Ye Olde Inn

I question why in several places throughout the game and quest packs I see a treasure chest in the corner with two adjacent pit traps. According to the rules, a Hero need only search for treasure to obtain the contents of the chest. A Hero will only spring a pit trap by stepping onto the square. If their intention was to trap a Hero going for the treasure, which would seem to be the case given the location of the traps, then why didn't they just trap the chest? There's no need to disarm either pit when I Hero can just search and receive the reward without harm.

Anyone have any thoughts on the subject?

Maybe it's a red herring. Lure the Heroes into forgetting the rules OR thinking that the Heroes will have to untrap the pits to search the chest (i.e. well hidden traps); maybe?

I'm not really sure why they do that, unless its for the reason Phoenix gave. I suppose if you think they are pointless you could change it. You could make the chest trapped and if a hero searches for treasure without searching for traps first, then the floor could drop out from underneath the spot they are standing in.

zep wrote:You could make the chest trapped and if a hero searches for treasure without searching for traps first, then the floor could drop out from underneath the spot they are standing in.

Now that's an idea I really like. I shall use that in this situation from now on!

I suppose also, if you ever have keyed chests (which i often do), the pit traps would actually come into play when the heroes either use the key and/or attempt a lockpick if they haven't first disarmed the pit traps. But i too, also like this floor/chest combo trap idea. Nice.

drathe wrote:I question why in several places throughout the game and quest packs I see a treasure chest in the corner with two adjacent pit traps. According to the rules, a Hero need only search for treasure to obtain the contents of the chest. A Hero will only spring a pit trap by stepping onto the square. If their intention was to trap a Hero going for the treasure, which would seem to be the case given the location of the traps, then why didn't they just trap the chest? There's no need to disarm either pit when I Hero can just search and receive the reward without harm.

Anyone have any thoughts on the subject?

Necro!
I see the pit traps and chest beyond working as a lure with greater damage potential. Found on p.16 (NA IB) under How A Hero Searches For Treasure:

...Searching for treasure means you are
looking around, opening things, search-
ing for interestion objects and gold
coins, regardless of what square you are
on in the room. Do not move your
Hero figure when you search.

Based on the description of the activities above, a Hero is clearly moving around, but game abstraction saves time by just leaving the Hero figure static and calling it an action. "Opening things" definitely includes a chest. To reach the chest, a Hero must have crossed one of the trapped squares adjacent to the chest as part of the assumed movement in the Search For Treasure action.

If a chest is decribed in the Notes section of a Quest, then it must be opened when the special treasure is found by the first Hero who searches the room for treasure- found on the same page under How Zargon Reacts To A Hero's Search For Treasure:

As Zargon, if there is a special treasure
(as described in the Quest Notes), you
must read aloud the treasure description
once the treasure has been found. The
special treasure is discovered only once
by the first Hero who searches the room
for treasure, even if other Heroes later
search that same room.

I'd say even a chest noted as empty qualifies for this manditory first search, since the potential for treasure prompts the same assumed movement as when special treasure is found.

Once the first Search For Treasure action is taken, the mandatory discovery of the special treasure in the chest takes precedence, requiring abstract movement that locates the Hero figure on the pit trap in front of and adjacent to the chest, springing it. Alternatively, the Hero could instead spring the chest-adjacent pit-trap nearest to him (Zargon's call). Either way, the Hero will not be able to open the chest from a pit. The special treasure remains unfound, so the first search is nullified.

Should a Hero be so foolish as to neglect searching for traps before reattempting a search for treasure, then the other pit trap is similarly sprung. Again, relocate the searching Hero in the pit trap. At this point, the chest is probably unreachable, as the rules don't cover jumping a trap onto a chest.

House-ruling could provide different outcomes, such as allowing a figure to climb onto the chest square from a pit. Another option is to allow the chest to be dragged across to the non-adjacent, diagonal square. I'd require secondary trap rolls for such uncertain actions.

Both taking damage and possibly not getting a treasure, or risking the effects of a pit trap twice are both worse than a simple chest-trap. I say the former was intended, while the latter is possible.

As a final note, the assumed movement principle should also apply to a chest-trap. If it is sprung by a Search For Treasure action, then the Hero's figure should be placed in front of and adjacent to the chest (this location was discussed in another thread).

I might point everyone to another thread, as well. We've been talking about the idea of having a
treasure search separate from searching the chests.

torilen wrote:I might point everyone to another thread, as well. We've been talking about the idea of having a
treasure search separate from searching the chests.

Chests? How do they work?
viewtopic.php?f=8&t=895

Where do you disarm a chest from?
viewtopic.php?f=8&t=796

But the baseline: They didn't think the rules through... They didn't think the rules through AT ALL!