Sandy's Soapbox
I submit that, in fantasy tales and mythic literature, many so-called death traps, dooms of the gods, and inescapable fates are simply due to human mishap combined with our poor ability to explain things.
Our house recently suffered a Strange Incident. Suddenly, without warning, a gaseous cloud of acrid invisible poison billowed forth and spread through the house. Our only hint had been a faint burning smell, and when we opened the oven door to check, *whoosh*, invisible death. We fled the house, taking our cats with us, returning only the next night. The fact remains, inexplicable arcane forces had been unleashed against us, and we were lucky to escape with our lives.
Had I not returned to investigate, though, it really would have been a toss-up between these three possibilities:
- Secret government experiments into mind-control chemicals gone awry
- Aliens manifesting in our house rendered it unfit for Earth beings
- Something stuck in the oven caught fire
Okay, I put on goggles, held my breath, and secured the house first-- turned off the oven, diagnosed the doom, fetched the kitties, grabbed the kid's school items so we didn't have to return. I'd say it was about a 15 minute 'flee from doom'.
The plastic/bakelite/whatever knife that had fallen, unnoticed, into the oven and which had converted itself to black puddle + acrid cloud o' doom was not, in itself, a mystic object. However, much like the game telephone, we could imagine the story years hence as an epic escape from aliens and government forces (you stole my life story for 'Super 8', Spielberg?)
For every yokel raving about the Egyptian Pyramids Curse of the Pharaoh, there's a more level-headed person interpreting the 'do not enter' glyphs as meaning "beware, subterranean architecture will lack breathable oxygen and may contain toxic gases". Which one makes a better story? Which one gets repeated?
After a while, cargo cult like behavior can develop. Sure, volcanoes wipe out the village every century or so, but folks survived last time and one guy swears he sacrificed a virgin to save everyone. Soon, you're running into a shortage of virgins because, hey, every time Mr. Volcano gets jumpy, you gotta do what you gotta do.
In fantasy gaming terms, imagine if all the warnings of a cursed Tomb of Terrors are simply legends wrapped around a shoddily-made, long abandoned former prison. The pit traps? Just sinkholes due to lazy architecture. The reported mutant fungus creatures are just natural-- but spore-shedding and poisonous-- natural varieties. Blades that swing out to chop the unwary are just loose hinges on the old gates. The gushing water trap is just the remains of the original cistern.
And the great treasure it hides? Ugh, don't even start me thinking about it. What would be left in a deserted prison, save for bones, shackles, and possible, err, more bones. Not necessarily a fun adventure (unless you're a necromancer), but could be a good set-up for a larger campaign.
Cui bono? (Who benefits?) Say a local bandit group finds the 'trapped dungeon' myth keeps people from poking around their secret hide-out. Or perhaps the town's mayor, that once-epic hero, got his job by being the only survivor of said death trap? Just because something isn't true doesn't mean there aren't ways to profit off the tales.
The players could become involved when an old-timer clues them into the banal nature of a supposedly baneful lair. Perhaps they can get in, stop the bandits, blackmail the mayor, or rescue a long-lost village totem-- easily. Being surrounded by heartfelt praise of their bravery, do they admit the truth? Think of this is a Scooby Doo school of trap-busting, only with characters perhaps less ethical than Shaggie or Velma.
As they say in Pompeii, sometimes a volcano is just a volcano-- but don't tell that to the high priest.
Until next month,
Sandy
sandy at rpg.net
