The player characters are in an especially old dungeon or dwelling when one of them steps on a pressure plate! The plate depresses two inches, and then the players can hear a subtle “click-click-click…” behind the nearest wall. They also hear the rattling of chains overhead… when they look above them they see huge boulders hanging by chains, and there are about 20 of them. The boulders are as wide as the corridor, and spaced close together.
It’s obvious that the players have set off a trap and any moment the boulders will fall – and then two do fall. They are at the end of the hall, blocking their way out. Any sensible person would know that this trap is absolutely deadly, and with nowhere to go, the player characters must disable the trap before the rest of the boulders fall!
The ravages of time and water have affected the paneling on the walls and the pavers under their feet. It’s very easy for the player characters to pin-point the clicking sound and pull away the paneling. However, on the first try to disable the trap, the character fails automatically!
It doesn’t matter what they rolled, and they will fail no matter what! At this point, the player characters are free to attempt anything before the boulders inevitably fall. They may make another attempt to disarm, they may attack the trap, or they may try to squeak past the boulders that have already fallen. However, nothing works! It looks like the players are doomed!
The trap is so old or rotted that it no longer functions. The player character sets it off, but now it’s just broken spinning gears and cogs in the wall. It continues to turn and click for several more minutes until it breaks further and stops. The players were never in any danger, and may continue on.
Misty
20-something gal who loves gaming and gabbing. I think everyone has roleplayed at some point in some fashion or another, our take on the hobby is simply way more fun and entertaining.
Hmm…
“It doesn’t matter what they rolled, and they will fail no matter what! ”
Because it always makes a good game when the players actions and choices are irrelvant.
Carl
Hmm…
Syrsuro, it doesn’t appear that you read the trap in its entirety. It’s technically not a trap, but a story-telling opportunity for an “oh shit” moment.
If a dm HAS to explain it, it’s easy enough to say that the trap was broken, and thus could not be disabled.
I have to agree with Syrsuro . If you are having players roll dice then they had the natural assumption that they can effect events by doing so. I as a GM only have the players roll dice when rolling dice matters. Pulling something like this on them wold break a certain level of trust at my table.
And if you leave the dice roll out then the whole thing loses any punch it might have. Different strokes for different tables.
Easy fix… DC 30 to disable. It’s high because it’s broken. Done!