Make your Traps like Mr Beast

I was rewatching some old Mr Beast videos and I noticed a segment where he got a couple contestants to a room. The floor was covered in the stickiest glue in the world and the only thing the contestants were told was "This is the stickiest floor in the world! Now get across it.". This really got me thinking about traps in my game and making them more puzzle like. The glue floor has a number of traits that make it a good puzzle. First off it has multiple approaches to interact with it. What you see in the video is contestants throwing their shoes and socks onto the floor as platforms and jumping the remaining distance. You could power through it, push someone onto it or wash the glue away. That is a lot of different approaches to this trap and that's before magic enters the situation.

 

Before I continue, I understand that Mr Beast is a controversial figure. I am not sure what the controversy is about and I don't follow the slop. I don't interact with any Beast media anymore, I am just clarifying my position. 

This Mr Beast

With the clarification finished, The glue floor has another thing I like about traps is that they can be manipulated. Dip your sword in the glue and now you can rip plate armour off an enemy. Heavy doors now have a handle with a stick covered in the stickiest substance known to man. Enemies can have archers on the other side of the glue floor keeping your melee characters pinned in a corner. It stays relevant even after the trap triggers and gets solved. Gila RPGs once talked about how RPGs thrive in 2 scenarios, where the win condition is known and the means of achieving it is unknown or unknown win con / known means. This trap is the first part where you "win" the trap if you can get over it. 

 

This is the most recent variation of "glue floor". He seems to like using this trap.
 

Furthermore, there was a cancelled Mr Beast video where 2 contestants were put in a room with a sumo wrestler that had 2 scrolls on his belt. Here it was unknown win condition but known means. You can challenge the wrestler, steal the scrolls or convince them to let them through. This was solved by one guy going head on distracting the sumo wrestler while the other contestant grabbed both scrolls with the code to the door. The scrolls were written in such a way that it is implied that they were meant to fight the wrestler but the contestants solved it anyway. I could see an adventure that has that a wise sage that always keeps moving. The "we have no rules to how we interact with the wrestler" mindset is one that should be cultivated in a old-school adventure game. 

 

from this video

Unfortunately these moments are rare in Beast's catalogue as the audience doesn't like how challenges are "cheesed". I say no. Let your traps be cheesed as if the players figured out how to cheese a trap, the enemies have too. Monsters can become more dynamic and once they start manipulating the environment, they go from a couple numbers to a intelligent force to be reckoned with. Your traps can help tell the story of the dungeon! like if the glue floor from earlier was painted in broad brush strokes, it implies that the painter was in a rush, possibly in danger. While if you see large footprints it was place by a creature large enough that the glue doesn't bother them. There are only so many ways to make a gotcha style trap interesting while puzzle traps can be simple but tell so much with around 10 ft of corridor. If you want to know what I want in a good OSR trap is, find a bad Mr Beast one. 

Clickables

The Play Reports Makes music out of roleplaying. 

Garamondia spreads a psychic disease. 

Symbolic City makes a short case for system tied adventures 

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