Dungeon Puzzles

[Ranis]

I'd like to begin using more puzzles in my dungeons, but I'm not exactly the most creative person in the world.

Can anyone give me some ideas for some ideal puzzles to use? Or, even, somewhere on the net that I can get ideas from?

Thanks :D

[TheThan]

The classic “Gigantic chess set” is always a good one, complete with stone golums representing the pieces. Or if you want something smaller scale, how about a shell game, or a rubix cube.
Or maybe a floor tile game ala Indiana Jones and the Last crusade.

If you want some simpler ones, try a door that wont open unless someone stands on a trigger (set in the floor), only problem is there is nothing in the room to place on it, so someone must stay behind, until the rest of the party can find a way to permanently open the door. I could go on, but I’m not I hope this gets your imagination going.

[henebry]

How about this:

You find yourself in a small room with a drafting table over which skeletal remains of a dwarf sit hunched. The door has locked behind you. The table is lit by an everburning luxo lamp. Scrawled all over all the papers on the table are the words "Puzzle Room Puzzle Room Puzzle Room" over and over.

The solution to the puzzle? The door unlocks when the PC has managed to create a puzzle room for a dungeon. Do this enough times to enough of your players in one campaign, and you'll soon have sufficient puzzles to try out on the players in your other campaign.

[Selv]

There are plenty of bare-bones mathematical puzzles out there- the creative part of it is thinking of a in-game figleaf to justify them. There's always the "Answer me these questions three ere the other side he see" approach with a contruct of undead or something. Any puzzle based on crossing a river- and there are lots- could be an actual boat and barrier, I suppose, though it would take some careful tailoring to the party ("This leaky skiff can carry one Medium and one Small adventurer"?)

The Monty Hall problem and the Tower of Hanoi come to mind, and... hey, why don't I just link to the Category: puzzles page?

Hope that helps.

I happen to have the kind of brain that thrives on these things, which was actualy rather frustrating with my first character: an INT-8 barbarian. Largely as a result of biting my tongue in puzzle rooms, my next character was Brand The Very MAD Monk.

Wait, actually- one they don't seem to have is one I know as Blue Eyes. That's a good one. Not really sure how you'd put it in a dungeon, though.

Edit: and Randall Munroe, the coy fox, doesn't give you the answer either. It's kind of tough... at least, I couldn't get it without a hint. I'm happy to dispense that same hint via PM, if anyone finds they're loosing sleep.

[martyboy74]

Play a Zelda game. Take notes.

[Clementx]

I second looking at Zelda or Vagrant Story (or a lot of action-platformers/key-based games) for ideas. They are convenient in being set in mostly dungeons.

But here is the problem with puzzles...http://www.shamusyoung.com/twentysidedtale/?p=680

[Accolon]

Word ciphers are great: sub one letter for another and write a paragraph, then let the party try and figure out the cipher. I've used those alot. Cool things like, "the secret lies with Charolette" from National Treasure make it fun because only you know what the secret is and the party has to figure it out. Go to a newstand and pick up a logic puzzle book for like a buck: they have easy puzzles to hard puzzles of all kinds that you can copy.

[goat]

Just remember, make the puzzle too hard and your party may well respond by treating the closed door like their mortal enemy.

[Saph]

You have to make puzzles fun, otherwise they just infuriate the players, and not in a good way.

My favourite puzzle was an idea I stole from a Nodwick comic. It was a giant floating maze. The maze shifted, so there was no point mapping it, but with an Intelligence check or two and twenty minutes' work, you could reach the gate to the inner core. Trouble was, there was a skeletal guardian there who greeted you with the words "Speak the password." The next words you said were taken as the answer.

If you got it wrong, you were randomly teleported to one of eight rooms around the maze. Each of the rooms contained a clue to the password. The catch? You were teleported on your own - and there was a rival party of NPCs, some of whom had grudges against members of the party, trying to find their own way through and being scattered around at the same time.

