So the party are about to join a posse in retaliation of a goblin raid. 3PCs will be lead by 4 NPCs straight to a cave system known to house the goblins.
The twist is the cave is completely empty and the NPCs lead the party further and further into the cave (seemingly knowing the way). Once they reach the final room the goblins will spring their trap(s). Forcing the party to run a gauntlet back through the cave system in order to escape.
It's a one-shot level 4 adventure in a western inspired setting. The story (TRIGGER WARNING - GENOCIDE(?)) goes the goblins are taking revenge after the NPCs of the local town entered the cave, the year before, and slaughtered the women and children. The surviving males then turned to a Hobgoblin Warlord for assistance. Luring the NPCs back to the scene of the crime.
I would love ideas for traps and combats the party and NPCs might face as they have to fight their way back up through the cave. Also any times regarding red flags o may have overlooked.
The big problem is that you're relying on the PCs picking up the idiot ball, which they might or might not actually do. Figure out what to do if the PCs get suspicious and start poking around or investigating.
I've got a good bunch of Players with decent buy in.
When they start poking around they will see evidence of the Goblins living here. Evidence of the slaughter. And may even levy accusations to the NPCs (who will drop like flies on the way out).
What if instead of goblins which get used a lot the 4 npc’s are the encounters end fight. Like you have set up the groundwork of them leading the players deeper and deeper and finding nothing build up the tension with that gave them reach an obvious goblin camp sneak up on them, but there are only 2 goblins there and then when the party is all wtf? Give the NPC’s a surprise attack.
so rather than genocide the goblin threat was a hoax that these NPC’s have been spreading to lead adventurers to their death and rob them.
then you can follow up with the players not knowing if the whole town is in on it or it’s just those NPC’s
Maybe they have been setting themselves up as heroes keeping back the goblins and the town fully believes in them and the party have to decide between telling the truth or letting the town believe in its heroes
maybe the whole town is evil and corrupt and has been sending adventurers to die against goblins for decades
maybe the town is at the mercy of an evil god that requires sacrifice and rather than send their own they send travellers.
You certainly have a wizard imagination! These are some top draw suggestions for plots and twists!
What I was hoping for, and please excuse me if my original post wasn't clear enough, was advice on specific encounters that seemed fitting to the setting and story I was running.
That being the town militia has stormed the goblin lair. And the Goblins, knowing this is what they would do, have allowed the militia to enter deep into the lair. Before trapping them with a series of traps, puzzles and combat encounters... It would be a bit of a meatgrinder to get out of. And any survivors would come face to face with the surviving goblins.
I would look up 'Tucker's Kobolds'. He's shown you can use even 1/8 CR monsters to be deadly towards full fledged adventurers.
Look in the DMG for various traps. Shrine of Tomoachan (in Yawning Portal) has a few, Rolling boulders (rolls 60 feet on initiative count 10.. all players need to figure out what to do on their count), hidden steam blasts (which then coat the steps in steam making it slick and wet - difficult terrain + dex roll for falling).
There's also a goblin variant, Nilbog.. fun against spell casters :)
I'm having a bit of a problem with the logic of going back out. It seems like if there were traps laid, the PCs might notice them on the way in. I think the way around that would be to say the way in is clear and once they enter that final chamber, some kind of gate or giant debris pile crashes down behind them, so you kind of force them to take another route out. and that's where the traps could be.
As for the traps, I'd guess the goblins would design them to stop nay survivors of the ambush from escaping. I'd see some of them just being obvious, like say a giant pit that's going to be slow to get across that's main function is to just slow them down to give the goblins time to regroup and launch another attack if the PCs take too long figuring how to get across. Other traps could be more brutish, like a tripwire that triggers heavy things that fall from the ceiling. Or a net that would catch them (again to give the goblins time to catch them). At the end, when the can see daylight, there should totally be a wall, very slowly dropping into place, to give the PCs just enough time to slide under it. And one last band of goblins there to finish off the now weakened survivors.
To address your confusion. The idea of having the party heading deeper into the cave without issue is to create a couple of effects. Firstly paranoia, they will be expecting threats and so the absence of threat should unnerve my players. Secondly it gives them a chance to investigate and uncover the truth about the caves and the NPCs previous episode in attending.
I'll have a very slow time consuming event kick the threat off. This will give the goblins time to set the traps along the escape route.
The sliding door. Giving hope and then having a firing squad on the otherside is perfect.
I will just say be wary. Rare is the PC that runs, even in danger. VERY high chance that they would attempt to fight even 20 goblins at once.
