Dungeons and puzzles?

[Shadowbane13]

Hey I just wanted to know if anyone has encountered or created any unique puzzles for their campaigns? I'm running one and looking for some more cool ones to sneak into my game. Any suggestions? Thanks

[nickl_2000]

I wrote this one shot that is a Redwall (series of books) type treasure hunt. Feel free to steal from it all you like
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1-AG6daXlDe3ser-cZEYU7w9aLCKR50mPPL0kHZl7zhg

There are also some decent ones in this
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1W7gO91Iyf_JkS9axkIUKflhfYFDvYAYdgJSQlexFN 0A

[HandofBlades]

The party finds a red gem in the shape of an eye. Upon touching it the gem sends them a message asking them to lay its spirit to rest. A while later the party finds a dungeon with a single room and a statue with missing eyes. If they place the gem in the eye the entrance locks and a red door appears. Fighting through till they find a blue gem. Return and repeat with the blue gem and down a new hallway. They find a yellow gem. Yellow hallway. They find a white gem. No exit is given. Putting in the red and yellow gem an orange path appears. Rinse and repeat for a full dungeon till they find two white or two red gems to lay the spirit to rest and the exit appears. Some fun color theory puzzle fun.

[ShadowSandbag]

I had a really fun dungeon that i ran a while back that was split down the middle by a pane of glass. There were a lot of fun things to do there with the two groups working together and having clues on one side to answers on the other. The final puzzle was one where there was a key on symbols that went together (a=b, c=d etc...) where they would have to step on one panel on one side and the matching symbol on the other.

[Chugger]

There are several classic games where if you go first you can always win (or at least always force a tie) - if you grasp the basic strategy and play with discipline.

Have a sage or sphinx or w/e offer to play the game with the party, and if they win it will tell them something they need to know - give them a map - give them a magic item they need - w/e.

But every time they lose they have to play 100 gold or some penalty - it can go up each time, too.

They need to play enough to learn that you have to go first to win.

They need to trick or bribe the NPC into letting them go first. This could mean a side quest to get it purple lotus tea - which is hard to get - or go kill a creature that annoys it, a hard to kill monster or cluster of them.

Once party does this the NPC lets them go first, and they'd better win! (I'd have the NPC play sloppy at this point - it's so happy that the whatevers are dead - or the tea is so good it is distracting).

Tic tac toe works this way. So does NIM. There are many versions of NIM, and I'm not sure this link is that good - but search around if this interests you. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nim

[AWiz_Abroad]

We had a 3d Printed Cryptex with 5 language's alphabets.

The clue we got eventually (by figuring out that the answer key needed water from a specific lake) was:

I am normally not above but below
Remove one and two and I disappear
Three and Four Become Warforged
The first three are always beautiful

All of the lines were in different languages (Dwarven, Elven, Infernal, Celestial) that corresponded to four of the five dials on the Cryptex. By using some frequency analysis we were able to decrypt the languages we didn't have as a party.

Chair

[wallyd2]

We just finished running two sessions centered around a crypt with a Prismatic Owl. Simple enough, the characters collected eyes (gems) that fit into a stone statue of an owl. Mixing the colors of the gems would open up different areas of the crypt for exploration.

If you are interested, I have about 3 dozen D&D puzzle ideas on my YouTube Channel. Simply go to YouTube and search for "Wally DM" if you want to check them out. All of my puzzle videos provide full demonstration with links to downloadable content, if needed, to run the puzzle.

Looking forward to our next session... going to try and use my "Dragon Arrows" puzzle. Basically, shooting a colored arrow into a storm of elements that coincide with the prismatic dragon's breath weapons.

Hope this helps!

[HandofBlades]

We just finished running two sessions centered around a crypt with a Prismatic Owl. Simple enough, the characters collected eyes (gems) that fit into a stone statue of an owl. Mixing the colors of the gems would open up different areas of the crypt for exploration.

If you are interested, I have about 3 dozen D&D puzzle ideas on my YouTube Channel. Simply go to YouTube and search for "Wally DM" if you want to check them out. All of my puzzle videos provide full demonstration with links to downloadable content, if needed, to run the puzzle.

Looking forward to our next session... going to try and use my "Dragon Arrows" puzzle. Basically, shooting a colored arrow into a storm of elements that coincide with the prismatic dragon's breath weapons.

Hope this helps!

Hey you must be the guy I stole it from them *points to own post higher up* did that for some players in a one shot. They loved it. Thanks!

[MrStabby]

I find it really difficult to put puzzles in a dungeon without it feeling contrived. Why are they there? Who built them? What purpose is there?

Managing to fit in a puzzle that doesn't seem out of place, a cliche or just added for the sake of adding a puzzle is the biggest challenge I have found.

[DaveOfTheDead]

One of my favorites is a plain room with a pedestal in the middle. After the characters enter, a wall slams down behind them leaving no way out. Then an arcane message appears above the button: "60". Then it begins counting down and the walls around them begin closing in. If the players press the button, it resets the trap and begins counting down again. The only way to win is the let the walls close in until the timer reaches zero. Then the walls reset and a wall lifts up revealing the way out.

