Traps can be one of the most exciting parts of any adventure.  They can also be one of the most disappointing.  Depending on the edition of the game that you are playing traps can be more or less balanced, but more importantly depending on how they are presented they can either wipe out a party or provide no challenge or interest whatsoever.

Probably the single biggest mistake made when creating and presenting traps is that the GM doesn’t think through what will actually happen in the game with the trap.  Either they  figure the party will never see the blatantly obvious pit hidden in the squares that the monsters are curiously avoiding or he figures that it won’t be as bad as it really is when it goes off.

To avoid this problem I recommend playing through the scenario in your own mind.  What is the difficulty of spotting the trap?  Where would the party need to stand in order to see it?  Are there party members who will get passive checks?  How likely is it that they will be in the right place at the right time?  Do the people you play with regularly check for traps?  Yes, I know I am advocating some metagaming here, but if you don’t do it you can really end up with a flop for a trap.

Once you have gauged the party’s likelihood of finding a trap you can then figure out their ability to disarm it.  You know your players.  Are they creative enough to disarm it without getting hurt?  What methods are they likely to use?  Does anyone have a skill high enough to just disarm it?  What requirements are necessary in order to disarm it?

For examply – let’s say that I’m a really mean DM and I know that my party will search every inch of the dungeon and that they have not just one, but two characters who get passive checks and have the ability to disarm nearly any trap.  But I really want to soften them up or create a dangerous area?  What do I do?  I put the trap in an obvious but inaccessible place.  Fireballs that rain down from a shaft that they can’t get into for example.  The passageway is important, they have to cross it, but they know that they will get blasted.  Not nice, and not recommended for every party.  A lot of parties would take serious damage from such an encounter – perhaps even die.  So be careful.

If the party isn’t likely to see a trap or search for it, then a covered pit of moderate difficulty could be in order.  A pit filled with a pool of acid would outright kill at least one character in the same party, and could very well wipe out the party.  More creative players would probably find a way to deal with the pit of acid.

Even more than monsters, traps need to be thought out and tailored specifically to the party.  A party can always run away from the monsters.  They often won’t get past the first round with a trap.

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