Hilarity resulted as the PCs kept on trying more and more ridiculous guesses, trying to get as many words out as possible before they were teleported, then running back, dodging the NPCs, to have another go. I think it took about 10 teleports before enough of them put their heads together to add up all the clues they'd individually picked up and to guess the answer. It took about an hour and a half of game time, and was hilarious to watch.

- Saph

[Grug]

"You enter the room. In front of you there is a wall with 5 large reptillian heads carved into it in a row. The one in the center is much larger than the other 4. Above them you can see there is an opening between the top of the wall and the ceiling, about 60 feet up. The four smaller heads each have lines carved with runes rising straight from them to the top of the wall. The rest of it is smooth and unclimable"

Upon closer inspection: "The heads appear to be of a Hydra, and the four smaller ones have flat platforms on top of them big enough to stand on. interacting with the center head causes it's eyes to glow and it to speak a prerecorded message: 'Defiler/traveller/proper title, you find yourself before the Hydra Lord and his four Hydra Nights. To get past, you require their aid. but beware their pride!' Then in magical letters the names of the knights appear. Vant, Vivor, Eal, and Prize.

The solution is to sit on top of Vant's head, and he will raise along the track and bring you up to the ledge. Sitting on any of the other heads causes a level appropriate magical trap to be set off. The logic behind this is that the hydras are knights, so their full titles would be Sir Vant (servant), Sir Vivor (survivor), Sir Eal (Surreal) and Sir Prize (Surprise). Only a servant would be humble enough to allow a person to ride it. Put some treasure on top and call it a day.

[martyboy74]

"You enter the room. In front of you there is a wall with 5 large reptillian heads carved into it in a row. The one in the center is much larger than the other 4. Above them you can see there is an opening between the top of the wall and the ceiling, about 60 feet up. The four smaller heads each have lines carved with runes rising straight from them to the top of the wall. The rest of it is smooth and unclimable"

Upon closer inspection: "The heads appear to be of a Hydra, and the four smaller ones have flat platforms on top of them big enough to stand on. interacting with the center head causes it's eyes to glow and it to speak a prerecorded message: 'Defiler/traveller/proper title, you find yourself before the Hydra Lord and his four Hydra Nights. To get past, you require their aid. but beware their pride!' Then in magical letters the names of the knights appear. Vant, Vivor, Eal, and Prize.

The solution is to sit on top of Vant's head, and he will raise along the track and bring you up to the ledge. Sitting on any of the other heads causes a level appropriate magical trap to be set off. The logic behind this is that the hydras are knights, so their full titles would be Sir Vant (servant), Sir Vivor (survivor), Sir Eal (Surreal) and Sir Prize (Surprise). Only a servant would be humble enough to allow a person to ride it. Put some treasure on top and call it a day.

You realize that this would only work for parties below level 3? Levitate/Alter Self reder it pointless.

[Morgan_Scott82]

I have a problem with using puzzles in games I DM. Why? Because presenting the puzzle to my players is a test of their intellect or creativity, and not a test of of their character's. This creates a disparity between the capabilities of my players and that of their characters.

I couldn't even begin to fathom what a 26 Intelligence would mean and I speculate that none of my players have are capable of acts of intellect someone with a 26 Intelligence would certainly be capable of and might even find trivial. In mid-high level play its quite likely that the party wizard could have an intelligence which vastly outstrips the capabilities of his player, expecting a player to solve a problem that is beyond his ken but might be child's play for his character just doesn't seem right. The reciprocal is also true, one of the best riddlers I know routinely plays low Intelligence fighters, while he the player may either know or be able to deduce the solution to a puzzle, does not imply his character is likewise able to solve the challenge before him.

In the few instances I've used puzzles I've utilized an Intelligence checks for hints mechanic that has mitigated, though not completely eliminated, the problem of the genious character and average intellect player. However I haven't come up with a solution more viable than just saying "No" to the smart player of the ignorant character.

[Cowboy_ninja]

Wait, actually- one they don't seem to have is one I know as Blue Eyes. That's a good one. Not really sure how you'd put it in a dungeon, though.

