characters) before implementing them into your own dungeon adventures.

Players experienced in old-school dungeoneering are usually careful when exploring. They have a decent chance to find or forebode the traps. OSR games (Old School Reinassance, clones of early eighties D&D) ususally doesn’t have rules for spotting or avoiding traps, but relies on the players figuring it out.

Less experienced players, or players used to later versions of D&D, might find such traps extremely unfair and get turned off if their characters die an instant, gruesome death.

To tone down the difficulty of this trap, you as a Dungeon Master can choose to: