Situation and Trap Ideas

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Exploding Kobolds. The party is travelling through some sort of dungeon or underground habitat type place. They come to an area where the tunnel widens out. There are a scattering of boulders, some good sized ones in particular are along the wall. On the floor are a number of what appear to be large scorch marks, roughly circular, a few feet across. This, of course, gets the brain working.. Suddenly, the party is attacked by a bunch of crazed Kobolds! No sweat... except these aren't normal Kobolds. No, indeed! They're enchanted Kobolds! What are they enchanted with, you ask? Heh heh heh. They heppen to be enchanted with a spell of incineration which triggers when they die. Whoever is within one hex of them takes damage as they spontaneously combust. Not much damage, unless you happen to be surrounded by them and a chain reaction starts - and it can add up quickly! Handled correctly (preferably with bows) it's simple to overcome, but the initial shock is truly to be cherished. The boulders actually help to keep the Kobolds from bunching together too much, and forces the players to think tactically and maneuver to avoid getting overrun. This one went over really well with my group, they got a big kick out of it. (Although they do seem to be somewhat emotionally scarred regarding Kobolds now: "You see some kobolds" "Do I see any scorch marks?").

Mage's Security Specials: The next several were actually all combined into the back yard of a Mage's residence, and were set up using Earth Magics and Illusions. The only way through them is if you are escorted by the Mage or one of his servants (wearing special medallions). The goal here was not to have deadly traps, but rather ones that would catch burglars and hold them until the Mage came. Or to panic the would-be thief and get them to run away. This was primarily designed to "tenderize" the characters a bit and provide a heightened sense of paranoia for the characters.

Mud-to-Stone-to-Mud. There is a large fountain which appears to have a leak, as the ground around it is muddy. However, whenever someone steps into a muddy hex, the Earth Magics Mud-to-Stone spell is cast, and they have to passively resist the spell or be stuck in place. If it fails to snag them, it returns (unnoticed) to mud. Only the hexes adjacent to the fountain should have this. Can be countered by the Earth Magics counterspell.

Tangle-vines. Some large vine-laden trees become animated when someone gets too close, and the vines will try to grab the person. Roll D5 to see how many vines try to grab them. The character must roll vs AG + PC to avoid each vine. If they are entangled, roll on the Grievous Injury chart for location. Any neck locations will start inflicting damage. The vines will pull the victim closer to the tree, where more vines will attempt to grab them. The vines take 10 points of damage to cut, but damage may be inflicted on the person. Also, any vines around limbs render the limbs useless. These are magically animated plants, and can be countered by the Earth Magics counterspell.

Whip-weeds. These things resemble (and were inspired by) raspberry bushes. Any person who wanders too close will be whipped by D5 thorny branches, each doing D10-2 damage. The base chance is 50%. These are magically animated plants, and can be countered by the Earth Magics counterspell.

The Statues. Tired of getting whipped and tangled and slowly nickel & dimed to death? Well, time to throw in a healthy dose of paranoia. There are a number of statues around, particularly one on a pedestal in the fountain mentioned above. These all have an illusion on them that the eyes follow you. Now consider the characters which are suddenly stuck in the mud-to-stone trap right in front of this statue which has been watching them! It also helps to have illusionary creaking-stone sounds at strategic moments. I worked this by having everyone make Perception checks to see if they noticed the eyes following them, and passed a noted to those that made it. Using that approach tends to put a bit more of an edge to the situation than just announcing to everyone "you notice the eyes following you".