RSS
When building a dungeon/castle/lair/base, of course you have to put some traps in. Things that the players can exercise their brains on, rather than merely their characters' combat stats.
Traps can be defined as inanimate (though perhaps mechanically moving) obstacles that cause some setback if not surmounted or avoided. Traps can be:
- Inconvenient: They block off passages or confine the heroes, and a new route or escape needs to be found.
- Resource draining: They erode metal, spoil food, drain magic items, steal money, or otherwise incapacitate equipment.
- Damaging: They cause physical damage to the heroes, which is generally survivable.
- Lethal: They are deadly, either by overwhelming damage, poison, asphyxiation, or some other "instant death" scenario.
Traps generally require logic, knowledge, creative thinking, or the clever application of non-combat skills to overcome. Now... don't forget these are PCs we're talking about. So unless you want a "killer dungeon" that will cause characters to die like flies, pretty much avoid the fourth type in your adventures.
[Reminder: Our guest commentators have not seen Rogue One. Part of the fun is seeing how their untainted impressions re-interpret the movie through the lens of our comic.]
What seems odd here is not Jim's actions. Why do you have razor-sharp iris blades pulsing open and closed?
I am trying to think of any possible reason for these things to exist. Clearly, the pulsing rate is slow enough that you can get through with a reasonably safe "pulling yourself up through the open door".
It's much harder to pull yourself up than to just dive down. So this is not a rapidly opening and closing iris. So again, what purpose does it serve? Why is it there?
The Empire's building code seems very strange. This is not just failing to be OSHA compliant; this is a building standard that requires you to put deathtraps in.
If this base has a self-destruct button, I'm going to call it Doofenshmirtz.
— Keybounce
Transcript
GM: Bria, you reach the top of the data tower.
GM: In the ceiling is an iris door, the aperture blades pulsing open and closed rhythmically.
Bria: I check the suspiciously pulsating door for traps.
[SFX]: sshhhpp... {the door pulses closed...}
[SFX]: tsssshh... {and open...}
GM: You find one very large trap, made of razor sharp iris blades pulsing open and closed.
Bria: Ah. A trap door. I disarm it.
GM: You look for a control mechanism but don't see any.
Bria: Aha! It must be on the other side. I climb through.
GM: Er... Make a Dex roll.
Bria: 19! Do I see the controls? {climbs through}
GM: There are no controls on the other side either.
Bria: Damn. Must have been on the first side after all.