Avoid these 12 terrible puzzle mistakes that ruin games

[@theDMLair]

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[@Magnafiend]

I really like how you mention that most puzzles don't make sense in context IF the dungeon is something the BBEG has set up. That's why when I create dungeons that do involve puzzles, the dungeons themselves rarely have to do with the BBEG or villain of the game, or make the puzzles more environmentally oriented. A few examples of the former: A one shot session I ran where the party is tasked by an old toymaker/mechanist to retrieve his late wife's music box which he claims was stolen by a band of thieves along with his valuables. The thieves are hiding in an old tomb outside of town. All of the traps are non-lethal (except maybe a little fall damage) and just dump the party deeper into the lower levels, and most of the puzzles are encountered when backtracking their way back up. The twist was the music box was placating the revenant of his dead wife and he was basically just sending people down to keep her 'fed'. The puzzles were there so he could make his way back out but the revenant couldn't. A puzzle in an old abandoned shrine of an ancient order which was used to test those deemed 'worthy' to enter the inner sanctum. A series of "puzzles" developed by an insane lich who simply enjoyed the suffering of others (or in real terms, a bunch of puzzles designed specifically to punish the use of meta knowledge) As for the latter in terms of environmentally oriented: One dungeon I had an old elaborate lighthouse with large exposed gears and other mechanisms the party traversed on the way up which were stationary. Upon returning power to it, the gears whirred into action and added environmental challenges like the large cogs that acted as flooring before moving the party as they traversed, or gears along the walls that would act almost like a grinder for anything that got too close, and lastly a large golem that acted as a guardian of the relic they were looking for, which was stored inside the golem. Now, they could beat the hell out of it and win through a long, very drawn out combat.... or.... they could use said gears in the wall mentioned earlier and knock the golem into it, letting the gears do the work and basically crush the thing like tossing a log into a wood chipper, and the relic being small enough to pass through unscathed was safely obtainable from the room on the opposite side of the wall.

[@swahilimaster]

The best puzzles are the ones where the party somehow convinces themselves there is one when there isn't, nothing like a 20 minute headscratcher while you watch your group effectively pushing a pull door.

[@endorb]

The biggest advice i can give is to make sure the puzzle can eventually be solved by trial and error. Look at the tower of Hanoi for example: someone who has no idea how to solve that will still realize when they’ve moved the bottom piece into the correct position. Unlike a riddle, where if the players are stumped, theyre stumped and cant really make progress

[@Nshadowtail]

And, once you've achieved this, decide on a rules mechanism to allow the players to skip the puzzle. This is a lot easier when there's some sort of time pressure (torchlight, wandering monsters, the blacksmith's daughter will be sacrificed X hours after entering the dungeon)-- autocompleting the puzzle costs X amount of time, potentially modified by a skill check, but it'll always be more than the expected time for a real-world completion to encourage the players to put in effort.

[@kaylaa2204]

@@Nshadowtailif you’re gonna allow them bypass the puzzle why even have the puzzle in the first place? This sounds more like you designed an incredibly difficult puzzle that was necessary to continue playing at all, rather than purely being something that would reward the players for completing

[@Nshadowtail]

@@kaylaa2204 Well yes, ideally you wouldn't need that release valve at all. But if a puzzle *can* be solved by trial and error (as in the parent comment's towers of hanoi example), if the players just aren't getting it, they will *eventually*. If success is inevitable, there should be a way for the players to skip ahead to "okay, we're done here" if they start getting frustrated or bored.

[@kaylaa2204]

@ that only makes sense if they literally can’t do anything else besides continue trying to solve the puzzle. I think good puzzle offers a secondary reward to those who can solve it, so in my mind this wouldn’t be “skipping to the inevitable” it’s giving them the prize in spite of not actually doing anything. And at that point the puzzle might as well have not even been a prerequisite. If your puzzles only amount to “sit here and bash your head against the wall until you get it, and if you don’t I’ll just give you the answer” why is that even in your game? That sounds awful.

