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I didn't even throw my hardest puzzle in this video...an unlocked door. It stands in a perfectly normal hallway. No traps. No monsters. The players can walk through it any time they like. Current record for completion: 1 hour and 13 minutes.
@@renookami4651 And players assuming its a puzzle need solving didn't try the handle. They couldn't solve the riddle, so they asked about the description of the door. I described it as a wood door with a face carved in it. They asked if it had a handle. I said yes. They then asked to try and open it, which worked. They had a good laugh at that. If they had solved the riddle, the door would have opened itself, but it would have been merely a courtesy.
I love that this game can be played so many different ways. And I'm glad you enjoy these as well. I have one player at my table that like riddles and puzzles... everyone else hates them... and as a DM I don't mind giving my players what they like, but I not a fan of elaborate puzzles either. My favorite are the anti-puzzles. Take the big elaborate bird puzzle you got. But it's all red herring and the door has a secret lever, switch, button, or something like that on the birds. Or even the door is unlocked and swings open if you try it.
8:55 Please note that it does not work in latin languages (spanish, italian, french...). I'm french and the notes here have other names (do ré mi fa sol la si) than in germanic languages like english.
I would probably just change it to the key in their ear humming a tune (which they can only hear when it's in their ear lol) that they have to hum along to
how is number two going to work if the gems are all over the dungeon? DM: "you see a ruby set in to a wall" Party: "We try and take it" DM: "it doesn't move" Party "um, detect magic" DM "it's magical, but the spell doesn't tell you how it's magical" Party: "Is there anything else in the room" DM: "No" Party: "So now what?"
Some really good and fair puzzles, thank you very much for that! It's hard to find good ones on here. A lot of them are fake puzzles, where the solution is to either do nothing or flat out ignore the instructions. I hate those, because I like to think ahead and if I was a player hit with such a puzzle, every following puzzle I would either question the instructions or suggest we wait an hour (in-game) to see if something doesn't just happen on its own. Similarly with what I call the Lazy Man's Puzzle: Give the players some items and let them try to combine them or somehow use them in a specific way. But the real solution is to either wait until you feel like they've spent enough time on it or see if they came up with something creative and tell them: "Yep, you got it!" I'd just feel like I'm scamming the players.
The second puzzle is fun but the other ones i dont like. I just watched some other video of how to set up puzzles and these puzzles dont follow most of the tips given in that other video. Those tips seemed valid and create more fun puzzles
Be careful as those puzzle are fairly intricate and complicated. You might not want to guide your player too much for them to really feel like "We solved it ourself". But since those are fairly difficult you might observe the fact that you're gonna feel obligated to push ur player in the right direction since they'll probably feel completely lost. Im the DM of a small group of 4 that are versed in puzzles but i know for sure that they would be struggling as hell with those ones. High Difficulty does not mean a puzzle is a great puzzle
you really haven't put much thought in to these, why on earth would anyone think that the reason they can't get through a magic barrier is becasue they are facing it?
1- not a puzzle 2- oldest puzzle in the book, boring, no thematic connection to anything, forcing players to find something you eventually literally have to give them isnt a good puzzle for ttrpgs 3- boring, wayyy too many moving parts, too much exposition, no thematic connection to anything cool at all 4- the mummy archway is the only well designed one here, and that is mostly because you have good clues for it. Fails without an arcane user to examine the arcane portal. actually has some player agency and rp potential with having to wake up the sleeping character after passing them through, etc. solid 4/5 5- monkey island logic bs. 6- again, boring and illogical. no one likes having to find a book hinted at in a riddle to do a first grader shapes puzzle, and you even said it yourself the last one makes no sense, at least cut the bird that isnt really a shape... Sorry but these are really not good and DMs should stay away from this kind of puzzle design.
