34 Good Traps

My measure of a good trap:

At least one part of it is immediately visible. 

It allows interaction and investigation.

it has impactful consequences for the victim. 

I've gone on before about the three pillars of running a good game (Information, Choice, Consequences) and you'll notice they match up with these three points.

In short, your trap should have room for interesting interaction between "oh, a trap!" and "I'm dead". The trap doesn't have to announce itself immediately, it can even "trap" the players before announcing itself as long as there's still room for interaction beyond that.

You can break the rules if it's connected to the theme of your specific scenario. Like your Tomb of Horrors style deathtrap dungeon might be full of hidden traps that don't announce themselves, but you're breaking that rule as a specific exception for this particular dungeon. If you're going to do this, make sure the payoff is worth breaking the rule for.

Context is also important. You don't just stick a trap in a corridor and call it a day. Connect the trap to its location, most typically a passageway to somewhere desirable, a piece of treasure, or link it in with a monster. You wouldn't just drop a monster into an empty room, so give trap placement the same level of consideration.

I blur the line between Puzzles and Traps a lot, but here I'm sticking to things that are placed deliberately to impair intruders, with nasty consequences.

So here are 34 good, simple traps. Some classics that meet the benchmark, some new stuff I just made up, some lodged in my brain but originally stolen. 

1. Open pit onto deadly spikes. Both sides of the pit are sloped into it and greased up.
2. Concealed pit into piranha-filled water.
3. Metal sword audibly humming, hooked up to electric charge.
4. Green Devil Face with gaping mouth. Anything going into the mouth is annihilated. 
5. A fishing rod propped up and cast into a lake. The rod is covered in fast-acting glue and tension on the line triggers a springboard beneath the victim, casting them into the lake.
6. A column of light. When a being enters they are frozen, and an evil duplicate of them is conjured. The victim is only freed when the duplicate is killed.
7. Walls dotted with arrow-slots. Any movement in front of them fires the arrow, but each hole only has one arrow.
8. Upside-down spiked pit on the ceiling. Gravity is reversed under the pit. 
9. Clusters of bright orange fungus growing on one or more corpses. Any disturbance triggers a deadly spore explosion. 
10. Glass vials of green slime hung from a ceiling, a guard with a crossbow watching from behind a barricade.
11. Two panes of glass blocking passage, filled with deadly bugs. 
12. Shimmering, thick air that slows all movement down to a quarter of normal. Guards with missile weapons waiting around the corner.
13. Glossy, friction-less floor and spiked walls.
14. A metal room filled with crushed remains, visible moving parts to floor, and a sealed door leading forward. Two buttons. One opens the door, the other seals all doors and commences the crushing process.
15. A peephole blocked up with glass fragments. Breaking the fragments releases a toxic gas.
16. Giant chomping blade that must be passed through to progress. Visible pressure plate on either side. Blades are triggered when a pressure plate is released, unless the other plate is also depressed. Going slow poses no risk. 
17. Stuck door with a gold snake-head handle. The handle will bite and poison anybody putting their hand near, unless they slip a coin into its mouth, allowing safe passage through the door.
18. Disguised springboard, launching the victim straight up into the air. There is a hanging bar they can grab to avoid the fall, but weight on the bar triggers the release of giant spiders onto it, and rained down onto anyone below.
19. Room dusted with a deadly white powder. Any rapid movement disturbs the powder, sending it into the air and then the lungs of anybody breathing nearby. Hidden pressure plate in the center of the room triggers a loud siren, alerting any nearby threats.
20. Locked door, key visible in a stinky fountain. The liquid is fast-acting acid, the key made from a special resistant ceramic.
21. Rope bridge primed to split in the middle when the majority of the crossing weight has passed the mid-point. The characters can grab their half of the bridge and climb back up easily enough.
22. Damp, underwater tunnel with glowing treasure at a visible dead end. A pressure plate halfway through triggers flooding of the tunnel. A normal human could get back to the tunnel exit with breath to spare, but not if they try to grab the treasure first. 
23. Two doors in sequence. First sprays anybody passing through with highly flammable liquid. Second spits out a flash of flame, harmless on its own but enough to ignite the liquid.
24. Sloped walkway in a freezing cold room. Pressure plate halfway up releases a flood of water down the slope, freezing near instantly. 
25. Haunted pots, audible screaming within, placed on wobbly plinths on an uneven floor. Any sort of weight on the floor is sure to release at least one angry wraith.
26. Pool of lava, a metal idol partially submerged in the center. It's glowing hot, but valuable.
27. Big metal skull with a gem in its open, toothy mouth. Obviously it bites anything put inside.
28. Quicksand, just like in cartoons. 
29. Giant spider lair, huge boulders suspended in the highest webs. Too much disturbance might release a boulder, fire will definitely release them all.
30. Bear trap.
31. Sealed door with two identical handles on the adjacent wall. One releases snakes from above, the other opens the door. 
32. Hidden jet spraying you with disgusting smelling liquid. Not harmful in itself, but might attract scent-based creatures or warn inhabitants that you've been poking around where you shouldn't have.
33. Pressure plate triggers part of the floor to move down, slowly transporting the victim into the now-visible lair of a horrible monster. 
34. Giant cauldron filled with treasure. Any weight added to the cauldron causes the lid to slam shut and a fire to spark to life underneath it.

The Long Delve

The Underground runs below the rest of the world both literally and metaphysically.

The Underground exists to bypass things. A tramway tunnel under Bastion simply wants to bypass a built-up area on the surface. Other passages bypass the usual restrictions of time and space. Underologists claim that this vast network of movement of everything is responsible for weather patterns, the rise and fall of political dissent, even the creation of the entire surface world.

We all agree that the Underground connects everything.

