If you’re reading this, there’s one of two or three possibilities. Either you’ve just entered the world of non-magical security, and are looking for advice, or you’ve been in the trade a while and need some fresh ideas. You lot need to start at Chapter One.

On the other hand, you might just need to get through all that hard work, for whatever reason, and get into whatever it is that’s trapped. I don’t much like it, but sometimes it’s necessary. Chapter Four contains information you’ll want. Guess where you start? WRONG! You also start at Chapter One. If you understand what goes into a trap, you will better know how to get out of one.

On the third hand, as it were, you may have no idea what I’m talking about, and neither set traps nor disarm them. For you, the following steps - and read all four before you do them:

1. Close the book (No, AFTER Reading the instructions, stupid!) and think, “Oh, this has no use to me.”
2. Hold the book firmly in both hands.
3. Slam yourself in the forehead with it, saying “I WILL! [Slam] Learn! [Slam] This stuff so I don’t! [Slam] Get Myself! [Slam] Or my Friends! [Slam] Blown up, Poisoned, Slashed, Stabbed, or Worse! [Slamslamslamslam]
4. Open it again and start at Chapter One.

If you have the brains naturally imbued in a rock, you get the point by now. This book isn’t just for rogues. Anyone who might wind up in the path of a trap can benefit, and knowing how a trap-disarmer thinks helps to get one over on him or her. So, without any more ado, I hope this book keeps you out of the Healer’s Guild.

Seems like a silly question, doesn’t it? But have you ever actually looked at it?

What is a Trap?

A trap is, in this author’s opinion, any object, mechanism, stratagem, or procedure, which seeks to surprise the adversary with an unexpected difficulty. To be a trap, three things must exist:

• Pre-planning
• Triggering Condition
• Result

What is a Trap FOR?

A trap can be used for many reasons. The obvious ones are to hurt, incapacitate or kill someone who’s going where they shouldn’t or trying to take your stuff without your permission.¹ Lesser-known but also popular are traps designed to alert guards, or mark intruders in some way.²

But are these the only uses of a trap? No. One can use the presence of traps strategically, to steer an intruder in a desired direction. How, you ask, O gentle reader? Simple. If I showed you a lake of lava to your right - will you not move left? I thought so. Traps can be used in the same way. Given the choice of two hallways, if one hall is lightly trapped, and another nearly impassable due to the forest of trip-lines, most would-be intruders will take the simpler route. More often than not, the intruders are on a tight timetable, and the delays imposed by the more difficult path are not an option.

Traps can also be used tactically - separate the trigger from the active part of the trap, and you can decimate the rear echelon of a force on a battlefield, or take out the healer in the rear of a party.³

Best of all to my mind are the traps that seem to do nothing at all of value… but cost you in the end. These are some of the most difficult to employ. I remember one I saw the one time I ventured into Ashbury while the Sessuar had control there. The Exchequer’s office had a thin powder coating, made of cornstarch and fragrant herbs⁴ spread on the floor, which was applied each night and swept out by a designated servant each morning. The local lord’s hounds were trained to track the particular scent of this mixture on command, EXCEPT when mingled with this servant’s scent. Imagine the surprise of the thieves who had broken in one night, when the dogs came a-calling...

So, we can see that a trap can have many uses, and some do not even require the trap to fire. Keep this in mind! The entire key is to get the intruder going where you want them to go, or if you are the intruder, figuring out where the trap setter didn’t want you to go.

All of the above is great, if the trap is on a path or in a hallway or in a room - but what if it’s in a box or chest? Aha, you cry! This I can understand without you, Plex! Traps on boxes are only ever there to safeguard what’s in the box! Oh, gentle reader, you just keep thinking that way, and let me know whom you want for the resurrection.

The little known truth is that traps on boxes can serve the same purposes as traps on rooms, trails, hallways, doors, what have you - to delay the intruder, unnerve the intruder, or just harm the intruder. Even un-trapped boxes can be used this way - there are few things that make thieves more nervous than an innocuous-looking box out in the middle of a room, two rooms after the box that blew half the party to bits. Even if it’s untrapped and empty, the intruders invariably will delay to ensure that they can safely pass it.

The key here is to take the intruder’s goal (thievery, spying, or what have you) and place so many obstacles in the way that the goal cannot be accomplished.

Now that you have some idea of what traps TRULY are, and the many ways they can be employed, it’s time to move on to some detail in Chapter Two - The Guts of a Trap.

