How would you disarm a real trap?

[Pancho]

So in HQ you just roll a combat die to see if you can disarm a trap.

But what about if the dungeon were real, with actual traps in it? How are the main trap types actually disarmed? How the heck do you disarm a hole in the ground? Why does the Dwarf have an advantage? What would a tool kit actually do in the real world?

I guess out of the four Heroes, my mind least resembles that of the Dwarf. So help me out here

[mitchiemasha]

Come on that's easy. The dwarf is closer to the floor, he notices the dodgy looking flagstones easier (joking of course). As for the disarming, dwarfs are considered more handy at things in general. if it's real, I'd say rearranging what ever covers the trap into something you can now use to walk over it. Finding the lever that makes the floor stable, not a trap. Cutting some wires. Jamming some cogs!

[knightkrawler]

First of all, you don't disarm a hole in the ground. You find the floor tile under which the hole is.
Dwarfs are engineers, natural ones. They are born and bred to find their paths in claustrophobic circumstances and they build stuff, technically far advanced compared to any other people. So they have better knowledge about mechanics AND intuition about faults in their constructed environments.
A little treacherous gap between tiles or bricks, a small pile of dust here, a draft of cold air there...

Myself, I would only try to disarm any traps that I have to to make my way. The better alternative would be to walk around it, and frankly, that's how ALL heroes I have ever seen play play. I've never seen different tactics.
The trap rules of HQ are way more plausible than we take them to be, I think.
Also, we've talked about this in many threads, concerning many topics, but it fits again:
HQ has very simple rules and as all rules, they are abstract in design. Disarming doesn't mean just "disarming", it also means "avoiding the harm this thing might cause", "knowing how to step on that tile to not make it break" and so on.
People need to stop taking rules too literally.

[Pancho]

It's a game, I know that. An abstracted version of an assumed reality. But in the game the tool kit is a literal piece of equipment. It can be used to disarm all the traps. I'm just thinking aloud about how it would work in reality, as well as other trap related scenarios. Cus, you know, it's interesting to think what it would be like to actually be in one of Morcars dungeons.

Good points about the Dwarf from both of you. It sounds like the Dwarf would make a great health & safety inspector in a modern construction site or highway

[j_dean80]

Some objects the tool kit may hold:

brush to dust cracks in the walls and floors
magnifying glass
snips to cut trip wires
hammer and nails to secure random debris over a pit

[whitebeard]

Some objects the tool kit may hold:

brush to dust cracks in the walls and floors
magnifying glass
snips to cut trip wires
hammer and nails to secure random debris over a pit

The dwarf has this and more concealed in his beard.

[knightkrawler]

Some objects the tool kit may hold:

brush to dust cracks in the walls and floors
magnifying glass
snips to cut trip wires
hammer and nails to secure random debris over a pit

The dwarf has this and more concealed in his beard.

...HER beard.