Question about traps and secret passages.

[Lowery_79]

Hello All,

Like so many questions that get asked here, these questions may have already been answered. So if anyone can direct me to the answer or give me an answer that would be helpful.

1) let’s say there are three traps down a single corridor. The elf searches for traps on their turn, how many traps does he find or learn about? I have never been sure on this so when playing I show him all three traps using my finger. Letting him remember where all three are located. If he forgets, doesn’t have a tool kit when he gets to one or try’s to jump off me and fails it goes off.

2) if by chance (weather home brew or in released material) their are two secret passages in a room does the hero find one or both during a search?


Bonus question.
If you’re playing an Egyptian type quest would you consider bobby traps different than regular traps? For example players open a secret passageway and once the door opens a bunch of scarub bettles enter the room at heroes (before they enter the secret passage).

[manaknight14]

1) let’s say there are three traps down a single corridor. The elf searches for traps on their turn, how many traps does he find or learn about? I have never been sure on this so when playing I show him all three traps using my finger. Letting him remember where all three are located. If he forgets, doesn’t have a tool kit when he gets to one or try’s to jump off me and fails it goes off.

This is something where there are a lot of homebrew rules out there, but if you are sticking to the current rules as written then you are doing it right. A single trap search is supposed to reveal all traps in that room or corridor. There are quests where trap searches only reveal one trap at a time, but the quest notes specifically spell that out because it is a departure from the normal rule. As for what happens once a trap is found, you are following the correct procedure under the current edition's rules. Some older editions called for putting the tokens on the board after the search and some form of automatic disarm effect for the dwarf, but the 2021 US rules work like you describe. Zargon simply points out which squares are traps and leaves it up to the heroes to remember them and deal with them. If a hero steps onto a discovered trap without declaring a disarm or jump attempt, or flubs their disarm or jump roll, then the trap activates as normal.

2) if by chance (weather home brew or in released material) their are two secret passages in a room does the hero find one or both during a search?

Again, just going by current rules, all secret passages in the room are discovered by a single search. In this case, Zargon is supposed to mark each secret door with a tile, but they are still considered to be closed. A secret door opens when a hero moves adjacent to it and declares they are opening it (or uses a Genie spell to do so).

Bonus question.
If you’re playing an Egyptian type quest would you consider bobby traps different than regular traps? For example players open a secret passageway and once the door opens a bunch of scarub bettles enter the room at heroes (before they enter the secret passage).

The answer to this is going to be specific to the nature of the quest, so it will really depend on the designer's intent and not a general rule. However, based on similar scenarios in official expansions I think there are a few guidelines for how I would suggest handling this.

• If the scarabs are simply waiting in the secret room to ambush the hero that opens the door, then there probably isn't any way for the heroes to become aware of this trap by searching before opening the door.
• If the scarabs are hidden in the current room and are waiting until the secret door opens to spring a surprise attack, this can be handled similar to the "ambush monster" idea described in the new Wizards of Morcar expansion. An ambush monster can be found by searching for traps in the current room, but there is no way to "disarm" it. Instead, the monster is placed on the board and now behaves like a normal monster during Zargon's turn. It no longer gets to make an ambush attack when the secret door opens.
• If the secret door incorporates some kind of mechanism that releases the scarabs (like from the ceiling or floor), this is probably the trickiest scenario to rule on. Presumably such a device can be discovered by a trap search. However, if the secret door search has not been performed first, will a hero attempting a trap search be able to find it without knowing there is a door to check? I'm thinking no, but this will introduce an "order dependency" to the different search actions, which is something I don't think I have seen happen in HeroQuest before and would be a unique twist. Even if the trap search is successful, you also have to decide whether the trap mechanism is something that can be decoupled from the door mechanism by the Dwarf's skills or the use of a tool kit. If so, then they can attempt a disarm, but if not, you may have to tell the heroes that if they want to open the door, they will just have to accept whatever is about to happen.

[Parzival]

I take a cue from the App and mark the trap tiles with skull tokens. I don’t think it’s right to force the players to try to remember which tiles are traps; the heroes certainly wouldn’t mix that up— and what “looks suspicious” when found (as the App helpfully states) still has the same characteristics that made it “look suspicious” to the hero— the hero would not forget what he’d just noticed, and it wouldn’t just vanish from his sight.
So a trap revealed is revealed to a glance ever after.

And yes, by rule *all* traps in the chamber or visible corridor are revealed by one search in that area. Line of Sight is not necessary; an Elf in between the Barbarian and the Dwarf can still see traps (or secret doors) beyond either companion. (Monsters don’t matter, as you can’t search when a monster is present.) This is also how the App treats things.
The same search rules apply to secret doors.

(I play the 2021 set.)

[Thrasher79]

Hello,

I can only agree with the previous speakers.
Regarding 1) Yes, he finds all the traps in the corridor. I also show the player the relevant fields and tell him which trap is located there. However, he has to remember the field himself, or else search for it again.

Regarding 2) Yes, he finds both. A search always takes place in the entire room. It could be played differently, but that would only unnecessarily prolong the game, as then several heroes would have to search.

Bonus question: There will be no general answer to this. Such a quest would be custom-written. And it always depends on the person who created the quest how they handle it. If it is a trap that closes securely, the beetles would come into the room and attack immediately after the secret door is opened. If the heroes are to have at least a chance, they could receive a hint when searching for traps. However, I don’t think that would help much. The trap could not be defused.

Best wishes, Thrasher79

[wallydubbs]

I remember one of the first times playing with a new group. When playing Prince Magnus' Gold that there was a trap diagonally adjacent to the boss door, my cousin was playing the Elf standing next to this space. After I pointed out the trap he said, "Okay, I know it's there because you just pointed it out, but I'm still feeling a little weird that I might forget.
I placed a skull tile over the trap, "Does that help?*
He replied matter-of-factly, "Yes."
So marking traps will help the heroes if they need it in some small way.

Also when a hero searches for traps and/or Secret Doors it should reveal all traps/secret doors in the room, however when it comes to hallways, it requires line of sight. If the hallway has a sharp right corner turn, the hero will need to search again.
Occasionally it's specified that the lighting is poor and heroes can only detect the closest trap (Spiral Passage, Quest 3 of Keller's Keep) or only 3 spaces ahead (Foresaken Tunnels of Xor/Xel).