Many of these would be way too difficult. Especially the "DOG" one, I dont think many players would understand that without obvious hints. inb4 some keyboard warriors say they'd get that instantly, no you wouldnt lmao
Ok, but how do you convey to players thst the setting's world uses English and the gem names as well as passwords wont be something entirely different?
common is considered the language you speak at the table, in this case, English and it's the starting letter of the gems that spell the word so it is very limited to what words there are, but you can always leave a hint in the dungeon design like having it be the keep to the pack lord if the word is dog
Bro what's with these comments so negative these ideas are awesome, not to replicate 1 to 1 but as a source of inspiration. I'm going to use the gem puzzle hinting heavily on the word sun in the design of a tower, on one of the floors they will found a box full of gems (also as a premtive reward) and on the last floor they will find a magic table with the sockets for the gems, opening a secret underground floor
Mate theres no way players will get any of these. These puzzles are for the most experienced crew. I wanted the undead one but there is no way people will figure out to hum the tune
My quibble here is will my PC's know what Nepheline is? Probably the dwarves will but will nepheline be called nepheline in dwarvish and in dwarvish how do they spell Open? A sample of elemental Nickel probably works better than Nepheline. Opal is a microcrystalline quartz gem, how much different is it from other microcrystalline quartz's? Someone is instantly going to say that's an opal not an agate? Olivine, Orpiment or orthoclase are probably more distinctly their own thing. Easier to identify. Himm Oxygen or Osmium are tougher to do if you wanted to revert to elements. P phosphorous E Hmm Europium that's not going to work.
Nothing like have the players gather all the keys and then when they go to try them the last person to leave the treasure room never locked the door. All thei had to do was push 😈😈😈😈😈😈😈😈😈😈😈
Honestly… terrible puzzles, most are either 1) dungeon crawls (such as 1), 2) not at all easy to apply in D&D (where are you gonna find pylons in medieval hobbitland?) or 3) crazy complicated (I bet you 50% of your players won’t even know all four types of bird).
ears are not mucic critics, it's the brain that is the critical part, the ear is just a mechanism for turning sound waves in to brain info, it doesn't have an opinion
I liked the idea so I adapted it for my players. Instead of a dungeon the party was tasked with robbing a wealthy noble. His treasury was locked by this puzzle. Instead of multiple rooms and back tracking I Instead made the paintings and the treasury door all in one room. If they examine the paintings they can notice the keys. The paintings are mini encounter rooms and clearing them will get the key. I have 4 players and used 5 keys and all the paintings except the first only allowed one person inside. After the first time that happened they team would look at the paintings and try to figure out which one of them would be best to complete the challenge. Really fun way to adapt the puzzle.
When you really need to slam the breaks on your campaign, and turn your players into murder hobos, just use these puzzles?,,, that they will never solve in a whole campaign's worth of time.
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Also, what is a puzzle you enjoyed from a campaign? Leave it in the comments below.
Number one is not a puzzle, its a full on multi session dungeon crawl lol
Lol, if you want it to be. There's a full pdf on my patreon for those wanting to run it as a full dungeon level for that reason!
Honestly, Number 1 would be a dwarf's wet dream... infinite adamantium
Puzzles like these would absolutely stump the vast majority of players in my experience.
I didn't even throw my hardest puzzle in this video...an unlocked door. It stands in a perfectly normal hallway. No traps. No monsters. The players can walk through it any time they like. Current record for completion: 1 hour and 13 minutes.
@@enterthedungeon I did this with a talking door that asked riddles. The door was always unlocked. Took my players an hour.
@@SplinterInYourEye So...The door was just bored and asked riddles to kill time? xD
@@renookami4651 And players assuming its a puzzle need solving didn't try the handle. They couldn't solve the riddle, so they asked about the description of the door. I described it as a wood door with a face carved in it. They asked if it had a handle. I said yes. They then asked to try and open it, which worked. They had a good laugh at that. If they had solved the riddle, the door would have opened itself, but it would have been merely a courtesy.
