The art and craft of traps is very important in games, and traps occur frequently. Both player characters and non-player characters may be trapped at times, and you, as the player, may also set traps within a game. When you stop to analyze the way traps work in games, you may see several ways in which characters become trapped.
In this chapter:
While trapping someone (the player or another character) is one of the primary design problems you may encounter in creating a game, ways to escape or counter the trap are just as necessary, especially for the player character, who must ultimately be able to escape. However, it is also important to understand how NPCs may be able to overcome player-set traps to keep things interesting.
For that reason, I’ve included some specific ways to escape each of the types of traps listed in this chapter, but first, here’s a short list of surefire escapes:
Don’t Do It! The primary method of countering a trap—and the most reliable of all—is not to get trapped in the first place. For help with that, see The Good Boy Scout entry.
The Good Boy Scout. A Boy Scout is always prepared, and so should a good hero be. Prior planning, early detection, and avoidance or immunity measures are pretty reliable ways to escape a trap or, in many cases, to avoid it altogether.
The Cavalry Arrives. Someone comes to your rescue and helps you escape
Spatial Realignment. You teleport or phase-shift out of the trap (assuming you have or can obtain that power).
The Road Less Traveled. You find a way out of the trap other than the obvious one—often involving barrier/obstacle-type traps.
Divine Intervention. Something unforeseen and out of your or your enemies’ control sets you free. Note that this is not something a player can rely upon, but it can be one way to alter the situation. Note also that this works equally for player characters and for NPCs that have been trapped.
Patience Is Its Own Reward. Sometimes all you have to do is wait for the right time to escape. Circumstances can often realign themselves to allow you the perfect opportunity if you wait, watch, listen, and learn.
Manipulating the Captors. One way or another, you may be able to manipulate those who hold you captive (assuming there is a sentient agency involved in the trap). There are various ways to manipulate others, and any of them is acceptable for escaping a trap, including converting them to your side, threatening them, tricking them, or even completely confusing them until they are vulnerable to your attack.
The Suicide Option. The trap has no meaning if you’re dead. Of course, you shouldn’t really be dead, but you can fake it or perhaps have a power that allows you to resurrect later, after the trap has been sprung or your captors have given up.
The following sections contain some examples of several types of traps, along with a few ways to counter them.
Physical containment involves restricting someone’s movements by using physical barriers, the most obvious of which is a locked door. Although there are many specialized situations involving physical containment, there are a few solutions commonly used in many of these scenarios. For instance, in pretty much every containment scenario, finding another exit is a potential option.
Some basic physical containment examples include:
You’re confined in a jail or prison cell or a mental ward.
You’re locked in a room.
The room isn’t locked, but it’s guarded by vicious henchmen or even more vicious animals.
The room isn’t locked, but there’s a force field that prevents your escape.
You’re trapped in a tunnel or mine that has caved in.
You’re eaten or swallowed whole by something big, such as a whale or a giant space creature.
You’re alone on a ship or space vehicle and unable to control it or escape it.
You’re lost in the forest, and malevolent trees are closing the path so you can’t find your way out.
You’re sent to an alternate dimension or parallel universe.
The entrances are blocked. You can:
Clear the way; remove whatever is blocking the exit. This may be some quick and easy method, such as blasting it out of the way or simply dragging something aside, or it could be time consuming and complex, such as digging through a cave-in with a spoon.
Go over (or under) the blockage.
Find something to help you clear the blockage (such as a creature strong enough to move it or that can eat it).
Bribe or force someone to remove the blockage.
Find an alternate exit. (Note that this is one of the universal escapes and won’t be repeated in each of the following examples.)
Getting to the area requires jumping or falling, and you can’t get back out. You can:
Get help from someone up top.
Plan ahead and secure a rope or other means of return before descending.
Use a piece of clothing to tie to an anchor or to give you additional traction or protection.
Change the nature of the area so you can return. (For instance, carve steps or remove the slippery surface with a blowtorch.)
Use a device or power to get back up.
Find another way out.
Send someone else.
Walls or doors mysteriously disappeared or moved, making escape impossible.
Find the mechanism or trick to return the configuration of the room to its original setting.
Someone may be in charge of the mechanism. Try to trick him into letting you out.
