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Information-Choice-Impact Trap Doctrine

Overview

Information-Choice-Impact is a trap doctrine, not a trap list. Its purpose is to make traps produce play. A trap should reveal enough for players to think, force them to choose a response, and change the scenario if they fail or exploit it.

When any of the three parts is missing, the trap usually collapses into either trivia or gotcha damage.

The Three Parts

Information

Players need at least one observable clue before full commitment:

  • residue
  • sound
  • draft or airflow
  • footprints
  • odd geometry
  • mechanism signs
  • environmental mismatch

Choice

Players need more than one plausible response:

  • bypass it
  • disarm it
  • trigger it safely
  • route around it
  • exploit it against enemies
  • retreat and return better prepared

Impact

The outcome must change state in a way the table feels:

  • damage or injury
  • time loss
  • noise and attention
  • positional change
  • resource depletion
  • faction alert
  • blocked access or altered route

Trap Build Template

Write traps in five short fields:

  • Trigger: what activates it?
  • Signal: what warns the players?
  • Choice set: what can they do about it?
  • Impact: what changes if it resolves badly?
  • Aftermath: what does the room or route look like now?

If you cannot fill all five fields in a sentence or two, the trap is probably underdesigned.

Referee Procedure

  1. Give the signal before the trigger resolves fully.
  2. Ask what the players actually do, not what skill they press.
  3. Resolve their chosen method and its costs.
  4. If the trap goes off, publish the aftermath clearly.
  5. Let the aftermath create downstream play: noise, pursuit, route change, or scarcity.

Failure Modes

  • Invisible damage with no clue.
  • One correct answer disguised as a choice.
  • Pure HP tax with no scenario effect.
  • Trap descriptions that force skill-first play instead of fiction-first play.

Design Guidance

  • Good traps alter pacing.
  • Better traps alter map use.
  • Best traps alter faction behavior because they create sound, alarms, smoke, collapse, or evidence.

Use trap doctrine to write situations, not just mechanical punishments.

Practical Comparison Rule

If a trap can be summarized only as "save or take damage," it is usually too weak for memorable play. If it can be summarized as "players noticed X, chose Y, and now Z in the dungeon has changed," it is probably doing its job.

See Also