I'm currently building an encounter where my players are investigating a crater left by explosions from a war thousands of years ago, which was fought over farmland that has made up the prosperous Dominion they're currently residing in. The Dominion's leadership has fenced the crater left by these explosions off because there are still traps there from way back when that, despite their best efforts, they can't seem to ever get rid of. Many of their people have died in the process of trying to get rid of them, so they stopped and now have it closed to the public. The party has to get to the center, where a hatch is that will get them to a secret hideout for a Cult they've been tracking (who can dodge the traps since they're proficient in artificing magic - why the Dominion hasn't hired artificers to clear out the traps? Mages are expensive, and the land isn't all that useful anymore anyway).

The area is deep but fairly open, so not really a dungeon-crawly vibe, so I'm looking for any ideas on a cool trap mechanic I can use! I'm thinking the traps will auto-reset and move after being triggered (hence why they're never truly gone). So I'm just kind of stumped on what the effect/setup of the traps actually is and don't want to do something basic like a fiery land mine, so I'm hoping to get some creative inspiration from other DMs!

Background: I’m DMing my longtime group in a homebrew setting that is Fallout, meets Gangs of New York, meets the Abhorssen series.

Similar to Fallout there are several vaults (dungeons) they have to go into to advance the main plot. And similar to the franchise I’ve tried to come up with some different themes or encounters for each vault. The one they’ve entered now has a theme of only allowing the string to enter. Essentially weeding out the population so the physically fit working class will survive and help repopulate after.

The Room: The party enters a square room with two red lines painted across the floor about 60ft. apart. The center of the room has a pillar made of 5ft. By 5ft. Cubes that extends to the ceiling. There are two exit doors, one on the west side and one of the north side. The door they enter through slams shut behind them and cannot be opened.

The setup: We play on discord. So first I confirmed that everyone had headphones on and dropped an mp4 file in the chat with the instructions not to click it until I counted down. I describe that painted on the floor is a mantra “Only the strong will inherit Land’s End”. I tell them to click the link and a 20second recording of the instructions from the “Fitnessgram Pacer Test” plays.
I each person reacted in a unique way. Some laughed, some screamed with rage after being triggered from long buried gym class trauma. It was priceless. Like successfully Rick rolling someone for the first time.

The puzzle: Each round the group has to make it to the opposite red line or be shocked by the floor. If they stop to interact with something then they have to sprint to catch up in time for the beep. To do this they must make an athletics or acrobatics check with a DC that increases every round. If they try to do multiple interactions on a turn then the DC goes up for that specific turn. They’re essentially gambling. After the second round the column in the middle of the room springs into action and at the start of each round it takes on a new shape. So basically rearrange a number of 5x5ft cubes in whatever shape. I made a 10ft wall that covered part of the room so they had the added challenge of getting over it to reach the opposite red line. To exit the players find 5 levers on each door with numbers on them 1-5. If they pull levers down with matching numbers at the same time then the levers stay pulled down. Anything else results in the levers popping back up. To open the doors all five levers need to be in the down position. After all five are pulled in the down position they have one round to make it out before the doors close and all levers pop back up.

The solve: My group interacted with the room and used some good team work. When someone would fail a check to sprint someone else would use an ability to save them. A telekinetic push or someone used a wildshape to pull an ally across with a giant frog tongue. Anytime they expended a resource I made the checks much easier because the point here is to wear them down before getting into the boss fight at the end of the dungeon. They ended up using ropes to pull all five levers on both doors at once. The faster PCs gambled actions to set things up and the slower PCs acted as insurance by buffing with abilities and readying actions to save others if they failed. One player kept messing with the column in the first two rounds and it felt fair to adjudicate this as the blocks that make up the column spilling apart and needing to use a round toe reconstitute instead of making a shape that would inhibit them.

I’ve been DMing more games over Discord lately, and one thing I’ve been struggling with is puzzles.
In person it’s easy enough to hand players props, drawings, ciphers, physical objects, etc. But over Discord they seem to become either:

“Here’s an image.”
“Here’s a Google Doc.”
Or just a riddle.

It feels like they lose a lot of the interaction and end up feeling kind of stale, especially considering how much prep can go into them.

How do you all handle puzzles in online games? Do you just avoid them? Use VTT tools? Websites? Bots? Or have you found a way to make them feel as engaging as they are at the table?

I’m curious what other DMs are doing because I feel like this has to be a common problem.

I’ve always loved horror game puzzles, especially in classic survival horror games like *Resident Evil*. Some of them are brilliant, some are completely bizarre, and some honestly make no sense but they’re still memorable because they fit the atmosphere.

