A couple of thoughts on this topic:
1. I don't think mechanical traps have no impact. Let's say a trap whacks you for 10 hp. You now have three choices: (a) keep going and run an increased risk of dying cuz of lowered hp; (b) heal with a consumable; or (c) heal by resting and thereby burning up your food clock (for most races). Choice (c) is probably the one most people take since it has the lowest cost. But even then, there still is a cost.
2. Mechanical traps also serve a function. We all know that wandering into Zot 5 with 0 in Traps in just begging the RNGs to drop like 10 Zot Traps in the entry area. "Weak" mechanical traps give players a way to spam some xp to get that Trap skill up.
3. Please consider removing Shafts from D1. Getting dumped to D3 when you are level 1 is a virtual death sentence. Fastest game I ever played: start character, wander out of entry area, get shafted down to D3, in a corner, surrounded by 3 jackals and a snake, with no exits nearby. Lasted all of 39 seconds. Whoohoo! Let's do that again!
4. If folks want make mechanical traps tougher, what about:
* stronger poisons on needles/arrows/whatever
* curare on needles/arrows/whatever
* needles/arrows/whatever that cause rot
* needles/arrows/whatever that slow, confuse, sleep, paralyze, or heck, even berserk
There is ammo that does all of the above already. Why not let the RNGs have fun building traps using them? To deal with scumming, you can set it up so the traps do not leave ammo behind.
5. Agreed re making Teleport Traps run on limited charges. Like 1-4. But don't make them disappear from the screen. That way, if you know you're running a risk if you are depending on a Teleport Trap to beam the baddie away... (Also, if these traps are changed, then we'll need an alternate, permanent Teleport Trap for that dungeon feature with the treasure surrounded by metal walls and 4 Teleport Traps.)
6. If people want traps to be more "fun," how about making them more elaborate? There are dungeon features like this already. Square room. You walk in. Four gnolls open secret doors from each wall and start throwing spears at you. Or something like:
- Code:
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
x1xxxxxxx1xxxxxxxxx1xxxxxxxxxx
x=xxxxxxx=xxxxxxxxx=xxxxxxxxxx
x........................$.xxx
........................$*$=1x
x........................$.xxx
xxxxx=xxxxxxxx=xxxxxxxx=xxxxxx
xxxxx1xxxxxxxx1xxxxxxxx1xxxxxx
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
With the 1s being Spores or Unseen Horrors or Fire Orbs or whatever that are released when the player grabs the goods.
7. The portcullis idea sounds interesting. What about making them appear only in 1 square wide corridors, in pairs (one behind and one ahead of the player, trapping them), only after being stepped on X times (in other words, players think the corridor is a safe place to retreat to...), and/or make them hard to breakdown and generate plenty of noise every time the player takes a swing at it?
Anyway, those are just my 2 cents.