Scampir

A little bit ago, one of my game viziers @Scampir or @ToppleThrones, asked me if Heroes By Hearthlight was a Dungeon Crawler. And eventually I settled on yeah, the way I run it? So today I want to give an example of a basic trapped room for the game as well as rundown for how players could potentially use any skill to overcome it.

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THE SETUP
Our player have entered the dungeon of a mad, dwarven war-mage. They enter into a room to find a large corridor, at least 100 feet, that narrows at the other end. They stand on firm stone but the rest of the floor is maid of tiny mosiac tile. After they have all entered, the door behind them shuts and locks- a booming voice calls out "Akha, Fok-". One of the party members speaks dwarvish and is able to translate "Ready, Aim". The party's light shows countless arrow slits in the narrowing walls and see many ruddy stains on the mosaic tiles.

They are in a killbox.

Note: In my mind this started as a simple corridor with arrow slits firing at players. As I considered the approaches players would take, I filled in blank spaces. This is great for a thought exercise but most of the times you should leave those spaces to be filled in at the table- your player's successes and failure fill out these blank spaces and is part of the art of collaborative storytelling. It's no fun if you show up to the table and already have all the answers

THE MECHANICS

The corridor gets narrower as it goes, which means the crossbow bolts require less time to reach you- so the further you proceed the worse your position gets. I want this to convey how long and deadly this trap is- so I don't want it to be something players can clear in one roll. Each player gains a 6-clock representing their progress in the room. On average, players will get two ticks per success, meaning they need three to clear the room- which perfectly maps to the zones. So we know we they are in the room based on their progress.

Progress:
0-1: Green Zone.
2-3: Yellow Zone.
4-5: Red Zone.
6: Exit

This was made by a war-mage not bodged together by kobolds with some scraps. It's tier is one higher than the players- they will need fine gear, a good plan, or to push themselves to make meaningful progress.

Finally, the one blank space you should always have filled with a trap: how does the owner get around it? If you don't know the answer to this then the rogue will constantly be finding candelabra switches because you can't think of anything better in the moment. Knowing how it's shut off/circumvented let's you reward clever players who might find the answer before they even encounter the puzzle. But also it's fun to have an answer in mind and then see how players solve it. Here, we put the clue in the beginning "Ready, Aim" the final part of that is "Fire"... but the players obviously don't want that. This is a war-mage, a general. How would he stop the arrows? The trap will disarm if someone says "Brekh-naj", the dwarven word for ceasefire. Having them think of "fire" when they first entered and learned "ready, aim" should hopefully prime them to jump to "ceasefire"- and if not they will find other ways through this.

THE HEROES AND THEIR METHODS

LADY FORTITUDE

Our first adventurer is Lady Fortitude, a tough old orcish fighter whose lost track of how many she's killed because she doesn't have that many fingers. She is gonna be going for our straightforward approaches using the Fortitude actions.

ATHLETICS: Just run fast? Faster than bolts! The most direct approach and one that could work. However, if a player tries this they will discover the issue- the trap was made to stop this. They can attempt to simply run across but they will immediately have a consequence thrown at them before they roll. In HbH this is called a counter, certain obstacles and foes are specialized against a particular approach and get to immediately punish players for testing them. So if anyone tries to just cross the corridor- they are gonna take damage for each roll they do- without including any consequences for the roll.

Okay but Athletics isn't just running. How about jumping? Leap good! Hell yeah, that can work! A good staff or pole would be an excellent tool here but if they are operating with just their legs, a player will probably wanna push themselves to increase their effect.

SURVIVAL: One of the broadest actions in the game, but that provides a very simple approach. When you want to just grit your teeth and bear it- you roll Survival. Lady Fortitude can pull out her fine shield and march through- blocking the arrows as they come. This is probably suicidal but could work. This is where I want to touch on consequences beyond harm, which could seem impossible here, right? There are arrows flying at you- it's gonna be damaging! But we can target the Lady's shield instead and try to break or destroy it. You make a clock appropriate for the gear and start marking it. Once, it's half-full the gear is broken and counts as -1 tier, and when it's filled the gear is destroyed. Leaving Lady Fortitude stranded in the middle of the room with a shattered shield and leaving them to figure out a fresh approach sounds like a fun goal to shoot for.

STRIKE: The melee attack action, but more helpful here, the action for wrecking shit. She could start smashing up the mosaic tiles- individually those are incredibly easy to destroy. With each strike she is going to set off the bolts and is still dangerous. But it has a very juicy reward- if Lady Fortitude reached the end of the hall then everyone else would be able to walk down her path of destruction. However she would need the right tool, a maul or greataxe would be perfect- something with reach might even improve her position and lessen any damage coming her way. Then again if she's wielding a rapier or cutlass, well, she would be better off just using a big rock. Again, depending on the tool she uses here- this is also a great time to throw gear damage as a consequence. The whole party might get through easily but that might have cost the fighter their fine greataxe and now they are forced to use holdout weaponry. It still is telling the tale and creating consequence.

