One interesting thing about dungeon traps in ACKS is that they only activate on a 1-2 on a d6. This is actually an artifact rule from Basic/Expert D&D and originally from the very first OD&D rule set (but not from AD&D as best as I can remember).
This rule makes the crappy percentage of thieves to find and remove traps at low levels make a whole lot more sense. If they only go off 1/3 of the time anyway, the F/R Traps ability is more like a bonus saving throw that Thieves get against traps.
Wow that seems...really, really silly. Like 3 Stooges or Road Runner/Coyote silly. Set a snare, the bird comes along and eats the bait walking away, and you put one toe in the middle and it goes off.
ReplyDeleteTraps that only work one out of three times makes traps practically not even worth checking for. Not that we've put a lot of traps into our various games before, but that really guts the necessity of looking for them. That really would make me less inclined to spend a character's gold to install a trap. Why spend thousands of gold for an exotically poisoned put trap when it won't even open half the time? I'd very much like to know the reasoning behind this.
Imagine the opening to Raiders of the Lost Ark, Indiana Jones casually strolling across the temple to snatch the idol up (to really laugh, replace Harrison Ford with Rodney Dangerfield..."No traps, I don't set off no traps at all"). Heck, imagine the Tomb of Horrors in the same light. You'd only have 1/3 of everybody die in the first couple of rooms.
I'm thinking that we handle it like this:
ReplyDeleteIf they players move at "Exploration Speed"--e.g. 90' in 10 minutes, they are assumed to be checking for pits and hall traps, then the 1 or 2 applies (but remember it's a 1 or 2 for each guy). If they move at "Running Speed" e.g. 90' in 15 seconds, then a pit or hall trap will automatically go off.
Likewise, if they rip open a chest without checking, then it automatically goes off. If they take a turn to check for traps, it only goes off on a 1-2, and a thief would get his F/R traps in addition to that.
Actually that sounds very reasonable there.
ReplyDeleteAaaah! Just smash it open. Nothing A Hero can't handle.
ReplyDelete