I am.
I try. Grimtooth's Traps? Love 'em.
Spring loaded darts? Cool!
Covered pits (with or without spikes)? Rowdy!
Weighted/counterbalanced floors - man that stuff is fun!
Gears? Falling ceilings? Scything whirly-gigs? Count me in!
The stairs just collapsed and became a slide into a lava pit?
WHHEEE!
I really appreciate good clever traps and stock mediocre ones too!
but I can't write them.
I've gotta back off of simulation and get back into gaming.
Traps have always suspended my suspension of disbelief, so I think that the way to deal with this is just to remove the expectation of the suspension of disbelief (no more prepositions...)
The dungeons I've always loved have been the ones that Don't Care - EX:
Player: Why is the poison on the blade hidden in the treasure chest still 'active'? Aren't we in the untouched Tomb of the Ultra-Ancients? How could it have stayed potent over the last 28 million years?
DM: I dunno - Ultra-Ancient secret formula...Funny that they used to put gold coins in chests 28 million years ago too...Roll your save...
That dungeon Doesn't Care. It doesn't have to explain itself - and if it called upon to do so would respond with silence or scorn. The 'why' doesn't matter...
OK. This was supposed to be about me not being able to design a trap.
Maybe I can't write about them either...
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1 comment:
Here's a good post about traps, if you want them to be more than a simple tax on resources like random encounters:
http://arsludi.lamemage.com/index.php/90/bad-trap-syndrome/
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