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 Grimtooth's Lair: A Lost piece of RPG History

By SS Crompton

There were some blank pages in the old booklet, so in its

place we are adding this little perspective on what Grim­
tooth's Lair is and what little we know of its origins.

First off, it was not sanctioned or approved by Flying Buf­

falo (Grimtooth's publisher.) It was made to be used for
tournament play at Origins Game Fair in 1983.

The first time any of us at Buffalo saw it, was after the con­
vention. I think Mike Stackpole had been given a copy and
we all got a look at it. We were flattered that Grimtooth
fans had created a tournament book, but weren't too im­
pressed with it overall. We never saw it again after that.
Still it is a unique piece of rpg gaming history.

One thing we don't know is who created this book. There are
no names anywhere in it, so that remains a mystery.

How we found it: Joseph Goodman had heard about this book­
let and we all began a search to find a copy of it with
no luck at all. Most Grimtooth fans we contacted didn't
even know it existed, and Flying Buffalo had no copies of
it either. Joseph contacted Bill Meinhardt, who has been
collecting and archiving fantasy RPG materials for decades
and Bill was kind enough to allow us to scan his copy. (See
elsewhere in this booklet to read more about Bill's efforts
to preserve RPG history.)

We hope you enjoy this lost piece of Grimtooth history and

who knows after 35 yeears, maybe one of you will use this

to run a Grimtooth Tournament once again!

Grimtooth & Grimtooth's Traps are TM & copyright© 2018 of Flying Buffalo Inc.
 This tournament is designed to be run with ANY role playing system, by
any devious GM who wants his players to think, instead of just hacking
through.
The traps of this game are either fully explained, or a picture has been
drawn, so the GM and the player can understand what happened. Please make
sure that you don't show the players the trick of the trap, before its been
sprung.
Please read everything in the boxes to the players.

You an your r1en y t e most orr1 e master

troll, Grimtooth.
As you are most aware of his reputation for traps, you realize that you
have only to wait for a most horrible lingering death in some twisted
mechanical bit.
Grimtooth strolls up to you, his entire manner suggesting to you that he
is incredibly bored.
"I like you,• he says.
"Just our luck." your friend whispers to you.
"And because I like you, I'm going to give you a chance to live. All
you have to do is cross that room, open a door, pass down a corridor, and
out to freedom. Easy." he smiles, a terrible thing to behold. "Of
course, you could always stay for dinner •••• •
With that he turns and leaves.
You now become aware of your surroundings. You are in a 30 foot semi
circle. On one side is a tall cliff with a opening in the center. On the
other side is a loosely woven stick and wire fence, with a door that does
not appear to be locked.

�
Anyone examining the fence will learn the following:

It appears to be made of odd sticks and branches, wound with many pieces
of wire. The door has a latch on it, and there is no lock.

Anyone touching the fence will be caught by the wire, which is wire of
strangulation. Roll a twenty sided and score your dex-5 or less i n order
to break free. If the character can not break free, the wire will strangle
him in 04 melee rounds. (A terrible lingering death, bee bee.)
Anyone touching the doorway will also be firmly caught, and the door
will NOT swing open!! Roll a twenty sided and score your Oex-10 or less to
break free (good luck) .
[Oh come on! It's not going to be that easy! I I

A
-- I n front of the doorway, there is a small spring board that will pop the
character stepping on it into the room.
Anyone specifically not stating that they are avoiding the front of the
door will be poped in when they begin to investigate the doorway or the
inside room.
Roll a 04 to determine where the character lands.
l • S 2 = 2 3 = 4 4=6

The 30 by 30 foot room s l t by torches in eac ten oot section. T e

floor is a smooth black color broken into 10 foot sections. On the section
directly to your right a bullseye is painted in red on the floor. On the
10 foot section to your left is a body with a sword in it. Directly across
from you is a closed door.

All squares, unless noted, will appear to be a smooth black color.

TORCHES
The torches are actually holl ow, and so if any are removed from the
walls, they spill the oil in the pocket (and inside the torch) all over
themsel ves, causing 06 damage. � 10Tc
.1\'I burn awo� o.�' 'th;.,.
•

S UARE
This ten foot section has a bullseye painted on the floor in a bright
red.