[@nikolaybelousov1070]

​@kaylaa2204 good point, puzzles need not gatekeep the entire adventure to be engaging; frankly, such puzzles would be inherently bad. You can still put an unmissable, but ultimately optional puzzle on the side, blocking a "secret" room with goodies or somesuch.

[@evilboy4fr]

A system I came up with back in the 3.5 days (and seemed to work well) was for the party to pool their INT bonuses (and penalties), and this became a pool of points they could spend to (1) have me repeat the riddle /clue/etc. or (2) attempt a solution with no consequence.

[@SamuelDancingGallew]

I've got #13 for you: The Puzzle must be a literal puzzle. People look at puzzles like the dungeon tiles counting up to 42, spinning pillars to make them match up to the solution found in the room, or using class features to open the door to the big bad's lair. A puzzle can be so much more. Like a weakness that the monster has, that will conveniently double all damage against it, or negate all its annoying or strongest actions. Or a magical item that will help you on your journey, if you can find out how to use it. Or how to get past the big bad's army to destroy him in his lair. Or get some guards to not pay attention to the rogue stealing the incredibly dangerous magical weapon that is needed to beat the campaign. Oh, and I have one more: Weaknesses. Monsters with a weakness take more damage when that weakness is applied, regardless of the damage type. But the problem is that such weaknesses aren't as simple as: Fire Damage, or the Charmed Condition. Instead, it's like dwarven weapons, holy attacks... THE PHYLACTERY. It adds a whole new layer of interaction to the monsters, allowing players a chance to make the fight more interesting than just looking for the bad guy, kill the bad guy, loot the bad guy's corpse. Or roll up new characters to take the place of your old ones.

[@HelotOnWheels]

Making puzzles belong is the most important part to me. Some solutions to the puzzle of how to make puzzles belong include: *1. The puzzle is intended to be solved by the creator’s allies.* Codes are the most important example of this; they wouldn’t be any use if your allies couldn’t solve them once given the key, but that means your enemies may be able to guess the key themselves. *2. The puzzle isn’t consciously designed by any NPC.* Sherlock Holmes or Encyclopedia Brown-style puzzles are good examples of this, where the clues to solve the crime are unintentionally left by the villain. *3. Unexpected circumstances have made a puzzle where one wasn’t intended.* The most famous example of this in fantasy is the password to the West Gate of Moria, which is carved right on the door, but translating the message on the door as “speak friend and enter” instead of “say friend and enter” turns it into a difficult problem. *4. The puzzle was originally intended merely for fun, but has become unexpectedly important.* For example, real life garden mazes are meant simply for amusement, but if the heir to the throne is lost in the garden maze with an assassin hunting him, the stakes on solving it first are a lot higher now.

[@normative]

A variant of 3: The puzzle is just ordinary technology to the culture that uses it, but unfamiliar to the players. Imagine you’d never seen an elevator, or a telephone, or a car. Figuring out what it’s for and how to use it would be a puzzle, even though it’s no puzzle to us.

[@HelotOnWheels]

@@normative This can actually be done with now-forgotten technology. Having the players try to figure out how to use a Davis' quadrant or a universal ring dial, which 17th-century sailors did without thinking twice about it, would be such a serious challenge that I wouldn't include it in a game without a lot of clues to help the players along.

[@drmadjdsadjadi]

I think that some of the BBEGs might include puzzles because they want to ensure that only certain types of individuals will get through them. Adventurers are supposed to be heroic and extraordinary, so just as strong doors deter weak characters and magic deters those who cannot dispel it, puzzles deter those who cannot solve them. This is especially important when the BBEG wants the players specifically to overcome them because they desire that encounter. So I design puzzles that ONLY the characters could solve because they need some item as PART of the solution.

[@thomaspetrucka9173]

In my last campaign, our DM made puzzles based on the catch phrases of our previous characters. Maybe that would be immersion breaking for some tables, but we tend to play pretty casually, so we had a lot of fun with it! I would definitely recommend it for a one shot in any long-standing group.

[@rafaelbalsan4512]

That's awesome

[@svartahaxa4263]

In my world if a puzzle is too hard for the players they can go to the not-so-nearby university and hire an enigmatologist to solve it for them for a not-so-nominal fee.

