FAILED THIEVISH DOINGS FAILING TO PICK A POCKET

Sometimes the thief nds the trap, picks the lock or 1. You slip your hand into the mark’s pocket and search for
ts the hidden treasure. Sometimes they fail, and some small treasure. You cut your hand on something
when they do it is fun to describe the failure; “You jagged within and suffer 1 point of damage.
nd nothing” is a pretty boring result. 2. You miss the mark’s pouch and instead slip your hand
into his trousers (or her skirt). This—unsurprisingly—
FAILING TO FIND ANYTHING immediately alerts them to your attempt!
3. As you slip your hand into your mark’s pouch, they move
unexpectedly. Your hand gets snagged in the pouch,
1. You see nothing out of the ordinary and hear nothing
and you are dragged along with them.
but the laboured breathing of your companions and the
4. You successfully cut the pouch from your mark’s belt, but
creak of their equipment.
fail to actually catch the pouch as it falls. It clatters to the
2. A slight breeze plays across your face, but you can’t
ground, immediately alerting them to your attempt.
make out where it comes from.
5. Just as you slip your hand into the mark’s pouch they
3. Some of the nearby shadows seem slightly deeper than
also reach into it. Embarrassingly (and potentially
they should be.
disastrously), you end up holding hands.
4. You thought you heard a whispered conversation for just
6. Picking pockets is hard. As you reach your hand forth
a moment, but all is now quiet.
you start to daydream about what you’ll lift. Sadly, this
5. As you search the area, a shiver runs down your spine. Is
distracts you, and you miss the target instead slipping
someone watching you?
your hand into his shirt (or her dress). When you feel
6. You suddenly feel warm, as if you had exerted yourself
warm esh beneath your hands, you realise your
for some time. Perhaps it’s just the stress of the
mistake, but it is too late...
adventure?

FAILING TO FIND A TRAP FAILING TO PICK A LOCK

1. As you carefully explore the lock’s inner mechanism,

1. The area seems safe, but you thought you heard a faint
your pick snaps in half and jams the lock. You’ve now got
clicking for a moment. It’s stopped now.
two problems—how you'll extract the broken pick, and
2. The ceiling looks a little odd. Perhaps it’s not built
(afterwards) how you'll pick the lock!
properly, but you swear it’s sloping down toward one
2. Your hands are sweaty. As you jiggle the lock, your pick
side of the room.
slips from your ngers and slides through the lock into
3. Scratches on the oor show something large and heavy
the room beyond!
was dragged through here. Oddly, the marks stop
3. You slip and badly bend your pick, making it useless for
roughly halfway across the oor.
future lock picking attempts.
4. In three spots, water drips from the ceiling onto the oor.
4. You sneeze violently and stab yourself in the forehead
None of the resultant puddles seems very large,
with the lock pick. You take 1 point of damage.
suggesting the water is draining away somehow.
5. Your lock picking makes an inordinate amount of noise
5. Faint growths of mould on the ( oor, wall or ceiling) hint
as you grind your pick in the lock. Anything in the room
at an organised pattern of sorts unlikely to occur in
beyond probably knows you are coming.
nature. (The pattern could suggest a hidden portal,
6. There is an ominous clunk from within the lock, and your
trapdoor, pit or a magic sigil.)
pick is stuck! It seems you’ve managed to break the
6. The proportions of the whole chamber look wrong.
lock’s internal mechanism...
Some pieces of architecture—protrusions and niches—
seem to serve no purpose whatsoever, and the ceiling
looks suspiciously low.
CREDIT
This is a short system-neutral extract from 20 Things #73:
Failed Thievish Doings by Creighton Broadhurst.

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