See illustration.
If you step on the side nearest the door, KABOOM!! But if you step on
the side away from the door, your safe. If they step in the center of the
bullseye, roll a 06 1-3 the floor tilts the de�dly way1 4 the character
1
 remains balanced (roll again when they move next); 5-6 stepped on the right
side (darnl)
The dynamite will cause 4D6 damage.

SPUME 2
See illustration.
Make the characters stepping in the square to roll their Int or less on
a twenty sided dice. If this roll is made, they notice that the entire
square has sunk an inch.
The way to thwart this trap is to leave .2.l.l your clothes on the square,
thus weighing it down, and causing the cork in the bottle not to be pulled.
If the cork is p ulled it releases a hungry mini-wraith from a soul
bottle. The mini-wraith will attempt to eat 4 levels.
Mini-wraith 8 life points
1hw.. '[)(p ��/1\11
characters need a 13 to hit lie. r.eeO.s o.. t31b h;�
·l.
you don't need magic or silver to hit this thing! This is to
encourage the player s to think, not to assume.

body of a human, a sword thrust firmly through his back,

the way through. A pool of dried blood surround the body.

Touching the body contracts an awful disease, but that won't get the
players till later.
Searching the pockets will reveal a mousetrap - D4 damage.
Drawing the sword, harshly moving the body, or any of a thousand sudden
movements will cause the sword to cut the rope suspending the ceiling. 306
damage (as it's a light pourous stone, otherwise the thin rope wouldn't
hold it!) [Of course you could beef it up ••• )

SQUARE 4
You ear somet ing go CLICK. Count to s ow y. The ceiling drops out
and lands with a startling whaml A yellow power is sprayed all over the
room.

If the player says that he is getting out of that 10 foot square, then
he will not have the block fall on him. If he says nothing, 306 damage.
Any player not crushed under the block, will breath this powder in. (It
takes a long time to settle, and they can't hold their breath that long!
D4 damage. The powder is powdered magnesium, and it will ignite, and cause
the entire room to flash for 3D6 damage. There is one place that the
player will not take damage, and that is if he falls down the pit i n square
s.

SQUARE 5
Pit trap. Anyone putting any significant weight in this square will
trip the top open. There's a fall 2 0 feet doing 2 D 6 damage to the
character.
At the bottom of the pit there are three coils of rope.
Rope 1: is really a snake. A rope snake. It is sleeping, if it is
touched, it will wake up and attack. Snake, 7 points, characters need a 12
to hit. He needs a 11 to hit them.
Rope 2: half elastic, as characters get half way up, it springs them
up and into another square. Depending on what direction they were climbing
determines the square they were catapulted onto. D4 damage from the toss.
Rope 3 : A rope with a thin core o f woven needles. A s weight i s put
on the rope, the needles twist out, causing l point of damage with every
hand hold they take to get up (Roll 3 dice at this point, but only give
them D4 damage total) .

S UARE 6
As you step into the square, you notice a flash of movement on the
floo<. What do you do?

If he ellects to jump out, Roll Dex-3 or less, if they make it, sigh,
noting will happen to them. If they don't make it 206 dam.age from slicing
blades.

You see that sheets of metal have sprung up from the floor, enclosing
that 10 foot section in a 6 foot high cube. You hear running water, and
realize that the cube is filling with liquid.

Anyone caught in the cube will hopefully panic, and try and climb their
way out. The top of the walls are razor sharp, D6 damage trying to climb
out. Roll Dex or less on a twenty sided to see if they succeed in
2
escaping. They can try as long as they like.
The water is a easy flow that will fill the bin half way in 8 melees.
If the characters are still in the room, they will hear a hissing sound as
the liquid reacts with the sides of the wall, coated with another chemical,
this mixing will produce a sleeping gas. If they are caught by the gas,
they will wake up just in time for 'dinner'.

SQUARE 7
Once this 10 foot square is stepped into, the sides of the ajoining
corner walls will snap together, causing 3D6 damage.
This trap will automatically reset itself, taking the next melee to open
back into the harmless looking corner.

SOU.ARE 8
.As the character steps into the square, a slurping squishy noise. The
characters (if they bother to look) will discover their boots (or feet) two
inches in a black much.
If they pull their feet out of the •muck" they will let air into the
phosphorous liquid underneath. 2D4 damage.
To counteract this trap, all they need to do is leave their shoes
behind, or carefully scrap the black goo off your feet and back into the
square.

