An Experimental, Trap-Based Dungeon (PEACH) [Archive] - Wizards Community

An Experimental, Trap-Based Dungeon (PEACH) [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
Space_Dragon
12-05-07, 02:49 PM I recently read a thread on the 4E boards that discussed the nature and internal consistency of mechanical traps, and how they should be handled in fourth edition. What many people complained about was that disarming traps was "flavorless," and that disarming them is a minigame for the rogue that leaves everyone else tapping their toes. Some also mentioned that the construction and layout of traps usually makes no sense from the dungeon-builder's perspective.

This dungeon, using core material only, will be my attempt to create a flavorful, logical, and internally consistent miniadventure. There will be a heavy focus on mechanical traps, with magical ones being much rarer. These traps are deployed in such a way that other party members besides the rogue can help with them.

The Vault could be a treasury vault, the resting place of a divine artifact, or the tomb of a long dead king. It is designed for a party consisting of four 4th level characters, and should provide sufficient experience to get them to level 5 or 6 by the end.

This map is not yet complete; I am doing this a few rooms at a time. If anyone has any ideas for additional rooms, I would appreciate it.

http://img210.imageshack.us/img210/8308/dungeongz7.png (http://imageshack.us)
Space_Dragon
12-05-07, 06:47 PM ROOMS OF THE DUNGEON

(note: all walls and doors are made of worked stone unless noted otherwise. All hallways are ten feet wide unless noted otherwise)

The vault is accessible via an elevator platform on the surface above. The elevator descends on its springs when three hundred pounds of weight are placed on it.

The stone platform sinks slowly until you enter through the ceiling of an underground room, about twenty feet underground. You are in the center of a large, rectangular room, containing a coil of chains wrapped around a double-handled winch, and a metal chest.

The elevator is held up by a system of very long springs. If a PC gets off the platform and looks at it from the side, he will see the coiled springs connecting it to the floor. Furthermore, the PC's will notice a chain attached to the elevator, which feeds into the winch. The elevator is twenty feet long and twenty feet wide. If its payload slips below 300 pounds, it will rise up again, closing off the entrance and possibly seperating the party. If anyone (who weighs less than 300 lb) is on the platform at the time, they have one round to jump off before dissapearing into the ceiling.

The room is fifty feet long and forty feet wide. It contains a large spool with chains wrapped around it and a metal chest. The spool is a large, heavy winch that takes two characters to operate (it has two handles, and each can only turn if the other is in motion at will). The winch can pull the elevator back down with a combined strength check DC of 30. Reeling in the elevator takes one minute.

The chest is locked (Open Lock DC 25) and contains 30 platinum coins and a masterwork dagger that looks like a valuable heirloom (it isn't actually), as well as a trap component worth 20 gp. For those who would rather break it, the chest has 10 hp and hardness 5. This chest is a decoy, meant to convince intruders that this is just a one-room basement, hoping they will steal the contents of the chest and go away. To further maintain the illusion, the chest is booby trapped.

A Search check (DC 20) reveals the presence of an extra opening at the back of the keyhole. A result of 25 or higher allows the PC to make out a sharp object inside of the hole. A Knowledge (dungeoneering) or Craft (trapmaking) check (DC 11) reveals this to be a simple dart trap, while a result of 16 or higher reveals that jamming the dart tube is the best way to disarm it (though the player can probably figure that out on his own).

Blocking the dart hole with a bit of wood or metal or some such requires a Disable Device check (DC 18). This check can be attempted untrained, but an untrained success has a fifty percent chance of jamming the lock, making it impossible to open.

If the chest is opened without being disarmed, or if the Disable Device check fails, the dart shoots out of the keyhole. Inside the chest, the tiny crossbow that fires the dart is visible. This little device is worth 20 gp, and can be detached from the chest easily.

Poison Dart Trap:
CR 1; mechanical; touch trigger; manual reset; Atk +8 ranged (1d4 plus poison, dart); poison (bloodroot, DC 12 Fortitude save resists, 0/1d4 Con plus 1d3 Wis).

At the top of the room, hugging the left corner, is a hidden door (Search DC 25) that leads to Room Two.

The hidden door swings out on its stone hinges, revealing an empty, twenty foot by fifteen foot room. At the far end of the same wall you entered through, a chain with a handle on it hangs from the wall.

The last two feet or so of wall is actually part of a sliding stone panel that masquerades as the left wall in Room One. A Search check (DC 20) reveals that it is not connected to the stone on either side.

Pulling the chain is fruitless, for it can be pulled no further in that direction. Pushing the panel, however, allows it to be moved; the panel is sitting on a set of tiny wheels. Even with the wheels, it is an incredibly heavy stone slab; moving it requires a strength check (DC 22). There is only room for one character to stand in position to push. Thus, any character with a strength of 14 or higher can push the stone by taking 20 on the check. Pushing the slab as far as it can go takes about half a minute.

Once it has been pushed all the way, it will have withdrawn fifteen feet into Room One, revealing another door. To pull the panel shut again, the chain can be pulled (strength DC 22) until the false wall is back in place. The sliding panel is colored tan on the map. The door behind it connects Room One with Room Three.

Solving this puzzle is the equivalent of a CR 2 encounter.

A broad, high-ceilinged hallway leads ahead for a ways, another door occuring near the far end. The walls are decorated with realistic stonecuts of humanoid, animal, and monstrous figures.

The hallway is ten fet wide, forty feet long, and ten feet tall. The carvings on the walls are of excellent quality, and depict a sylvan scene, in which humanoid figures pursue deer and wild boar with spears. Overhead, a group of winged devils leer down at the hunters with knowing grins.

A Spot check (DC 23) reveals that one of the devil carvings is actually a gargoyle, whose body fits into a perfectly carved alcove high on the wall. It is shackled to the wall by a forty foot adamantine chain fastened to a collar around its neck. Gargoyles only eat living creatures, so it ignores the undead guards, awakening only when it senses body heat in the room. It will attack any intruders, waiting until their backs are turned to detach from the wall and strike.

This is a standard, CR 4 gargoyle from page 113 of the Monster Manual. The chain (which is hidden in an alcove behind it while it sleeps) can be detached from the wall with an Open Lock check (DC 26), and sells for 25 gp.
Space_Dragon
12-05-07, 06:53 PM First room (and trap) is up. This one is more conventional and rogue-exclusive than the ones that will come later, but already I am trying to make it more detailed and engaging. For example, a Search check only reveals the presence of a mysterious opening; it takes a Knowledge (dungeoneering) check to identify the type of trap. Additionally, the player cannot simply say "I try to disarm it;" he must specify how he is going to go about it before he can make his Disable Device check.

The next trap will involve muscle as well as machine saviness (meaning the party tank has a chance to shine), and the one after that can be helped by the presence of a druid or cleric.
Space_Dragon
12-05-07, 07:37 PM Second room (more of an alcove, really) added. This one is more of a mechanical puzzle than a trap.
Space_Dragon
12-05-07, 08:34 PM Third room, first monster. The next room will have a very deadly combination of multiple guardians and traps.
Space_Dragon
12-06-07, 06:04 PM Damnit, I was halfway done with Room Four when it shorted out on me.

In the meantime, does anyone have some ideas for making the trap in Room One more complicated? I'd like to find a way to bring more PC's into diffusing it, and hopefully increase its CR by a point or two.
Pezz
12-06-07, 08:07 PM what about multiple winches?