Blast your way out.
Get help from an ally on the outside.
Use telekinetic powers to reconfigure the room.
Use other magic or supernatural powers, such as the ability to pass through solid objects, super strength, or the ability to pick up a cell phone and call for help.
The door mechanism is broken or the key broke in the lock. You can:
Find some way to fix the mechanism or push the key out of the lock.
Remove the lock somehow.
Break in the door.
Find a way to turn the broken key, perhaps by attaching something to it or using grippers or telekinetic powers.
Use any of the other ways to escape a locked room (mentioned earlier).
The way out is impassable (including, but not limited to, blocked entrances). You can:
Make it passable. For instance, if there is a cave-in, dig a tunnel; if there is a river of lava, drop a stone formation to make a bridge over it.
Protect yourself from whatever danger faces you and go through it.
Use specific magic to counter the obstacle.
See also “Barriers” and “Methods of Detection” in Chapter 25, “Barriers, Boundaries, Obstacles, and Detectors.”
The perimeter is electrified, or there is a force field you can’t pass. You can:
Find the power to the grid and disable it.
Short out the power with a piece of metal, some jewelry, a counter force field, and so on.
Use something to neutralize the effect, such as insulating gloves, a suit that neutralizes the force field, an identification card that allows you to pass, and so on.
Get someone else to turn it off.
Throw things into the force field until it is overwhelmed and shorts out.
Find a way to get above or below it.
Use an insulator or other means to protect you from its effects.
Find an entrance/exit that is not protected.
You had the keys but you lost them, or the keys are hidden somewhere. You can:
Find the keys or a duplicate set.
Find a way to open the door without keys (such as picking the lock).
Flash back to the time when you lost the keys and remember where they are (which may or may not help if they are no longer accessible).
Create a new key.
Destroy the door.
Look again.
Wish really hard that the keys are still in your pocket and then check for them again.
Someone stole the keys.
Get the keys back if you can.
Find a duplicate set of keys.
Find a way to open the door without the keys.
Go another way.
There is a code, password, or incantation needed to open the way out. You can:
Remember something someone said that was actually a clue to the code, password, or incantation.
Try different codes in an orderly sequence or try different passwords or incantations.
Think about your captor(s) and think about what they would use as a code, password, or incantation.
Observe when your captor(s) enter the code, password, or incantation—either before being imprisoned or during imprisonment.
Defeat the mechanism in some way so that you can bypass the password.
Destroy the mechanism and blast your way out.
Interrogate, manipulate, or trick a guard or someone who knows the password and get him to reveal it.
The exit requires some form of ID (scan card, thumbprint, retinal scan, voice print). You can:
Steal an ID card from one of the guards or have one hidden on your person when you are captured.
Use the finger, eye, or voice of a guard or other authorized personnel—whether or not they are alive.
Make a duplicate.
Hack the system.
Blast your way through.
The door is actually easy to open, but it requires some simple procedure, such as lifting while you turn the lock or hitting it a certain way to release the seal. You can:
Use trial and error.
Observe someone else opening the door.
Have someone tell you the secret.
You must solve a riddle or other mental puzzle to open the way out. You can:
Look for or remember clues.
Use trial and error.
Drive yourself crazy to be able to match the crazy state of your captor(s).
Have someone tell you the answer—maybe under duress, as a result of a bribe, or because you did a favor for them.
The way to get out requires a complex series of tasks or a simple task done repetitively. You can:
Figure out what needs to be done and do it.
Practice until you’re good at it.
Review any clues you might have gotten that would reveal what to do.
Have someone tell you what you need to do.
Find a manual that explains the procedure.
Find someone who already knows how to execute the sequence and bribe, manipulate, cajole, or force him to do it, unless he is an ally, in which case he will do it willingly.
Create an automated script that performs the act for you.
You are injured or hurt in some way that reduces your physical ability to escape. You can:
Seek help.
Heal yourself or use some temporary stimulant to give you the ability to escape.
Do it anyway.
Pretend that you’re even worse off than you are, so they’ll leave you alone and you can escape.
Take a temporary drug to simulate death. They will remove you from the room.
Play dead. (Refer to the “General Solutions” section at the beginning of the chapter.)