SOU.ARE 9
There is a thin layer of black balsa over a layer of quicksand. If they
step onto this 10 foot square, they have three chances to get out. To make
things worse, the quicksand is acidic! (Nasty troll!) D�de.w.'"ie pee- fl(fl«.
The first melee Roll Dex-2 or less on a 20 sided. ""-l>e><-5,"TX"" 'De•-1

DOOR
-U the door is let go of, it is counter weighted and will swing wide and
burst open a panel at the end of the corridor. The broken panel will
release a poisonous gas that will do 2D4 damage.

S U.l\RE 10
The opening of the door has started a small ball rolling down a long
circular track. It is a small blue ball that is rolling down the corkscrew
track, towards the end where i t will fall abruptly toward the g·round a
short 3 feet beyond the end of the track. The blue ball falls, and hits
the round with an explosion.
you can rea a o is square o your p ayers t en it s too ate.
Do DB damage.
If they players interrupt you, with instructions to capture the ball, or
close the door, then they will not take the damage.

The corridor is 40 feet long with the sky showing at the end. In the
ceiling you notice run�ing down the exact center of the corridor is a
series of slots each about 2 and a little feet away.

If the players state that they are using every other hand hold, they
will be fine. .Any other combination should take care of them.

SOU.ARE 11
There is another pit here with a 20 foot drop onto the hard ground.
There is a spider in the bottom of the pit.

Do 2D6 damage for falling into the pit.

Spider 7 points. bite D4, and the spider needs a 10 to hit the
characters. The characters need a 10 to hit the spider.
There is a door at the bottom of the trap. Behind this door, is a water
corridor that leads to a outside pool. .Anyone who so much as cracks this
door, will get a rush of water that will sweep anyone down in the pit
across the pit, and through the balsa wood wall and onto the spikes hidden
there. 2D6 damage.
The hand holds carved in the ceiling are safe, until the characters come
to the ones indicated. These are crumbled through, so that any weight will
cause them to break a t the exact moment to cause the fall.

SOU.ARE 12
This square has a false balsa wood top that hides the slant beyond it.
The hope is that they will discover the trap, and try and leap over it,
thus breaking the balsa, and causing the character to fall back into the
trap .

3
 .SOOl\RE 13
This square has a series of invisible blades attached firmly to the
sides of the doorway.
Anyone stating that they are •running" out of the corridor, will be
sliced and diced into bite sized squares, and will collapse back into the
corridor, and just outside the opening.
Anyone just walking up to the opening, will easily discover the block,
which swings inward, like a door. If they swing it inward, they will hear
a click (The second row sliding into place from the ceiling.)
The second row of blades is the same as the first, except that they are
coated with acid, 04 damage if touched.

B
The corridor opens up into a green field. Open sky greets you to
freedom.

Just beyond the opening is a disguised pond. There is a net weave cover
with grass. If the char acters walk out into the field, they will be
wrapped up in the net, which is weighted with rocks. Roll Oex-5 or less on
a 020 to struggle free, otherwise••••drown!11

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 SCORE
OUTSIDE THE LAIR:
Investigating the fence, but leaving it alone +l
Touching the fence -5

Touching the Door -7

A Getting sprung into the Lair -1

TORCHES
Messing with more than one -1 each after first

1 Leaping to far side safely +l

2 Leaving weight on the square +l

3 Leaving the body and sword alone after entering

the square +l

.. Moving while the GM is counting +l

5 Triping the pit without falling in +l

6 Looking for a way to shut off liquid +l

(there isn't one, but if they looked)

7 Tiggering the trap from the safe corner (illo) +l

8 Leaving boots, or scraping the stuff back down +l

9 Discovering the quicksand before falling in. +l

DOOR Preventing door from hitting wall +l

10 Catching the ball before it hits +l

using the ball somewhere else in the dungeon +l

11 Using the hand holds in the ceiling +2

Falling in the pit -1
Opening the door, and being flooded -1

12 Jumping over the pit (and thus missing) -1

Letting go of the hand holds too soon -1

13 Opening first invisible blade door +l

Opening second blade door +l
Not getting burned by acid on second door +l

B Falling in the covered pond -2

drowning -1
Finding pool without anyone falling in +2

Roll Playing Bonus (1 to 10 points)

If Dexter was in charcter (a womanizer, I'm the greatist
type) then indicate 1 to 10 points.
If Mainard was a doom and gloomer, add 1 to 10 points.

