Ye Olde Inn

I just point out locations.
The manual says to specify which type. (Atleast the NA version does.)

My problem with that is mostly Spear Traps. A Hero with a Toolkit needs to roll anything but a Skull, same goes for stepping on it. They may as well walk through it, and if it misses, continue walking. They still can perform an Action. If they are not told which type, they would use up their action and the rest of their roll.

Another issue is a Trigger Trap on a treasure chest. Say one that brings a Gargoyle Statue to life. It takes away the surprise and lets the Heroes pile in to fight in case of a failed disarming.

With Spear Traps, searching and attempting to disarm is still the best play, because if you flub your Disarm roll and the trap triggers you get to roll again to attempt to avoid the damage from the trap.

For special Quest Note traps, however, I don't think you're obligated to point out the exact mechanics of the trap, just that the trapped furniture/door/whatever "looks dangerous".
(Not to mention, anyone who sees a room with a Gargoyle statue in it should automatically be suspicious anyway, Trap or not.)

My take on disarming is you fail then you lose the BP, there's no defending. Step on a Pit Trap to disarm it, for instance, there is no escaping if fail. Exception is say a Falling Rock Trap, a roll is needed to see how much damage, I wouldn't automatically take 3 BP.

Spear traps are rendered harmless when found in a search. That's why there are no spear trap tiles.
Falling rocks and pit traps are placed when found.

For special quest notes traps I wouldn't specify the nature of the trap.
However one quest (don't remember which) there's a gargoyle trap. The quest notes actually says the hero would have found out what would happen.

Goblin-King wrote:Spear traps are rendered harmless when found in a search. That's why there are no spear trap tiles.
Falling rocks and pit traps are placed when found.

NA rule book page 18:

HeroQuest wrote:How A Hero Searches For Traps
*As a Hero, you can only search for traps if there are no monsters visible to you.
*You must first verbally declare your search. Do so by saying, "I am searching for traps." Zargon will then tell you which squares, if any, have traps. He will NOT, however, put any trap tiles out on the board. At this time, they are still concealed and unsprung.
*Once a trap is discovered, you may be able to JUMP the trap, or on your next turn, DISARM it.

Goblin-King was referring to the European (EU) rules for Spear traps, whereas I quoted the North American (NA) rules.
If you're not already aware, there are a number of differences between each set of rules. How Traps work is just one of those differences.

I was simply pointing out the difference of NA rules vs. Goblin-King's comments.

Am aware there are many rule differences between NA and EU, just not sure what they all are.

Would hope to get an EU version of the rules some time to expand my catalogue.

The excerpt from my rules:

As soon as a hero has announced a search for traps in the area he is in, Morcar distinctly points to all the individual squares that contain any kind of trap (as per the quest map) while the heroes must memorize these found traps as well as they can. They also do not yet know which square contains which kind of trap. No area can be searched for traps more than once. A triggered trap can never be disarmed and vice versa (cf. ╈ in Card & Icon Key).

I guess that's NA rules unchanged.

Note: an area is definded as a room or corridor section as per a graphic where I divide the game board corridors into sections from one crossing/corner to the next. So a Hero can only search the area he is currently in The closest crossings/corners in every direction are included.

The NA rules part I ignore is where is says:

A pit trap is a covered hole in the floor. If the trap is found during a search, Zargon will say that the floor looks weak and will point to the square where the trap is located.

Falling block traps are very dangerous. Stepping on one may trigger the ceiling to collapse. If such a trap is found during a search, Zargon will say that the ceiling looks dangerous and will point to the square where the trap is located.

A spear trap is carefully hidden. If found during a search, Zargon will say that the square looks suspicious and will point to the square where the trap is located.

If the room or corridor that the chest/furniture is located in is being searched for traps, Zargon will say that the chest/furniture looks dangerous and will point to the chest/furniture in question.


As stated before I just point to the locations and don't reveal the type by using the different "sayings."

Same here.
I might sprinkle some fluff here and there, like the NA rules say,
but this stuff doesn't belong in a rulebook in my opinion.