tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7239577512598038009.post4702228251787701136..comments2024-02-27T01:17:39.925-08:00Comments on The Nine and Thirty Kingdoms: Reclaiming Old School SkillsTalysmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02162328521343832412noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7239577512598038009.post-26215792716506683602011-08-20T02:02:09.292-07:002011-08-20T02:02:09.292-07:00The real-life science of boobytraps is not encoura...The real-life science of boobytraps is not encouraging.<br /><br />It is easy to make boobytraps entirely lethal and non-survivable.<br /><br />D&D sugar-coats this by pretending that one can check for traps. In real life, often, there is simply no way to check for traps. You can look at the sealed box as much as you like, but there's no way to find the mercury switch rigged to the blasting cap inside.<br /><br />REHoward's stories have some very unrealistic traps. Mostly Conan avoids them by a sixth sense - sometimes he gets caught, as he did in Red Nails. Conan never, so far as I can tell, consciously checked for a trap. He either had an intuition or he let someone else go first. In one case, he let a supporting character get killed off, then said, "That which I do not understand, I do not touch with my hand."Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7239577512598038009.post-82687678149728891072011-08-18T21:08:32.150-07:002011-08-18T21:08:32.150-07:00I use negotiation for find/remove traps and then b...I use negotiation for find/remove traps and then bring in the percentile skill check, as a kind of saving throw, when and if they screw up.Jameshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08192212467523179768noreply@blogger.com