Edit: and Randall Munroe, the coy fox, doesn't give you the answer either. It's kind of tough... at least, I couldn't get it without a hint. I'm happy to dispense that same hint via PM, if anyone finds they're loosing sleep.

im scratching my head over this "blue eye" puzzle can you PM me that hint you mentioned?

EDIT: FORGET IT!! I GOT IT!!! HAHAHA!! I A.M. T.H.E. S.M.A.R.T.E.S.T. M.A.N. A.L.I.V.E. !!

[Cowboy_ninja]

"You enter the room. In front of you there is a wall with 5 large reptillian heads carved into it in a row. The one in the center is much larger than the other 4. Above them you can see there is an opening between the top of the wall and the ceiling, about 60 feet up. The four smaller heads each have lines carved with runes rising straight from them to the top of the wall. The rest of it is smooth and unclimable"

Upon closer inspection: "The heads appear to be of a Hydra, and the four smaller ones have flat platforms on top of them big enough to stand on. interacting with the center head causes it's eyes to glow and it to speak a prerecorded message: 'Defiler/traveller/proper title, you find yourself before the Hydra Lord and his four Hydra Nights. To get past, you require their aid. but beware their pride!' Then in magical letters the names of the knights appear. Vant, Vivor, Eal, and Prize.

The solution is to sit on top of Vant's head, and he will raise along the track and bring you up to the ledge. Sitting on any of the other heads causes a level appropriate magical trap to be set off. The logic behind this is that the hydras are knights, so their full titles would be Sir Vant (servant), Sir Vivor (survivor), Sir Eal (Surreal) and Sir Prize (Surprise). Only a servant would be humble enough to allow a person to ride it. Put some treasure on top and call it a day.

i like that one

[Cowboy_ninja]

I second looking at Zelda or Vagrant Story (or a lot of action-platformers/key-based games) for ideas. They are convenient in being set in mostly dungeons.

But here is the problem with puzzles...http://www.shamusyoung.com/twentysidedtale/?p=680

LOL! sounds like one of hte gus i play with!

[purepolarpanzer]

You realize that this would only work for parties below level 3? Levitate/Alter Self reder it pointless.

This is why the DM uses magic. To make it so the almighty spell caster can't simply wave its fingers and dismiss this well planned and reasonable trap. I hate it when, as a DM, you make a trap and when the caster learns it can't simply teleport around it, fireball through it, or fly over it, they say you a rail roader. Magic is put in D+D not only to make characters, but to make interesting traps, puzzles, and opponents. So when the DM says that a magical barrier seals the hole in the ceiling and the only way through is to ride the hydra head, live with it. It's a puzzle, not a test to see what spells you prepared today.

Also would like to submit one.

You walk into a large, circular, stone room. In the center a ladder (substitute with whatever you want them to find) is frozen in a large block of ice (indestructible), and surrounding the area are six large golden mirrors on stands that rotate. One of them has a beam of sunlight coming down on its curved surface and is pointing a small beam onto the ice, but to no effect. Etched in the ice are the words- "My heart is frozen in lonely state. What will come to thaw my love? Not a single word from affectionate lips can pierce my sorrowed soul, or a pair of eyes peering into mine find my hardest toll. That longed for phrase of "I love you" is not enough to heal my wound, while "I long for you" is said to soon. "You are my deepest, greatest need" is far too long for me to heed, but one hand extended in simple love will free my soul to fly above."

The answer of course lies in the phrase in relation to the mirrors. You need to bounce the light off five mirrors, then on to the ice. Not "a single" not "a pair" not three like in "I love you", or four in "I long for you". Six words is too much, but five (the number of fingers on hand) is just right.

[Serpentine]

I have a couple planned. No peeking, Goff.

Spoiler

Show

I'm working on a labyrinth built and maintained by a tribe of kobolds on the behalf of a minotaur, so of course I'm nicking one or two things from Labyrinth. One in particular that might be good is based on when Foggle (name?) drags Sarah into his home (or somewhere). There's only one door. He opens it, and a mop falls on him. "Bah, wrong door!" So he turns the door around and/or opens it on the other side to reveal a corridor. So. There's always the ol' "reversable door" thing.
There's another one I'm throwing in, though I'm uncertain about how to do it mechanically. Basically, it's a circular room with several identical doors or two alternating sets of identical doors. After you go in, the door you entered through closes. Unless you've marked it, there's a good chance you're not gonna be able to remember which one it was.
Keep in mind that these are for a labyrinth, i.e. the second one, at least, is designed to get you lost.