INTIMIDATE: Obviously, we aren't going to be able to intimidate the room itself- it's not THAT magic. But, that doesn't mean there aren't vectors for menacing others. Did one of the party members adopt a goblin child in the prior battle? Welp, it's time for Goltaan to earn their keep. Order that little bugger to scamper across while you follow behind- aiming to move as crossbows reload. Or if you are a lighter shade of bastard, this is a Forged in the Dark game, you can always do a flashback. You knew you were going into this war-mage's tower and gathered information. Perhaps you pulled rank on a soldier who worked with him once. Or you utterly terrified the local librarian into giving you the cliff notes on his biography. This would be a fantastic way to give the player a hint about the disarming mechanic. I wouldn't just hand it to them unless they crit or are really struggling- but depending on the roll you can give them something useful. Even just the tidbit that the war-mage was fond of the dwarven tradition of key phrases to their magic can push them in the right direction.

DOC REFLEX

Next up we have Doc Reflex, our gnomish trapsmith who is NOT a real doctor. Also, quick sidebar- more people should abuse locksmith/trapsmith as a background. Someone has to build the deathtraps for these mad wizards, and its a great resource to call on for gathering info. It also let's you walk into a room full of acid magnets and say bullshit like, "Ah, a Renquist design- it's been awhile. I do wonder if he ever closed that exploit?". It's great if you bypass the trap, and its hilarious if when blow yourself up.

JUST A LITTLE GUY!: Doc is a gnome and could try and leverage that to their advantage here. There are slits that go over their head and they are less of a target, so the trap wouldn't be as perilous for them. In that case, I'd offer them better position throughout but they would also be at reduced effect. Because if we are taking their stature into account we would also need to count their short stride as a factor. Less danger- but more rolls- it's up to Doc's player if they would want to take this deal.
THIEVERY: The action for springing and disabling traps. Most of the time this would be clearly be the skill to use- but the GM has built a rather devious trap. There's a ton of crossbows, each mosaic tile is a trigger, and taking the time to disable it fully is infeasible. That doesn't make thievery useless here- actions are all about how you use them. First, you could use it to gather information on the trap and figure out its magic in nature and that most of those traps will be shut down by a phrase or gesture. And while they can't shut the whole thing off- Doc could try and lift the tiles up and muck up their inner workings. Traps like this are delicate things and if they can lock down a tile it will probably mess with the surrounding tiles- creating a safe spot to step! Finally, Doc could use Thievery to open the locked door behind them. Being able to walk out, consider their options, and gather resources could be a lifesaver.

STEALTH: Is moving undetected. The sensors that would need to be tricked here would be the trap's triggers, the mosaic tiles. Doc can't just step lightly and hope to not set them off, they'd need a plan. One idea would be to step quickly behind an ally, pressing onto the tiles before they reset: the indiana jones sand-bag method.

This has the chance to be effective, but there's also the possibility that the bolts will just keep firing once triggered. This is a great chance to let the mechanics inform things and see what the results of the roll are. However, even if this plan does work, it will require an ally up front and immediately fall apart if they go down. Finally, Doc could use the appropriate resources to fix the situation. If say, he had opened the door behind them with Thievery, he could snag up that nice carpet he'd spotted before and roll it over the floor. Potentially spreading out his weight enough and muffling the footfalls that he could try to move across the corridor.

CRAFT: Is knowing how to do a job and making use of said skills. Frequently, one's background can help inform the type of crafting a character is skilled in- but you are always free to try your hand. Now, we know Doc is a trapsmith and would be able to replicate some of his actions with Thievery here: studying the mechanisms, gathering information, etc. However, let's do something only craft can do and make something. We are in the middle of dangerous situation but there's no timer to their knowledge and are safe on the starting position. Marking the appropriate gear, Doc Reflex is going to try and throw some stuff together to make an adhesive- just some sticky gunk. That sounds like something they could feasibly throw together. With a successful roll they could craft this sticky substance and use it to gunk up the tiles. Maybe keeping them from pressing down, or even fouling the works powering them. This could potentially create a safe path through!

