I’ve always bought into the OD+D paradigm that you have two rolls- one to find the trap and another to disarm it. However, there’s no good reason this must be so... in fact, it seems that traps can be broken into two categories, simple and complex.
A simple trap is a one-roll situation. If you find the trap, you also know how to disarm it; you find the poison needle, so you can unhook it; you find the tripwire, so you can cut it; you find the spring-loaded block, so you avoid it or deactivate it as you find it. Finding it is the goal; once you find it, you won’t set it off. You fail the roll by 1 or 2, and you’ve probably found it just as you set it off...
A complex trap requires a roll to find it, but then the resolution is handled through role playing. You figure out that the pathway through the chamber causes the ceiling to collapse, but navigating the pathway and keeping the ceiling where it belongs are resolved in play, not through a single ‘disarm’ roll.
A simple trap is a one-roll situation. If you find the trap, you also know how to disarm it; you find the poison needle, so you can unhook it; you find the tripwire, so you can cut it; you find the spring-loaded block, so you avoid it or deactivate it as you find it. Finding it is the goal; once you find it, you won’t set it off. You fail the roll by 1 or 2, and you’ve probably found it just as you set it off...
A complex trap requires a roll to find it, but then the resolution is handled through role playing. You figure out that the pathway through the chamber causes the ceiling to collapse, but navigating the pathway and keeping the ceiling where it belongs are resolved in play, not through a single ‘disarm’ roll.
cool twist. i like it.
ReplyDeleteIt's one of those "I just do it this way because D+D does", not "this makes the most sense" kinds of things... it's incredible how many little mechanics like this I just assume have to work a certain way. I'm constantly working to retrain my brain not to default to D+D tropes just because they're what I learned to play on...
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