Favorite Trap/Puzzle?
I'm going back to the original killer dungeon for this one. The Sphere of Annihilation in the demon's mouth from Tomb of Horrors. It should just be a dick-move trap except there all the clues in the world in the dungeon that its a really bad trap and even a modicum of careful play will keep the players from losing more than part of their 10' pole on this trap. Still, I've run it twice back in the day and played through it once on the receiving end and every single time someone talked themselves into putting a body part through the mouth, even acknowledging that all of the clues pointed to a bad result just before putting a body part through the mouth, classic.
Favorite NPC?
It probably says something about my skill as a DM that after 35 years of gaming, mostly behind the screen, that I really don't have an NPC that stands out in my mind as a favorite. I always try to keep the focus on the player characters and NPCs are largely a means to an end in my sessions, whether that end is information, equipment, McGuffins, or just some comic relief.
I guess my favorite NPC archetype is the sympathetic villain. That villain who thwarts or works against the players at every turn but there is something about the villain that the players (at least some of them) can't help but respond positively too. There was the twin sister of one player character who embraced the dark prophecy that the siblings were born under and worked to bring about its fruition against her brother who was fighting against it, despite the fact that it would lead to her death. There was the leader of an order of Paladins who constantly worked against a player character paladin because doctrine demanded it and he just wouldn't accept the paladin's word that she had received a vision that was guiding her. I can't really call either of them favorites, I can't even remember their names anymore, but it's definitely an NPC type I go back to time and time again.
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