If they do start preparing imitative have something set them off that they can't fight. A wall of fire, a collapse, the rolling boulder as mentiojed above.
They want to roll? Let them roll and have the trap/phenomenon go at either initiative count 20, 10 or 0 starting the chase
I made a trap in a goblin dungeon, and it was absolutely amazing when I used it against my players (amazing for me, not the party).
Part of a tunnel (Must be at least 35 feet long, 65 feet recommended) is made completely out of dry wood (Floor, walls, ceiling). The wooden walls are covered in dirt so they don't look out of the ordinary. Behind one of the tunnel walls is a room with small peephole into the tunnel. A goblin with a match or a torch is in this room, and simply sets fire to the wall, subjecting the whole party to fire damage, and possibly bludgeoning damage from falling debris. If you want to be even more evil, put a pit beneath the fire tunnel.
I will just say be wary. Rare is the PC that runs, even in danger. VERY high chance that they would attempt to fight even 20 goblins at once.
If they do start preparing imitative have something set them off that they can't fight. A wall of fire, a collapse, the rolling boulder as mentiojed above.
They want to roll? Let them roll and have the trap/phenomenon go at either initiative count 20, 10 or 0 starting the chase
Oh. I don't expect them to run.
They will be so deep in the cave that they will have no choice but to fight to escape.
I will just say be wary. Rare is the PC that runs, even in danger. VERY high chance that they would attempt to fight even 20 goblins at once.
If they do start preparing imitative have something set them off that they can't fight. A wall of fire, a collapse, the rolling boulder as mentiojed above.
They want to roll? Let them roll and have the trap/phenomenon go at either initiative count 20, 10 or 0 starting the chase
Oh. I don't expect them to run.
They will be so deep in the cave that they will have no choice but to fight to escape.
Escape.... That's not a word I would think to use...
I think it depends on if you want a time pressured escape or just a hazardous escape.
Without an environmental pressure [cave in or flooding the cave with water] PCs are likely to just fight whatever you throw at them until they either day or kill the mobs you were hoping would force them along the escape. Removing the time pressure. But if it the case that the only reason they are going "through" the traps is because it is the only exit then you'd need different traps to if they were being forced out and didnt have the time.
For trap ideas I'd keep it very brute force style, just to go with the goblin/cave theme. Also baring in mind that any escapes from the traps should seem accidental as the goblins would truly be trying to kill the NPCs in your story.
I'd go with deep pits, water traps/flooding rooms, out of reach archer mobs, slippery escape routes, rolling ball...
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
All posts come with the caveat that I don't know what I'm talking about.
To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
If you're in the Badlands look away now.
So the party are about to join a posse in retaliation of a goblin raid. 3PCs will be lead by 4 NPCs straight to a cave system known to house the goblins.
The twist is the cave is completely empty and the NPCs lead the party further and further into the cave (seemingly knowing the way). Once they reach the final room the goblins will spring their trap(s). Forcing the party to run a gauntlet back through the cave system in order to escape.
It's a one-shot level 4 adventure in a western inspired setting. The story (TRIGGER WARNING - GENOCIDE(?)) goes the goblins are taking revenge after the NPCs of the local town entered the cave, the year before, and slaughtered the women and children. The surviving males then turned to a Hobgoblin Warlord for assistance. Luring the NPCs back to the scene of the crime.
I would love ideas for traps and combats the party and NPCs might face as they have to fight their way back up through the cave. Also any times regarding red flags o may have overlooked.
Many thanks in advance.
The big problem is that you're relying on the PCs picking up the idiot ball, which they might or might not actually do. Figure out what to do if the PCs get suspicious and start poking around or investigating.
I've got a good bunch of Players with decent buy in.
When they start poking around they will see evidence of the Goblins living here. Evidence of the slaughter. And may even levy accusations to the NPCs (who will drop like flies on the way out).
Thanks for the response!
What if instead of goblins which get used a lot the 4 npc’s are the encounters end fight. Like you have set up the groundwork of them leading the players deeper and deeper and finding nothing build up the tension with that gave them reach an obvious goblin camp sneak up on them, but there are only 2 goblins there and then when the party is all wtf? Give the NPC’s a surprise attack.
so rather than genocide the goblin threat was a hoax that these NPC’s have been spreading to lead adventurers to their death and rob them.
then you can follow up with the players not knowing if the whole town is in on it or it’s just those NPC’s
Maybe they have been setting themselves up as heroes keeping back the goblins and the town fully believes in them and the party have to decide between telling the truth or letting the town believe in its heroes
maybe the whole town is evil and corrupt and has been sending adventurers to die against goblins for decades
maybe the town is at the mercy of an evil god that requires sacrifice and rather than send their own they send travellers.