[@OdinAUT]

During my last one shot, the players went to a recently discovered pyramid. I actually had two puzzles and a riddle for that 4 hour session. For the first puzzle, they had to use a gem I had them pick up(that was important during the end, so not important now. But I made sure they have it) which leads to some hieroglyphs lighting up. They then had to build a sentence from those to get inside. For the second they found a piece of paper with a poem. A little bit later they found a room with different plates on the floor. The poem was the key to the correct placement of the plates. The riddle was just something really simple I found online. So TLDR. You can make multiple puzzles and make it work, but I wouldn't advice it for every session.

[@jeffbangle4710]

Regarding "Why is this puzzle here?", I like to design ancient mechanical or magical security measures that have long since decayed and have broken down. The players then need to find a way to bypass, repair, or recreate the missing/broken pieces needed to advance. I look at the player character skills, spells, and equipment when designing these, so I know of at least one way for the party to solve the "puzzle". This can also be useful to ensure that each player has a chance to take"center stage" by making a missing piece easily solved by their own unique abilities.

[@topbakka5531]

My (and my VtM players) favorite kind of puzzles are are what we call "puzzles of situations" meaning there isn't usually a straight up puzzle with pieces, iconography, moving statues etc. But the situations I set up for them are the puzzles. Example: The group needed to infiltrate a hotel/casino to gather information for the Camarilla since the owner was one of the Anarch barons. A tricky little Malkavian who was winning over the minds of the local thin-bloods and causing lots of problems. Well the group all had wildly different ideas on how to get themselves in the actual establishment. The RP heavy Toreador used her art showings to win over one of the staff memebers (along with some seduction etc. This is a Toreador like come on lol) while the 3 others opted to try and get in via brute force using the sewer system and the last player stayed outside to keep tabs and overwatch from another building. Everything was going great except they mistimed the EMP and our Brujah knocked the wall in the sewer down about a minute before the bomb went off. Cut to Toreador who is putting on a show having to improvise to try and keep all eyes on her. The wall they knocked down did in fact lead to the basement of the establishment where they were holding valuable info and some messed up experiments going on but they broke a glyph on entry thanks to the Brujahs violent entry (and bestial crit on the roll lol) long story short the solution I originally thought of included them pretending to be the Toreadors crew members/bodyguards and the glyph would have let them escape through the basement if they used it properly. But I let them come up with a ham fisted solution and enter the basement first and it resulted in them getting the job done but having to fight their way out and leveled part of the building when they left as a distraction.

[@pauligrossinoz]

My opinion: Puzzles should always be solved the same way - *by understanding the thinking of the puzzle maker.* And the puzzle maker is NOT the dungeon master, it's an NPC that the dungeon master invents. This way the only really important piece of information that the players need is - who made the puzzle? Which NPC? Once the players start investigating that puzzle maker NPC, then the solution to that puzzle should be come obvious as they go along. And there are many ways to do that investigating: They could get the NPC drunk. They could bribe them. Or threaten them. Or they could talk to that NPC's friends and learn more about how the NPC thinks. All sorts of trickery can be used effectively to learn the puzzle maker's secret formula. If the players are really obtuse, or simply disinterested in puzzle solving, you could introduce another NPC who claims to have figured out the puzzle because they personally know or have studied the puzzle maker, and then offer to sell the party the solution. In any case, the party has to role play their way past the puzzle if they don't want to just keep guessing. Directly solving a puzzle is kind of boring. Solving a puzzle by studying the puzzle maker feels subversive, and thus a lot more interesting to most players. And if they choose the 'easy' option of paying-off another NPC who claims to know the solution ... there's always the super interesting option of that NPC betraying the party...

