Table of Contents
Traps and Locks
All throughout the REALMS OF REFUGE, traps are used for both protection and more nefarious objectives. You may find traps that need disarming while playing the game, but you can also make your own traps. To make a trap, you must have the Create Trap Skill (see the Production Skills section for more details on creating Trap tags).
Every trap design must be checked and approved by a marshal before use. All traps must make a noise or flash of light or otherwise be constructed so that it is obvious when the trap is set off.
Traps are meant to be immobile and cannot be used in combat as a Weapon. You cannot create traps to use as hand grenades, nor can you trap yourself. Trap crafters can make Trap Globes to serve this purpose instead, producing small bursts of sticky goo or a Shattering or silencing effect.
Areas of Effect
Many traps are defined as “Area Traps.” If set off within a Game Room, it will affect everyone within that Game Room who are not protected by a fully closed door (such as within a closet) or protective spell like a Circle of Power. Imagine a rain of spell Packets hitting everyone even partially within the same area as the trap for determining who is struck.
If an area is bigger than one Game Room, it can still be trapped by an Area Trap, but it takes multiple Area Traps of the same type to affect it. For example, a barn might be classified by a Marshal as 3 Game Rooms worth of size. This means it would take 3 identical Gas Traps to trap it; this requires both the additional tags and the additional trap container(s) or a single container large enough for the appropriate number of traps. When the traps go off, everyone inside the Game Room is affected no matter how close or far they are from the actual traps. Keep in mind that this is an IG thing—so if a Marshal on a module says “Treat this glade as an underground cave room” it should be treated as a Game Room even though it’s an OOG outside location.
Triggers for Area Traps must be entirely within the same Game Room where they are set and may not cross through partitions or barriers which would impede the effect of the trap.
If an Area Trap is set off when not in a Game Room, it will affect everyone who is even partially within a 5-foot radius, including their possessions. The trap may be linked to a trigger line of no more than 5 feet in this case. Trap physreps are strongly encouraged to include an attached pre-measured 5' string to quickly determine who is hit and make the resulting Hold quicker. It can be helpful to imagine a circle of Packets firing out 5 feet from the trap to determine who is hit.
Types of Traps
Weapon Traps: A Weapon trap contains a Weapon on a spring mounted mechanism. This must be mounted on a large or heavy object, such as in a crate or a trunk, or onto a door. Once armed, a Weapon trap cannot be moved.
OOG, the trap merely has to have a standard trap trigger (a light or noisemaker) and a Weapon with a valid item tag must be attached. There must be a clearly marked “pivot point” for whichever Weapon physrep is being used. When the trap goes off, a Pause Game is called and the Weapon is rotated around the pivot point. Anyone touched by the Weapon is affected as though they had been struck by a Weapon blow of the stated amount and type. Note that the Weapon does not actually need to be swung or be on a spring for safety reasons. The mounted Weapon may be any standard approved Weapon.
Weapon traps are not destroyed when set off and may be re-armed by anyone with the appropriate Skill without paying the cost to rebuild them.
Weapon coatings may be applied to the Weapon used in a Weapon trap. These coatings are consumed as normal when the trap is set off and must be re-applied when the trap is rearmed.
Weapon Traps may not be blocked by a Weapon or Shield, but any pertinent defense against a Weapon qualifier attack or physically delivered Poison (if the Weapon is coated) can be used, like Evade, Parry, Dodge, or the Weapon Shield spell.
Mechanical Traps: Mechanical traps represent collapsing ceilings, rockfalls, giant scythes, and other such contraptions. They are completely immovable once set and have a minimum size of 3' by 3' by 3'.
Anyone struck by any part of the trap when it goes off takes the full damage of the trap. Mechanical traps must be rebuilt after they are set off and cannot be re-armed.
Mechanical traps are usually represented with pillows, plastic trash bags filled with newspapers, and other soft items.
Explosive Traps: Explosive traps represent a container filled with a volatile substance. When set off, this Area Trap will destroy all destructible IG items within its range (as per the Shatter effect.) This includes armor, Weapons, coins, scrolls, potions, etc.
Closed containers will not protect items from explosions unless the container itself is indestructible. This trap is destroyed when it detonates.
Gas and Scroll Traps: These Area Traps are loaded with an Alchemical gas or Battle Magic scroll respectively that will affect everyone in the Game Room when triggered. The Production Point cost for creating the trap does not include the cost of the gas or scroll itself. When setting the trap, the trap setter must include a gas or scroll or the trap is not successfully armed. Once set off, the trap physrep itself counts as the “caster”. In this case, any spell which has wording regarding the “caster” (such as Line of Sight spells, Charm effects, etc.) will effectively expire after five seconds (for Line of Sight) or have no effect (Charm). Any legitimate applicable targets/physreps in the Game Room are separately targeted by the effect. Note that only one item may be loaded in each trap; you cannot stack multiple gasses or scrolls to increase their effect.
Items loaded into one of these traps can never be removed or salvaged once the trap is armed. If the trap is successfully disarmed, the trap may be re-armed again, but in no case may the gas or scroll be taken from the trap to be used in other traps or on their own.