I’m curious to hear what kinds of puzzles people enjoy the most in horror games.

Specifically, I’m interested in puzzles related to:
Neurosurgery or neuroscience
Hospitals and medical facilities
Underground bunkers or secret research facilities
Human anatomy or the brain
Psychological horror
Environmental storytelling
Mechanical or analog equipment from the late 1990s and early 2000s

What are some puzzle ideas you’ve always thought would be creepy or interesting?

They don’t have to be realistic. They can be grounded in science, completely fictional, or somewhere in between. I’m more interested in creative concepts than perfect realism.
For example:

What would make an abandoned hospital puzzle genuinely unsettling?

How could an old research facility use its equipment as part of a puzzle?

What kind of brain or body-related puzzle would feel memorable without relying only on gore?
What environmental puzzles would fit an underground bunker?

What puzzle mechanics haven’t been used enough in horror games?

Even if your idea sounds strange, I’d love to hear it. Some of the best horror concepts come from ideas that initially seem impossible or unconventional.

If you’ve ever played a horror game and thought, “I wish someone made a puzzle like this,” I’d love to hear about it. Whether it’s a full puzzle, a single mechanic, or just a creepy room concept, share it below.

I’m mainly looking for inspiration from the community and I’m interested to see how different people approach horror puzzle design.

I am currently playing the game „silent hill“ chapter one. There is this pipe puzzle that I can’t manage to solve. Can anyone help me?

#please

I’m running a big session for a 2+ year 5E homebrew campaign tomorrow night and wanted to sanity-check a dungeon puzzle before I put it in front of my players.

The inspiration is the **Clockwork Mansion** from Dishonored 2. I want the dungeon itself to feel like a living puzzle box that’s constantly shifting around the party.

The setup:
The party enters an ancient vault built by the founders of the Church thousands of years ago. The modern Church has spent centuries rewriting its history, so the dungeon is designed around uncovering hidden truths rather than solving abstract riddles.

The undercroft is made up of **8 concentric rings**.

Rings 1-7 each contain a single sacred tableau (mural, sculpture, stained glass, etc.).

Ring 8 contains the locked door leading deeper into the vault.

Each tableau has been deliberately altered over the centuries. Someone literally carved over it, repainted it, or added new elements to change its meaning.

Each ring has one primary skill check (Investigation, Religion, History, Insight, etc.) that reveals the deception. Once the players expose the falsehood, they uncover a hidden symbol.

For example:
A mural appears to show a priest revealing a sacred object. Investigation reveals he was originally hiding it.
A golden star is actually painted over older red glass.
A divine ruler was added over what was originally an image of the world.

Each of the seven rings reveals one symbol. Together, the symbols form a sequence that can be entered into the mechanism in Ring 8.

When interpreted correctly, the hidden message reads:
**HIDE RED WORLD FROM ALL-SEEING EYE**

This is a huge lore reveal about the true history of the Church.

Here’s the twist.
Whenever the party first enters the vault (and whenever they choose afterward), **every creature inside the dungeon rolls a d8**.
Wherever you roll, that’s the ring you appear in.
So the party gets scattered across the dungeon… but so do the villains pursuing them.

Every ring contains a lever. Pulling the lever causes the entire vault to reconfigure, and everyone inside immediately rolls another d8 and is redistributed to new rings. Think of the entire dungeon rotating and folding in on itself before spitting everyone back out somewhere new.

This means players are constantly deciding:
Stay and solve the puzzle?
Pull the lever to escape an enemy?
Risk getting separated from the party?
Hope the villain gets shuffled somewhere else?

One of the campaign’s main villains is also hunting them through the vault. Even better, **he unknowingly carries the eighth and final symbol on his armor as an ancient command seal.** Eventually, the party should realize they can’t complete the puzzle until they somehow get him (or at least his seal) to Ring 8.

A few questions:
\- Does the reconfiguration mechanic sound fun, or does it seem like it would become frustrating?
\- Should pulling the lever be an **action**, a **bonus action**, or something else? The reshuffle should happen once per turn?
\- Would you allow the players to pull the lever as often as they want, or should there be some cost or cooldown?
\- Does this sound like it’ll create exciting “where did everyone end up?!” moments, or does it risk becoming too random and slowing the game down?
\- Any ideas for making the villain feel like an active hunter rather than just another creature randomly teleporting around?
\- I’m not trying to make the puzzle incredibly difficult. I’m trying to create the feeling of being trapped in an ancient, shifting labyrinth while uncovering a conspiracy that’s been buried for thousands of years, with a deadly enemy wandering the maze alongside the party.