Traps, and I mean ALL traps; can be broken down into four major sections. These are:

• The Payload
• The Actuator
• The Trigger
• The Concealment

Once you have a payload, you need a way to set it off. This is the Actuator. This may be pyrotechnic, clockwork, or mechanical in most cases. In some places, magic is also usable.

In every trap, some portion interacts with the rest of the world, in order to set the actuator in motion. This is most often a tripwire, pressure sensitive device, or similar item, and here we call it the Trigger.

Most often overlooked, and most critical to the success of a trap, is the Concealment. In almost every case, the well-concealed or disguised trap is the one that’s going to get the job done.

Let’s look at the operational keys to a trap - the actuator and the trigger. I will discuss the two together, as they are each essential to the other.

The Trigger and Actuator: the Start of your problem.

The trigger is the most visible, and second most vulnerable part of a trap. Generally, non-magical triggers can be lumped into three categories: Push, pull, and release. Push triggers will set off the actuator when pressure is applied. Examples can be as simple as a loose flagstone in a floor or a chair rigged to explode when you sit on it. By pushing the trigger, the actuator can do its thing. These are most commonly used for massive mechanical or gas traps. For example, under the loose flagstone I mentioned might be a bladder, filled with poison gas. Or the push may release a clockwork mechanism that allows the ceiling to fall on you.

Pull triggers, often referred to as “Slack line traps”⁶ work in the opposite to a push, as the name would suggest. A Pull Trigger is most often a tripwire. Add further tension to the line, and the actuator is released to do its deed. More often than not, this is the method of choice for fire, acid, explosive, or other pressurized-substance traps. One possible way to use a pull is to attach the trip line to a steel file, mounted in a flint support over a barrel of oil. Attach a further line to the barrel, rigged to tip, from the file itself. When the line is pulled, you have Intruder Flambe! (Note: the flint and steel, plus the second line, are technically the actuator. Some parts of a trap may do double duty.)

Lastly, Release triggers are at one time both push AND pull traps, yet are neither. Release triggers are designed to look like one while functioning like the other. Consider this simplified illustration:

In this case, the trigger is obviously meant to look like a standard tripwire - but the act of cutting it will drop the weight, which is what actuates the trap.

A Push-release trap is just as simple to illustrate, as I have done below. On the table sits a tempting prize (the green object, “A”). However, “A” rests upon the orange trap, which will detonate if “A” is removed. Sometimes, the trap here can be a pressurized chamber of gas, with “A” as the lid, held by A’s weight, or it may simply be a function of springs and balances, causing the trap to detonate if the weight is not maintained as equal to “A”.

Concealment - Hide the hurt.

Concealment is often overlooked by trap setters, and that cuts their success in half or worse. When a trap is properly concealed, nobody but the setter should have any idea where the payload is hidden.

I’m not going to discuss craftsmanship, as that’s an issue that lies more with the carpenters or what have you, and as such is not the main concern of the trap maker. Any fool can tell you that a well-made cabinet or chest conceals better than a slapped together hack-job. Rather, what I consider to be the heart of concealment is best described in one simple sentence:

“Keep ‘em looking where you ain’t.”

The absolute key to successful trap setting, then, is misdirection. Or is it? Why don’t you put the book down a moment, and think on that. It’s okay, I’ll wait.

Well? Have you come to agree? Yes? Oh, you think that’s good. Well, in most cases, you’re WRONG. The key to setting traps well is Direction. I’ve done experiments, and it’s a fact: 9 of 10 people (who CAN read) will stop and read a sign if they’ve never seen it before. Even if the message on the sign is like the one in the box below:

Guaranteed, people WILL wander over to see what that last little line is. I’d even bet your eyes went to it as soon as you turned the page.

