Removing Falling Block Traps

[Jalapenotrellis]

Edited by HispaZargon: due to topic similarity, all posts from old thread "Falling Block Traps in UK version" have been moved to this more recently active thread.

Edit--I think I figured it out. Read my second post below.

Can someone link to the rules for the UK falling block traps? My understanding is they fall on the arrow. I'm not sure why they chose to denote these traps with 2 squares?

In quest 1, Search for the Ogre Fortress (we are playing this in 2.5 weeks), I see a falling block trap in the room above the outside sand area on the other side of a door you can't search for. Is this just "sorry, you lose?" Or does the falling block trap trigger in front of you, and it falls at the arrow? If so, does it just not do any damage in this quest pack, it just blocks things after you step on arrows? Or is it really just unforgiving, sorry you lose--you're stuck in a room with no way out.

Also, I assume you start in the outside sand area, but that's not clear, either. If so, where exactly? Do they guess they just climb the cliff? It looks like there aren't steps in the quest map.

Thank you from across the pond

[Jalapenotrellis]

I think I found them: http://english.yeoldeinn.com/downloads/ ... f-play.pdf
It looks like the first edition rules did not talk about falling blocks, only the second edition. Please let me know if I'm wrong.

When a character player moves through a square containing a falling block symbol, a block will fall. It will land into the adjacent square marked with the arrow on the Quest map, blocking the way. Any character or monster in the square into which the block falls must roll three combat dice. The victim must lose one Body point for each skull rolled, and then move to an adjacent unoccupied square. If the victim cannot move to an adjacent square, he is eliminated by the falling block.

It looks like the Falling Block Traps in Against the Ogre Horde follow the UK second edition rules, whereby you find/disarm them on the block square. If they are triggered, they fall on the arrow square. This means that they didn't really screw up in all these quests with the falling block on the opposite side of the door. The Champions DO have a chance to search and disarm these without being separated from the party.

If this is the case, part of the strategy in the UK version is to clear away from the falling block square because they will not know where it will fall if they fail to disarm the trap. It could land on the wizard, for example, who isn't even trying to disarm the trap. It could INSTANTLY KILL someone who can't jump away anywhere. It could hit a monster, as well (NA traps never do that). Wow! Very cool. This will add a twist to my players, who have this game down. Then, they'll have to unlearn it when we go back to the NA expansions, lol!

[Davane]

One key feature to note in the UK rules - you CAN disarm triggered fallen block traps. This key difference means that there's really no "trapped in a" type traps within the UK edition, because a Dwarf or anyone with a Tool Kit can come and dig you out... The US rules essentially broke all of these quests.

[The Admiral]

One key feature to note in the UK rules - you CAN disarm triggered fallen block traps. This key difference means that there's really no "trapped in a" type traps within the UK edition, because a Dwarf or anyone with a Tool Kit can come and dig you out... The US rules essentially broke all of these quests.

An unrealistic feature of the UK version in my opinion. The Dwarf has trap disarming skills. Clearing up the mess after the trap has gone off is entirely different.

[HispaZargon]

An unrealistic feature of the UK version in my opinion. The Dwarf has trap disarming skills. Clearing up the mess after the trap has gone off is entirely different.

I totally agree. This is one of those points in rules that 'common sense' should be used by players.

[Davane]

The UK version didn't have the ability to search for and disarm traps separately. If you found a trap, it went off, and THEN you disarmed it. So, for the sake of fallen block traps, you would clear the rubble afterwards, just as you could remove a pit trap afterwards...

Common sense aside, it made dealing with traps simpler...

[The Admiral]

The UK version didn't have the ability to search for and disarm traps separately. If you found a trap, it went off, and THEN you disarmed it. So, for the sake of fallen block traps, you would clear the rubble afterwards, just as you could remove a pit trap afterwards...

Common sense aside, it made dealing with traps simpler...

The EU version did simplify things, such as 1BP for all monsters. Personally I prefer the NA rules for most aspects and I have extensively played both versions. Didn't the EU version say you couldn't go on a square you had already walked on? That made no sense in reality either.

[Davane]

Yes, the UK version did say that you can't cross the same square twice. Seems this was mainly to prevent Heroes from peeking around the corner or through a door, and then running away...

Both the UK and the US versions also had issues with being in the same room before you can search for traps, making traps beyond doors undetectable, and with significant ambiguity over what sections of passages a hero could actively search...

[Kurgan]

I treated that "big sandy tile" in ATOH as basically a fancier version of the staircase for that quest pack, basically. Traps on the other side of an open door are "too bad, so sad" types of situations, having been placed there intentionally by the quest designers. Unless you can rewind time or happen to walk through a wall to miss it, that's your bad luck. The idea of being "trapped" by falling block traps is a real danger in both the EU and NA versions of the game but is a bit overblown. The instant it hits, you are able to "see" in all directions to know if you would be trapped in a "dead end" if you moved one direction vs. another because you can see the whole room/corridor before the trap actually lands, if that makes sense.


Yes, the falling blocks are a much greater threat in the NA edition generally, and ATOH was originally an EU quest (converted by Phoenix) but apart from one possible instance, the falling blocks really don't "break" these quests using NA rules I've found... not anymore than they would KK or ROTWL. If the heroes insist on blindly moving forward every single time, that's not really Zargon's fault is it? If he really wants to give them another chance he can put a spell scroll of pass through rock as a special Treasure in that section.

[iKarith]

One key feature to note in the UK rules - you CAN disarm triggered fallen block traps. This key difference means that there's really no "trapped in a" type traps within the UK edition, because a Dwarf or anyone with a Tool Kit can come and dig you out... The US rules essentially broke all of these quests.

An unrealistic feature of the UK version in my opinion. The Dwarf has trap disarming skills. Clearing up the mess after the trap has gone off is entirely different.

Very unrealistic! Why … if you wanted a character who could dig someone out after a rock fall, it'd be either someone who had experience living and working in caves/mines their whole lives or someone else who at least had a tool kit.

Huh, and suddenly that makes sense. What doesn't make sense is that it'd happen in the same timeframe you could move between ten and sixty feet and swing a sword. It'd take an hour or more.