Here is another installment of exTRAPaganza, our Thursday over-the-top trap series.
The version of ntp that we’re using in our client is old and outdated, so I need to update it. However, we rely on some very specific behavior, so I have to modify the new client to deal with it. This got me to thinking about time().
The characters enter a room filled with clocks on the wall. Each is clicking away loudly, and each has a different time. The relative time difference between the clocks adversely affects the passage of time in the room. There are 41 + d20 clocks in the room, all showing a slightly different time. Depending on the overall time difference, time will either pass more swiftly (more clocks are fast than slow) or more slowly (more clocks are set slow than fast). Here’s the kicker – Once everyone is inside the room, the doors shut and lock, and can only be opened when time is “normalized”. Each round spent in the room results in 1 point of damage to each character in the room. (adjust up or down to change the difficulty). Feel free to say “tick tock” every time you deal the damage.
When determining clock status, set 1 clock to the correct time and 20 fast and 20 slow. The other d20 clocks are either fast or slow (50/50 chance). For every 3 clocks out of whack (i.e. 32 clocks fast and 28 clocks slow) time passage changes by one increment. Free actions become swift, swift become move, move become standard, standard becomes full round, and full round actions take 1 round more. If time is 6 clocks out of whack, a full round would take 3 rounds, a standard action would take 2 rounds, a move would be a full round, a swift would be a standard, and a free would become a move.
Should perception check fail to locate the correct clock, let them think they succeeded, and have them set the clock accordingly, adding one more to the pool of skewed clocks.
For fun, add a small imp that runs around the room, resetting clocks.
Interaction
|
PFRPG:
|
D&D 4e:
|
Detecting whether time is running faster or slower
|
|
|
|
Moderate Int check (swift)
|
Same as PFRPG (quick)
|
Locating a fast or slow clock
|
|
|
|
Moderate Perception check (move equivalent)
|
Same as PFRPG
|
Setting clock correctly
|
|
|
|
Hard Perception check and Moderate Int check (standard action)
|
Same as PFRPG
|