The room you are in was constructed with alien materials and/or techniques, and you don’t understand how it works. You can:
Examine the environment carefully and seek clues or instructions.
Use trial and error.
Seek help.
Force one of the aliens to either teach you or operate the systems for you.
The room (or something that controls it) is intelligent and adaptive and counters your every move. You can:
Make friends with it/get it to change sides.
Give it an impossible riddle so it becomes overwhelmed trying to solve it.
Challenge it to a contest you can win.
Think crazy thoughts, so the room goes mad.
Think “ethical thoughts”—they are new to the room, but the room feels them and spiritually grows, and thus releases you.
Think one thing and do another.
Sing or recite difficult poetry, which completely confuses the room due to its “illogical” nature, so you escape while it is pondering the meaning of your song or poetry.
Overwhelm the room with emotional discharge.
Distract the room in some way so that you can escape or take control of the room itself.
You’re in a containment bubble. You can:
Find a way to burst the bubble.
Absorb the bubble’s material somehow.
Make the bubble move and move with it.
Neutralize the bubble.
Use a spell or some type of field that allows you to pass through the bubble’s walls.
You’re in a labyrinth. You can:
Use trial and error to escape.
Dig or bash through the walls or under the floor to find another way out.
Find a way to destroy the maze.
Find the master of the maze.
Find another explorer with information about the maze.
Find a map.
Use markers to help you figure out where you’ve been (the old bread-crumb method).
Fire
Put out the fire.
Find a way to protect yourself from the fire and smoke.
Find another way out.
Wait it out.
You’re stuck in goo or a sticky trap. You can:
Find a way to dissolve it.
Eat the goo.
Absorb it.
Freeze it.
Burn/melt/vaporize it.
Struggle until you have gotten free.
Kill it (if it is alive).
Electrocute it.
Explode it.
You’re trapped by a force field. You can:
Shut off the power to the field.
Overload the field.
Find a way to be immune or invisible to the shield.
Destroy the field itself.
Go over or under the field.
Find its weakness.
You’re trapped in a digital world (like in TRON). You can:
Find a way to rewire/rehack the software from inside.
Find a way to reset the world.
Find an exit to your reality.
Figure out why you’re there and use that information to figure out how to escape.
Take control of the computer.
Hey, it’s not so bad in here. Why leave?
Ice
Melt it (using heat).
Break it.
Vaporize it.
Use salt, antifreeze, or some other chemical compound to melt it.
Hibernate.
Cut your way out.
Gnaw your way out.
Wait for warm weather.
Expand yourself so it shatters.
Height (you are trapped in some high place where you would die if you jumped). You can:
Climb down.
Dig through the floor to find another way.
Use something to slow your fall so you can survive.
Jump to another place.
Hitch a ride with some passing creature that flies.
Fly away yourself, if you can.
Some containment scenarios are quite common. How many times have you encountered a locked door in a game, knowing that you would have to (or at least want to) get to what is on the other side? Other barriers are also common in games, and here are a few ways to get past the most common ones.
Find another way out.
Wait for the exit to be opened by a third party.
Wait for the exit to be opened by a timed lock.
Smash or blow your way out.
A third party smashes or blows you out.
Get airlifted out.
Fly out (by making/stealing/using a flying machine/plane or by some flying ability).
Tunnel out. (Make or find a tunnel.)
Take a vent or a pipe.
Climb out (using a rope/ladder/fire escape/fence).
Jump out. (This might require something to break your fall.)
Hurt yourself to trigger a medic. (For example, get in a fight or dislocate your own joints.)
Hurt someone else to trigger a medic.
Trigger an alarm system or sprinkler system to call the guards or the fire department.
Pick the lock or acquire a key or code to open it.
Hack the electronic lock or the computer that controls the locking mechanisms.
Cut your way out. (For example, use a torch through sheet metal.)
Appear to have disappeared (so guards will open the door to look for you).
Play dead (or find a way to make it look as if you have escaped) and attack when the guards come to investigate.
Sneak out a message somehow to let your friends know to rescue you.
Learn how the trap works and use it against your enemies.
Appear to have changed sides.
Insult or challenge the guard.
Find another, possibly secret, entrance/exit.
Review the clues. What you have already observed/gathered that may hold a solution?
