What is the most complex subterranean trap you have designed? How does it function? Who or what constructed it? Was it engineered by an individual afters years of theory? Was it perhaps a trap that plays to a civilization's strengths/proclivities/physiology/ideals but is a daunting task for another civilzation to replicate? If you have not created one, what is the most complex you have seen out of a friend's game or on the internet? I'd like to know!

Was running a 5e game a few years ago, and a couple of people knew I also ran OD&D games. They were a little curious about the experience.

The week before they had found a strange artifact and did everything they could to activate it. Like a smart DM (leave them hanging!), I ended the session right after they were successful in finally getting it to work.

The next session, I had them put their character sheets away, and gave them OD&D versions, using the standard LBBs. The artifact had knocked them into a desert area with a sandstorm and a pyramid off in the distance. They were nearly naked and completely unarmed.

Ultimately, they were able to get back to their reality, but they had a lot of fun playing stripped down versions of their characters without all of the 5e bullshit. They literally had a loincloth and had to go from there to survive.

Picture a box, with a lid on it.  On top of the lid is a wooden pole that is wedged between the lid and the cieling.  If the pole is removed, the heavy stone tiles in the cieling fall down and potentially hit anyone within 5 feet of the box. 

On the inside of the lid of the box are several strings. These strings are attached to a flase bottom in the box.  The false bottom is hinged and if the strings are pulled (by lifting the lid of the box) the hubged bottom will swing open, dumping the contents of the box into a 10 foot deep hole. 

The contents of the box are several useful potions.  If the potions are mixed together (say by falling into a narrow pit and having thier containers broken) a noxious gas will from, expanding outward to a 30 foot radius. 

Anything from a Grimtooth book

Quote from: Mishihari on August 30, 2023, 10:16:53 AM
Anything from a Grimtooth book

I bought that Ultimate Traps collection a while back; I only had the original book so this was an easy way to get everything. Some of that stuff is hilarious, but 99% of it probably wouldn't actually work very well in a real game. I can just envision all the "wait I didn't do that! You didn't tell me that!" nonsense coming from the players.

Back in the early aughts, playing a 3e game, came up with this:

Players found a tattered journal near a heavily decomposed skeleton. Journal spoke of a treasure that presumably the dead guy hid, giving "step-by-step" directions to the cave (like a pirate map... "20 paces east from the waterfall," etc). If the players converted the numbers to their corresponding letter (1=a, 2=b, etc), then the resulting letters would correlate to the first letter of a common color (r=red, g=green, etc). The colors, in their proper order, opened a complex door-lock in the cave and the treasure within.

Despite all this prep-work, the players never got around to looking for the cave.