Similarly, one can steer the eyes of a thief, by controlling what he sees. Sprinkle a few shiny objects (You CAN use coins or precious metals, or gems, but I prefer polished tin.) on the floor, and watch Mr. I Think I’m Trap-Proof dive after them. Whoops! I guess in his rush to claim the swag, he missed that tripwire. Ka-BOOM. For added insult, glue or nail the fake coins down. Or, build a trap with a bright yellow, blatantly obvious tripwire, and hang a sign off of it that reads, “Please Don’t Pull Me.” You’ll catch about half of them with that move. In either case, you are dangling something in their face, which is so obvious, it can’t be a trap, or so they think. ⁷ You can also go the other way - hang a bundle of explosives from the ceiling, and run a net of tripwires all over the room. Hinge a great axe atop the doorsill, and run the line holding it up between the door and the frame. These setups invariably lead to one of 2 scenarios, shown below:

In the case with the red room, I’ve steered the intruder (yes, the smiley face) to the left. In the picture with the yellow room, I’ve pulled Happy McSmiley there to the right. Both of these options work about 75% of the time - which is why you trap BOTH ways, 100% of the time. ⁸

In any case, the idea is that YOU need to have control of the intruder’s environment, and by influencing that environment you influence the intruder, and make them do what YOU want instead of what THEY want. Depending on the latitude you are given, even the decor in a room can be used to your advantage.

I present for your consideration, two pictures of one corner of a room. Cover both pictures. Now, uncover and look at the one on the left for one second only, then cover the picture again. Where was the small box?

Pretty easy, I think. Now, try the other one, on the right. Not quite as simple at first glance, is it? Talk to your hunter friends - they’ll have far more to tell you about the art of camouflage. It’s not just wearing green in the woods - camouflage can be used anywhere, in almost any setting.

Most accomplished trap setters will search long and hard to find the right rope, thread, wire, string, yarn, sinew, or what have you to use in a trap. The SUCCESSFUL ones will make it a point to match the color of the tripwire to the background in most cases. Don’t be afraid to use contrasting trip wires, though - they are perfect for steering intruders. One successful defense I’ve employed uses a veritable spider’s web of trip wires in every color I can find, strewn throughout one side of a third floor T-junction. Wnen I used it, the first intruder took one look at that and ran circular logic into the ground. ⁹ He was still deciding what to do when the Guard came and arrested him. The second, well, SHE wormed over, around, and through every one of the wires, cutting none but not pulling them either. For her efforts, she found… the thin wood floor covering a chute. One three-story fall later, she was in the holding cell in the guards’ room, with a broken leg. Her partner had been in another area, and also chose to avoid the wire-web - by going the other way. Unfortunately for me, that path wasn’t to be trapped. ¹⁰ Worst of all for the last intruder, that “clear” path led to the most heavily trapped part of the storehouse.

By now, I hope you have the basic point here: By controlling what information the intruder’s senses can gather, you can control the information the intruder has. If you control THAT, you can control the decisions the intruder makes, and thus control the intruder. So - Concealment hides the hurt - but not ALWAYS by hiding the trap.

Many things have been said about the “One Right Way” to set traps. Here’s what I have to say on that:

There is NO one right way to set traps.¹¹ A setter must remain flexible at all times, or intruders who research their targets¹² can learn a given setter’s “Formula” and defeat the defenses without breaking stride. However, there are a few “good” ideas that apply in most situations, and things to consider before you run the first trip wire:

• What are you trapping? Is the survival of an item vital, or is its destruction preferable to theft?
• Can it be rendered inaccessible?
• Where is it?
• Do you want to mark, damage, or kill intruders?

What are you trapping? Is the survival of an item vital, or is its destruction preferable to theft?

This is the most often overlooked aspect of the trap setter’s art. If I am securing an heirloom sword, non-magical and destructible, I need to check with the owner. I generally WON’T want to rig explosives near it - the owner might be a bit mad if I blew an heirloom to smithereens! Worse, if I am guarding one-of-a-kind documents, deeds or what have you, I’ve got to watch the patterns of any fire or acid nearby.

Is the item or location one that can be rendered inaccessible?

It is easier by FAR to trap something that the client doesn’t need to get at for the foreseeable future. Always keep the accessibility needs of your client in mind. If the client needs the item or location, you’ll have to leave in an avoidance route or bypass, and that is DANGER, pure and simple. You will want to make every effort to conceal the bypass, or steer intruders AWAY from it.

Where is it?

Another point that seems so obvious as to be laughable is the location and terrain you’re trapping. Most of MY work was done in tombs, buildings, vaults… indoor terrain, in short. I may never forget one of my earliest solo jobs - I was making a hidey-hole in a grain barn for a paranoid farmer near the Evendarr/ Myrr border. In my inexperience, I used a flame trap. BIG mistake. Shortly before Spring Planting season, someone tripped the trap - in the silo area. Ka-BOOOOM. The grain silo went up, and blew the entire barn flat. Took me a while to pay THAT one off.