Use an opening that is not a door, such as a fireplace or a dumbwaiter.
Call in a partner to get you out or a backup evac team.
Bribe the guard.
Force someone to help you.
Take a hostage.
Yell for help.
Use a signal fire or flare.
Build an escape vehicle.
Find, within the trapped area, ingredients or materials you can use to create an escape (for example, materials to make a catapult, to make dynamite, to make acid, to make poisonous gas, and so on).
Carefully explore the trapped zone and find a weakness in construction.
Perform some sort of meditation that allows you to concentrate your strength and thus break out, though it takes considerable force.
Learn (through records or a story) how someone else broke out and do that.
Have someone on the outside find the trap’s/building’s architect and force him to divulge a weakness in the design that could allow for an escape—then get this message to the trapped person.
Hypnotize a guard into letting you out.
It turns out that those who sent you on this mission knew there was a chance of capture. Thus, unbeknownst to you, they’ve embedded a method of escape (for example, a little plastic explosive) in your clothing, hat, boots, and so on—and you discover it.
Through conversation and persuasion, convert the guard to your side so that he lets you escape.
You have unrealized or inactive super powers and suddenly realize you can use them to escape.
You convince a fellow prisoner to help you escape—perhaps one with special abilities that make escape possible.
Flatten yourself and go under.
Containment by threat can be combined with physical containment, but generally the threat is enough to prevent your leaving. The threat is often about bodily injury to yourself or to some other important character(s). The threat may be active, in that it is something that will be carried out by one or more enemies, or it can be passive, in that it is simply the environment that poses the threat—such as an Arctic wilderness or an airless planet. There are some solutions to the containment by threat scenarios that are more or less common, while specific scenarios may have specific solutions as well.
Disable or remove the threat.
Go for it in spite of the threat, using force if necessary.
Turn the threat back on the enemy.
Review the clues—what you have already observed/gathered may hold a solution.
Threaten the enemies with something worse—something they believe you can carry out. For instance, you previously placed a bomb somewhere in their headquarters and only you can disable it, or, if you don’t call someone within 15 minutes, all hell will break loose.
Plead for leniency.
Manipulate the enemy to turn them to your side or in some way get them to help you escape.
Your comrade is injured, and you must stay to defend him. Or your companion is too afraid to attempt an escape, and you don’t want to leave him.
Leave anyway and come back for him.
Give him a pep talk and convince him to come along.
Find a way to heal the injured.
Find a way to remove the danger so even the scared and the injured can leave without fear.
The comrade dies and no longer needs protection.
The comrade turns out to be a traitor.
Force him, by whatever means you need, to come with you.
Convince him that he’ll die anyway if he stays there.
Knock him out and take him with you.
You are forced to wear an explosive collar or an item that prevents you from leaving the area. You can:
Find a way to remove the item, ideally placing it on one of the bad guys.
Disable the device.
Get someone to disable it for you—possibly by force or guile.
Shrink your head so you can escape.
Cause the device to expand for the same result.
Create a shield that protects you from the effect of the collar, then explode it or, if it is not explosive, just go for it!
You are under surveillance, and if you try to escape, you will be shot. You can:
Find a way to fake what the camera sees, using a fake picture or recorded loop.
Do crazy things so the observers will become concerned and will come to check what you are doing.
Talk to the observers and win them over to your side.
Destroy (or block) the cameras.
Fake a heart attack or other collapse.
Find a way to protect yourself from attack, then go ahead and escape.
Find something in the environment that you can use as armor or other protection, then go for it.
The area is surrounded by something dangerous—snipers, deadly lava, deadly creatures, and so on. You can:
Find a way to neutralize the threat.
Find a way to protect yourself while escaping.
Use a disguise or other method so that whatever is out there no longer sees you as a threat.
Be very stealthy.
Use any other means, such as digging, teleportation, flying, and so on.
Take out one part of the perimeter or neutralize it, then go through.
If you try to move, something bad will happen. For instance, you are standing on the trigger to a landmine, and moving will detonate it. You can:
Find something to put in your place.
Get an enemy to come near and force or fool him into taking your place.
Run really fast before it explodes (doubtful).
Find a way to disable it or render it harmless.
