Name Trigger 1 Danger Zone 2 Corpses 3 Detritus 4 Active Warning 5 Other Warning 6 1 Slicer Pressure plate Lenght of hallway Sliced Sliced rats Niches with scythes Distant woosh noise in the room prior to this one 2 Poison spray shower Lever 10 ft square Agonisingly melted Melted helmet Acid pits on floor Bad smell in room 3 Sleeping Gas chest Switch in the chest Room Sleeping rats in the corner Dead rats that die of malnurishment Small holes in the bottom of the wall for the gas Strange smell in the room 4 Spiker roof (aka Predator trap) Tripwire 5 ft, human height Spiked skeleton on the floor Wooden chip and spikes nearby Hidden spikes on the other side of the trap on the ceiling Light coming through that can make the spikes or wire apparent 5 Snake pit Pressure plate At the bottom of a staircase Bitten/poisonned corpse Corpses of snakes outside of it Small plate on the walls, small holes in the floor "Hissing" sounds 6 Crushing hallway boulder (aka Indiana Jones) Pressure plate All corridor, up to 100' Crushed skeleton Hugeass rock at the end of it Opening at the end of the hallway on the ceiling Dark stain on the floor, rock chipping on the walls 7 Dart Trap Proximity (magical) 5' in front of the object it protects Skeleton with little darts around Darts on the ground Tons of small holes beside the objects Detect magic 8 Pit Trap 10' deep /w spikes Lid (150lbs) 10' square nil Torch lying on the ground (whoever fell last dropped it) Lines and creaks on the ground Floor will wobble at 149 lbs and less 9 Recessed Arm Scythe (protecting a door) Latch (pull in a hole to "open the door") Hand is chopped Hand corpse Instruments use to pull it chopped There is another small hole to actually put a key in it There is a hole up of the level (where the blade comes through) 10 Wall spears Tripwire Side of a wall Speared skeleton Wooden shaft on the ground Holes on the side Wind coming from the wall (holes are letting it through)

Creature trap: trap that make creature pop up, ambush, open a gate, portal, etc.

Explosion: as the name implies

Falling items: falling block of stones, etc.

Gas and potion: have your humanoid attach gas potions to ropes that the players WILL knock down without looking and be drown in acid (true story)

Fog: you can have those do plenty of stuff, like being a normal fog (will still scare player), a "random emotion fog" (can trigger them into confusion), poison gas, etc.

Illusion: illusion floor that makes you drop to your death is a classic I'd say

Light: flashbang

Alarm: what worse than having the whole dungeon now getting to you ?

I also like having tricks or traps that deal other effect than death, such as:

Ages 10 years

Reset other traps

Animate the weapon of the bearer to attack him (it was fun, true story)

Causing a magical "cancellation" on all object of bearer for X hours

Enlarge/reduce

Teleport elsewhere in the dungeon

Become invisible, mute and paralyzed

etc. TRICKS

Tricks are stuff that look like they can be interacted with (magic item, chest, trones, etc.) but can be problematic for the player if they are too curious and not cutious enough.





You could have your tricks bound to something else interesting, such as:







TYPES Example/Description 1 Bait part of a monster, forcefield crown*, etc. 2 Boon/Bane according to the alignment and class, something positive and negative 3 Confusion/Misdirection golden platter with yellow mold, monster not what it appears, medusa as a crying women, golem covered with gold (looks like a statue), etc. 4 Defended animated furniture, fill with water, etc. 5 Puzzle stone statue missing an eye that reveals a passage (a monster stole it), etc. 6 Quest statue/book/NPC/Ghost that indicate a clue on how to vanquish a monster elsewhere in the dungeon, a door that needs a magical key elsewhere in the dungeon, etc. 7 Secret a hidden secret that could be revealed later because the mecanism will be found on another same-type secret further in the dungeon (meaning player could decide to go back to unlock it when they learn it) 8 Shiny somthing nice that does nothing (ex: a dragon skeleton within a crystal) 9 Tools does something neutral (ex: putting a rough gem transform it into a perfectly cut one, a statue that repeats what you say in another obscure language, etc.) 10 Transmutation Modified reality (water sharp like razor, false food, etc.) 11 Transport Teleport elsewhere 12 Treasures Treasures









Or you could tie them to features and effects (both column are not linked, you can roll d20 for each and apply as per).







Features Effect 1 Altar Ages (1d10 year) 2 Arch Animate itself 3 Ceiling Animate user weapon 4 Fireplace/fire Appear/Disappear 5 Fountain Antimagic (in the room) 6 Fresco/mosaic Electric Shock (1d10 dégât) 7 Idol Asks password 8 Illusion Directs towards... 9 Machine Enlarges/Reduces itself 10 Pedestal Enlarges/Reduces user 11 Pillar/Column Flesh to stone 12 Pool Gaseous 13 Room Greases 14 Statue Greed-producing 15 Vegetation Release coins/gems 16 Wall Release magic item 17 Well Slide 18 Furnishing Teleports 19 Force Field Reduce stats/HP 20 Door Remove magic from item









CONCLUSION





Traps and tricks can be fun, but especially if

a) they lead to something else that can be conductive to play and fun

b) are telegraphed just enough that players have to PLAY the challenge instead of passively receiving it













Traps in dungeon are important. They come up in rooms 5% of the time with a treasure, and can also come up as a trapped door or an ambush. I like my traps to be telegraphed A LOT. The reason for this is not to make it easy on the players, but to tell them "there might be a danger here". They don't know if it's a trap, a monster, or a trick, but they know there is danger. They still have to find the trap intelligently and disarm it, sometimes getting killed in the process, but that's up to them. I prefer this than having anything that either slow down the game (having someone poke non-stop everything with 10' pole, even if I know I will get FOE with this), or force my players to inaction (having suspected traps everywhere without a guess on where it can be will diminish player's interaction with the dungeon, not enhanced it IMO). To do this, I will have both traps and elements that will help to reveal it if the players are picking them up, such as trigger, danger zone, corpse, detritus, active warning and other signs of the same type. I will be honest, I do not remember where I took this system: another blog, a book, etc. ? Whoever it is, credits to you.There is a lot of good OSR blogs with traps and stuff taken sometimes as " obstacles ", and especially old school resources that deal with . You can also search only for interesting " challenges " instead of traps. Maybe I'll do something on challenges at one point. There is also some youtube challenge with puzzles that can be used sometimes as challenge/traps.Also, I like my traps to be like monsters. First time you encounter a Medusa for example, you might be for a world of hurt. But if you acquire the right item, and/or can fight blindfolded, that knowledge of combat by the players can save them and make the challenge easier. Their character level increase but also their knowledge of the world. For that reason, I try to put very few types of traps and focus on copy-pasting them, based on either monsters making them or architecture (i.e. each ancient culture favored some traps). That way, players with experience can expect some kind of traps in a type of dungeon (I'll be honest, they don't, but at least it's out there for them to do so).Disclaimer as I always do. What I present here is not something I find "better" than what is presented in old books. Rather, it's just better suited to my needs, and it's influenced by it.This is my "base list" of traps that I use. The reason the elements of the trap are numbered is because I will make those more obvious. Not necessarily visible outright, but at least observable or noticeable. So everytime I put a trap in a dungeon, unless I already have an idea of the room and what would be more appropriate, I roll d6 to determine the element to be put in place. In theory, I could put more, and I do sometimes, especially since the trigger is supposed to be present in any cases. Those make 10, so it's d10 to generate.But there is other traps you can have: