OBJECTIVE:
In appreciation of the gamblers of the world, and Russian Roulette, this month’s SCAR event will be the Death Trap Arena. Spread throughout the arena, at predetermined locations, will be booby-trapped sections. Any vehicle entering one of these areas will automatically set off the trap. Each trap will be randomly selected for its effect to keep play fair. The traps may include, but not limited to, any of the following: Pop-up ramps, spikes, oil slicks, pits (not too deep), or nothing at all. Point(s) will be awarded to the first person to drive over a known trapped area, in addition to the normal kills and such. Therefore, once a trapped has be sprung, no other player gets points for entering that area. That said, any subsequent vehicles to enter a trap still suffer any potential damage. The traps remain active for entire game! You only get points for being the first to spring it.

Scoring:
• 2 points for entering an non-sprung trap.
• 1 point for forcing another vehicle into an non-sprung trap.
• 1 point for killing or disabling a vehicle/driver as a side effect of detonating a trap.
• Typical scoring for kills and sustained speed in accordance with SCAR rules.

Triggering Traps:
• If any peice of a vehicle enters a designated area, the trap is considered to be sprung immediately.
• Any affects the trap may have, take place at the end of the phase in which it was triggered.
• All traps are considered to be reset as soon as all vehicles have completely left its area, unless otherwise noted.
• If a vehicle enters and exits a trap area in one phase, the trap is still triggered and its affect applied.

Trap Definitions:
1. Speed bumps. D3 maneuver. Does 1D6 points of damage to each tire. Roll for each tire.
2. Land mines. Normal rules for hitting mines. Assume entire trapped area is covered with mines.
3. Pop-up ramps. Short, 15 degree ramp pops up in front of vehicle. The ramp is shaped like a pyramid. This is so that a car hitting it from almost any angle will be going up the ramp instead of hitting it from the side.
4. Oil slicks. Normal rules for hitting oil slicks. Assume entire trapped area is covered with oil.
5. Silly String sprays. Small nozzles create a huge cloud of Silly String directly over the trapped area and ½ inch around it. Any vehicle with ½ inch of the trapped area is affected as normal rules as if hit with a paint spray. Though the car is covered with Silly String for the rest of the game.
6. Pits. Bad. Very bad. The ground falls away, created a shallow pit about 2 feet deep. Treat as a fall of ¼ inch. The vehicle will not be able to alter its speed until the next available phase. i.e.: The car has to be touching the ground before its brakes are effective. Also be wary of uneven landings if the vehicle did not hit the trap squarely. Of course, now the vehicle is likely moving at a high rate of speed toward a 2 foot high wall mere feet away. Treat as any other collision. After 1 full turn has passed, the floor of the pit raises, via hydraulics, to ground level, enabling the vehicle to move off the trapped area. Sensors on the trap can detect the current vehicle and will not trigger the trap again. Unless, of course, a second vehicle enters the trap.
7. Rumble strips. D0 maneuver. Automatically lowers vehicles speed by 10 mph.
8. Inflatable doll. D0 maneuver. A 10’ tall doll of Godzilla inflates directly in front of vehicle. Since the doll is covered with a high strength, instantly bonding adhesive, it sticks to what ever it touches. Roll randomly to determine where on the vehicle it is stuck. 1-2 the front; 3-4 the top; 5 the left side; 6 the right side. If it is on either side or front, it will obstruct the drivers view in that direction completely. If the doll remains inflated for 1 full turn, it will loose its adhesive qualities and automatically fall from the vehicle. The doll is made of fireproof material, but otherwise is considered to burst if struck by any other weapon fire, including that from the vehicle to which it is stuck. However, even when ruptured thus, it will remain stuck to the vehicle. When deflated, it will fall off the vehicle normally as long as it is on the top or either side. If it is on the front, it will remain a nuisance for 2 full turns. Stopping and going backwards will knock it off immediately.
9. Balloons. D0 maneuver. Hundreds of adhesive coated balloons inflated and float upward from the ground to cover vehicle. The balloons will only float about 1-2 feet off of the ground, so they will not create any visual obstruction. This doesn’t really do anything sinister, just makes the vehicle look silly. The balloons don’t come off unless shot. Think of the vehicle as a moving penny arcade game.
10. Tar and feather. D0 maneuver. In first half of the phase in which the trap is triggered, nozzles hidden in the ground spray molten tar into the air and ½ inch around the area. Treat as a regular oil spray. In the second half of the phase, after all movement and combat have taken place, another set of nozzles blast chicken feathers into the air, creating a large cloud (treat as a smoke screen). Any vehicle that has tar on it, within ½ inch of the trap, now is covered with white chicken feathers (treat as if it were hit with a paint spray that last double the normal duration).
11. “Fourth of July”. A rocket pod measuring 1.5" square pops up in the center of the trapped square. Five groups of rockets fire simultaneously to each, front, back, left, right and upwards. Each group is comprised of 1d6 light rockets. The rockets fire straight out the center of the side that they are facing. If the vehicle that set off the trap is over the center pod, it is subject to an underbody attack at point blank range by the upward firing rockets. Light rocket stats are: 1” burst radius; 9 to hit; 1d damage. Any vehicle that is crossed by the trajectory of the rockets is subject to possible targeting and should be treated as a weapon set on automatic.
12. “Vlad’s Revenge”. Large metallic spikes, up to 5 feet long, burst upward from concealed holes. Roll 1d6 for each tire and for the underbody.  On a 1-4 that tire takes 1d6 pts. of damage.  On a roll of 1-2 for the underbody, the cars bottom armor takes 2d6 pts of damage.
13. Pop-up guns. Any vehicle entering the trap area triggers two recoilless rifles to pop-up from concealed housings. These are located in the corners of the area, diagonally from one another. Both rifles are loaded with HESH ammunition. They use sensors to target the vehicle, and will do so as long as it remains in the trap area, gaining sustained fire bonuses. So, slow moving vehicles can take a pounding. They only fire once per turn, however, they do so in the first available phase. If the targeted vehicle enters the area from a corner, the rifles emerge from two opposing corners not covered, otherwise roll randomly for one and place the other diagonally from it. When vehicle completely moves out the the trap area, the rifles stop firing.
14. Satanic Smokey. A huge replica of Smokey the Bear, sans sweet disposition, appears from a trap door in the ground. The bear stands 15 feet tall, and takes 2 phases to completely emerge. Roll a d4 to determine the actual facing of the bear. In the next phase, the bear, who happens to hold two heavy duty flame-throwers, opens fire on what ever is in front of him. If there is nothing to target, the bear will turn counterclockwise 90 degrees each phase until he locates something to set on fire. If there are multiple choices, roll randomly. If the bear makes one complete revolution without finding a target, he retracts into the hidden door. If Smokey does find a target, he will track it until it is out of his line of sight or out of range, then return to his ‘den’. Roll to hit normally with the flame-throwers, and consider them to be linked. Damage is normal. Smokey has 60 DP for purposes of collisions.
15. Whoopee cushion. A large, whoopee cushion like object is shot at the vehicle and attached via a heavy duty adhesive. As long as the vehicle is moving at least 10 mph, a loud sustained fart sound is emitted from the object. No other effect, just embarrassment.