Carefully slide an effective barrier of some sort between you and the threat. For instance, in the case of the landmine, find a way to take a thick steel plate and carefully slide it under you without releasing the trigger. This is another sort of doubtful tactic, but it would be nice if you could make it work.
You are in a safe spot in a remote location, and you will likely die if you leave (from freezing, exposure, hunger, heat, drowning, lack of air [vacuum], and so on). You can:
Find or fashion something to protect you from the danger, then venture forth.
Call for help, if possible.
Wait for someone to show up to help you.
Start out and hope for the best.
If you escape, it will trigger some terrible consequence to you or to someone else.
If it involves someone else, make sure you can rescue him or disable the threat to him, then go for it.
Perhaps you know that you can resurrect the other person, or someone can resurrect you, if you make it far enough.
Give up on the important person(s).
Anticipate this and have an alternate plan that protects the important person(s).
Disable the trigger mechanism.
You’re trapped and require rescue, but all your comrades believe you are already dead, so they won’t come. You can:
Find a way to get a message to them. The subtler, the better.
Find your way out of the trap (by any methods mentioned earlier).
Something in this room is required for your survival, and you can’t take it with you. If you leave, you will be without it and you will die. You can:
Find a way to make it portable.
Find a replacement for it.
Find another way out that doesn’t endanger you.
Mutate, transform, or evolve into a form that does not require whatever it is that keeps you there.
A guard will kill you if you move. You can:
Possess the guard.
Wait it out—maybe he’ll fall asleep or something.
Convince the guard to help you by force, guile, bribery, threats, or other means. Perhaps even the truth might do it sometimes.
Provide an alternate target.
Disable the guard.
There is a threat to your personal property. You can:
Replace your property.
Reinforce your property.
Destroy your property before the threat does.
Hide your stuff.
Convince them that you don’t care.
Threaten a worse reprisal.
You can’t leave because you’re scared. You can:
Get over it/get therapy.
Get more scared of something else.
Think happy thoughts.
There is a threat of physical (mental/sexual) harm/torture. You can:
Take drugs or use some mental conditioning to get through the torture.
Resist the torture.
Call their bluff—convince them that the threat does not frighten you.
Tell them what they want to know.
Lie to them.
Commit suicide (or appear to), only to resurrect yourself later.
Physical restraint occurs when a character is tied up or mechanically restrained. It may also involve methods that prevent a character from moving, such as drugs. With physical restraint, the most common solutions are to:
Untie the knots
Cut the rope
Pick the locks
Use a blowtorch on the chains
Or, to regain whatever ability has been taken from you, you can:
Take an antidote
Remove a blindfold
And so on...
However, these are not the only ways to counter physical restraint. Other ways depend on the type of restraint used and the situation itself.
There is more than one way to trap someone, but certainly methods that physically restrain someone are among the most common.
You are tied up or otherwise mechanically restrained (by handcuffs, clamps, chains, and so on). You can:
Talk to your captor(s) and somehow get them to release you.
Threaten them with something worse—something they believe you can carry out.
Your ability to walk has been removed. You can:
Use your hands.
You have been blinded (in various ways) to prevent you from escaping. You can:
Use your other senses.
You have been paralyzed. You can:
Use your wits.
You have been rendered unconscious by drugs, blows, or other means. You can:
Attack from a dream state.
Wait until you wake up.
Another sort of trap is more situational and will result in one of the other types of traps as a result of the situation. This type of trap occurs when a character enters a situation involving other characters, thinking it will be safe, only to find out that it is a trap. It involves broken agreements and expectations and possibly betrayal by someone the character trusted. It can involve a confrontation with the betrayers or just the springing of a trap of any of the other types—in other words, the result of a betrayal or treacherous trap could be confinement (either physical or by threat), restraint, direct damage, or any of the other types of traps.
There are a few solutions common to pretty much every trap that is the result of betrayal or treachery. For instance:
Be aware of the clues and avoid the trap.
Be aware of the clues and come prepared to counter the trap.
Investigate the situation before you enter the trap—find out who you can trust.
Bring friends or have allies standing by.
Have a trump card—something you can spring on your captors that will force them to do as you demand.
Go in disguise.
Betray or ambush the betrayers. Set your own trap.
You have been invited to a meeting by someone you trust, but it is a trap.
