Writober! Pit Trap! Shadowdark Post-a-Day In October

This month is Drawtober: 31 drawing prompts related to the Shadowdark RPG, 1 a day, throughout October. But I’m borrowing the prompts for short essays. Today’s prompt is “Pit Trap”.

How do you make the simple pit trap different and more interesting?  There’s a lot you can do with it.

First of all, vary how it is activated. The simplest version my just be some brush propped up on weak branches that cover the pit. But here are several other ideas:

1. A trip wire 5′ or even 10′ ahead can trigger it, and boards topped with dirt/brush in the wilderness or just stone in a dungeon cover the pit. (So prodding the ground with a pole doesn’t work.)
2. Magic.  You can do anything and call it ‘magic’ including mimicking current technology–for example a ‘detect heat’ or ‘detect noise’ sensor.

But even better is to vary the effect–what is in the pit.  The most common thing is to put spikes or acid in the pit.  But another idea that has been published a few times is put a gelatinous cube down there.  Here are some more:

1. Place a teleport device at the bottom of the pit that teleports them to the top of the pit, essentially forever falling.
2. Or have it teleport them elsewhere: a jail cell, a monster’s lair, etc.
3. Have a corridor to a small area below and a trap that collapses the tunnel, entombing the group.
4. The pit casts a spell on the characters as they enter–such as reduce to make the PCs much smaller/weaker/etc.

Here are our previous Writober posts so far:

1. Torch – Rules for magic torch items (each is a single use magic effect spell like alarm or detect magic).
2. Skull – Goblin shaman who can turn victims’ skulls into ways to store spells.
3. Fiend – Lists of talents that Devils & Demons typically have for making your own.
4. Shadow – Easy ways to make other creatures into shadows.
5. Contagion – Discussing the purpose of diseases.
6. Valkyrie – A new 3rd party class.
7. Toadstool – A new 3rd party ancestry.
8. Witchlight – Alternate sources of “witchlight”.
9. Luck Token – Alternate ways a GM may allow a luck token to be used.
10.  Rage – The signature ability of a Barbarian class.
11. Altars – Ways to amplify priest spells into rituals when using an altar.