Oh wow!
You certainly have a wizard imagination! These are some top draw suggestions for plots and twists!
What I was hoping for, and please excuse me if my original post wasn't clear enough, was advice on specific encounters that seemed fitting to the setting and story I was running.
That being the town militia has stormed the goblin lair. And the Goblins, knowing this is what they would do, have allowed the militia to enter deep into the lair. Before trapping them with a series of traps, puzzles and combat encounters... It would be a bit of a meatgrinder to get out of. And any survivors would come face to face with the surviving goblins.
I would look up 'Tucker's Kobolds'. He's shown you can use even 1/8 CR monsters to be deadly towards full fledged adventurers.
Look in the DMG for various traps. Shrine of Tomoachan (in Yawning Portal) has a few, Rolling boulders (rolls 60 feet on initiative count 10.. all players need to figure out what to do on their count), hidden steam blasts (which then coat the steps in steam making it slick and wet - difficult terrain + dex roll for falling).
There's also a goblin variant, Nilbog.. fun against spell casters :)
I'm having a bit of a problem with the logic of going back out. It seems like if there were traps laid, the PCs might notice them on the way in. I think the way around that would be to say the way in is clear and once they enter that final chamber, some kind of gate or giant debris pile crashes down behind them, so you kind of force them to take another route out. and that's where the traps could be.
As for the traps, I'd guess the goblins would design them to stop nay survivors of the ambush from escaping. I'd see some of them just being obvious, like say a giant pit that's going to be slow to get across that's main function is to just slow them down to give the goblins time to regroup and launch another attack if the PCs take too long figuring how to get across. Other traps could be more brutish, like a tripwire that triggers heavy things that fall from the ceiling. Or a net that would catch them (again to give the goblins time to catch them). At the end, when the can see daylight, there should totally be a wall, very slowly dropping into place, to give the PCs just enough time to slide under it. And one last band of goblins there to finish off the now weakened survivors.
I love it!
Absolutely love it!
To address your confusion. The idea of having the party heading deeper into the cave without issue is to create a couple of effects. Firstly paranoia, they will be expecting threats and so the absence of threat should unnerve my players. Secondly it gives them a chance to investigate and uncover the truth about the caves and the NPCs previous episode in attending.
I'll have a very slow time consuming event kick the threat off. This will give the goblins time to set the traps along the escape route.
The sliding door. Giving hope and then having a firing squad on the otherside is perfect.
Thank you
Tucker's Kobolds sounds familiar.
I'll give it a look.
Thanks for the tips!
I will just say be wary. Rare is the PC that runs, even in danger. VERY high chance that they would attempt to fight even 20 goblins at once.
If they do start preparing imitative have something set them off that they can't fight. A wall of fire, a collapse, the rolling boulder as mentiojed above.
They want to roll? Let them roll and have the trap/phenomenon go at either initiative count 20, 10 or 0 starting the chase
I made a trap in a goblin dungeon, and it was absolutely amazing when I used it against my players (amazing for me, not the party).
Part of a tunnel (Must be at least 35 feet long, 65 feet recommended) is made completely out of dry wood (Floor, walls, ceiling). The wooden walls are covered in dirt so they don't look out of the ordinary. Behind one of the tunnel walls is a room with small peephole into the tunnel. A goblin with a match or a torch is in this room, and simply sets fire to the wall, subjecting the whole party to fire damage, and possibly bludgeoning damage from falling debris. If you want to be even more evil, put a pit beneath the fire tunnel.
There is no dawn after eternal night.
Homebrew: Magic items, Subclasses
Oh. I don't expect them to run.
They will be so deep in the cave that they will have no choice but to fight to escape.
Escape.... That's not a word I would think to use...
I think it depends on if you want a time pressured escape or just a hazardous escape.
Without an environmental pressure [cave in or flooding the cave with water] PCs are likely to just fight whatever you throw at them until they either day or kill the mobs you were hoping would force them along the escape. Removing the time pressure. But if it the case that the only reason they are going "through" the traps is because it is the only exit then you'd need different traps to if they were being forced out and didnt have the time.
For trap ideas I'd keep it very brute force style, just to go with the goblin/cave theme. Also baring in mind that any escapes from the traps should seem accidental as the goblins would truly be trying to kill the NPCs in your story.
I'd go with deep pits, water traps/flooding rooms, out of reach archer mobs, slippery escape routes, rolling ball...
All posts come with the caveat that I don't know what I'm talking about.