<Cybercore>

Espionage - Traps

Espionage - Traps is the art of creating, deploying, and disarming a wide range of traps. Whether it's a simple tripwire or a complex booby trap, you are a master of using them to protect your assets or to take down your enemies.

Your training in this skill allows you to identify potential trap locations and to create traps using a wide range of materials and methods. You are skilled in setting up traps that are difficult to detect and can be triggered in various ways such as pressure, weight, or movement.

Your knowledge of traps also allows you to disarm them quickly and efficiently, as well as to use them to your advantage in various situations. Whether it's to create a diversion, to defend a location, or to eliminate a target, your trap-making abilities are a valuable asset in any mission.

With your expertise in Espionage - Traps, you can turn any location into a minefield of danger for those who do not possess your knowledge and skill. You are a master of cunning and strategy, always staying one step ahead of your enemies.

If you are trained in this skill you can roll both this skill and Espionage - Search when looking for traps and take the higher result.

Using Traps

Each trap creation or disarming attempt will have a difficulty rating based on the trap's complexity, available materials, and conditions. Simple traps are easier to create and disarm, while sophisticated traps require expertise.

When you attempt to create, deploy, detect, or disarm traps, you will make an Espionage - Traps skill check against the trap's difficulty rating. The GM may apply Boons or Banes based on various factors, such as available materials, time pressure, your familiarity with the trap type, or environmental conditions.

  • A Critical Success produces exceptional results. Your created trap is virtually undetectable and triggers flawlessly, or your disarmament is perfect and leaves the trap intact for reuse. You may even improve the trap beyond your original design, add extra features, or disarm it so cleanly that others don't realize it was ever there.
  • A Regular Success allows you to achieve your objective. The trap is created and functions as intended, or you successfully disarm the trap without triggering it. The trap works or is safely disabled.
  • A Failure means your trap doesn't work properly (may fail to trigger or be easily detected), or your disarmament attempt fails but doesn't trigger the trap yet. You may need to try again or use a different approach. The trap might still function or you're running out of time to disarm it safely.
  • A Critical Failure results in disaster: your trap triggers during setup (harming you or alerting enemies), your disarmament attempt triggers the trap (you suffer its full effects), you've created an obvious trap that anyone can spot, or you've permanently damaged a trap you were trying to disarm for reuse.

Trap Tricks

Rather than spending skill points to move up skill levels, You may instead spend skill points to purchase any of the following tricks.

Quick Deploy:

Cost: 2 Skill points
Requires: Tactical Training
Frequency: Once per Lockdown
Effect: You can set up a simple trap in half the normal time. When you need to quickly secure an area or create an impromptu ambush, you can deploy a basic trap (tripwire alarm, net trap, or simple explosive) in just 1-2 minutes instead of 10-20 minutes.

Perfect Camouflage:

Cost: 2 Skill points
Requires: Tactical Training
Frequency: Once per Lockdown
Effect: You can create a trap that blends perfectly into the surrounding environment, making it almost impossible to detect. Anyone searching for traps must make an opposed check at Disadvantage, and casual observation won't spot it at all.

Safe Disarmament:

Cost: 2 Skill points
Requires: Tactical Training
Frequency: Once per Lockdown
Effect: You are exceptionally skilled at safely disarming traps without setting them off or causing damage. When disarming a trap, you automatically succeed on one trap of moderate complexity or below, or gain a +1d6 Boon when disarming complex or dangerous traps.

Trap Network:

Cost: 6 Skill points
Requires: Expert Training
Frequency: Once per Op
Effect: You can set up a network of interconnected traps that work together to protect an area or target. When one trap is triggered, others in the network activate automatically or alert you to the intrusion. This creates overlapping fields of protection that are extremely difficult to bypass.

Remote Detonation:

Cost: 6 Skill points
Requires: Expert Training
Frequency: Once per Op
Effect: You can set traps to be triggered remotely via wireless detonator, allowing you to stay out of harm's way and choose the perfect moment to spring your trap. You can remotely trigger any trap you've set within 500 feet, giving you complete control over timing.

Reverse Trap:

Cost: 6 Skill points
Requires: Expert Training
Frequency: Once per Op
Effect: You can create a trap that triggers when someone tries to disarm it, catching them off-guard. The trap appears to be a standard design, but includes a secondary trigger that activates if anyone attempts to disable it. This is particularly effective against enemy demolitions experts.

Trap Savant:

Cost: 10 Skill points
Requires: Master Training
Frequency: Once per Mission
Effect: Your trap-detection abilities are legendary. For one operation, you can automatically detect all traps in an area simply by observing it, even traps that would normally be invisible or undetectable. You intuitively know their locations, types, and how to avoid or disarm them.

Multi-Stage Deathtrap:

Cost: 10 Skill points
Requires: Master Training
Frequency: Once per Mission
Effect: You can create an elaborate trap with multiple stages, each one more deadly than the last. Victims who trigger the first stage think they've escaped, only to fall into progressively worse traps. This can include: alarm → gas release → explosive → pitfall sequence, for example. Each stage increases lethality.

