I’ve got a player who’s 7th level fighter beats everyone he ever fights, in straight up Hack and Slash.
But I’ve got a climax fight coming with his nemesis (that he’s never met). I’ve decided to make the nemesis a trap expert, and my fighter will be entering the nemesis’ uber-trapped lair.
So 2 questions:
How do you handle trap-springing in DW? In other F20 games, the player would make a “notice” check, or if a special skill, a skill check. Doesn’t seem very Dungeon Worldy. So, how do you handle?
Ideas for traps? There are some good ones here:
http://www.dungeonmastering.com/campaigns-adventures/clever-dd-traps
Finally, I’m running this game in 9 hours, so I hope the European folks who aren’t at work can answer soon (or maybe it’s people who ARE at work who can answer 🙂 ).
http://www.dungeonmastering.com/campaigns-adventures/clever-dd-traps
If they give you a golden opportunity to spring the trap, do so, ask them how they react, and let the defy danger flow accordingly.
You need to change the stakes of the fight to challenge the fighter in ways that don’t just mean a roll of the dice.
Put the guy inside a spinning ball of spikes, or across a giant chasm, or constantly on fire, or something. Remove his permission to just roll H&S, or at least make rolling H&S very costly. “You can do it, but based on what just happened as he got near that statue, that aura seems to melt steel and you’ll lose your weapon!”
Contrawise, if they are fictionally guarding themselves against the trap (sending the torchbearer ahead to spring pits, spiking open the doors in the flooding room before the water starts flowing, etc) then you have to honor that.
A lot of that will be pure fiction, unsupported by the dice mechanics. Let the DM principles be your guide for this, especially be a fan. Use the traps’ challenge to make the fighter look awesome rather than just greasing them.
Does this party include a thief?
Yes, but the thief’s got a sentient sword that is bent on killing the other big bad. So the thief will most likely be heading towards the Fire Naga to kill her. But I’ll give him the choice… The rest of the party will probably be distracted elsewhere…
Don’t forget you can hand out debilities on a hard move. That will bring some of the crazy dice rolls to heel. Scroll down to look at them from this link. Those are your basic units for trouble traps can cause: http://www.dungeonworldsrd.com/playing-the-game#TOC-Harm-and-Healing
Most of what I have to say in the thread below would apply here, too. Basically:
1) Stat up the big bad (and their lair), hardcore
2) Show signs of the impending threat
3) Once the fight starts, lean heavily on “reveal an unwelcome truth” and “tell the consequences/requirements and ask”
4) Keep up the pressure, making soft moves that keep them reacting and on the defensive
5) Encourage and reward lateral thinking
6) Don’t fudge; follow the numbers and give the PCs what they worked for.
https://plus.google.com/101282524805480823686/posts/2UNZwaCUkW7
I actually recommend reading this article: http://theangrygm.com/traps-suck/
It articulates my problem with traps and gives a good solution to it.
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