You go to negotiate with your enemies, but they capture you instead.
You are sent on an errand by someone you trust, and it turns out to be a trap.
You have been told that if you leave, something horrible will happen to someone or something you care about.
You have been convinced by someone you trust that you must stay here for your own good—that you will be in danger if you leave or that you are insane and must stay where you are so as not to endanger others.
Leave anyway.
Find a way to prove to yourself that you are sane.
Necessity or danger forces you to try to escape.
You overhear someone talking and revealing the truth.
Find someone who tells you the truth.
Find some evidence that reveals the truth.
False memories have been implanted into your brain, and you believe you are supposed to be here.
A device or mental implant “reminder” kicks in to remind you of who you are.
Necessity or danger forces you to try to escape.
Something someone says doesn’t correspond to something someone else said, and the inconsistencies cause you to reason out the real situation.
Find evidence (such as old photos, diaries, newspaper clippings, and so on) that reveals the truth.
Find someone who tells you the truth.
Overhear someone talking and revealing the truth.
You have been convinced that you have done something horrible and that you deserve to be imprisoned.
A comrade convinces you that you’re wrong, or someone tells you the truth.
Necessity or danger forces you to try to escape.
The person you thought you hurt or killed is discovered (directly or indirectly) to be fine.
You learn that the person you hurt or killed was really an enemy.
You overhear someone talking and revealing the truth.
Find evidence (such as old photos, diaries, newspaper clippings, and so on) that reveals the truth.
You learn (somehow) that these feelings you have are exactly what they planned (in other words, you find records of the plan, or someone in the know voluntarily confesses or is forced to confess).
Mental traps affect the mind and generally are illusory. They can involve direct hallucinations and manipulated illusions or even attitudes formed by observation or by what you learn from others. Some scenarios involve the intentional manipulation of your thoughts or even mind control techniques. Others may only involve distorted views of reality based on information, manufactured situations, or illusions. In any case, if the attitude or illusion prevents you from acting or moving, it is a trap.
You see a way out, but it is a further trap or an illusion. You can:
Test it.
Throw or shoot into it to reveal the illusion.
Figure out the enemy’s methods and realize that it isn’t real.
Close your eyes and go by touch so the illusion can’t affect you.
Remember clues that might reveal that this is fake.
Someone is playing God with you and toying with you. You can:
Stop doing what amuses him.
Challenge him on moral grounds.
Show pity for the emptiness of his life, humiliate him, or cause him to question himself.
Pretend to go along with him and lull him into a false sense of security...then turn the tables.
You are not where you think you are.
Find clues and small discrepancies that prove things aren’t what they seem.
Close your eyes and feel the walls and objects.
Despite apparent danger, act on what you know is reality and ignore the falseness of your surroundings.
You are drugged and can’t function or find your way out. You can:
Fight off the effect of the drugs.
Keep acting drugged even after the effect wears off and then catch your captors off guard.
Drug your captors so they aren’t any better off than you.
Find and use an antidote for the drug.
You are hallucinating. You can:
Find a way to counter the hallucinatory agent.
Face the hallucinations in order to see through them and make sense of your situation.
Use superior mental discipline to overcome the hallucinations.
Find and use some substance or spell that will allow you to see reality.
You are in a pleasant enough place—perhaps a small village or a mountain hideaway, an idyllic forest, or the wing of a castle. It is all too nice. In reality, you are a prisoner, but you don’t know it yet. You can:
Find the flaws in the situation.
Remember your purpose.
Discover the evil being(s) that control the place.
Spy and overhear someone talking about you.
Try to leave.
You learn that the last 10 people to try to escape were all killed, and you are afraid you will be number 11. You can:
Find out what killed them.
Accept the possibility of death and go for it.
Investigate further until you know how to get away safely.
Get an ally on the “inside.”
You and a comrade are both trapped, and only one can escape (that is, make it over the burning rope bridge before it breaks). You can:
Try anyway and suffer the consequences.
Let him go and find another way out.
Find some way of modifying your situation (for example, throwing away supplies to make yourself lighter) that permits both of you to get out.
Your worst fear/phobia is right outside the door (fire, rats, snakes, and so on). You can:
Face your fears and overcome them, by force if necessary.
