So my current campaign with my players is a 5e version of the Pathfinder Mummy's Mask adventure path that I've personalised.
What I'm looking for is some ideas on traps that could fit in an ancient egyptian setting. We're talking traps from moving through pyramids, ancient tombs, cursed items etc.
Some ideas I've already had are unleashing scarab swarms, rooms that fill with sand, mirages that ensare the mind, sarcophagus mimics, cursed items, animated statues etc
Since we're brainstorming ideas I'll throw some generic ideas here:
Spiked walls that close in on each other
Floor tiles that fall into nothingness leaving behind only some tiles which have pillars under them.
Pressure plates that trigger a flame thrower mechanism(?)
And if all else fails, throw in a cobra pit. Or a cobra pit with a thin walk way across it where they have to make athletics checks to cross. Or a floor that falls revealing a cobra pit with spikes and flamethrowers. :)
Sealed urns full of a liquid that burns in air, next to a pressure plate that triggers a mechenism to shatter the urns are something I have used that seems like it would fit, or you just leave them innocuously in with the pile of treasure... Poison darts are a classic for any ancient ruins. You may be able to do something with mirrors focusing sunlight enough to burn or at least blind the PCs. A mummy could be used as a guardian and the party can solve a puzzle or otherwise navigate around it rather than jumping immediately to combat. Corridors each with a different animal symbol next to them relating to the heads of various Egyptian deities. Only the one where the animal matches the god of a specified domain is safe. For example if the clue specified "choose death and live" then that would be the path with a jackal since Anubis, god of the dead has a jackals head.
Also metamongoose, that first trap is utterly disgusting and I am already considering how I can sensibly narrate it.
You could always go classic Indiana Jones and throw a rolling boulder trap into the mix. In one campaign, I put portals at the bottom and top of a ramp so once the boulder reached the bottom of the ramp, it would teleport back to the top. This definitely surprised my adventurers!
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Large rocks dropping is a good one - having an already crushed skeleton would put them on their toes as well - thinking the labyrinth of one-eyed willy from the Goonies.
The walls moving in ways which separate the party is a good one, if you're up for it.
A tilting floor or lowering ceiling, also works.
sand will be a key resource for them to work with, which has some cool qualities. If you fill a hole with sand, you can stand on ot no problem. As soon as that sand starts draining away from the bottom, you will sink. You can use this as a trap (sinking into sand and suffocating/ending up somwehre else), or you can use it as a puzzle, like in indiana jones 4, which was a good movie no matter what people say (apparently indiana jones can't involve unrealistic things like aliens, only realistic things like immortal knights and people who can suck hearts out of others chests with their hands), where they had to drain sand out of a mechanism to make it move. Sand is heavy, so can weigh on a lever system. Opening one door may close another.
2: Water flooding - the egyptians were good at irrigation and water direction, so that would work.
3: Trapped forever - just seal the door. Take all the gold you like, you're never getting out.
So my current campaign with my players is a 5e version of the Pathfinder Mummy's Mask adventure path that I've personalised.
What I'm looking for is some ideas on traps that could fit in an ancient egyptian setting. We're talking traps from moving through pyramids, ancient tombs, cursed items etc.
Some ideas I've already had are unleashing scarab swarms, rooms that fill with sand, mirages that ensare the mind, sarcophagus mimics, cursed items, animated statues etc
Any ideas? Let's think tank for inspiration!
From "The Mummy" Movie:
Since we're brainstorming ideas I'll throw some generic ideas here:
And if all else fails, throw in a cobra pit. Or a cobra pit with a thin walk way across it where they have to make athletics checks to cross. Or a floor that falls revealing a cobra pit with spikes and flamethrowers. :)
Here are a few ideas:
Sealed urns full of a liquid that burns in air, next to a pressure plate that triggers a mechenism to shatter the urns are something I have used that seems like it would fit, or you just leave them innocuously in with the pile of treasure...
Poison darts are a classic for any ancient ruins.
You may be able to do something with mirrors focusing sunlight enough to burn or at least blind the PCs.
A mummy could be used as a guardian and the party can solve a puzzle or otherwise navigate around it rather than jumping immediately to combat.
Corridors each with a different animal symbol next to them relating to the heads of various Egyptian deities. Only the one where the animal matches the god of a specified domain is safe. For example if the clue specified "choose death and live" then that would be the path with a jackal since Anubis, god of the dead has a jackals head.
Also metamongoose, that first trap is utterly disgusting and I am already considering how I can sensibly narrate it.
You could always go classic Indiana Jones and throw a rolling boulder trap into the mix. In one campaign, I put portals at the bottom and top of a ramp so once the boulder reached the bottom of the ramp, it would teleport back to the top. This definitely surprised my adventurers!
Former Spider Queen of the Spider Guild. Join today! May we cast our web across the realms!
"Made by spiders, for spiders, of spiders."
My pronouns are she/her.
Web Weaver of Everlasting Narative! (title bestowed by Drummer)
Large rocks dropping is a good one - having an already crushed skeleton would put them on their toes as well - thinking the labyrinth of one-eyed willy from the Goonies.
The walls moving in ways which separate the party is a good one, if you're up for it.
A tilting floor or lowering ceiling, also works.
sand will be a key resource for them to work with, which has some cool qualities. If you fill a hole with sand, you can stand on ot no problem. As soon as that sand starts draining away from the bottom, you will sink. You can use this as a trap (sinking into sand and suffocating/ending up somwehre else), or you can use it as a puzzle, like in indiana jones 4, which was a good movie no matter what people say (apparently indiana jones can't involve unrealistic things like aliens, only realistic things like immortal knights and people who can suck hearts out of others chests with their hands), where they had to drain sand out of a mechanism to make it move. Sand is heavy, so can weigh on a lever system. Opening one door may close another.
2: Water flooding - the egyptians were good at irrigation and water direction, so that would work.
3: Trapped forever - just seal the door. Take all the gold you like, you're never getting out.
4: Sand Golems? that sounds terrifying to me...
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You could play the Bangles "Walk like an Egyptian" in the background and have the players roll vs Wisdom or be charmed to do a really stupid dance....