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Forum Name New Player Q&A
Topic subjectDeath-traps... is there a point?
Topic URLhttps://forums.carrionfields.com/dcboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=5&topic_id=4196
4196, Death-traps... is there a point?
Posted by Firesong on Wed 31-Dec-69 07:00 PM
I'm new to the mud, and I've been exploring a little. Twice so far, I've run into rooms that (I'm told) you can't escape from without having a paladin to help, and I do have to ask... is there an actual point to this? Is there a point to teleport, if it can't get you out of these things?

Sure, I mean, I could type 'exit' or 'look all' in every single room I wander into. That, however, doesn't really seem worth it. Suicide? Sure, it's an option. But I'm already a new player, and with the con loss every few deaths... once I start getting involved in PK, I'd rather not have lost all my con. And given that the experience loss from dying can put you below your standard TNL, and I'm already below that, and that teleport already has a risk of putting you in the middle of a zone that's going to kill you if it *does* work, I have to ask... are there any players that support having teleport-proof trap rooms? And is there a reason that these rooms are no-quit, so people playing in the middle of the night can't quit and come back at a time when there might be more players about? I mean, to me, it doesn't actually seem to do anything except waste a bunch of my time once I get into it, regardless of what method I choose to get out.

I don't mind steep learning curves, and I like a lot of the features of this game... likewise, it's nice that not everything is mapped and posted. But I honestly don't see these rooms doing anything except irritating new players, and I'd be interested to see if there is a reason.
4271, 2 cents idea
Posted by Newbie101 on Wed 31-Dec-69 07:00 PM
What you describe is not a death trap.
It is a no-exit, no-recall room.
You just need to beg paladin to help rescue you.

Death trap is a room which basically kills you with no chance to evade it (various ways: "Certain death" npc, greet_slay prog, etc.)



I would not mind if orb of travel was able to get you out (it does not work in no-recall no more).
Or immortals introduced other relatively rare, expensive and hard to get item which would do 'sanctify room'.


My $0.02,

Random player
4272, Certain death isn't guaranteed
Posted by incognito on Wed 31-Dec-69 07:00 PM
I've survived a while against it. Enough to use an orb.

Don't forget that evils don't have access to paladin or archon rescue. Also some traps can't be sanctified.
4270, Real risk element.
Posted by Mendos on Wed 31-Dec-69 07:00 PM
A couple of things to think about: At least one of my favorite RP immteractions happened in a death trap as a newbie because I prayed. An orc god (Thrakburzug) offered my elf character escape in return for a later favor and pitted me against one of his orc berserkers in a grudge match to the death. This was one of my personal newbie highlights.

They do provide some occasional PK strategy, though this is largely dependent on the situation.

CF often throws you an unexpected curveball to keep you on your toes. It is essentially a way to add real risk to the game and yeah, it can be frustrating as a new player. Without these occasional unforgiving elements in the game a player might not face real risk in exploration, or PK, or any in game activity.

Personally I prefer a game which can keep me on my toes. Some people don't and that is their prerogative, but everyone in the playerbase has been there at one point or another.

Welcome to CF, and the community by the way. Glad that you are giving us a shot.

4221, RE: Death-traps... is there a point?
Posted by Eskelian on Wed 31-Dec-69 07:00 PM
The only thing I'd really like is some way to override the ghost timer to suicide. And it'd also be nice if you could suicide faster after fighting NPCs...I can't really see a way to game it that way in the same way you could with PVP (ie, depriving someone of a kill).

Death traps are fine but if you've ever gotten "double caught" in a death trap and had to wait it out to suicide that really is annoying.
4206, It also helps with PAYING ATTENTION
Posted by 1D_rookie on Wed 31-Dec-69 07:00 PM
I understand the frustration, as I am fairly new to the game. I recently walked my Ranger straight into Certain Death. Which, actually, is a (Translucent) strange figure that appears to be guarding something. The thing I noticed was after scrolling through the rooms leading up to the Certain Death room was, the description of each room in the path leading to Certain Death tells you to turn around, warning you with premonitions and descriptions like "You really get a bad feeling from this place, and feel you should turn around". And, humorously, the description for the Certain Death room itself is something like "Well, you made it. Good for you. What are you, Blind AND Dumb?" In case it needs clarification, Certain Death attacks on sight, and hits ===<<<(((HHAARRDD)))>>>===

So, the point would be, in some cases anyways, to prevent people from spamming the cardinal directions e, w, s, n and flying through the game, and instead, inspire them to look, observe, scan, and pay attention to the details hidden in the Text of every room, as text is the substance that makes all matter in CF.