Find another way.
Have someone else deal with it for you.
You designed the trap yourself and know it to be foolproof.
Boy, you’re in trouble. What loophole did you leave?
Maybe someone else can help you.
Of course it’s not foolproof. Nothing is perfect.
You believe that the door leads to nothing—a void or an abyss. You can:
Test it by throwing something or tying a mouse to a string and letting it walk through.
Walk out anyway.
Find someone else to test it first.
Reverse psychology: Inevitably, if you tell a player in some way that he “shouldn’t go there...,” he will. So, you make a door that’s heavily padlocked, a really scary-looking hallway, or even a sign saying “Keep Out!” You know he will think there’s something especially worthwhile beyond that point because so many games have exactly that kind of setup, but instead it’s a trap, and he is stuck.
It all seems too easy, so you suspect a further trap—something worse than what you are in now. You can:
Kidnap a guard or hold him at gunpoint and convince him to tell you of the trap.
Act as if you don’t know it’s a trap to make them believe you’re a goner—but it turns out that’s part of your trap for them.
Proceed with the utmost caution, looking all around (including above and below you).
You face a metaphysical threat. (God will hate you, or the universe will end.) You can:
Convert theologies.
Make an offering to the deity.
Ignore the outcome.
You face the threat of doing something personally immoral. You can:
Change your morals.
Do it for the greater good.
Find someone else to do it.
Convince yourself that it’s okay.
Talk to God/the authority to absolve your sin.
Compromise with your threatener.
Find another way to accomplish what you must.
Pretend to go along with the plan, then find a way to double-cross the threatener before you do the immoral thing.
Sometimes a trap will physically remove you from the area you’re in and send you somewhere else. It’s possible that such a trap could also do physical harm. In fact, sometimes the main intent of the trap is to do physical harm, such as a trapdoor that drops you directly onto some long, sharp spikes or into a pool of acid or a pool full of sharks. In other cases, the main intent is to move you to another place. That place is probably also dangerous, but mainly, it is somewhere other than where you were. Traps that are focused primarily on direct damage should be among the ones listed next (in the “Injury/Direct Damage” section). Removal traps are primarily concerned with getting you away from where you are and leaving you somewhere else.
A trap door drops you into a different area.
A teleportation trap moves you somewhere else.
The room you entered really was a vehicle, and it drives you somewhere else.
You get in a cab, but the driver is working for the enemy and takes you somewhere far away from where you intended to be.
Combined with a previous type of trap (betrayal and treachery), you are captured and sent on a boat, plane, train, or automobile to parts unknown.
The other traps in this chapter cover situations in which someone is restrained, constrained, removed, or fooled, but one of the most common types of trap is simply there to cause damage directly to the unwary explorer. In some ways, this is the simplest type of trap, often designed to fire when triggered by some sensor. Traps may also be placed on doors, chests, and other items that you open, and, of course, opening triggers the trap. This is an example of the contact (making or breaking) type of sensor. Of course, direct damage traps can also be triggered manually, and some traps require no trigger—for instance, a pool of acid placed in your path or a guardian beast. For more information on different types of detectors used in traps, see Chapter 25, “Barriers, Boundaries, Obstacles, and Detectors.”
How do traps get sprung? Some of them require a sensor or some kind of detector that will cause the trap to be set in motion. Of course, not all the kinds of traps mentioned in this chapter fall into that category, but many do. So how do you spring such traps?
Trip wire or other manual sensor
Light/laser beam
Pressure plate
Motion/sound/heat
Contact (making or breaking)
Other technology—for instance, alien or magical
A giant spider’s web
See also “Methods of Detection” in Chapter 25, “Barriers, Boundaries, Obstacles, and Detectors.”
How do you get around or past the sensors that are waiting to spring a trap on you?
This list contains examples of traps that are set off by some kind of sensor or trigger.
Rigged weapon, such as a shotgun or dart set to go off if triggered.
Triggering the trap releases a poison cloud.
Hypodermic needle or other sharp object that injects a substance into the bloodstream.
Bomb or other explosive device, such as a mine.