Other Comments:

9
 SCORE

OUTSIDE THE LAIR1

Investigating the fence, but leaving it alone +l
Touching the fence -5
Touching the Door -7

A Getting sprung into the Lair -1

TORCHES
Messing with more than one -1 each after first

1 Leaping to far side safely +l

2 Leaving weight on the square +l

3 Leaving the body and sword alone after entering

the square +l

.. Moving while the GM is counting +l

5 Triping the pit without falling in +l

6 Looking for a way to shut off liquid +l

(there isn't one, but if they looked)

7 Tiggering the trap from the safe corner Cillo) +l

8 Leaving boots, or scraping the stuff back down +l

9 Discovering the quicksand before falling in. +l

DOOR Preventing door from bitting wall +l

10 Catching the ball before it hits +l

using the ball somewhere else in the dungeon +l

11 Using the hand holds in the ceiling +2

Falling in the pit -1
Opening the door, and being flooded -1

12 Jumping over the pit (and thus missing) -1

Letting go of the hand holds too soon -1

13 Opening first invisible blade door +l

Opening second blade door +l
Not getting burned by acid on second door +l

B Palling in the covered pond -2

drowning -1
Finding pool without anyone falling in +2

Roll Playing Bonus (1 to 10 points)

If Dexter was in charcter (a womanizer, I'm the greatist
type) then indicate 1 to 10 points.
If Mainard was a doom and gloomer, add 1 to 10 points.

Other Comments:

10
 D�
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STR 1'4
INT 13
WIS tZ.
CON 10
DEX 13
CHR IS'

HIT POINTS Z�

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 Tllnnels & Trolls Character

STR IZ.
INT IS­
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CON L'Z..
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CHR 10

HIT POINTS 2<3

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12
Real camers and their Memories of Crimtooth
By Steve Bean

The Vicious, Delicious, Forbidden Horror of Flying Buffalo's "Trap Porn"

Early on in my gaming "career" 1983 or 1984 (making me about 1 5) - I lucked
-

into used copies of Crimtooth's Traps and Crimtooth's Traps Too. I remember such
a mix of reactions as I pored over the pages:

The traps were horrible. By which I mean: they horrified me. You know how some­
times when people describe injuries, those descriptions evoke in you a physical em­
pathy response, ie they make you cringe? Many of Grimtooth's traps evoked that
physical response in me. In particular, the traps where something sharp would cut
the victim's legs or feet. The keenness of empathy-response to these types of traps
may have come from a traumatic experience I'd had as a child: stepping on a hid­
den piece of broken glass while
playing on a beach. Stair Snare
was the worst (see right) - my
jaw still clenches when I imagine
that PC pulling his leg back out
against those downward-angled
spikes. Imagine pulling up against
the mass of all that full plate armor
you're wearing...

In my day, in my gaming group, most of the

traps were considered so horrible that we
had an unspoken understanding: if a DM
chose to put them in a dungeon it was a clear
signal that he was gunning for the PCs. I put
Between a Rock and a Hard Place into a
dungeon, because, well, we'd seen a million
pit traps already, but the addition of a 2-ton
block that looked from the illustration like
it'd exactly fit the pit it drops into just seemed
like a ridiculous case of adding both insult­
and-more-injury-to-injury. I still remember my
players trying to decide if they could get the victim out before he suffocated if they
cast Transmute Rock to Mud on the fallen stone block.

Let's face it: the traps were vicious. "Calling in Grimtooth" was something you did
as a DM immediately after you'd grown out of your Monty Haul phase and needed
to kill off the ridiculously OP PCs you'd created. If you'd foolishly let your PCs leave
White Plume Mountain without throwing Box and Cox at them, or if you'd fudged
the technology rolls in Expedition to the Barrier Peaks because you secretly wanted
to see the PCs armed to the teeth with ray guns - out came Grimtooth.

13
 Grimtooth's traps were also fascinating. Back
then I was an aspiring illustrator in what was the Figure A
rhe heroic delwr
era of David Macaulay and I used to pour over
Grimtooth with the same intensity that I would
investigate the details of Castle, Cathedral or
City. The room traps in particular mesmerized
me: Where does that block and tackle lead?"
"What does that toothed gear do?"