Improvised Trapmaker:

Cost: 10 Skill points
Requires: Master Training
Frequency: Once per Mission
Effect: You can make effective traps out of any materials on hand, even if they are not typically used for traps. Furniture becomes pitfalls, office supplies become poison delivery systems, and everyday objects become weapons. Given 10 minutes and any environment, you can create a lethal trap from whatever is available.

Crafting

Two-Stage Creation Process

Stage 1: Design Trap System (Blueprint)

  • Requires: Espionage - Traps check (DC varies by trap complexity)
    • Simple Trap (DC Easy): Basic tripwire, pit trap, alarm system
    • Advanced Trap (DC Medium): Multi-trigger system, concealed mechanism, timed trap
    • Elite Trap (DC Hard): Network of integrated traps, deadly mechanisms, near-invisible triggers
  • Time: 1-5 days of planning and testing per trap system
  • Resources: Knowledge of target area, trigger mechanisms, trap materials

Stage 2: Build and Deploy Traps (Crafting)

  • Requires: Materials + installation + testing
  • Time: 2-7 days depending on trap sophistication
  • Materials:
    • Components: Triggers, springs, electronics, weapons (Cheap to Expensive)
    • Concealment: Camouflage materials, false flooring, hidden compartments (Cheap to Moderate)
    • Payload: Explosives, toxins, nets, alarms (Cheap to Expensive)
  • Workshop: Target location for installation, secure workshop for construction

Benefits: Stacking Boons and Defense Advantages

Each custom trap system grants a stacking Boon when defending the trapped area:

  • 1 Trap System: +1d4 Boon
  • 2 Trap Systems: +1d6 Boon
  • 3 Trap Systems: +1d8 Boon
  • 4 Trap Systems: +1d10 Boon
  • 5+ Trap Systems: +1d12 Boon (then +1d4 for each additional)

Boons apply when:

  • Creating additional traps in the same area (experience with terrain)
  • Defending locations where traps are deployed
  • Detecting enemy intrusions via trap triggers
  • Channeling enemies into kill zones
  • Predicting enemy movement through trapped terrain

Types of Custom Traps

Lethal Traps:

  • Explosive Trap: Blast damage on trigger
  • Pitfall Spike Trap: Fall damage plus impalement
  • Automated Turret: Motion-activated weapons
  • Poison Gas: Lethal or debilitating toxins

Non-Lethal Traps:

  • Net Trap: Entangles targets
  • Stun Trap: Electric shock incapacitation
  • Alarm Trap: Alerts to intrusion
  • Flash-Bang: Disorients intruders

Advanced Traps:

  • Multi-Stage Trap: Progressive danger
  • Remote Trigger: Manually activated traps
  • Reverse Trap: Triggers when disarmed
  • Decoy Trap: Fake trap hiding real one

Maintenance Requirements

Trap systems require ongoing upkeep:

  • Regular Checks: Verify functionality weekly or monthly
  • Reset: Re-arm triggered traps (time varies)
  • Repair: Fix damaged mechanisms (Cheap to Moderate)
  • Updates: Adjust for enemy awareness or countermeasures
  • Duration: Until triggered, damaged, or discovered

Example: Safe House Defenses

"Tripwire" Chen secures team safe house:

  1. Design Perimeter (DC Medium): Chen spends 4 days planning, rolls Espionage - Traps (success)
  2. Install Systems: Creates 3 integrated trap systems:
    • Entry alarms: Silent alerts on doors/windows
    • Stairwell flashbangs: Disorient intruders
    • Escape route pitfall: Collapses false floor
  3. Cost: Moderate for electronics and mechanisms
  4. Benefit: When defending safe house, team gains +1d8 Boon (3 systems)
  5. Duration: Requires weekly checks, monthly reset

Example: Ambush Master's Kill Zone

Sergeant "Snare" Rodriguez prepares ambush site:

  1. Multiple Systems: Snare has deployed 5 interconnected trap systems:
    • Channeling obstacles: Force enemies into kill zone
    • Proximity mines: Blast on approach
    • Net traps: Capture survivors
    • Remote explosives: Manual detonation
    • False retreat path: Leading to pit traps
  2. Benefit: When ambushing via prepared site, gains +1d12 Boon
  3. Investment: Each system required 3-6 days setup
  4. Effectiveness: Enemies suffer casualties before engagement

GM Notes

  • Limit to 5 active trap systems per location to prevent excessive preparation
  • Detection: Sophisticated enemies may spot or disarm traps
  • Collateral: Traps don't discriminate - allies can trigger them too
  • Story Integration: Trapped locations create tactical advantages
  • Ethics: Lethal traps may have moral and legal implications
  • Obsolescence: Enemies adapt, requiring new trap designs