Do you want to mark, damage, or kill intruders?

Before you run a single tripwire, you need to sit down with your client and hash this out. Your payload selection will by nature vary depending on the answers. Worse, in some duchies you can be charged with Assault or Murder if you hurt or kill a THIEF! I can’t see the logic in it… but why get prosecuted? Make sure you know the laws before you start.

Just like so many other things, trapping is a process that requires a great deal more thought than one would expect. But now that we’ve thought about these questions, we can look at actually starting to set a trap. For now, let’s look at a simple doorway-trap, meant as a burglar-marking device, on a closet.

Our payload in a case like this is usually going to be some variety of dye or paint, so we know we just want to mark our intruder. That gets the legalities out of the way. We also know this will NOT be a high-traffic place (a doorway into a closet), so we can go with a reasonably complex trap if we need to. Still, why overcomplicate things?

Given this sort of situation, I’d probably use a simple pull-trap. However, the obvious place to mount the trap is often the worst. Here, everyone will naturally look to the latch-side of the door, at the top of the frame, to give the maximum “Pull” as the door is opened. I prefer a slightly different approach, affixing a decoy line up there and putting the REAL trigger on the hinge side of the door, tied to an attachment point in the center of the door. Leave enough slack in the line to open the door a crack, so you can squeeze a bare arm in to reach the line and unhook it at need - but not easily. As I’ve said before, the idea is to keep the intruder looking in the WRONG place, until it’s too late.

As you gain skill in setting traps, you’ll begin to build more complicated setups. Don’t ever forget these basics. They are what separate a hack-trapper from a true artist.

First, I’m actually going to show you part of an unfinished manuscript I picked up years ago, from a man I knew when I was still a “wet behind the ears” adventurer. His name was Randiron, and he was one of the better trap specialists I’ve met. Here is what I have of his work, “The Seven Bells”. He never finished this, to my knowledge...

The Mind
Before you even begin disarming your first trap, you must be in the right frame of mind. That frame of mind must become a habit. The time to look for a trap is not when you are presented with a box or door or path. The time to be aware of the possibility of there being a trap is when you first wake up in the morning. There can be a trap just about anywhere at any time. However, this is not to say that you should be paranoid, but that you should be very aware that at any time you could be presented with a situation warranting your special skills. When will these situations present themselves? Usually when you least expect them. But, if you look for them, you won’t be surprised. If you are not surprised you stand a better chance of living through the experience.

Inherent in the skill to disarm a trap is the skill to also set a trap. You should be wondering where you would set a trap and if it would be a good trap. Beyond keeping you free and alive, this will keep you in good practice. If you are constantly trying to figure out the best way to trap any area you happen upon, you are in the best frame of mind to notice someone else’s handiwork.

The first step in disarming a trap is being aware of the potential of its existence. All your skill means nothing if you are unaware of the dangers awaiting you. Remember: if you think this or that place might be a good place to set a trap, then the odds are pretty good that someone else thought of it before you did. Also keep in mind that just because you may not consider that place a ‘good’ place to set a trap, others may have disagreed and trapped it anyway. In fact, that might very well be the reason they trapped that area in the first place. A good trap is the one that succeeds no matter how crude, obvious or poorly placed it may be.

Don’t get ‘locked’ into thinking only of the ‘best’ way to set a trap. Rather, seek to notice all the ways to set a trap. In this way you will be better prepared and have a better insight into disarming any trap.

The Five Senses
There are a myriad of signs to tell you of a trap’s existence. Using all of your senses, not just your eyes, is highly recommended.

Hearing
Though you may not see the trip-wire, you might actually hear it ‘singing’ in the breeze if, in fact, there is a breeze. Some traps use a timing mechanism. Unless completely encased in sound-muffling material, the alert adventurer might hear the timer winding down.

Smelling
Don’t ignore your other senses. Search for a scent that is out of place. Learn the smell of lamp oil and the like. If you are not an Alchemist, implore, or even pay one you trust to help you learn what the various poisonous gasses smell like. A wise investment, indeed. A slightly leaking trap may clue you into its existence and thus its placement. Various animal fats are often used in the lubrication of mechanical parts. Unless they are fresh from the animal or it is the dead of winter, they too will give off an odd smell not unlike rotting meat. Catching a faint whiff of this should never be ignored. Not only could it be a trap, but it could also mean that there is a fresh kill nearby and the predator that did the killing could be just as near. Though the scent of undead is usually stronger and difficult to mistake for anything but undead, a freshly created undead creature might not have but the faintest of acrid odor. It is always best to take this odor as a sign of danger, be it a trap, a predator or an undead.