[kamikasei]

This is why the DM uses magic. To make it so the almighty spell caster can't simply wave its fingers and dismiss this well planned and reasonable trap. I hate it when, as a DM, you make a trap and when the caster learns it can't simply teleport around it, fireball through it, or fly over it, they say you a rail roader. Magic is put in D+D not only to make characters, but to make interesting traps, puzzles, and opponents. So when the DM says that a magical barrier seals the hole in the ceiling and the only way through is to ride the hydra head, live with it. It's a puzzle, not a test to see what spells you prepared today.

You have to walk a fine line between countering likely magical options to bypass a trap, encounter or puzzle (not railroading), and simply saying "no, your magic won't work. You have to play by the rules of the puzzle" (railroading). As DM you can, of course, at any time say that a particular room is somehow magically set up so that fly can't be cast there; but if you do this sort of thing with any frequency, and don't have a reasonable justification for it within the rules of the game (including any self-consistent house rules you may have), you're breaking verisimilitude and turning it into a computer game with arbitrary boundaries between what "works" and what doesn't. That's bad.

For example, in your puzzle, why/how is the ice indestructible? Who created this puzzle, and how did they make ice indestructible? How might the magic used to do that have been applied elsewhere?

[Clementx]

As for the elevator puzzle, let the wizard cast Fly. He bangs into an invisible barrier half way up. "Gee, how did that happen?" So he starts looking around with Detect Magic. "Oh, what do you know? The guy that went through the trouble of constructing this area thought of this, and put a strong Evocation spell, probably a Force effect, that cuts the shaft off from the ground level. I wonder how he constructed a long-lasting effect like that? Hmm, the heads on the wall are shimmering with Abjuration. Maybe they can bypass the barrier? That way, I don't have to try a rod of cancellation or something expensive like that..."

Puzzles only work when it takes the laws of the world into account, which includes magic. Its not a puzzle if it can be immediately sidestepped- this isn't a gorge blocking your way to the game, after all. It is the game! So let it have constraints on magic to narrow down the solution. Brute force or dispelling it should be much harder than thinking about it. In my example, the wizard gets to use magic to help the party solve the puzzle. He also wasted a lvl3 spell when the lvl1 spell would have told him everything he needed. That should teach him not to be so flippant about his spells when there are clues.

[Just Alex]

If you feel like being a terribly cruel GM, try and find the Tomb of Iuchiban box set for Legend of the Five Rings. The traps in there are horrific. Whenever I GM a group unfamiliar with the Tomb, which is common in a D20-centric world, I whip out those traps. Almost all the traps can be solved with a bit of thinking or some good rolling, so you can consider them puzzles with a little extra "motivation"

My personal favorite? A crushing walls room, except there's a niche big enough to fit two people in the wall. Humorously, the walls stop moving about 1.5 ft apart, so everyone survives. Logic is, a selfish party will fight over who can go into the niche, perhaps going so far as to killing eachother. Then, when they discover that everyone not in the niche survives, there's going to be a few angry people.

[kamikasei]

My personal favorite? A crushing walls room, except there's a niche big enough to fit two people in the wall. Humorously, the walls stop moving about 1.5 ft apart, so everyone survives. Logic is, a selfish party will fight over who can go into the niche, perhaps going so far as to killing eachother. Then, when they discover that everyone not in the niche survives, there's going to be a few angry people.

I'm not sure that's really what you would call a "puzzle".

Other than not killing one another before the walls stop moving, is there anything the players/characters can actually do to escape the trap? What you describe sounds more like an automated psychological trauma than a puzzle. A puzzle should generally be amenable to, you know, thought. Puzzling it out.

[Dervag]

LOL! sounds like one of hte gus i play with!

OotS #327 shows another example of the problem.