Arena Set Up:
1. 15 Small cards measuring 3” square are cut and numbered 1-15. The numbers refer to the traps listed above.
2. 5 Small cards measuring 3” square are cut and left blank.
3. All 20 cards are placed in a pile and mixed.
4. Referee picks 10 cards, at random, from the pile.
5. The picked cards are then placed on any available trap area, which are marked on the arena map.
6. Remaining cards are discarded, but not shown to anyone! Secrecy is part of the fun.
7. All vehicles shall be placed, evenly spaced, around the perimeter of the arena, facing in what ever direction the driver wants.
8. All vehicles start at a speed of 30 mph.
9. No vehicle to vehicle attacks are allowed for 2 complete turns.
10. Intentional collisions are acceptable after 1 complete turn, but only if it will make for a good show. Otherwise, collisions must be abstained from for 2 complete turns.
11. The game is over when there is only one functional vehicle with driver, or 25 turns are completed.

Arena map:
Use your imagination. Simple square/rectangular arena. Take 6 “L” shaped wall sections 2-3” long per side (maybe 3-4” per side), and randomly place them on the playing area. Mark a trap area in each corner of the overall arena. Mark one trap area along the center of each side of the overall arena, slightly closer to the center than the corner traps. The last two are marked at random to fill out any areas remaining. No trap area should be closer than 1” from any arena edge, “L” wall section, or other trap.

RE-CAP:
The players were:

• Don McCalmon - Blue Race Car
• Jim Robertson - Black Lambourghini
• Dave Hartman - Red Camaro
• Tyler McCalmon - Yellow Hot Rod

Attendance for April's event was lower than expected. Many of the usual players were involved in something they called a "role-playing game". Not sure what that was, but we made the best of it.

The game started quickly with Jim trading laser fire with Dave and Don and Tyler duking it out in a father/son battle. Dave hit the first of the traps, but it was blank. Tyler hit the second trap soon afterward and his car is coated with silly string.Jim and Dave continued to exchange laser fire and Dave's front armor was breached before he was able to turn away from Jim's slower moving vehicle.

Unfortunately for Dave, he turned into the trap that was hiding the "Satanic Smokey". The big bear lit up Dave's vehicle, but he managed to escape.

On the other side of the arena, Don and Tyler continued running over traps... Don hit some rumble strips and a blank trap while Tyler came around got stuck with an inflatable Godzilla on his windshield. Unable to see past the Godzilla, Tyler ran headlong into the arena wall, destroying his car and killing his driving. By this time, Don and Jim had met near the center of the arena. Don's laser reflective armor softened the shots from Jim's laser, but the laser guided rockets still took their toll. Don's faster moving vehicle circled Jim's and picked away at his armor. In an attempt to keep Don in his front arc, Jim slowed to a crawl and pivoted in place while the two continued exchanging fire.

Dave made his way around to the other side of the arena, setting off the few remaining traps while attempting to re-position himself. He finally came at Jim in an attempt to take him out. Unfortunately for Dave, this exposed his already breached front to Jim's pulse laser. Jim turned his attention from Don and layed one laser shot into Dave's front, destroying his power plant and rendering the vehicle useless. Time ran out soon afterward with Don and Jim's drivers still alive to duel again another day.

Thanks again to Dave Hartman for doing such an excellent job of comng up with the event and for creating some awesome props.

POINT BREAKDOWN:

• Jim Robertson: 2 for hitting one trap, +5 for killing Dave's vehicle, +8 for first place = +15 points total. Driver Fritz Von Liebowitz lived, +1 skill for winning event, +1 skill for kill, +3 skill for combats.
• Don McCalmon: 4 for hitting two traps, +5 for tying for second place = +9 points total. Driver Smack D. Ho lived, +4 skill for combats.
• Dave Hartman: 6 for hitting three traps, -2 for having vehicle killed, +5 for tying for second place = +9 points total. Driver Unknown lived, +4 skill for combats.
• Tyler McCalmon: 6 for hitting three traps, -2 for having vehicle killed, -1 for driver being killed, +2 for for fourth place = +7 points total. Driver killed

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