Posted at the perfect time; I just started reading the 3.5e book of Challenges for puzzles
I love that this game can be played so many different ways. And I'm glad you enjoy these as well. I have one player at my table that like riddles and puzzles... everyone else hates them... and as a DM I don't mind giving my players what they like, but I not a fan of elaborate puzzles either.
My favorite are the anti-puzzles. Take the big elaborate bird puzzle you got. But it's all red herring and the door has a secret lever, switch, button, or something like that on the birds. Or even the door is unlocked and swings open if you try it.
About to run a game in an hour, perfect timing thank you!
Great transition into the Ad, well done. 😁
Great video thank you for sharing! So much of this can be interchanged and dropped in easily and I appreciate that!
8:55 Please note that it does not work in latin languages (spanish, italian, french...). I'm french and the notes here have other names (do ré mi fa sol la si) than in germanic languages like english.
You could maybe do do re mi because it’s kindaaaaa like dormir but that might be a stretch
I would probably just change it to the key in their ear humming a tune (which they can only hear when it's in their ear lol) that they have to hum along to
Well, we also use ABCDEFG… It depends on the context
how is number two going to work if the gems are all over the dungeon?
DM: "you see a ruby set in to a wall"
Party: "We try and take it"
DM: "it doesn't move"
Party "um, detect magic"
DM "it's magical, but the spell doesn't tell you how it's magical"
Party: "Is there anything else in the room"
DM: "No"
Party: "So now what?"
Thanks for the puzzles as a dungeon master, i’m always looking for new puzzles
Watching this to be ready when I have a dm who watched this video.
THANK YOU! that gemstone word is just what I needed for a story I am writing.
Love it. Great puzzles, great ways to make puzzles.
Sounds like a great videogame
Great video
Some really good and fair puzzles, thank you very much for that! It's hard to find good ones on here. A lot of them are fake puzzles, where the solution is to either do nothing or flat out ignore the instructions. I hate those, because I like to think ahead and if I was a player hit with such a puzzle, every following puzzle I would either question the instructions or suggest we wait an hour (in-game) to see if something doesn't just happen on its own. Similarly with what I call the Lazy Man's Puzzle: Give the players some items and let them try to combine them or somehow use them in a specific way. But the real solution is to either wait until you feel like they've spent enough time on it or see if they came up with something creative and tell them: "Yep, you got it!" I'd just feel like I'm scamming the players.
Good stuff. I’m going to add in a few to add some other challenges for my players.
The second puzzle is fun but the other ones i dont like. I just watched some other video of how to set up puzzles and these puzzles dont follow most of the tips given in that other video. Those tips seemed valid and create more fun puzzles
New DM here. Some of these puzzles are PERFECT for the start of my campaign!
Be careful as those puzzle are fairly intricate and complicated. You might not want to guide your player too much for them to really feel like "We solved it ourself". But since those are fairly difficult you might observe the fact that you're gonna feel obligated to push ur player in the right direction since they'll probably feel completely lost.
Im the DM of a small group of 4 that are versed in puzzles but i know for sure that they would be struggling as hell with those ones.
High Difficulty does not mean a puzzle is a great puzzle
You can as well adapt those puzzles to be less complicated or less intricate but as you probably know, just do what you think is best
Cool bird puzzle
this idea wouldn't work for my party... they would just steal everything and forget the puzzle
Yellow to purple?
you really haven't put much thought in to these, why on earth would anyone think that the reason they can't get through a magic barrier is becasue they are facing it?
A door that has 5 slots for gem stones…
Diamond
Emerald
Amber
Topaz
Helictite
May want to think 2 before you open this door. 😂😂😂
Puzzles are fun when you already know the answers. Am i right, dm? Its all in your head.