But the fascination came equally from the

traps' intricacy and their irony. We all know
it: the dark humor makes it impossible to look
away from Grimtooth, no matter how horrible
the trap. That irony is established right in the
table of contents with the preview illustration
of The Greystoke Memorial captioned "A taste ������
of things to come... Yeah, that's right - hurts,
don't it?"

Grimtooth was, and still is ... "trap porn" - something you felt you should hide from
your players - and maybe even your parents - under your bed; something that
still, to this day, you feel like you should look away from, but... can't.

(Note From SS Crompton: I don't know if I should feel complimented of offended! LOL)

How 1 Learned to stop worrying and Love Crimtooth

On first meeting Grimtooth I hated him. In the 80s I was very much into a fantasy
RPG aesthetic I would call "mythic." I wanted D&D to feel like The Lord of the
Rings with its combination of history, majesty and pathos. Grimtooth, in the way
he was drawn and the way he was written, was the absolute antithesis of my aes­
thetic. He was cartoony and irreverent. He was a cross between Marvel Comics'
Green Goblin and Wolverine. (He even used the word "Bub.")

Honestly, I also hated his traps the designs of them, I mean. They bugged me.
-

They were ridiculous. They never would have worked. As I pored over the deli­
cious detail with which they were illustrated, the absurdity of their design offended
my standard for internal, fictional logic, even (or maybe especially) in a fantasy
RPG: "Who would build that there?" "How would they even build it at all?" and
"THAT wouldn't work!"

Another question that always came up for me was: "How do the traps reset?" They
had to be resetting because the books never talked about adventurers coming
upon them already sprung, despite how obviously difficult they'd be to bypass.
In particular I wondered about resets in relation to the traps that involved large

14
volumes of ball bearings. There never seemed to be a silo or some other storage
unit that might to refill these traps' reservoirs. Even if there was a refill and reset
mechanism, wouldn't the PCs at least find a few errant ball bearings in the corners
of the dungeon's corridors, evidence of the fate of previous delvers? Was there a
guild of gremlins janitors in every dungeon who cleaned up after?

I resolved these offenses to my sense internal logic in a way that we've probably
all embraced at some point. The answer to the question "How does THAT work?"
became: "Magic." These were magical worlds so I decided that fill in ridiculous
mechanical design or method of reset happened through magic. This just barely
satisfied my demand for internal logic and for a while most of the Grimtooth traps
I put in dungeons radiated magic.
But, unexpectedly, my acceptance of that flimsy logic was a "trigger plate" to
expanding my gaming mindset. It sprung open a metaphorical hidden trap door
and underneath, instead of a spiked pit, lay possibility. Accepting the illogical began
moving me from a narrow-minded gaming perspective to a more expanded one,
one predicated more on inspiration and player experience than on logic. Accep­
tance of the flimsy logical underpinnings of Grimtooth's traps is one of the things
that led me to being far less rigid about the terms on which I would put something
in my games and helped me begin to try out all kinds of things I'd previously dis­
missed as "not cool" or "not mythic and therefore not worthy."

Eventually my gaming-acceptability "litmus tests" largely shifted. The answer to the

question: "How does that work?!?" went from being "It couldn't" to "magic" to
"who cares? - it's effing AWESOME!" And in that way, the secret Grimtooth trap
#101 was, for me, a tilting, chute ride to fantasy RPGing that was more imaginative.

Memories of Crimtooth's Traps: The "Party Killer"

By Bob Brinkman
I first encountered the original Grimtooth's Traps in its second printing. My friend
John Keehn and I had both run out and bought copies. We eagerly read through
them looking for diabolical ways to dispatch our players. Of course, since I played
in John's game and John played in mine, nobody was falling for anything. Grant­
ed, my blatant paranoia certainly helped my chances of survival when we played
through the Tomb of Horrors.