I'm going to be doing one on Saturday reminiscent of the ice and boulder puzzles from the old Pokemon games. It's nothing too complicated. They just have to push a couple boulders on the right path onto a floor plate to open the next area. There's three of them that get progressively harder. The paths spell "ICE" because puns. If the players notice, bonus points for them (maybe literally, haven't decided yet).

[Lord8Ball]

The party entered a room in the dungeon it was a plain room of stone. On the other side of the room was an open door letting in light. We saw reflections of ourselves mimiking our actions on the other side of the room. On our side was a skeleton of a presumed wizard who died of starvation who was not reflected. So after a bit of thought on the concepts of a reflection I came to the conclusion that the light would have to be removed to negate the effect of the magic; however, That still left the problem of closing the door on the other side. Being a bard then I used a spell I belive it was wraith form to pass through. Before I could complete the puzzle for some reason the game was canceled when I went on roll 20 the next day.

[ChampionWiggles]

I don't remember how the puzzle I made went exactly, but I remember the gist of it. The party was going through a Sphinx trial where 5 rooms had a puzzle, usually simple things like riddles and such that had been done before. The last one was a puzzle of my own creation. There were 5 tiles strewn about the room, each depicting their previous (and current) trial in a single picture. They had to retrieve each tile and place them in the order they faced their trials. In the center of the room, there were 5 red crystals, 5 blue crystals, and one green crystal. Shattering a red crystal traveled you back in time, shattering a blue crystal traveled you forward, and shattering the green crystal was the "reset" button that would let you try again.

Each tile they were supposed to retrieve was scattered in different times within the chamber. The room essentially had three "states": Past, present, future. There was a tile in a nook behind a cave in on the wall that could be retrieved by travelling back in time to before the wall had collapsed. There was one across a gap that could be retrieved in the future when one of the pillars was weak enough to be pushed over with a strength check. There was one inside of a cage that had a dragon wyrmling in the present. In the past, the tile was gone from the cage, but there was an egg and in the future, the dragon was a Young Dragon (the implication being you went to the past to destroy the egg, so you could safely retrieve the egg in the present).

You get the idea. It was a bit complicated and convoluted, but it was unique and I had fun designing it.

[MrStabby]

I don't remember how the puzzle I made went exactly, but I remember the gist of it. The party was going through a Sphinx trial where 5 rooms had a puzzle, usually simple things like riddles and such that had been done before. The last one was a puzzle of my own creation. There were 5 tiles strewn about the room, each depicting their previous (and current) trial in a single picture. They had to retrieve each tile and place them in the order they faced their trials. In the center of the room, there were 5 red crystals, 5 blue crystals, and one green crystal. Shattering a red crystal traveled you back in time, shattering a blue crystal traveled you forward, and shattering the green crystal was the "reset" button that would let you try again.

Each tile they were supposed to retrieve was scattered in different times within the chamber. The room essentially had three "states": Past, present, future. There was a tile in a nook behind a cave in on the wall that could be retrieved by travelling back in time to before the wall had collapsed. There was one across a gap that could be retrieved in the future when one of the pillars was weak enough to be pushed over with a strength check. There was one inside of a cage that had a dragon wyrmling in the present. In the past, the tile was gone from the cage, but there was an egg and in the future, the dragon was a Young Dragon (the implication being you went to the past to destroy the egg, so you could safely retrieve the egg in the present).

You get the idea. It was a bit complicated and convoluted, but it was unique and I had fun designing it.


Reminds me of the classic "Day of the Tentacle" video game.

[wallyd2]

Hey you must be the guy I stole it from them *points to own post higher up* did that for some players in a one shot. They loved it. Thanks!

Haha, no worries my friend! I'm glad your players enjoyed it! :)

[Shadowbane13]

I don't remember how the puzzle I made went exactly, but I remember the gist of it. The party was going through a Sphinx trial where 5 rooms had a puzzle, usually simple things like riddles and such that had been done before. The last one was a puzzle of my own creation. There were 5 tiles strewn about the room, each depicting their previous (and current) trial in a single picture. They had to retrieve each tile and place them in the order they faced their trials. In the center of the room, there were 5 red crystals, 5 blue crystals, and one green crystal. Shattering a red crystal traveled you back in time, shattering a blue crystal traveled you forward, and shattering the green crystal was the "reset" button that would let you try again.

Each tile they were supposed to retrieve was scattered in different times within the chamber. The room essentially had three "states": Past, present, future. There was a tile in a nook behind a cave in on the wall that could be retrieved by travelling back in time to before the wall had collapsed. There was one across a gap that could be retrieved in the future when one of the pillars was weak enough to be pushed over with a strength check. There was one inside of a cage that had a dragon wyrmling in the present. In the past, the tile was gone from the cage, but there was an egg and in the future, the dragon was a Young Dragon (the implication being you went to the past to destroy the egg, so you could safely retrieve the egg in the present).

You get the idea. It was a bit complicated and convoluted, but it was unique and I had fun designing it.

I actually really like the time jumping idea. I may steal this if you don't mind. Sounds dope.

The rest is great guys, thanks. I love slamming puzzles on my group.

[bc56]

I actually really like the time jumping idea. I may steal this if you don't mind. Sounds dope.

The rest is great guys, thanks. I love slamming puzzles on my group.

Me too. I'm going to make it an optional challenge in a lich's lair. The lich is a master conjurer, and in my world, the master conjurers are caretakers of the secret of time travel.