I’m going to be honest, I’ve always kind of been bothered by traps in role-playing games. Sure, it makes sense to booby trap a stretch of land in the middle of a warzone, but weaponizing a house, palace or dungeon always seemed a bit illogical. Do the residents of the dungeon constantly walk on tiptoes to avoid the traps? Do they trigger them from time to time, and reset them, all the while cursing at the poisoned needle sticking out of their bum?

For this article, I’ve tried to come up with some traps that make a little more sense to have in your living area. These are designed to select for intruders rather than denizens, with specific notes on the types of creatures that might be living in a dungeon filled with that sort of trap.

1d10 Tricky Traps for Nosy Adventurers:

Glass floor trap. The floor in one of the narrow cobblestone dungeon corridors looks like it drops off 30 feet forward and 60 feet below to a set of sharp spikes with a skeleton or two among them. Only there is a thin but sturdy pane of glass allowing anyone to walk over the “pit” without trouble. This won’t hurt any intruders, but it will be able to delay them while the defenders of the dungeon muster their forces. As an added bonus: make the pane magical, and inscribe some runes running along the walls leading up to it. The runes do nothing but give off traces of malevolent magic, but they are essential for keeping the pane up. This way, any meddling wizard that casts dispel on them, or wipes them away will destroy the only way forward. Avoided by: testing the floor ahead of them, flying across, laying a ladder across the gap. Creature types: any creatures capable of magic will work. Entryway doorbell trap. The main set of doors leading into the dungeon has a magical ear/button/switch that looks like it can be whispered in/pressed/pulled to open the door. The button has a sign hung below it though, written in a language that the dungeon denizens all speak but most outsiders would not. The sign says “doorbell broken, please knock”. Trying to activate the doorbell releases gas, shoots poison darts, or drops a boulder on the party. Knocking on the door causes it to open automatically. Avoided by: knocking on the door, being able to read the sign Creature types: any creatures with a rare language not spoken by many outsiders. Wrong way trap. The antechamber of the dungeon is empty, save for a dusty carpet on the floor, an empty bookcase, a limestone statue in the corner and a narrow passage opposite the front door that slopes downwards. There is a faint light visible at the end of the passage, which continues for 500 feet and is so narrow that a typical human can only make it through by shuffling through it sideways. Unfortunately, the tunnel narrows even further in the last 40-foot stretch, becoming little more than a slit that reveals a lantern sitting on the other side of an unreachable murder-hole. Maybe put an archer behind it if you’re feeling particularly heinous. The real way in is through a trapdoor under the dusty rug waaaay back in the antechamber. Avoided by: checking under the rug, polymorphing down a size, maaaybe greasing the party up in slippery oil and squeezing through. Creature types: any creatures around the same size as a human. Anything bigger and the party will get suspicious of the narrow passage. Unnecessary riddle trap. The door ahead of you is locked, but affixed to the wall beside it is a brass tube with an ear-shaped receiver. Across the door is written a riddle, but it has no correct answer. Those that belong to the dungeon have a key to the door, which can also be picked or unlocked magically. But parties of adventurers love their riddles, and the defenders of the dungeon have set up amplifiers to carry the sounds of visitors trying out guesses across the castle, alerting all of its denizens to the intrusion. Choose from one of the below impossible riddles or come up with your own: As dark as night in winter’s midst,

The maiden longing for a kiss.

Before her, thirty seven sit.

