Steve Jackson Games Forums - View Single Post - Building permanent magical traps with GURPS Magic

hal · 04-29-2015, 10:06 PM

Hi Grouchy Chris,
Yes, Grease is an area spell, but can be applied selectively to the stone pillar's faces - all four of them one at a time. So yes, it can still be applied to the stone pillar in order to permit it to slide more easily.

Now for this next trap, you're going to need to take a ruler and balance it on your finger to get the idea of how it works. Picture the ruler as being disguised as a stone corridor's floor. Half of the ruler (Stone beam actually) hangs over air such as a cavern or something. The other half of the ruler (from the 6" mark to the 12" mark of the imaginary ruler), rests on a stone lip. Now imagine a party of player characters entering into a corridor that is dimly lit - but for a faint magical glow of light - as if enchanted with the light spell. Clearly, any mage with magery has the opportunity to sense that the floor from the imaginary 6" mark towards the 1" mark is magical. So you give them something to see - the "light spell". As they approach the center of the beam of stone (the 6" mark on our imaginary ruler), nothing happens. As the party passes the 6" mark and is heading towards the 5" mark, they are beginning to upset the balance of the fulcrum. By the time they make it to the 3" mark, the floor is starting to tilt downwards...

THAT is when the Link spell activates the Grease enchantment. The player characters will be penalized by an initial DX-2 for the Grease spell, but an additional penalty for uneven ground (in the literal sense!). Now - as the 12" mark of the ruler begins to rise, it will stop against the ceiling if it is only 10' up from the floor right? So the GM has to remember that the ceiling at this point will be HIGHER than 10' to accommodate the rising portion of the floor.

Net result? Once they reach the tipping point - if they don't start to run back, they are doomed to slide down the now tipped greased flooring into the chasm/drop/room/gate etc waiting for them at the end.

Knowing how time causes things to bind together or gravity can cause things to fuse together, one needs to insure that the fulcrum point itself is greased at ALL times. This way the fulcrum itself, and the apex of the point the fulcrum rests upon - don't bind together.

Other ways of using GREASE as a spell is to use it on a ramp. As players walk onto it - the delay in activation due to the Link allows them to walk fully into the danger zone. As you might guess, a ramp with spikes at the end of the ramp is not a healthy thing for the players to run into. Now to be really nasty? Have the ramp make a 90 degree turn midway down so that the person falls OFF the ramp etc.

GREASE is a NASTY spell to use as a gravity assist trap.

04-29-2015, 10:06 PM	#24
hal Join Date: Aug 2004 Location: Buffalo, New York	Re: Building permanent magical traps with GURPS Magic Hi Grouchy Chris, Yes, Grease is an area spell, but can be applied selectively to the stone pillar's faces - all four of them one at a time. So yes, it can still be applied to the stone pillar in order to permit it to slide more easily. Now for this next trap, you're going to need to take a ruler and balance it on your finger to get the idea of how it works. Picture the ruler as being disguised as a stone corridor's floor. Half of the ruler (Stone beam actually) hangs over air such as a cavern or something. The other half of the ruler (from the 6" mark to the 12" mark of the imaginary ruler), rests on a stone lip. Now imagine a party of player characters entering into a corridor that is dimly lit - but for a faint magical glow of light - as if enchanted with the light spell. Clearly, any mage with magery has the opportunity to sense that the floor from the imaginary 6" mark towards the 1" mark is magical. So you give them something to see - the "light spell". As they approach the center of the beam of stone (the 6" mark on our imaginary ruler), nothing happens. As the party passes the 6" mark and is heading towards the 5" mark, they are beginning to upset the balance of the fulcrum. By the time they make it to the 3" mark, the floor is starting to tilt downwards... THAT is when the Link spell activates the Grease enchantment. The player characters will be penalized by an initial DX-2 for the Grease spell, but an additional penalty for uneven ground (in the literal sense!). Now - as the 12" mark of the ruler begins to rise, it will stop against the ceiling if it is only 10' up from the floor right? So the GM has to remember that the ceiling at this point will be HIGHER than 10' to accommodate the rising portion of the floor. Net result? Once they reach the tipping point - if they don't start to run back, they are doomed to slide down the now tipped greased flooring into the chasm/drop/room/gate etc waiting for them at the end. Knowing how time causes things to bind together or gravity can cause things to fuse together, one needs to insure that the fulcrum point itself is greased at ALL times. This way the fulcrum itself, and the apex of the point the fulcrum rests upon - don't bind together. Other ways of using GREASE as a spell is to use it on a ramp. As players walk onto it - the delay in activation due to the Link allows them to walk fully into the danger zone. As you might guess, a ramp with spikes at the end of the ramp is not a healthy thing for the players to run into. Now to be really nasty? Have the ramp make a 90 degree turn midway down so that the person falls OFF the ramp etc. GREASE is a NASTY spell to use as a gravity assist trap.