[Black Mage]

This is one I used before...

After the players all walked into a certain room in the dungeon, the door behind them slammed shut and sealed, effectivly making it impossible to get back out. On one side of the wall were four holes, about as big around as a quarter. On the other side, a shelf with five potions of gaseous form. Three of the holes were false, and would keep going until the potion wore off, causing the character to reform in the tiny space, if a characters time runs out, all the others see is the squirt of blood. The fourth hole leads wherever the DM wants. Thankfully my players figured it out.

[martyboy74]

This is one I used before...

After the players all walked into a certain room in the dungeon, the door behind them slammed shut and sealed, effectivly making it impossible to get back out. On one side of the wall were four holes, about as big around as a quarter. On the other side, a shelf with five potions of gaseous form. Three of the holes were false, and would keep going until the potion wore off, causing the character to reform in the tiny space, if a characters time runs out, all the others see is the squirt of blood. The fourth hole leads wherever the DM wants. Thankfully my players figured it out.

How'd they figure that out? That seems more like a dumb luck sort of thing.
"Try not to get squished this time!"

[Morrandir]

Here's one I used.

The party enters a room (by teleportation) where there are 6 doors. They are marked, in order: D, U, W, S, E, N. All the doors are unlocked, and can be opened without problem. However, once a party member walks in one of the doors, the others close and lock. Inside the doors, the party can see the room they're standing in, from the appropriate door. (using previously stated order, it would be U, D, E, N, W, S that they come out of.)

So, what is it?

It's a 3D maze. The doors correspond to the basic directions, and the party has to get from point A to point B.

Took my group 2 hours to figure it out. Even then, they missed the clues telling them where to go, so they pretty much had to figure out the cube size, then visit every single one until they got where they needed to be.

As for the clues themselves, you can use a sentence or two that has the letters telling the directions capitalized, or perhaps every third letter is one they need to use, etc.

[Muz]

My problem is usually thinking of a reason to justify the puzzles being there at all. If I've got something valuable that I want safeguarded, I'm going to put it in a locked box inside a safe inside a vault, keep the key for the box myself, and only tell people I trust (if I tell ANYone) the combinations to the safe and way to open the vault. I'm not going to put a little puzzle on it to allow there being a chance of someone getting in to steal my stuff. (And if, say, there IS someone else I want to get hold of it, I'd get them a spare key and tell them the combination directly.)

I'm not saying puzzles shouldn't be used, I'm asking for someone to help me feel more comfortable about their existence making sense so I can use more.

[estradling]

I'm not saying puzzles shouldn't be used, I'm asking for someone to help me feel more comfortable about their existence making sense so I can use more.

Insanity is one reason...

Filtering out is an other... (You only want certain types of people... See the Oracle test in OOTS)

Memonic for the creator... (If you secure something you might want to get years later... And might forget the details without something to help you out)

[Saph]

They're tests. For when you want some people to be able to get through, but not others.

The other reason to use them is if the dungeon's creator just wants a good laugh, particularly if they're combined with traps and he can watch it all on his scrying ball. Take bets on how many of the party are going to get killed!

- Saph

[martyboy74]

They're tests. For when you want some people to be able to get through, but not others.

The other reason to use them is if the dungeon's creator just wants a good laugh, particularly if they're combined with traps and he can watch it all on his scrying ball. Take bets on how many of the party are going to get killed!

- Saph

But why would you let them get close enough to kill you? That's just silly.

[The Prince of Cats]

Here was one I had given to me by a a DM... We were student adventurers performing a final test at a hero academy.

There is a broad chasm between you and the other side of the room. In the centre of the chasm, on a floating disc, is a plate of meat. The platform on the other side of the chasm is filled with hell-hounds.

On your side, you have: a set of chimes, a jar of corks in various sizes, a tiny silver hammer and a drawbridge that would reach the other side of the chasm. We were first level, so the hell-hounds concerned us.

As the party mage, I just sat and waited until the party was out of ideas, then cast identify on the chimes. I already thought I knew what the answer was; it was a chime of hunger and the corks were for our ears.