VOLLEY: Okay, this is my favorite way to get through this because it is UTTER bullshit. Volley is the action of shooting. You can't pull out your bow and pew-pew through this trap, that's absurd. You could possibly use a frost spell to the same effect at the adhesive- but there's another use to Volley. It is the intimate knowledge of trajectories: being able to find where a shot came from, finding the best spot to snipe from, etc. A high volley means you have mastered the arcane art of motherfucking trigonometry. You can't use this to dodge an arrow flying at you- but here? With the time to study the angles where the bolts will be flying from? Doc can roll Volley to study the room and find the blind spots, attempting to just move through the room while arrows fly uselessly past them. It has the chances of going incredibly poorly- but god is it fun to imagine the attempt.

MARQUIS WILLIAM VAN WILL

Our last adventurer is The Marquis Wi... is Willy, a dwarven wizard and utter shit. Played by the kind of player who has a dozen plans for every situation and an argument for why he is right actually. Woe betide any who step into debate with this man lest they watch their group's time be swallowed whole. Big Willy is gonna find a way to use the skills he is good at in any situation- even if they don't make a lick of sense.

I JUST USE MAGIC Magic is a powerful tool that all characters have access to. The right spell at the right moment can trivialize some encounters. From the starting spells in the book we have three that could get Willy through. Shrink can reduce a creature down in scale which could open up Doc's options and maybe let them try and stealth cross the floor because they weight so little now. Vault is the easiest option, for the cost of 2 stamina and a gear slot, Willy can teleport the group to a point he can see. This was taken into account in our design as they've got 100 feet to cross and only the light they brought with them. Their are still ways they can use Vault as their most successful option but there are enough wrinkles in the situation to still require a roll here. Whether that's a mad dash to get far enough their torches can reach before casting or using Silvered Eyedrops and a Perception check to spot a safe landing space. Float is also a great option here, become weightless and float like a balloon- Lady Fortitude would love to toss Big Willy across- this roll could be at extreme effect. However, this is the fun of having blank spaces to play with. Perhaps the roll fails completely, what does that mean? When Willy touches the ceiling there is a horrific CLICK and rumbling as the ceiling begins to lower- the GM adds the clock "CRUSHED TO DEATH". Time for the party to make a heroic, mad dash or perhaps time to break down the door behind them and just walk out, alas poor Willy.

PERCEPTION: Using your senses is the easiest way to get information in any situation, but unlikely to get you across the room unless you apply it cleverly. We can't use it like Volley to figure out trajectories, but we can see where the blood is staining the tiles. It's a bit of a shot in the dark but by trying to avoid where people have died in the past, they might be able to avoid their fate.

CHARM: Will be used in much the same way as intimidate, gathering information and making actions during flashbacks. However, the cost of such actions can differ wildly. People resent intimidation (excepting bedroom situations involving safewords and consent) and while you may not pay a cost immediately, you shouldn't be surprised when the fella you menaced shows up with a gang of bravos to teach you a lesson. Charm is a skill for friends, a diplomatic action- its price can be far worse. No one knows how to twist a knife like a friend. Let's say you use a contact who is an old adventurer, what luck! Why she's delved those very ruins before losing their partner and turning back. Now, she could give you some information but is gonna give you a sidequest: retrieving their partner's body for proper burial. The players might get a leg up on this initial challenge but it's worth that price for the opportunity to make them schlep a corpse around the dungeon.

BLUFF: Naturally can be used like the other social skills- but a particular kind of player might try and bluff the trap. See it's not just lying, but also misdirection and disguise. Big Willy could suppose that the trap would likely be made to shut off after a period of time. Crossbow bolts cost money, after all. By throwing themself onto the hallway and remaining there- they hope to trick the trap into thinking they are a fallen body. This is ridiculous, but it also makes a kind of sense. The party could attempt to play dead to deactivate the trap, but that places them in immediate danger. Not to mention a mixed success could mean the trap deactivates but will reactivate once they start moving again, perhaps giving them better position as the corridor takes time reset. Turning the entire thing into a deadly game of red light, green light.

LORE: Is about knowing and learning. As such its the clearest path to finding out the deactivation phrase. Flashbacks are useful here because it allows them to have used a library or other resource before this event. Now unless the player asks the right question and crits I wouldn't even consider giving them the phrase outright. But you can start giving hints and leading them to the path. I'd also be kind about this, "Ceasefire" is specific, but if the players figure out a word along the same lines, militaristic and peaceful, like "armistice" or "parley" spoken in Dwarven, then a GM should feel fine letting that work. But make them figure it out, do not simply let them speak friend and enter. Finally, you can create consequences here. If the players start throwing out bad guesses then make a clock and lock it down after too many tries. "Too many attempts- account locked. Please speak to the administrator for a recovery scroll to reset your passphrase".

Alright, that's all for this particular thought experiment. Hopefully, it was interesting and shows how you can build fun puzzles and traps in FitD. But also how varied actions can be in ways that also let you express your character's nature.

Let me know how your character would try and get through.