Traps are Magic

Magic is not separate from any other more readily accessible demonstration of will on nature. Power is a difference of levels, with the more wilful user being able to maintain the greater differential. A strong man can lift the tun higher than the weaker man; the distance from the ground (the null state), is greater and so is he.

Go into the woods and pile rocks precariously. You leave your energy behind to be spent later when they fall down.

Trapping isn't a skill. Being a trapper doesn't give you any innate talent for another culture's trapping tools. Knowing what a punji stake is doesn't teach you how to dam and poison rivers to catch fish. Knowledge of specific traps is a skill.


GENERAL TRAPPING RULES:
As long as the trapper is present he may use contributions of stamina from others to pay for the trap(s) if they help.

This only covers traps you can make, not complicated mechanical contrivances.

Each trap is an Advanced Skill. So Bob can have Wolf Hole 3 and Trapping Pit 1 and so on.

The trapper should be as clear as possible with his intentions. Such as "I want to catch rabbits". This is so we know what he's designing it for. A bird-catching Deadfall won't bother a curious coati and the GM will reflect this in the results.

Do the Trapping roll in secret. On a Fumble it traps something entirely inappropriate and potentially harmful in some way (such as an angry moose or the Duke's hunting dog), on a Critical it traps exactly what they wanted to trap regardless of the encounter roll.

Make a separate Random Encounter roll for the traps. So on a 6+ (or however you work it) there is an encounter, then you roll to see what that encounter is. Whatever is rolled is what encounters the trap. This could be an appropriate animal, an unlucky person, or it could be something that will mess with the trap, or just step over it. You'll never know unless you go back to check. Check for encounters every day, if a second encounter happens determine how they respond (get caught be secondary traps, steal the catch etc.)

You can check for traps separately or give a +1 bonus for each additional one. Up to the GM.




Wolf Hole (3 stamina worth of exertion per trap built)
The hunter digs and covers a shallow hole lined with sharp sticks, pointed up to impale or down like barbs to tear. The trap is designed to injure and slow medium sized, heavy stepping creatures like humans. Light footed and narrow legged creatures can expect to avoid them. Any creature injured for 2 or more damage by a stake will have their land movement reduced by half until they can rest for a day and be fully healed.

Lasts for 6 months.

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Trapping Pit (12/hole +2 with stakes)
A pit, camouflaged with local detritus, usually several metres deep and a number wide, lined with boards or stones to create a sheer wall to the cavity. Climbing creatures that fall in have one chance to Climb out, failing which they must wait for assistance, starvation or the hunter for relief.

Receive appropriate uncontrolled falling damage. If there are stakes at the bottom they will cause additional damage as follows:

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Lasts for 6 years.



Leading Fence (3)
Used to guide the desired prey towards other traps. Leading fences might be made of piled up stones over short distances, just high enough to inconvenience deer and encourage them to walk around, or they might be stake fences stretching for miles herding anything larger than a wombat into a great big pit.

Each leading fence you build represents a significant length of fencing. For each instance of fencing you may add +1 to your chances of getting something in your trap.

Lasts a variable amount of time, depending on the material available.



Deadfall (2/multiplier)
A classic, and an outstanding example of the trappers relationship to magical craft by way of dynamic tension.

Obtain a weight of a suitable heft to kill you intended prey. This could be a rock, some boards, or maybe an entire tree trunk. Support the killing piece on a delicately balanced hair triggered lever system like the one pictured and you'll have yourself a universal remote creature flattening device. 





For each 2 stamina spent making the trap you make multiply the damage it inflicts. So a 6 stamina trap would inflict 3x as much damage, representing the hunter using bigger weights and levers.

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Lasts for d6 days


Snare (1)
The snare is similar in principle to the deadfall, but instead of downward, upward. Snares are really only effective against small creatures that can fit their heads in the noose. Anything larger is likely to be either completely indifferent or trapped and injured enough to be dangerous.

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Lasts for d6 days

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