One of the interesting things about early D&D is the lack of a skills system. Since there is no skill system, when you want to try something, you have to describe exactly what you are doing, and more importantly the tools or instruments with which you are attempting it. In the earliest version of D&D there weren't any Thieves, so every attempt to disarm or detect a trap had to be described.
I think this makes things much more interesting for several reasons. First, for the more dramatically minded it makes for a more imaginative scene ("I use my 10 foot pole to gently left the cover of the box", as opposed to "I roll to remove traps"). Second, it makes every mundane item you carry around a possible lead or key to moving the adventure along.
In the last 2 adventures, I've loved being able to rummage through Nigel's professional tool kit. I've used cigars to avoid a giant weasel, chamulga oil to remove slime, acid to weaken a glass sphere, oil to burn a troll (hardly orginal, I'll concede), and crowbars and prybars for a host of reasons (mainly for the minions to do various things). I kind of wished I had had some rakes and shovels, but what can you do?
You know, I always thought that, with the proper preperation, most traps should be avoidable or disarmable in one way or another. I mean, if a lock has a poison needle you could wear a set of heavy gauntlets, stick a piece of cork in front of where the needle, smash the damned thing open, carve a hole in it, or any number of any other things.
ReplyDeleteI have to say, I was particularly impressed with Dave's use of all the 'mundane' items during that adventure.