The effects of any gas trap will be blocked by any defense against the Poison qualifier such as Poison Shield or Resist Poison. If two or more gas traps have the same trigger, then they are all set off at once and one defense will stop them all.
Similarly, a scroll trap will be blocked by any defense against the Spell qualifier such as Spell Shield or Resist Spell. If two or more scroll traps have the same trigger, then they are all set off at once and one defense will stop them all.
Note that Protection/Enhancement and Eldritch Force scrolls may never be put into a Scroll Trap.
These traps are not destroyed when set off and may be re-armed by anyone with the appropriate Skill without paying the cost to rebuild them.
Noisemaker: Alarms and noisemakers are traps that do no damage but set off loud alarms. These traps are not destroyed when set off and may be re-armed by anyone with the appropriate Skill without paying the cost to rebuild them.
Containers: Explosive, Gas, and Scroll traps must have a container representing their contents. Each container must be a minimum of 32 cubic inches, with no less than one inch on any particular side. For example: a 3“ by 3” by 4“ bottle or a 5” x 7“ x 1” box.
Arming and Disarming Traps
Arming a trap takes at least sixty seconds. If it takes you less than sixty seconds to arm the trap OOG, you must still keep both hands on the trap and role-play arming the trap for the remainder of the sixty seconds.
During those sixty seconds, if either hand is removed from the trap, or if you are hit by a physical blow or Packet attack, the trap will be set off, affecting only the person setting the trap. This applies even if the incoming attack would not have caused damage or would have had no effect.
After the trap has been armed, it can be moved no more than five feet in any direction before detonating, even if the person carrying the trap has the Create Trap Skill. Picking up a trapped box, moving it three feet, and then turning around and putting it back will set it off.
Any armed trap that is Shattered, whether by a spell or by another trap within the radius, will always be set off. Shattering a box containing an armed trap will also detonate the trap. Shattering a disarmed trap still destroys the trap, but it is not set off.
A character needs Create Trap to attempt to arm and disarm traps and pick locks. You must have this Skill in order to even attempt doing these things. Anyone without this Skill who tries to disarm a trap or pick a lock will automatically fail. Different ranks of Create Trap allow arming different types of traps; see the Create Trap Skill description for details.
If you do not have this Skill, you must role-play ignorance in figuring out how to remove a trap. Your character can still detect the presence of the trap by noticing trip wires and such but will be completely unable to figure out how to disarm it.
A trap may be disarmed by any means which does not permanently destroy the trap, so long as the chosen method prevents the trap from producing a noise or a light. For example, popping a battery clip off a battery or moving a mouse trap bar slowly so that it does not snap shut represents the disarming of the trap.
Permanent damage means treating the trap in such a way that a marshal cannot fix the damage within ten minutes or needs a tool. For instance, removing the top of a box by taking the screws out of the hinges is not allowed. It’s a nice lateral way of solving the problem, yes, but it requires the marshal to have to use tools to put the box back together and is not what this Skill is all about. Conversely, a trap cannot require tool usage (such as requiring a screwdriver to open a box) to disarm.
Note that, like Weapons used by Cast, traps found in modules cannot always be “harvested” as treasure. Just because you disarm a trap in a module doesn’t mean you will get a trap tag.
Triggers: All traps must have a real, physical trigger.
This trigger could produce a light (such as from a flashbulb) or a sound (such as from a mouse trap). This trigger must always be detectable by an impartial observer. Every trap must be disarmable, even though it may be difficult to do so.
All traps must be approved by a marshal and, if not in a module where the documentation is held by the marshal, must contain a trap tag.
A trigger can be something as simple as a mouse trap with a thread going across a hallway that, when tripped, sets off the mouse trap.
Trap Globes
Trap crafters can build and throw Trap Globes. IG, these are essentially miniaturized traps that can be thrown to produce a specific effect on impact. They are represented by orange Packets (just like Alchemy Packets) and are thrown with the Elemental qualifier. These items need to be identified in the same way as Alchemical Gas Globes; see the Educated Skill description for details. Note that one rank of Create Trap also allows for identification of these items.
Any character with three or more ranks of Create Trap may throw Trap Globes.
Locks
Any character may use a standard lock to protect their items. In addition, you may find that ancient treasures are often locked away behind locks of their own. Any REFUGE LARP lock must be approved by a marshal before use. Generally speaking, if you can demonstrate that you can pick your lock, then it will probably be allowed. Remember though that we prefer easy to pick locks, as it is the IG Skill itself that is supposed to be used and not the OOG Skill of actually picking a very difficult lock. Combination locks are not allowed to be used by players but may be found in modules (where part of the module is discovering the combination).
If you have at least one rank of the Create Trap Skill, you may attempt to pick any lock you encounter. This should be done IG with whatever tools you have with you. While any REFUGE LARP trap will have been approved by a marshal, this doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t practice your Skills - real-world Skill can help when surrounded by monsters and trying to quickly open a treasure chest!
Note that, due to local laws, some chapters may have alternative methods of opening locks. Check with your local chapter to see if they have a different implementation.