By what is maiden’s longing lit? Seldom seen yet often heard,

By all invoked yet never learned,

A velvet touch yet hard as glass,

Speak its name and you shall pass. “Srubbly-bubbly muchly-doubly, where in the world to find the troubly?” This one’s really stupid but made me laugh Avoided by: having a key, picking the lock, unlocking the door magically, breaking it down. Creature types: any creatures capable of bad poetry and of sufficient cleverness “Magic” boots trap. In a closet near the entrance to a room sit a fine pair of boots. They look like they were crafted by a master, and could fetch quite a pretty penny. If scanned for magic, they register as having abjuration and illusion charms on them. In reality, it is an old, soggy pair of boots enchanted to look expensive while in the dungeon, and with a “protection from mosquitos/pigeons/rats” spell cast on it to make it appear more valuable to intruders with detect magic spells. The toes of the boots contain two poison needles that will prick whoever puts them on. Avoided by: Can be solved by turning them inside out before putting them on, or by dispelling the illusion on them. Creature types: creatures with two feet that are capable of magic Fancy aged liquor trap. In the corner of a room, inside a fancy display case or cabinet sits a jug of expensive-looking liquor in a fancy bottle with gilded handles. The label has a picture of two dwarves clinking mugs with the the same bottle of liquor between them. This one’s a bit of an unintentional trap, because finely aged dwarven spirits become more toxic over time, and only the dwarves’ racial resistance against poison allows them to drink this safely. If anyone else decides to partake, there is a good chance they’ll be rolling around and violently vomiting for the nest half-hour. Avoided by: Can be avoided by not drinking strange liquids found in others’ homes, or by having a party member understand the warning message written on the label in fine print. Creature types: dwarves, mostly. Maybe other creatures with poison resistance. Surprise shower trap. One of the rooms is tiled and seemingly empty, except for a drain in the middle of the floor, and a complex set of levers on the opposite side of the room, near a second door. The floor is checkered with a complex pattern of colored tiles (feel free to draw a difficult-looking diagram of the floor for the players) A closer inspection of the ceiling would reveal small brass nozzles interspersed at regular intervals. The room smells strongly of poison. If any of the levers are touched, there is a good chance that the nozzles will begin spraying the entire room with a hot, toxic-smelling clear liquid. The liquid is actually just water, and this room is a communal shower of sorts. The toxic smell is the medieval equivalent of chlorine. The tiles on the floor are just decorations. Avoided by: The “trap” can be avoided by not touching any nozzles, and even if triggered, the heroes will emerge with ease, albeit slightly cleaner and wetter. Creature types: any creatures that enjoy a good shower once in a while. Sleeping beauty trap. On the far side of a room is an elevated stone table, upon which rests a human figure on its back, with arms folded across its chest. As the heroes approach, they can make out delicate feminine features. If they get close enough to examine the figure’s face, they likely trigger one of the pressure plates laid out around the table, which drops a cage onto them. Upon closer inspection of the figure, it looks like an dead, emaciated body, that seemingly died of starvation and had a minor illusion placed on it. If the trapped heroes don’t find a way out of the cage soon, it looks like they might be the next bait in this trap. Avoided by: It can be avoided by noticing the pressure plates, the illusion magic, or the imprints in the dust where the cage settled last time. Creature types: any creatures too lazy to check their traps regularly. Greedy adventurer trap. A set of statues line the walls, all tuned towards the middle of the room. In the room’s center stands a mossy stone, with a golden sword of unspeakable beauty sticking out of it. Like the proverbial sword in the stone, it can be pulled out. Unlike that sword, though, it’s not very hard to do, and releases a cloud of toxic poison into the air around it when released. Avoided by: It can be avoided by wiggling the sword and seeing a few spurts of green gas result, or by tying a rope around it and pulling it out from a distance. Creature types: any creatures with a sense of humor and an understanding of adventurer logic. Decorative bookcase trap. A bookcase filled with fancy, expensive looking books. The owner of this dungeon or castle is clearly a collector. Except maybe not a literate one, or one more interested in keeping books around for the ambiance they provide to a room. That’s because most of the books are filled with explosive runes, dark passages that herald madness, or just really bad prose that makes a reader’s head hurt. Maybe the owner bought these a long time ago from a merchant that had a grudge against him, but because of his disinterest, has avoided the ill effects. Avoided by: scouting out the magic properties of the books, peeking at the pages without reading them, or just leaving it alone Creature types: snobby creatures that still somehow convince themselves that owning books is the same as reading them.