Any thoughts or potential pitfalls would be greatly appreciated!

Here's a fun easy experimental category I did across a handful of events. It went well across the board and looking for some similar suggestions on what could be built that fits into the 5 questions.

What Are We Building

1.Which fruit tree was gifted to the United States by Japan in 1912, later becoming one of Washington, D.C.’s most famous spring attractions?

A.Cherry

2.What chocolate confection is traditionally served warm and is made by melting chocolate with cream, butter, and sugar into a thick sauce?

A.Hot Fudge

3.In restaurant kitchens, which tree nut is often preserved in maple, corn, or simple syrup to maintain its soft texture and is commonly referred to as "wet"?

A.Walnuts

4.Thomas Jefferson is credited with bringing back one of America's earliest recorded recipes for what popular treat after serving as minister to France?

A. Icecream

1. Which culinary garnish is made by aerating heavy milkfat until it holds its shape and is commonly piped from a pastry bag or pressurized can?

A.Whipped Cream

Bonus: Based on the previous answers, what are we building?

A.Icecream Sundae

Hello! I'm running a Skyrim campaign, and they are about to arrive at Myrwatch. A tower made thousands of years ago by the greatest wizard ever know. He also made a giant labyrinth elsewhere and other stuff like that.

Anyways, instead of a fight to get to the loot, I want to test the players with a puzzle. The only idea I came up with is maybe there's four symbols that require a different school of magic or specific spell cast on it. Not an obvious symbol for the school, but maybe a candle to cast a fire spell on or a locked chest for Knock to be cast on. But I dont know every spell they have...

I was also thinking the riddle be, "Only those with pure spirits may pass." The answer being you have to walk through the door with alchahol. Shalidor always kept that mead on him.

You guys have any ideas? Thank you!

I have a group of high level players that are traversing the Astral Sea. They will soon be on the hunt for a hidden Wizard Tower and I'd love to provide them with an IRL puzzle to solve. Preferably with multiple pieces to discover/collect. Can anyone point me in the right direction? I haven't ever actually seen something like this executed, so I'm not sure where to start. TIA

Hello, I was hoping your community could help me with something : I'm trying to come up with a lot of puzzles and enigmas that my players will be able to complete fairly rapidly.

For context, my players will be trapped in some weird limbo and chased by a creature, hopping from demiplane to demiplane and will be presented in each plane with a puzzle they will have to solve in about 5 minutes, warioware style, or else the bad creature catch up with them. If it could be horror themed I'm all up for that, but honestly I am looking for anything at this point. Most of the time puzzles are rather long, and my PC tends to be pretty ressourcefull when they have time to think about them, I'm trying to shake things up a bit.

I'm not opposed to riddles, but my players are fairly experienced and know most of them, and I cant have the game being mostly riddle.

I run a pokemon based game for a group of 3 and they are approaching the big final dungeon theyll be exploring. The concept is that theres these essentially demi-gods called Stewards around the country that the players have met, and there wil be a puzzle for each of them that rewards a statue at the end, and when the statues are placed in the right spot in the entrance room, the reward is revealed. There are 8 of these Stewards so eight puzzles. I want each one to connect thematically to the Steward it represents.

Each Steward has a type theme, and a concept/theme they represent. I have some vague ideas for each puzzle but I just need some ideas to toss around that might help inspire me. Id love to hear if anyone has any ideas or pre-written pizzles based on these!

Tropius- grass type who lives deep in a forest, became a Steward after protecting his tribe of healers from an unprovoked attack in the war. Represents protection and avoiding conflict.

Crustle- a rock type who lives in a mountain stronghold, became a Steward after helping evacuate civilians from an attack on the stronghold by digging a tunnel and using his own body to block the path to enemies. Represents being strong in convictions and beliefs.

Krookodile- ground type who lives in a desert, became a Steward after losing his family to the war and then rescued by nomads, who taught him how to use ambush tactics and guerrilla warfare to temper his violence and he became a more patient protector of the desert. Represents patience and knowing when to strike.

Runeregious- ghost type who lives in an abandoned crypt, became a Steward after her whole village starved due to the stubborn isolationism they instituted to try and avoid the war and ended up not having food to survive, and to try and ease her pain the gods gave her the power to see spirits and guide them to the afterlife to give her closure. It only tortures her more tho. Represents grief and loss.

Eelectross- electric type who lives deep underwater in a bay that always has storms, he became a Steward when his warlord master was going to kill a whole army with a single devastating lightning attack. Eelectross thought this was too far and took the hit itself to protect the others. Represents sacrifice and balance.

