Community

Go get the latest compiled errata/updates for D&D and check out the damage tables in there.  That'll be a good guideline for how much damage a trap/hazard of a given level should do.

The three are interesting, but how many times are they going to show up before your players are bored of them.  The Plasma tunnel is well out of the scope of low level wastelanders.  They'll just die from that.

 The DDI compendium has 162 traps from level 1 to 10.  You'd need a DDI account to use the compendium, but they are there.  I suppose it's a judgement call whether or not it's worth spending a month's subscription fee to copy/paste/print all of them from the compendium.  While you're at it, you could also update the monster builder and download all the back issues of Dungeon & Dragon.  D&D monsters are fully compatible with gamma world from a rules standpoint.

EDIT:  You'll need to convert some of the skill rolls involved with the traps and hazards.  For example, the razor spores require a DC 15 Arcana check to recognize them for what they are.  In Gamma World that'd be Science? 

Oct 29, 2010 -- 1:25PM, Chandrak wrote:

4. Reflavored Traps - Some traps are easilly reflavored. Necrotic -> Radiation

Be aware that necrotic damage is already in Gamma World as is, and at least 4 cards in the box set use the necrotic keyword.

For skills it's just a matter of reskinning it and then picking what is appropriate for the new idea.  For the razor spore example, they are magical metal spores that make rocks explode.  They're explicitly magical in D&D.  So if you want to make them a radioactive pressure thing, then science.  If you want them to be a carnivorous plant that explodes rock like pseudopods in order to kill things so it decomposes as fertilizer, it should be nature.

To port a trap or hazard over to Gamma World I'd do the following:

- Read it to determine the general theme and effect
- Decide what needs to change (if anything) for it to be GW appropriate. 
- Figure out which skills and damage types (if any) need to change.
- Make a note of the change for the future to keep conversions consistent in your campaign

Example:  Doom Spore 

it's a level 3 elite obstacle.  It's basically a giant mushroom that fills one square and when it's disturbed, it releases spores to the surrounding squares.  No Perception check is needed to notice the big mushroom, but to identify it as a doom spore mushroom is a DC 22 Dungeoneering check.

Fortunately, the spores only work on bloodied creatures.  Unfortunately the cloud of spores sticks around for the whole encounter.  The spores do a bunch of poison damage and ongoing poison damage.

You can successfully move through the squares the doom spore mushrooms occupy with a DC 27 Dungeoneering check. 

So what needs to change?

Very little.  A mushroom that spews out spores when it's disturbed or attacked is totally appropriate to Gamma Terra.  The poison damage is fine.  The only thing that doesn't work is Dungeoneering.

The description of Nature in the Gamma World rulebook says that it's the skill used to cope with the natural hazards of the world and explicitly lists carnivorous plants as an example.  So Nature it is.

Done.  You know have a Gamma World appropriate hazard.

Example 2 - Gibbet Zombies

Imagine a giant metal tree.  Hanging from it like fruit are cages containing corpses of various states of decomposition.  When something gets close the reach out to grab the unfortunate target.

In terms of game effect, if you enter the square next to one of the gibbets, you get grabbed if the attack roll hits.  You have to escape the grab normally by rolling an athletics or acrobatics check of DC 10.

If a gibbet takes 10 points of damage, the zombie inside is destroyed and doesn't grab anyone anymore.

So, for Gamma World, this could be anything.  A carnivorous plant with vines that grab.  Telekentic anchors that keep those who get too close restrained.  Hypnonodes that capture one's attention if you get too close.

But the real issue here is the lack of grappling rules in Gamma World.  Every effect that grabs either restrains or immobilizes instead.

So if you go for restrained or immobilization, what ends the effect?  You could make it (save ends).  You could explicitly say that the person is restrained/immobilized until they spend a move action and make an athletics or acrobatics roll of DC10 to shift one square.  That would probably keep the original intent of the gibbet zombies intact.  And immobilized is probably better than restrained because grabbing doesn't impose the additional effects associated with being restrained.

So let's say they are Dark type alien tractor field pods originally designed for urban pacification.  How they got deployed where they are is anyone's guess.    If you enter a square adjacent, they try to put up their force fields to keep you in place.

I'd add a Science roll to recognize them for what they are.  For counter measures, I'd probably also keep the 10 damage to disable them but change it over to gamma world style where a single blow needs to do 10 or more damage.  A target that is hit by their attack against fortitude is immobilized.  And I'd add in the escape is accomplished by spending a move action and making a DC 10 athletics or acrobatics check to shift a square way. 

Kind of a wussy hazard on it's own, but combined with a monster that has an additional effect on immobilized targets and things could get nasty.  If an array of these appeared, I'm sure it might attract a critter that figures out it's an ideal hunting ground.  Soul Besh could go right to injecting their venom, for example.