The "Bruh Momentum", my favorite way of designing traps for OSR Dungeons :3
Sunday Morning, April 26th
In my continued effort to stay engaged with the GM-work of running an OD&D world, I was comparing my newest dungeon "Mvrkmaal's Tunnel" to my older dungeons from a few years ago; Some smaller dungeons, my Dungeon 23 Project which eventually became Castle Blackstone Megadungeon for my Science-Fantasy world of Anathea.
One of the many similarities was my tendency towards non-lethal but highly annoying traps. Loud alarms, dropping ceiling tiles, non-spiked pits full of smelly sticky substances like oil or honey garlic. All of these things won't kill a PC, but they add a new variable in the Dungeon-Crawling experience. A loud trap like the alarms, or dropping/shattering ceiling tiles will likely draw monsters if not simply add some sudden stress for the party. The pits full of smelly shit coat the party's clothes/armor, and if it doesn't make them slower then it will also draw more encounters from either the wilderness trek back or going back down the hallway in da Dungeon. These combined with Random Encounter Rolls piling on as well, culminate in a lovely little term i've coined as: The Bruh Momentum.
Of all the running themes in my Dungeon-Making Process, this is the only one I can specifically pinpoint where I drew inspiration from...
Stonehell Megadungeon, the first OSR Dungeon I ever bought and ran back when I was first learning about the OSR! (And OSRIC as my first Old School Ruleset ;3)
I've only gotten to run the dungeon a handful of times, and most times were near TPK's before anyone reached the first floor! (Thank you amateur GMing, One-on-One sessions and high rolls on the monster's part .-.) But the two (Yes, two!) times a party managed to get into the first floor, they always sprung the pit trap on the way from Chamber 1 to Rooms 20 and 19 in the Hell's Antechamber section either before or after also rolling a random monster encounter.
The combination of all these factors usually lead to the players beginning to fluster a bit, which is amusing to watch unfold x33. There's a fair bit of facepalming, sometimes some groaning but best of all someone is usually going "Bruh" (Or some variant phrase).
To me, all of this is typically better than a simple PC Death. It keeps the game going, while still negatively impacting the party. Death can sometimes feel very anti-climactic and momentum (Hah!) killing in my experience running Dungeons.
The newest iteration of this i've devised for Mvrkmaal's tunnel are roaming Guard Golems in the larger hallways of all 3 floors :33. One of the rumors in town is that they contain a very valuable large gemstone in their chests as a power source.
In actuality, they contain a cavity full of an iridescent viscous boiling liquid (A magical substance used in many parts of my setting as a stand-in for Oil/Gasoline etc). Any PC that opens up that cavity must make a Save Vs. Ray or be coated with this liquid!
1D4 Damage! And the areas of the body covered with this liquid become permanently vein-y and iridescent whilst the skin becomes incredibly tough with silver-hued skin...