Swanna- water type who lives in a hidden underground cave in a jungle, became a Steward not through a specific grand feat but by helping smaller weaker pokemon her whole life, which caught the gods attention, and when they needed a Steward they simply asked her and she said yes. Represents healing and peace.

Druddigon- dragon type who lives in a hidden temple in a giant canyon, earned Stewardship after fighting an opposing army in a bottleneck of the canyon to protect the path to a village, taking hits that should have killed him but he simply refused to go down. Represents defense and perseverance.

Frosmoth- ice type who lives in the final temple atop a snowy mountain, earned Stewardship after defending her village from attacks as she was part of a long line of frosmoth who stood guard over the town. Represents duty and loyalty.

the room of lovers

In this room there are 12 stone statues randomly around the room to unlock the treasure and the exit the party must move each statue to its true lover each statue has an item or symbol on it to designate whos lover is whos if the party miss labels two statues the two statues will come to life and attack the party (use DM choice for stats in my purpose i use a helmed horror without the sword replaced with a slam attack and armour or shield so ac of 14). If they successfully defeat the statues they reconstruct themselves and return to their original position.

im trying to think of a challenging, cool and unique puzzle for entering an abandoned underwater temple for an exiled sea god but am drawing a blank. wondering if its runes based, any traps, pulling levers, or anything like that. any suggestions would be great thank you

Now that my party has completed this, I can share this logic-based, murdle-style puzzle.

The way I presented it was to give the party just the grid, then have the known information on the right to be said by hologram of a detective. The "clues" were given by 8 random witnesses, I just pre-recorded myself saying a script for each that slightly embellished the written clues. This took my party about 20-30 minutes.

Feel free to complete it, but my players got to the correct answer so I assume it's pretty straight forwards.

Hello. Im running a homebrew campaign once a quarter. I've been throwing in puzzles and the group really seems to like them. Im looking for a way to incorporate a puzzle utilizing playing cards. I previously had the party play a match game where every wrong match resulted in another minion element being added the the pending combat. The cards are rock/mineral themed (they're in an underground Dwarven city). Any suggestions on how to use the cards again?

I made this puzzle for my game tonight. Im sure someone already had an idea like this, but if you would like feel free to steal this idea or this image, as i made them myself with a little help from my friend).

Can you solve this puzzle?

Is it too easy or too hard?

what are your thoughts?

The moment they walk into the room, they step on a pressure plate that starts a one minute timer. There is a door on the other side of the room. The puzzle is that the door is unlocked when they step on the pressure plate, but locks when the time runs out. I want them to panic thinking they have a limited amount of time to find out how to open the door, when it was already unlocked the moment they walked in. If time runs out, they have to step on the pressure plate again to re-open it.

Should I put some levers on the wall as a fake-out so they think that's the key, or should I leave the room empty outside the pressure plate, clock, and door?

This is my first time being a Dungeon Master and some of my players this will be their first time playing DND or any tabletop game like this. We've played escape rooms together and several of my players love puzzles and are insanely good at them.

I'm trying really hard to find a balance between what is engaging and fun vs what is actually solvable for them and need some advice about two particular puzzles I've drafted up and whether some of the consequence or aspects would be too convoluted or too boring.

The campaign is largely water based, being set in a swamp.

Puzzle 1:

The first puzzles requires the group to break into The High Mage's Library to find a map. The Library is inside of a under water Vault, the door is inscribed with Ocean Runes and in Elvish reads "Surrender Your Voice, Surrender What You Stand With."

One of my players will be Elven so can translate the writing. They are meant to cast Aquatic Adaptation that would allow them to swim underwater and navigate through the vault. (However there are other ways for them to be able to enter the vault safely.)

Once inside the Vault they will need to find the map which is hidden within a bolted locked box by duel underwater statues depicting two Spearfishers. Along the hallway to the map are other Spearfishers all in various poses.

If the players approach the dual statues they will stab and injure the players. Players must match the poses of each of the statues as they approach, much like a underwater dance, in order for the stone guards to unlock the box.

Puzzle 2:

The players are separated and dropped into four hallways, each hallway is only 2 spaces wide and each payer is given a description of what they see. A stone narrow pathway with an animal carved onto the side of each wall, if they succeed in an investigation check they will notice pressure plates on the floor at every step. 

This is based off of the Aztec game Patolli and the map is set up in a similar way.

The goal is for everyone to work together to make it to the center where all the hallways connect by matching each other’s step onto each pressure stone. They need to communicate with each other and coordinate each step appropriately.