Trapdoor that drops you and causes harm. This can simply be a long drop onto a hard surface, or it can be further enhanced by poisoned spikes, poisonous snakes or insects, pools of acid or pools full of sharks, a lion’s den, and so on. This also applies to any removal-type trap (see the earlier “Removal” section) that causes direct damage to the character.
A wild, dangerous animal placed in your path or sprung from a hidden location.
Poisoned drink or food.
Countered by avoiding the trap or by immunity.
Countered by having a “taster.”
High doses of some invisible deadly medium, such as radioactivity or high concentrations of carbon monoxide, and so on.
This can be countered by foreknowledge or immunity to the deadly agent or by quickly leaving the affected area.
This isn’t precisely a trap, but it is a way to control enemy movement, and it can involve traps. In Chapter 30, “Ways to Communicate with the Player,” I look at ways that game designers can control a player’s movement or direction in a game. However, players, too, can use specific strategies and techniques to control the movements of their enemies. In some cases, the same techniques may be available to players that are available to designers.
Hit and Run. One common way to control enemies is to lead them into traps. In some games, you can get their attention, then retreat to an advantageous position or to where your allies are hiding. The enemy will follow, and then you spring the trap.
Diversion. In some cases, you want to prevent enemies from attacking a specific location or unit, so you can create diversions to cause them to go in another direction or attack a different location or unit.
Attraction. In some cases, the enemy will be attracted to some commodity or item. Seeding a path with items that the enemy desires can give players control over their enemies’ movements. A similar effect may be accomplished by the use of decoys, which play upon the natural aggressiveness of some enemies and force them to follow a path of the player’s choosing.
Obstacles. If the enemy AI is able to choose alternate routes or change directions based on what it encounters in the game space, then placing obstacles along paths can divert the enemy. Clever players might even be able to cause enemies to double back on themselves, go in circles, or walk into traps.
Removal Traps. Set a trap that causes the enemy to be moved to a new location.
Espionage. Enemy movement might be affected by supplying them with false information and causing them to head off in the wrong direction as a result.
Questions to ask when creating a trap:
Does it cause physical damage?
Lethal damage?
How does it cause damage?
What part of the body does it damage?
Does it restrain the person or prevent him from moving or from escaping?
Using ropes, chains, zip ties, duct tape, straight jacket, and so on
Using a container of some sort, such as a metal box, cage, or coffin
Using some sophisticated technology, such as paralysis beams or a stasis field
Does it incapacitate the victim?
With unconsciousness
With drugs
With blindness
With deafness
With fear
Does it cause any environmental effects?
Loud noise
Bright light
Strong smells
Released poisons or other chemical agents
How is it triggered?
Physical contact, such as pressure plate, trip wire, and so on
Remote sensors (infrared, motion, sound, and so on)
Proximity sensor
Manual operation
Timer
Other sensors
Is the victim relocated in space or time?
Is he also damaged physically?
Is where he is relocated especially dangerous?
Is where he is relocated a hard-coded destination, random, or one of several fixed choices?
How far away is he sent, and how hard is it to get back?
How can the victim escape, avoid, or counter the trap?
You have to see it first.
Take another route.
Go above, below, or around it.
Disarm it.
Use something else to trigger it, then go on by.
Reverse it so it traps the trapper.
What does it look like?
Something ordinary and nonthreatening.
Like an obvious trap, but perhaps camouflaged under or behind something safe-looking.
It’s invisible or nearly so.
It’s a mechanism within another object—for instance, a magically trapped chest or door.
It’s contained inside some safe object, such as a stick of dynamite disguised as a candle or a hand grenade inside a pineapple.
It’s big or small, huge or tiny, or microscopic or the size of an elephant.
Design Challenge
Think about games you have played. How have they used traps and counters? Are any types of traps very commonly used?
Take some of the types of traps in this chapter and consider original uses of them. For instance, suppose you put in a typical-looking “Save Spot.” Normally, the player would go there to save a game in progress, but this one is a fake, and they become trapped.
Look at your own designs. Do you have traps for the player? For other characters? If so, what kinds? If not, can you add some interesting ones?
Take each of the different trap scenarios (or as many as you feel like doing) and:
Think of specific examples where you could use that type of trap.
Think of several ways a character could counter them.
Think of ways to combine different types of traps—for instance, a trapdoor with a bomb or an animal barrier with a hypodermic needle.