1- not a puzzle
2- oldest puzzle in the book, boring, no thematic connection to anything, forcing players to find something you eventually literally have to give them isnt a good puzzle for ttrpgs
3- boring, wayyy too many moving parts, too much exposition, no thematic connection to anything cool at all
4- the mummy archway is the only well designed one here, and that is mostly because you have good clues for it. Fails without an arcane user to examine the arcane portal. actually has some player agency and rp potential with having to wake up the sleeping character after passing them through, etc. solid 4/5
5- monkey island logic bs.
6- again, boring and illogical. no one likes having to find a book hinted at in a riddle to do a first grader shapes puzzle, and you even said it yourself the last one makes no sense, at least cut the bird that isnt really a shape...
Sorry but these are really not good and DMs should stay away from this kind of puzzle design.
Had a rough day?
@@juliansall2002 nope, but you must have if u have to comment on a comment on yt. ask ur doctor about autism
Many of these would be way too difficult. Especially the "DOG" one, I dont think many players would understand that without obvious hints.
inb4 some keyboard warriors say they'd get that instantly, no you wouldnt lmao
yayy
Ok, but how do you convey to players thst the setting's world uses English and the gem names as well as passwords wont be something entirely different?
common is considered the language you speak at the table, in this case, English and it's the starting letter of the gems that spell the word so it is very limited to what words there are, but you can always leave a hint in the dungeon design like having it be the keep to the pack lord if the word is dog
Bro what's with these comments so negative these ideas are awesome, not to replicate 1 to 1 but as a source of inspiration.
I'm going to use the gem puzzle hinting heavily on the word sun in the design of a tower, on one of the floors they will found a box full of gems (also as a premtive reward) and on the last floor they will find a magic table with the sockets for the gems, opening a secret underground floor
Mate theres no way players will get any of these. These puzzles are for the most experienced crew.
I wanted the undead one but there is no way people will figure out to hum the tune
I just want these videos to show me EXACTLY what to use as a puzzle. Not give me ideas...
My quibble here is will my PC's know what Nepheline is? Probably the dwarves will but will nepheline be called nepheline in dwarvish and in dwarvish how do they spell Open?
A sample of elemental Nickel probably works better than Nepheline.
Opal is a microcrystalline quartz gem, how much different is it from other microcrystalline quartz's? Someone is instantly going to say that's an opal not an agate?
Olivine, Orpiment or orthoclase are probably more distinctly their own thing. Easier to identify.
Himm Oxygen or Osmium are tougher to do if you wanted to revert to elements.
P phosphorous
E Hmm Europium that's not going to work.
200k steg när?!?! Jag kan gå med dig ;)
Nothing like have the players gather all the keys and then when they go to try them the last person to leave the treasure room never locked the door. All thei had to do was push 😈😈😈😈😈😈😈😈😈😈😈
Honestly… terrible puzzles, most are either 1) dungeon crawls (such as 1), 2) not at all easy to apply in D&D (where are you gonna find pylons in medieval hobbitland?) or 3) crazy complicated (I bet you 50% of your players won’t even know all four types of bird).
these are a bit too obscure to be intuited
This mid video advertisements have gotten ridiculous.
ears are not mucic critics, it's the brain that is the critical part, the ear is just a mechanism for turning sound waves in to brain info, it doesn't have an opinion
First comment claim 🫶🏽 love your content bby 🤍🤍
number 1 isn't a puzzle, it's just a long fetch quest with too many steps
I liked the idea so I adapted it for my players. Instead of a dungeon the party was tasked with robbing a wealthy noble. His treasury was locked by this puzzle. Instead of multiple rooms and back tracking I Instead made the paintings and the treasury door all in one room. If they examine the paintings they can notice the keys. The paintings are mini encounter rooms and clearing them will get the key. I have 4 players and used 5 keys and all the paintings except the first only allowed one person inside. After the first time that happened they team would look at the paintings and try to figure out which one of them would be best to complete the challenge. Really fun way to adapt the puzzle.
When you really need to slam the breaks on your campaign, and turn your players into murder hobos, just use these puzzles?,,, that they will never solve in a whole campaign's worth of time.