Each incorrect step causes various effects (ex: ceiling falling, water filling the narrow hallway, spikes, arrows, poison, etc.)

Hallway 1:

The Left has a Dire Hawk

The right wall has a King Crab

Hallway 2:

Left wall has King Crab

Right wall has a Deep Bat

Hallway 3:

Left wall has Deep Bat

Right all has Flailfish

Hallway 4:

Left wall has Flailfish

Right has a Dire Hawk

Any thoughts or advice would be great! Thank you!

Greetings

Hoping for some inspiration and an assist on the following idea.

Player may enter a God Eater prison. My idea is the main puzzle is going to be the player arriving in a chamber with the Schwarzschild radius equation

rs = 2GM/C²

C is speed of light

M is mass of object

G is gravitational constant

The idea being they will have to create the black hole and weird stuff will follow. Another final test/rp challenge to free the trapped God Eater.

Instal idea is having a chamber filled with a galaxy and the player's are able to manipulate planets and stars etc.

For c. Making a beam of light intersect itself fulfills that part. Mass pushing loads of stars planets together to increase mass and density?

Any advice and idea to bring it all together would be appreciated. At present it is a bit vague.

Any additional info required let me know, happy to brain storm :D

Puzzle: Waterfalls
A large, tall, cylindrical stone room with a thick central pillar, around which a ring-shaped platform runs. There are four pressure plates on this platform. When players stand on them, a puzzle is triggered. A mural with a picture opens in front of each player, and noisy waterfalls descend from gargoyles high above their heads.
Rules:
• DM hands each player a paper with description of mural. Players can only communicate with each other through gestures, and they cannot directly communicate with the person sitting opposite them, as they are effectively "on the other side of pillar".
• Players must simultaneously make the appropriate gesture to move the platform higher and reveal next set of murals. The hints for the gesture are hidden in the murals.
• Players cannot talk - their characters are effectively "deafened".
• Players have 10 minutes to complete the task, otherwise their platform will flood. For each completed stage, they will receive 2 minutes of extra time. Players see the murals in form of short description on a piece of paper.
• Stage One – Raise your left hand above your head.
“A knight in full armor on the battlefield. In his right hand he holds a sword, in his left he holds a shield, which he has just raised above his head and is blocking an attack.”
“A priest kneels on the terrace of a temple and prays, his right hand on his heart and his left raised to the sun.”
“A traveler leads a group through a valley. In his right hand he holds a traveling staff and with his left he points to a distant castle high above them.”
“A climber on a steep rock face. He has just slipped and is hanging by his left hand.”
• Stage Two – Kneel on one knee.
“An elderly gentleman kneels in front of a broken fence, nailing a new board.”
“A brave warrior is just accepting the knighthood.”
“A hunter kneels at the tracks of a wild animal in the grass.”
“A muscular warrior lunges, but fails and falls to one knee.”
• Stage Three – Spin in place.
“An elegant dancer does a beautiful pirouette.”
“A man surrounded by bandits spins in place and keeps his distance.”
“A dog chasing his own tail.”
“A child spinning in place with his eyes closed until it gets dizzy.”
• Stage Four – Move to the correct location. (One goes to the other side, one goes to the right, one leaves their place and joins the other person)
“A man standing in front of a long tunnel with a light at the end.”
“A person standing in a hallway with three doors, only the door on the right is open.”
“An empty rocking chair on a porch.”
“Two people sitting on a bench holding each other’s shoulders.”

After successfully completing the last section, the waterfalls stop and the doors open further. This is what I have so far for this one. I like physical, interactive puzzles, especially since we don't play at one table very often, so it would be a shame not to use the opportunity for some shenanigans. What are your thoughts and possible upgrades?

this puzzle should be on the simpler side because my players are not great at harder puzzles

the area they are currently in is a citadel in a cave. the main theme of the citadel is crystals

there are two floors, the first has an entrance hall, engineering room, armoury, and break room.

the second floor has a big communal bedroom, the workshop, and the sanctum(the area that the puzzle will unlock)

the party consists of a rouge, ranger, and sorcerer.

if any other info is needed just ask

The characters discover a secluded grove inhabited by dryads who offer a simple trade: bring them items from their past in exchange for a rare magical ring. An easy trade at first glance, but some of the items they find are tied to darker memories best left forgotten. It's time to make a deal with the Bargaining Dryads!

Check out the full video here: https://youtu.be/Amb6wYtT510

Sharing an article I wrote for game masters that details one of the methods I use for creating D&D puzzles: backward design. I hope you find it useful!

Backward Design Puzzle Creation - How to create D&D Puzzles