kengr: (Default)
kengr ([personal profile] kengr) wrote2021-03-01 06:15 am
  • Add Memory
  • Share This Entry
Entry tags:

Attention evil GMs

Something reminded me of a wonderfully pervertible bit of geology.

Have a large courtyard with a gong and striker hanging there. The courtyard is unpaved just surfaced with some sort of damp clayish stuff.

if the gong is struck it produces *much* stronger (and deeper) vibrations than you'd expect. The vibrations cause the thixotropic clay to temporarily liquefy. Better hope bedrock isn't to far down!

This could also work in an underground chamber.

If you want to be more fair, have a sign in a language *not "common tongue that says "do not strike gong"
Flat | Top-Level Comments Only
stickmaker: (Default)

[personal profile] stickmaker 2021-03-02 01:59 pm (UTC)(link)

For upper dungeon levels (don't think I ever had one on the surface) I prefer simple traps. Like a breakaway door with a pit behind it. :-)
kengr: (Default)

[personal profile] kengr 2021-03-02 06:01 pm (UTC)(link)
On the first level of my first dungeon one of the first bits the players encountered was a room with a big lever on the wall. Across the corridor from it was a corridor with lots of small rooms on both sides.

A trap could be detected at the start of that second corridor (*big* trapdoor extending the width of the corridor)

They made several trips before someone moved the lever down. And found out that doing so removed the "safety" on the trap door.

Basically the room with the lever hand been a guard room, and the corridor with the trapdoor and small rooms had been the cells for prisoners.

The trapdoor was an extra safety measure in case a prisoner managed to get the door to his cell open :-)
warriorsavant: (Default)

[personal profile] warriorsavant 2021-03-03 03:40 am (UTC)(link)
Having such a sign even in common language, in the real world, will inevitably cause people to bang the gong. It's like having a button marked "do not press this button."

Have always thought if I were designing a website/computer interface, there would be a big red button with a "do not press this button" notice. If you did click it, a screen would come up saying "we asked you not to do that."
kengr: (Default)

[personal profile] kengr 2021-03-03 06:12 am (UTC)(link)
Old practical joke in some industries/labs:

A box with a power cord and a switch that is labeled "do not turn on". If plugged in and turned on, it'd trip the breakers and shut down the whole room.

My variant, that I had the idea for *decades* ago, but would get you in *so* much trouble if you built it now:

A box with a large buttom and two plastic panels. One is illuminated and says "Press and HOLD to activate"

If you do, that panel goes out and the other lights up "Release to detonate"

(rigged with a firecracker equivalent that goes bang if you do)
Flat | Top-Level Comments Only