Even with wary players preventing their use, I

bought each volume as it was released, reveling
in the diabolic mayhem. So many great ways to
maim and kill players. I had my favorite trap, which
I called the "party killer." The Delvermatic Dicer
and Malingerer Trap certainly painted a picture,
but so did the subtlety of Satan's Bow. Trap after
trap, book after book, my imagination and creativ­
ity were stoked to higher levels of fiendishness.
15
Flash forward thirty years and a table of relatively new players. The Circular
Doorway presented no mystery to dungeon neophytes, it was obviously some
sort of mystical fog. A mystical fog that turned red and made horrid thunka-thunka­
thunka sounds when someone walked through it. To this day, several of those players
are leery of the mention of "chunky salsa". Once I
realized that I now had players unfamiliar with the
machinations of Grimtooth, things got pretty hairy
for the party and they learned to greatly respect
the potential for traps. They never again walked
through a circular doorway, trapped or no.

But they did fall for both the Delvermatic and

Satan's Bow.

Nostalgia at the cen con Booth

By Tim Wadzinski
Grimtooth's Traps was one of the first system-agnostic RPG supplements I ever
bought, at around age 12. It was the first book I ever saw that used a "funny"
disclaimer (which of course is a pretty common tactic these days). The presence
of Grimtooth himself as host and guide, and the mix of humor and violence - es­
pecially in the illustrations - hooked me immediately, as those elements made the
book stand out from the official AD&D and D&D materials I was accustomed to
using. The funny scrapbook family photos in Grimtooth's Traps Ate! are inspired,
too. The "Spy Glass" (Crimtooth's Traps, page 39) is my all-time favorite from his
repertoire, due to its simple brutality. I'm personally deathly afraid of things hap­
pening to my eyes, and merely thinking of this device gives me the heebie-jeebies.
Thus, sadly, I could never actually bring myself to use it in a game.

More recently, while working the Goodman Games booth at Gen Con 50 and
Gary Con X, it was awesome to see fans flipping through the magnificent tome,
Crimtooth's Ultimate Traps Collection. I lost count of how many people became
wide-eyed and overcome with nostalgic bliss while perusing the book.

"Oh man, they're ALL in here?"

"I remember this one!"

"My DM used this one on us -

it was BRUTAL!"

It was clear to me that many

folks have a soft spot in their
heart, if not a gaping wound in
their PC's chest, for Grimtooth!
y
16
 Bill Meinhardt: FRPG Archivist
Interview by Steve Crompton
Bill Meinhardt provided us with an original copy of Grimtooth' s
Lair and has agreed to answer a few questions for us about his
amazing fantasy rpg archive.

Q: When did you start collecting role playing games?

Bill: 1977 when my sister brought back the Holmes basic D&D box
from GenCon. That would have been my first GenCon, but my Mom said
I couldn' t go to the Playboy Club where it was being held.

Q: When did that turn from a collection into creating an archive?

Bill: In 1987 I made the irrevocable decision to try and get every
paper-based FRP item printed in the English language, from Chain­
mail forward. I ultimately set a terminus date of the end of 2003
(although I have many items published after that date as well).

Q: How do you define what goes into your archive?

Bill: If it is FRP and paper based (so no PDF' s) and in English
and was published before 12/31/2003, I want one.

Q: With all the frpg material coming out, how do you get all of it?
Bill: It was a full time job to keep up with everything, believe
me! Fortunately now the number of different items I' m looking for
is decreasing, but some new things that I had never heard of pop
up occasionally.

Q: How much room does your archive take up?

Bill: Almost all of the rooms of our house, but a large number of
items are along a 10' high, 30' long wall in our living room. There
are pictures of it on the Acaeum.com website (the premier 1st ed
AD&D website) click on "Forums", select "Collecting General", and
then do a search for "A Visit to Stratochamp' s collection".

Q: How many items do you have in the archive?

Bill: Approximately 11,500.

Q: Do you remember how you obtained Grimtooth's Lair?

Bill: I bought it on ebay about 10 years ago.

Q: Do you have a website where people can see your collection?

Bill: I do not have a website, I need to start one, but as I men­
tioned to you, most gamers have no idea that someone had been sys­
tematically preserving our history, so I' m trying to let people
know that I have done this.

Q: Can other FRPG historians contact you via e-mail?

Bill: They can e-mail me at Stratochampl@gmail.com

Q: Any last words you'd like to say?

Bill: My collection/museum is an homage to all of the creative people
that have worked in the gaming industry and brought joy to millions.
I saw their output as culturally significant and deserving of preser­
vation. It' s my way of saying thank you to all of you folks that have

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labored over the last 45 years to bring us these great games.

Published by Goodman Games - copyright © 2018

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