"Harmless" and "Fun" Traps

This is only partly in jest.

What if you want traps, but entirely non-lethal ones? Still super-annoying, even debilitating?


The Dungeon of Three Fools has a good start right here:

1      Falling rock     Or acid or goblin snot or....
2      Crossbow in wall     Or spears or swords or fragile love potions or....

"Goblin snot" would be a great band name. So would "Fragile Love Potions."

Both are pretty excellent.

Let's see what we can add.

Vomit - and mucus, and effluvia, and so on. Empty the chamber pot, the vomitorium's tub, or the spittoon on anyone who sets off the trap. It doesn't kill, but it should induce rolls against HT to not get sick, yourself, and Will rolls to go on without cleaning up. The stink will attract the attention of hostile creatures, but may also in fact disguise you. The otyugh will probably mistake you for what you're dipped in and not attack.

Gaseous Alcohol - breathe it in, get drunk. Make a HT roll; success means you're tipsy. Failure means you are drunk. Effects last one hour unless a variable amount of time is funnier. Critical failure means you're drunk and you fall noisily asleep right on the spot; you'll be hung over for 20-HT hours.

Glue-Coated Weights - Nothing too nasty here . . . just a lot of rocks, all coated with glue. Why don't they stick to each other? Because the wizard who set it did blah blah blah magic so they won't. But they'll stick to you. The glue is only removable with universal solvent or a good, long soaking in vinegar - like, a bath of it, for at least an hour, before you can pry off the rocks one by one. This adds immensely to your encumbrance, and interferes with free action of any limbs affected (at least -2 * encumbrance in penalties). May or may not stick to skin; it's kind of funny either way.

Padded Crossbow Bolts - oh sure, you've padded the tips. They couldn't possibly cause any real harm. But soak those tips in pheromones for voracious, wild creatures. The bolts drop away harmlessly, but now you're marked with the scent of a monster in heat for 1d hours. You can't smell it without Discriminatory Smell, so you probably just laugh off the hits. Until that heart-eyed electric jellyfish or love-lorn giant ape or randy dragon comes along, that is.