4204, Very good reasoning.
Posted by Aereglen on Wed 31-Dec-69 07:00 PM
You have to have the bad with the good, it makes things interesting. It forces you to deal with the situation. I can say confidently over 90% of the times I've been stuck in such rooms it has lead to interesting and more often than not fun experiences.

For instance once I was stuck in a certain prison cell somewhere as a conjurer. I was stuck there for days, literally about 4 or 5 real days, which is actually rather ridiculous considering I was an acolyte but a certain leader thought it was much more important to convince everyone to help him with a war we didn't need instead of lifting a finger to help me. I talked to a lot of people, and they were almost all good talks. I was able to save a few people from death by using the sending spell and what I had on hand in my container. I have to say with all honestly I was glad I was stuck there as long as I was. I highly doubt I would have ever willingly put myself in that situation. Maybe in a crazy drunken stupor role idea moment I would.

That all being said, yeah they're a bitch sometimes. At least some are just traps that you have a chance of getting out of, and not all are instant-death traps like falling of one of the cliffs. Learn where they are at and use them to your advantage. There are classes that have skills that allow you to knock targets into adjacent rooms.
4205, RE: Very good reasoning.
Posted by Ekaerok on Wed 31-Dec-69 07:00 PM
I want to start by saying I'm not a super fan of death traps.

Still, I found it quite hysterical when I (Ekaerok) teleported to aforementioned prison cell just to have an enemy in PK range teleport into the prison as a ghost a couple hours after me. As soon as he unghosted, well he was out but a ghost again!

As amusing as that is I won't waste real life days much less hours on it and often ended up suiciding instead of staying trapped.
4200, They're very useful tactically.
Posted by Artificial on Wed 31-Dec-69 07:00 PM
Yeah they suck for newbies, and there's more than one room in the game that kills you in an interesting way (the iron maiden, anyone?).

However, you can summon people into the room next to them, and if they flee the wrong way, they're dead, or if they're some super tough enemy you can drive or pull them into the death trap and you both die.

It adds flavor.
4268, Not to mention
Posted by incognito on Wed 31-Dec-69 07:00 PM
Some classes can knock people from the room.
4269, I have also..
Posted by Mendos on Wed 31-Dec-69 07:00 PM
Had some interesting solo PK battles (to the death) by luring enemies into no recall deathtraps.

Sometimes people are willing to take a gamble and go for broke if they know that their opponent's back is also to the wall and the fight is relatively even matched.
4199, RE: Death-traps... is there a point?
Posted by Sertius on Wed 31-Dec-69 07:00 PM
Probably they serve two reasons, rp opportunity for you and healer or paladin or even imm (you can pray ic) and to instill the notion of Thera being a dangerous place. Carry a return potion for some and if that doesn't work, wait for a healer, paladin, or even goodie conjurer. You can also pray, but this is role driven and the imm might not be inclined to help. However, if you are a newbie, they most probably will.
4198, You can quit.
Posted by Tsunami on Wed 31-Dec-69 07:00 PM
Just close your client. You will go to void and then be logged out by the mud. It's called dropping link.

I've done it many times to wait for a paladin/healer that can save me, and sometimes a god has got involved.
4197, I personally wouldn't mind...
Posted by Torak on Wed 31-Dec-69 07:00 PM
.... that anyone below level 11 would get a recall that worked in no-exit rooms. Can't tell you how many newbies I've seen get pissed about the Galadon Sewers.
4201, Do you mean....recall?
Posted by Twist on Wed 31-Dec-69 07:00 PM


Because recall works for anyone below level 10, and that'll work in the Galadon sewers...
4202, Yeah I was tired that night...
Posted by Torak on Wed 31-Dec-69 07:00 PM
For some reason I thought some of the rooms down there were no-recall. Honestly can't remember if that's true or not since I haven't "fallen in" for years.
4203, Pre-10 you can recall through norecall nt
Posted by Tac on Wed 31-Dec-69 07:00 PM
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