Tasting
Keep your mouth open. Taste the air. Many of the things you can learn from the air around you with your nose can be verified with your tongue. Sometimes your sense of taste can even pick up something your nose missed.

Touching
Hot, cold, wet, dry, still, vibrating, slippery, sticky... All are possible clues. Look for what is out of place... Or fits in TOO well.

The Sixth Sense
Feeling
Every once in a while a feeling will come over you. It may be a shiver, or a hot flash. You may freeze in your tracks or the hairs on the back of your neck might stand up. A feeling of dread may come over you. You may ‘just know’ that something is wrong. Don’t ignore it. Don’t let anyone talk you out of paying heed to it. It could save your life. (End of "The Seven Bells.")

What Randiron doesn’t mention is Sight - the most obvious sense used. If you’re disarming traps, you need to keep your head on a swivel ALL the time. Remember that the world has THREE dimensions. Look up, look down, look left and right, ahead, behind. Know where you are, and know where your companions (If any) are. The key here is to maintain situational awareness.¹³ Once you FIND a tripwire or a pressure plate, DO NOT just chop it and go. Track BOTH ends of a found line as far as you can. Remember the Double Whammy I showed you? Now you know why. WATCH OUT for lines you have already cut. One careless boot-tread, and a chance tangle… and the trap you thought you made “safe” goes BANG.

Here are a few other things to think of. One should NOT be the height of fashion when entering a trapped area. Minimalism is the way to go. You don’t want ANYTHING on you that protrudes, hangs, dangles, or swings. Take off all jewelry, or put good tight gloves over your rings. Necklaces and bracelets are OUT. I don’t recommend chain mail - In fact, if you can be safe doing so, don’t even carry your weapons or armor. Rather, have a healer with you in the event that you DO blow up. Also, make that healer’s carrying extra disarming tools - those don’t often survive explosions. Take NOTHING for granted.

Speaking of Disarming Tools, you might want to look into what goes into a good disarm kit. Here are some suggestions:

• Several paper-thin, flat metal items of differing shapes. These are useful for box-traps, jamming gears, and locating lodestones.
• Speaking of which, bring a lodestone if you can, the stronger the better. Mounting it on a stick for reach is better still.
• A small assortment of hooked metal picks. These are wonderful when dealing with gears or pulleys.
• About three to six feet of bright colored string. Dangle this to search for tripwires, as it’s usually too light to set off a line. I have also seen this string tied to a long, light pole (Like those used by fishermen) to sweep farther than the arm can reach in reasonable safety. Just don’t drop the pole...
• Small screwdrivers, needle-nose pliers (The locking kind if you can get them), and a tiny pry bar. Why destroy when you can disassemble? Reassemble on your way out, and I might not ever learn you came a-calling...
• Small, sharpened sticks, notched like tiny tent pegs or wrapped with short lengths of wire. These are good for securing ground-level slack lines before you cut, and helps save your fumble-footed friends.
• Several lengths of stout wire, and a cutter. Use this to make hooked tools “On the fly” if you need them, or add a bit of the bright yarn above to mark traps for your party.
• A tiny mirror is often useful. Look around the corner!
• LIGHT SOURCE. I have lost count of how many people forgot this, and got caught. Bring liquid light, or a candle, or a Light spell, something. Close to 90 per cent of this sort of thing happens in the dark. Be ready for it.
• GLOVES. Contact gel poisons are rare, but still around. Be ready for them or they’ll kill. Bring several pairs, and make sure they fit WELL.
• Alchemical Solvent, Paste of Stickiness, and/or Oil of Slipperiness. All excellent to have. So are Antidote elixirs or Purify Blood and Poison Shield potions. Healing-in-a-bottle is good, but only if you have a metal container for them. The same advice goes for Detect Magic, Shield, Greater Shield, Shatter, or Destroy scrolls if you know how to use them. Scrolls and potions are best kept with your backup person.

