The Palimpsest Trap

[Skarg]

Does Detect Magic tell you how many enchantments/spells something has, or just whether it is magic or not?

(We always played it as just "it's magic" or "it doesn't seem to be magic".)


Also, how would the thief's companions think to intervene? (Flipping through the pages seems like fairly normal behavior, even if the thief is illiterate.)

[FireHorse]

Originally Posted by Skarg

Does Detect Magic tell you how many enchantments/spells something has, or just whether it is magic or not?

(We always played it as just "it's magic" or "it doesn't seem to be magic".)

That's pretty much exactly what ITL says.

Also, how would the thief's companions think to intervene? (Flipping through the pages seems like fairly normal behavior, even if the thief is illiterate.)

They probably wouldn't notice… at first. But if it's all the way back on page 106, it'll take quite a while to get there, and it may seem odd that the Victim is so fixated on that book.

Plus, the Victim may realize what's happening — and the Control Person spell is only making them turn the pages, not be silent, so they may say something like, "Uh, guys… I can't stop flipping these pages. I mean, seriously, I can't stop…" And then they can try to pry the Victim away from the book.

Of course, you could just skip the Control Person part entirely, and put the Long-Distance Teleport trap on page 1, so they get it just by opening the thing — or the cover, for that matter. Or the doormat on the floor in front of the magnificent gold-chased ebony Lectern atop a rose marble pedestal (complete with overhead spotlight) upon which you were displaying the book…

But that'd be too easy, and wouldn't serve as an in-joke for anybody who knows what Page 106 means. ;)

[hcobb]

Cast reveal five times then Spellsniffer for "and an unknown spell".

[JLV]

Steve, if you're reading this, we REALLY need our own traps book. Yeah, I know, "Grimtooth", but I still think something like this would be well worth doing for TFT!

BTW, if anyone wants to see/buy the Grimtooth's Traps books, you can get them here, in one huge collection from Goodman Games, or here, item by item, from Flying Buffalo directly. Note that the second link takes you to their Catalyst page, which also includes their incredible City Books series, which are also well worth exploring...

[FireHorse]

Grimtooth's Traps are some of the greatest RPG books ever. Love 'em.

However, a big part of their appeal is that they are 'systemless' — and I'm not sure whether a book full of traps that can only be used for TFT would have nearly as much appeal.

For system-specific stuff, I think the idea might be better done as a chapter or section within a larger sourcebook with many different things that people can drop into their TFT games.

For example, another chapter/section might be the Bestiary we want, so SJG doesn't need to make up enough new creatures to fill a whole book. Or another chapter/section might be Buildings & Architecture, with Megahex layout diagrams for things like 'Frontier Keep', 'Typical Road Tavern', 'Torture Chamber', 'Madame Fluffy's Hospitality-by-the-Hour Inn & Massage Parlor', and so on.

Not to mention new spells and talents and other stuff. I would love to see such a book.

[JLV]

I'll go ahead and disagree with you on that one. While I think having systemless things is nice (and useful), I also think that some traps absolutely require a good grounding in the system they support -- for example, magical traps should be based on the spells and effects in TFT, not on some generic "spell statement." Physical traps? Yes, certainly, they can generally be "systemless," (though having a few printed guidelines would still be helpful), but let's face facts, many of the traps used in a game like Empire of the Petal Throne differ substantially from "corresponding" traps in D&D, simply because the entire background and concept are different (even though the actual rules are virtually identical). And most of us wouldn't really want it any other way.