Equally the most exciting and terrifying connection is to the barely understood Far Lands. But a new theory suggests a different destination awaits those that continue to travel the Underground, but refuse to leave it. Those that pass by all doors and portals in favour of pushing only deeper downwards into the infinitely expanding depths of the Deep Underground.

Without any destination, and with their home stretching ever further away, the Underground makes a destination out of the journey. There are no more doors to distance places, only more darkness and passages downward. Underologists call this the Long Delve, and once you begin you cannot climb back.

There are no monsters, no mechanical traps, no twisted mazes. You only encounter what you have brought with you. Beings you encounter are replicas of yourself and significant people in your life. Chambers resemble significant places. Anything taken from here turns to formless stone.

In the case of groups, the first to pass through the door is considered the pilgrim, and others their companions.

One theory is that the Long Delve passes through nine layers. Pilgrims cannot venture back upwards, and can only descent further if they achieve a certain goal on the current layer. Failure takes a severe psychological toll, and those that lose their mind on the Long Delve find themselves wandering featureless passageways for eternity, eventually losing their identity entirely.

Unless you find them.

d6 Long Delve Eternal Pilgrims
If you don't have a suitable NPC for them to resemble, use one of the PCs.

1: The Sad - STR 10, DEX 8, WIL 3, 2hp, Streaming Tears, Naked, Resembles Somebody you have caused harm to.
- Sob and seek comfort.
- Beg you not to leave them alone.
- Indulge in pitiful gluttony.

2: The Echo - STR 13, DEX 15, WIL 2, 8hp. Faintly Immaterial (Armour 1), Your Clothes. Resembles an innocent person you know.
- Follow you and mimic your actions.
- Phase through anything that obstructs their mimicking.
- Beg for rest.

3: The Guilty - STR 10, DEX 18, WIL 2, 13hp. Rusty Dagger (d6), Eyepatch. Resembles somebody you dislike.
- Lead you deeper.
- Try to stop you leaving the Underground.
- Flee from light.

4: The Machine - STR 12, DEX 9, WIL 3, 9hp. Metal horns (d6), Stony skin (1). Resembles somebody you rely on.
- Sit motionless.
- Perform any command you give them.
- Go into a violent rage if your command is impossible or doesn't make sense.

5: The Betrayer - STR 5, DEX 11, WIL 2, 3hp. Hoof Hands, Tongue Cut Out. Resembles somebody you disappointed.
- Act feebly to get close to you.
- Happen to have the exact skill or knowledge that you need.
- As soon as they meet another person, begin plotting their elaborate betrayal.

6: The Broken STR 8, DEX 9, WIL 1, 3hp. Noose around neck, broom (d6). Resembles somebody you know that died needlessly.
- Beg you to find somewhere to hang them from.
- Try to clean up after you.
- Apologise for everything, especially if not their fault.

Beneath Time and Space (Using the Underground)

It has become increasingly apparent that the network of sewers, vaults, prisons, and transit tunnels beneath our great Bastion reaches further than we thought in every direction. Indeed, the subterranean distances and directions, and the time spent travelling them, appear to behave independently of the surface. 

An hour along the same raging river could put you in the middle of the city, or weeks into Deep Country, depending on a single turn. A week-long slog through twisting caves might bring you out just a few streets away from your origin, mere seconds after you left. 

Quite where the boundaries lie between our own sub-architecture, that of our ancestors, the natural geological caves, and the imaginary horrors of the traumatised is open for much debate.

Of great interest are the rumoured connections to the Far Lands. While ships sail for months to reach those distant shores, those-in-the-know can crawl there in a few hours. It is supposed that this method could also be used by bizarre entities in the other direction. 

The prevailing danger and complication of these routes makes them appealing only to the impatient or terminally thrill-seeking. The more useful an Underground passage is, the more deathtraps and diversions exist along its way. Many obstacles are so specific and sadistic that they must be serving as amusement for some unseen observer.



As we know, any person or creature that makes its home in the Underground is certain to be twisted beyond redemption. . 

Using the Underground

If you've designed a dungeon, you've designed part of the Underground. But it needs a few special considerations to place it in the Odd World. Consider the Key Principles of the Underground

1. It connects everything.
2. It's slightly outside reality.
3. Everything is a challenge. 

And let's use them to better fit an existing dungeon into the Underground. Designing the dungeon was the hard part, so now we just need to check each of the key principles are represented.

1. Connect Everything
I'm assuming that the dungeon entrance is in Bastion, so this bit of the city should feel connected to the dungeon. The Long Stair is actually found at the top of a crumbling old tower, with its own logistical problems when it comes to access. Upon heading down the long stair, from the tiny top-floor, it's clear that you're entering a space that shouldn't be there.
Now let's say that the chute in Room 8 now leads to the Far Land of Scrapheap. Perhaps this is where the Rusty Man emerged from.
I'd also have another exit off to the greater Underground, perhaps connecting to a part of Deep Country. Perfect opportunity to create a new location connected with the purpose of the Rusted Vault. An abandoned fort with clues of experiments on creating metal-soldiers.

2. Shift Slightly Away from Reality
There are plenty of weird things down here, so I think we're safe with this. As a rule of thumb, imagine a weirdness scale with Bastion at the less extreme end and the Far Lands at the other. The Underground sits somewhere in the middle. Think of the alien influence of the Far Lands twisting the human element and familiarity of Bastion.

3. Add Challenge
There are lots of nasty things down here to stop it being an easy ride, but the connection to Scrapheap in Room 8 now feels a little convenient. Let's say that it really leads to a rusted labyrinth where the Rusty Man keeps a few human prisoners. He's the only one that can let you in or out this way, but
somewhere in the maze there's a metal-being that will try to lure you to Scrap Heap as her prisoner.