_____________________________
¹When I say “Your stuff”, I make no distinction between your property or the property of whoever hired you to protect it. In my opinion, neither should you. If you don’t care to secure the client’s items with the same care you would use for your own, then you’re in the wrong business.
²Pardon me for bragging, but I AM the one who developed and popularized the Paint trap. More later...
³Of course the healer’s in the rear - it’s SAFE there! Riiiiight.
⁴The combination is in my Alchemical notes, and is not of value here.
⁵See Appendix 1 for a breakdown of the advantages and disadvantages of each.
⁶Named for one of the most popular types of pull-triggers in use, a slack-line is a tripwire hung or draped with so much slack that one does not notice as it entangles the foot, or the hilt of a sword, or what have you...until it’s too late.
⁷Of course, WE know better...
⁸Now, I need to point out - most of my career’s work has been done in tombs, vaults, and similar places where people don’t go every ten minutes. If you’re trapping a ducal mansion or what have you, keep the needs of the residents in mind. A balance must be struck between security and livability.
⁹I can hear you out there now...Trapmaster Plex, What’s circular logic? Here’s what it sound like in the thinker’s mind: “Those tripwires are too obvious. They must be fakes. But what if they want me to THINK they are fakes, and there’s a real one in there? Nah, they know I’ll think that they think I thought that, and have all fakes... But maybe...”
¹⁰Don’t worry; I got him in the next room.
¹¹Except, of course, the small point of ALWAYS working from the inside out. You don’t want to finish a job, and then blow up on the way out...
¹²And let me tell you, the serious thieves, spies, or other intruders DO research these things...
¹³People like me LIVE for those moments when you lose situational awareness...that’s when you go boom and I get paid.

It’s come to my attention that some folks have no idea of how to actually set a trap, in an OOG sense. Here, I’ll throw in a few simple actuator plans, and tell you what you should pack to set them up.

First - the venerable Mouse Trap. These are generally used as a pull-line trap, sometimes a slack-line. For those methods, here’s the recipe:

Ingredients:

• One Mousetrap. I prefer the wood-and-wire ones made by D-con in my area, find one with a fairly robust triggering mechanism. DON'T use the larger rat-traps - those can break fingers!
• New: A length of tripwire... I prefer either medium-test (8-20 lb) low-vis fishing line, or thin brown or black string. The new "Braided" lines are even better than monofilament. Another choice, not as good here, is "Invisible Thread". One eye screw, small enough to be placed on the edge of the mousetrap's base as a line guide if needed.
• The tag and appropriate size physrep for the trap you are setting. (See rulebook)
• Pick one of the following, appropriate for the trap's location. The idea is to secure the mousetrap in place with:
  • Two 1" drywall screws (for mounting on wooden walls, beams and/or logs.)
  • A staplegun with long staples (1/2" PAST the thickness of the mousetrap base, for softer walls, panels, etc.)
  • Two floral picks with wire (For mounting in the dirt, like tent pegs.)
  • Assorted cable ties or dark brown twine(To strap or tie the mousetrap to poles, beams, fences, etc.)

Tie a small bowline knot in one end of the trip line. Use the loop thus formed to affix the end of the line to the trigger plate on the mousetrap. If the trigger plate has a hole, you can tie a “Lark’s head” as well, for extra security. Affix the mousetrap to a non-mobile object. If using the floral picks, you sandwich the trap in between the picks, tightening it with the wires thereupon, and stick the picks in the ground. I don't like doing it, it’s not as strong, but it is sometimes the only way. The side of the mousetrap that has all the mechanisms on it should face AWAY from the target area. Run the tripline through the eye screw, which should be screwed into the edge of the trap on the trigger side. Leave a little slack, maybe 1/2", here. Run the line across the path where you want the target to set it off, and tie off to a handy object over there. DON'T tie it permanently yet! Go back to the mousetrap, and set it. Camouflage the mousetrap if you can. Put the physrep over there, IN CONTACT with the mousetrap but in such a way that it won't interfere.

Now go back, take that 1/2" of slack out of the line, and tie off the tripwire CAREFULLY. If the mousetrap goes off, you tied it too tight - reset it and retry. Return to the physrep, place both hands on it, announce Arm Trap, count off 60 seconds, say "Armed." Be sure you have attached the tag to the rep.

As an alternate option, place the trap on the ground face-up (like you would to catch a mouse), and use the trip-line to suspend an object over the trigger plate. I suggest a rock or branch of reasonable size for outdoor use, indoor I leave to you. The idea here is that allowing the object to fall (for instance, by cutting the tripwire) sets off the trap.