My first fantasy based Mutants and Masterminds game starts tonight (It was supposed to be yesterday, but someone's job got in the way). I already have the encounters planned, even a nice cliffhanger ending. But, I do need to prepare the dungeon that will be used for the next game, because the characters have an opportunity to research it and get some forewarning about the traps and obstacles within it.
Now, for a little background. One thousand years ago, a death knight and his army of undead waged a battle against the old empire. The deathknight was defeated, but so vast was his power that he could not be destroyed. In order to take away his power, his sword was destroyed, the vessel of his soul and most of his power. This blade's fragments were placed into molten lead and the block was buried in an unmarked vault hidden away in a graveyard.
The vault was warded against undead, and the lead surrounding the sword fragments prevented scrying. It took the thousand years since for the deathknight's followers to locate it, but being undead none of them have been able to enter it. Instead, they began to spread rumors of a tomb filled with vast treasure, in the hopes that some adventure seekers would break the seal on the tomb and bring the sword fragments to the surface.
So, the first trap the players will have to deal with is the outer ward against undead. One of the players is technically dead; as a child he died and his soul was bound to a golem. Since he is not living, he cannot pass through the ward. The players will have to deactivate the ward while this character is forced to battle the zombie horde that has been trying to get into the tomb (it is okay, the character is designed to fight undead; this scene acts as a way of both letting him do his undead killing thing and also letting me prey upon one of his character drawbacks).
The last obstacle to overcome is the guardian, a massive undead hulk that guards the entrance to the vault. The vault is warded against undead, so none can enter or leave.
Other than that, I would like two traps, preferably multi-part traps the likes of Indiana Jones. This system allows for 4E D&D style skill challenges (aptly called "extended skill checks"). The group has two rogues of sorts (one of whom possesses some undead hunting divine powers), a melee warrior, and a ranged caster. I'd rather not have another undead fight, but I'd like the traps to be action packed as they will be the bulk of the session.
Thanks in advance for any ideas. Please, if they can come in the next 9 hours or so, that would be fantastic!
any type of spells that give off a false undead aura?
I find having passages at different heights in many areas can give PC's fits, Makes them have to climb or fly a lot. I generall place razor sharp corners at the top of some of these, so that climbers get a little screwed aftetr a while.
I mean, those guys that put him here, flying was simple...
what else does lead protect against scrying.
How about this for one trap:
A large, empty room. As they enter and walk across the floor to the other doorway, the floor behind them begins to crumble slowly, revealing a large pit about 30 feet down with large spikes scattered everywhere. As they run to the other side, the door disappears. In its place there are 5 levers in a row. In order to stop this collapsing floor, all they have to do is wait. It stops once it gets to around where they are standing, and then the door will reappear. However, pulling any lever speeds up the floor, but pulling the middle one causes the ceiling to begin to slowly move down. The only thing they can do to stop that ceiling is to have the center, 4th from the left, and 5th from the right in the down position and the other two in the up position.
Or would that be too much?
I prefer traps that can be handled with ingame skills, not out of game puzzle solving. My group has never liked out of game puzzles and riddles; they have always slowed the game.
I always thought this trap was mean, taken from Traps and Treachery.
The players enter a room and activate either a pressure plate or some mechanism in the door. The ceiling starts descending, so it looks like they're going to get crushed. However, there's a hole in the ceiling, and directly beneath the hole on the floor of the room, a small, round dais that will fit perfectly into the hole. The idea here is that the characters fight over who gets to occupy the dais and so save themselves. In actual fact, the individual who stands on the dais activates anotehr pressure plate and gets struck by a lightning bolt trap, frying them and also optionally deactivating the trap.
If you choose, the ceiling could actually stop descending about six feet from the floor, while a smaller door opens. Alternatively, the players could simply weigh down the das with some other object to deactivate the trap.
Works well with an hourglass/stopwatch and a set amount of time before the ceiling collapses. This way there's a logic element, but it doesn't slow the game down too much.
Alternatively, Grimtooth's (http://www.scribd.com/doc/2567537/Grimtooths-Traps)...
Good suggestion, I love the "gotcha" element to it.
I am definitely looking for traps that are not designed to have a bypass though. The builder of the vault did not want anyone to get in; it is much safer to leave the deathknight's sword broken and safely hidden.
Sorry if I'm being particular.
Well, this death knight was hated by a lot of people, right? You could take any staged-release trap (like the collapsing floor) and add levers or runes that must be pulled/pressed/stood upon in sequence according to the sequence the death knight was bound or killed. For example:
Symbols 1-5: Heraldic sigils for a wizard/arcane order; an assassin's guild; a church; a church's martial order/national army; the party that broke the sword.
History DC 15 (easy, establishes goal): You know that the death knight was first made vulnerable to physical attack by an arcane ritual, then confronted by the armed might of a martial order, who served as a distraction for an assassin using a relic that robbed him of some protection from the divine, which allowed clerics to blast him into submission, which allowed his sword to be broken.
Insight DC 15 (easy, establishes order): You intuit that the symbols/levers must be used in the order that the death knight was banished.
History/Religion/Arcana/Nature (DC 20 + Level): You try to figure out the name of the actor that performed any one of the sigils. History for any, Religion/Arcana where appropriate.
Maybe have minions (ghosts of the warriors that died in the frontal assault) of some sort stream into the room to provoke attacks of opportunity during the skill challenge as they try to move towards the runes. Gives less cerebral characters a chance to clear paths while the floor is shaking (floating enemies also not affected by floor ;))
Thoughts?
A hallway full of tripwires going in all different directions. Many of them don't do anything, but a few of them do activate various traps. One of them seals one door and opens another, which leads to more dangerous rooms.
The players are walking in knee-deep water. They step on a trapdoor and fall 20 or 30 feet. The pit immediately starts filling with water. A metal grate closes over top of them. So... lets say half the party is waiting to drown or be rescued. The monster nearby wakes up and chases the remaining half of the party off from the trap.
My favorite trap I never got around to using. I was gonna use a boneclaw with knockback as the monster.
*points to his countdown room trap*