or

a simple search check would reveal that there is no failsafe mechanism on the winch to prevent it from reversing direction when let go, which would result in it spinning backwards and jamming (so the players have to lock down the elevator in one go).
Half-way through spinning, the winch also opens a side door which would release a low CR creature into the room. If the players let go, they have one round to catch the winch and stop it from spinning backwards, (at least one player, and a DC 15-20 strength check maybe?), otherwise on the second round of it spinning backwards it breaks, leaving the elevator at the top and the room sealed.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Space_Dragon 12-05-07, 02:49 PM	I recently read a thread on the 4E boards that discussed the nature and internal consistency of mechanical traps, and how they should be handled in fourth edition. What many people complained about was that disarming traps was "flavorless," and that disarming them is a minigame for the rogue that leaves everyone else tapping their toes. Some also mentioned that the construction and layout of traps usually makes no sense from the dungeon-builder's perspective. This dungeon, using core material only, will be my attempt to create a flavorful, logical, and internally consistent miniadventure. There will be a heavy focus on mechanical traps, with magical ones being much rarer. These traps are deployed in such a way that other party members besides the rogue can help with them. The Vault could be a treasury vault, the resting place of a divine artifact, or the tomb of a long dead king. It is designed for a party consisting of four 4th level characters, and should provide sufficient experience to get them to level 5 or 6 by the end. This map is not yet complete; I am doing this a few rooms at a time. If anyone has any ideas for additional rooms, I would appreciate it. http://img210.imageshack.us/img210/8308/dungeongz7.png (http://imageshack.us)
Space_Dragon 12-05-07, 06:47 PM	ROOMS OF THE DUNGEON (note: all walls and doors are made of worked stone unless noted otherwise. All hallways are ten feet wide unless noted otherwise) The vault is accessible via an elevator platform on the surface above. The elevator descends on its springs when three hundred pounds of weight are placed on it. The stone platform sinks slowly until you enter through the ceiling of an underground room, about twenty feet underground. You are in the center of a large, rectangular room, containing a coil of chains wrapped around a double-handled winch, and a metal chest. The elevator is held up by a system of very long springs. If a PC gets off the platform and looks at it from the side, he will see the coiled springs connecting it to the floor. Furthermore, the PC's will notice a chain attached to the elevator, which feeds into the winch. The elevator is twenty feet long and twenty feet wide. If its payload slips below 300 pounds, it will rise up again, closing off the entrance and possibly seperating the party. If anyone (who weighs less than 300 lb) is on the platform at the time, they have one round to jump off before dissapearing into the ceiling. The room is fifty feet long and forty feet wide. It contains a large spool with chains wrapped around it and a metal chest. The spool is a large, heavy winch that takes two characters to operate (it has two handles, and each can only turn if the other is in motion at will). The winch can pull the elevator back down with a combined strength check DC of 30. Reeling in the elevator takes one minute. The chest is locked (Open Lock DC 25) and contains 30 platinum coins and a masterwork dagger that looks like a valuable heirloom (it isn't actually), as well as a trap component worth 20 gp. For those who would rather break it, the chest has 10 hp and hardness 5. This chest is a decoy, meant to convince intruders that this is just a one-room basement, hoping they will steal the contents of the chest and go away. To further maintain the illusion, the chest is booby trapped. A Search check (DC 20) reveals the presence of an extra opening at the back of the keyhole. A result of 25 or higher allows the PC to make out a sharp object inside of the hole. A Knowledge (dungeoneering) or Craft (trapmaking) check (DC 11) reveals this to be a simple dart trap, while a result of 16 or higher reveals that jamming the dart tube is the best way to disarm it (though the player can probably figure that out on his own). Blocking the dart hole with a bit of wood or metal or some such requires a Disable Device check (DC 18). This check can be attempted untrained, but an untrained success has a fifty percent chance of jamming the lock, making it impossible to open. If the chest is opened without being disarmed, or if the Disable Device check fails, the dart shoots out of the keyhole. Inside the chest, the tiny crossbow that fires the dart is visible. This little device is worth 20 gp, and can be detached from the chest easily. Poison Dart Trap: CR 1; mechanical; touch trigger; manual reset; Atk +8 ranged (1d4 plus poison, dart); poison (bloodroot, DC 12 Fortitude save resists, 0/1d4 Con plus 1d3 Wis). At the top of the room, hugging the left corner, is a hidden door (Search DC 25) that leads to Room Two. The hidden door swings out on its stone hinges, revealing an empty, twenty foot by fifteen foot room. At the far end of the same wall you entered through, a chain with a handle on it hangs from the wall. The last two feet or so of wall is actually part of a sliding stone panel that masquerades as the left wall in Room One. A Search check (DC 20) reveals that it is not connected to the stone on either side. Pulling the chain is fruitless, for it can be pulled no further in that direction. Pushing the panel, however, allows it to be moved; the panel is sitting on a set of tiny wheels. Even with the wheels, it is an incredibly heavy stone slab; moving it requires a strength check (DC 22). There is only room for one character to stand in position to push. Thus, any character with a strength of 14 or higher can push the stone by taking 20 on the check. Pushing the slab as far as it can go takes about half a minute. Once it has been pushed all the way, it will have withdrawn fifteen feet into Room One, revealing another door. To pull the panel shut again, the chain can be pulled (strength DC 22) until the false wall is back in place. The sliding panel is colored tan on the map. The door behind it connects Room One with Room Three. Solving this puzzle is the equivalent of a CR 2 encounter. A broad, high-ceilinged hallway leads ahead for a ways, another door occuring near the far end. The walls are decorated with realistic stonecuts of humanoid, animal, and monstrous figures. The hallway is ten fet wide, forty feet long, and ten feet tall. The carvings on the walls are of excellent quality, and depict a sylvan scene, in which humanoid figures pursue deer and wild boar with spears. Overhead, a group of winged devils leer down at the hunters with knowing grins. A Spot check (DC 23) reveals that one of the devil carvings is actually a gargoyle, whose body fits into a perfectly carved alcove high on the wall. It is shackled to the wall by a forty foot adamantine chain fastened to a collar around its neck. Gargoyles only eat living creatures, so it ignores the undead guards, awakening only when it senses body heat in the room. It will attack any intruders, waiting until their backs are turned to detach from the wall and strike. This is a standard, CR 4 gargoyle from page 113 of the Monster Manual. The chain (which is hidden in an alcove behind it while it sleeps) can be detached from the wall with an Open Lock check (DC 26), and sells for 25 gp.
Space_Dragon 12-05-07, 06:53 PM	First room (and trap) is up. This one is more conventional and rogue-exclusive than the ones that will come later, but already I am trying to make it more detailed and engaging. For example, a Search check only reveals the presence of a mysterious opening; it takes a Knowledge (dungeoneering) check to identify the type of trap. Additionally, the player cannot simply say "I try to disarm it;" he must specify how he is going to go about it before he can make his Disable Device check. The next trap will involve muscle as well as machine saviness (meaning the party tank has a chance to shine), and the one after that can be helped by the presence of a druid or cleric.
Space_Dragon 12-05-07, 07:37 PM	Second room (more of an alcove, really) added. This one is more of a mechanical puzzle than a trap.
Space_Dragon 12-05-07, 08:34 PM	Third room, first monster. The next room will have a very deadly combination of multiple guardians and traps.
Space_Dragon 12-06-07, 06:04 PM	Damnit, I was halfway done with Room Four when it shorted out on me. In the meantime, does anyone have some ideas for making the trap in Room One more complicated? I'd like to find a way to bring more PC's into diffusing it, and hopefully increase its CR by a point or two.
Pezz 12-06-07, 08:07 PM	what about multiple winches? or a simple search check would reveal that there is no failsafe mechanism on the winch to prevent it from reversing direction when let go, which would result in it spinning backwards and jamming (so the players have to lock down the elevator in one go). Half-way through spinning, the winch also opens a side door which would release a low CR creature into the room. If the players let go, they have one round to catch the winch and stop it from spinning backwards, (at least one player, and a DC 15-20 strength check maybe?), otherwise on the second round of it spinning backwards it breaks, leaving the elevator at the top and the room sealed.