[@joeyderrico8134]

Though for the most part I agree with everything you have said I have a few comments. 1. When you said puzzles have no place in a dungeon what if the puzzle is meant to prove if someone is worthy of meant is behind the door. ANd thoughan exception, what if it like trying to get into Ravenclaw's dormitory at Hogwarts (ok that is a riddle but similar idea). I know these examples might be exceptions but worth mentioning. 2. Maybe a puzzle that requires a cantrip from class is normally not the best but what if using the cantrip as the answer to the puzzles gives that person with the cantrip to shine for a second and the next puzzle requires an ability from a different player giving them a chance to shine later

[@kyleward3914]

Puzzles are there so the DM can take a bathroom break without having to interupt the action. (this is not my actual opinion)

[@GabeTetrault]

I have an idea for a puzzle room that the solution is to simply wait for things to stop - but the entire time a visible timer ticks down ominously with a red pulsing light that glows more intense the longer they wait - accompanied by a thud that grows into a thunderous crash. Words appear each phase that indicate that all will be fine. Do they trust the words? Do they trust their own fears that are clearly telling them this is impending doom? Or do they keep resetting the puzzle out of their fear instead of just letting the cycle complete and the passage ahead open and allow them to move forward? Reset the puzzle once and a different door (than the obvious one) opens allowing them to proceed. Appropriate rewards/results for each outcome.

[@CharlesGriswold]

As a player, I encountered a puzzle that required the _characters_ to have knowledge of specific obscure languages (or equivalent magic). We, in fact, did not have that knowledge (or magic). We just shrugged and walked away from the puzzle. The DM was very, very annoyed by that.

[@MonkeyJedi99]

Then either the DM did not pay attention to the characters in the game, or did not think to alter the pre-written adventure.

[@davidtherwhanger6795]

I like puzzles that are part of the story or part of the architecture. In one adventure I ran in Mechwarrior my group played Death Commandos sent to a Liao world to uncover a rebel plot. A witness was kidnapped just before they could talk to the witness. The puzzle was who had kidnapped the witness. The clue was the witness seemed to go willingly. And it was not the rebels who had killed the witness's family that did it, but the local Liao Internal Security officer who did not like being upstaged by the Death Commandos. As for puzzles of architecture, Revolving Rooms, Magical Teleporting Rooms, or corridors with multiple false doors at the end can cause all kinds of confusion as the players figure out just how they work. Like the Revolving Room that magically cancels your feeling of disorientation while it rotates 90 degrees to the left every time a door is closed. And you must close the door you entered to magically unlock the other door(s) in the room. Or the Teleporting Room that goes to a different other room based on a specific progression that does repeat. And the Corridor with Multiple Doors, all the doors you see are false doors that do spring traps. But a spot is missing a door (or maybe not) that conceals a secret door leading to Secret Way Out that was a special escape route of the original builders that wanted to delay or kill any pursuers as they fled.

[@childlessdoggentleman746]

In my time as a DM, I loved challenging my players with creative puzzles. The trick is in making the puzzle interesting. Probably my favorite puzzle involved two characters. In the first room, they encountered a table with a ring on it and a sign which read "I'll be back." After inspecting the ring and finding it to be a +3 Ring of Protection, the wizard immediately equipped the ring. The next door opened on a long corridor with the other end not in sight. As the duo moved down the corridor, the floor started opening behind them and was moving in the same direction that they were moving, exposing a lava pit below it. They had to run to stay ahead of the pit. They safely reached the door at the other end only to encounter a couple of wolves. A very easy foe to take on. The first attempted bite made on the wizard activated the ring's other property, Ring of Returning. The ring and its owner immediately found themselves back by the table with a massive lava pit between the duo. The players fully embraced the dilemma of how to get back together and it was a gaming session fondly remembered by everyone. This included other party members that were elsewhere in the dungeon, laughing themselves silly at their friend's predicament.

[@dynestis2875]

... ok?

[@endorb]

@childlessdoggentleman746 that's a really cool puzzle idea! What level were they?

[@childlessdoggentleman746]

​@@endorb I tended to run my games at lower levels, so players relied more on wits than all the fancy toys they had acquired. I would guess their level was 5 or 6. This session was from the 80's so we're talking 1st Edition. I kept the immediate monsters real weak, so I didn't kill the fighter who was left facing them alone. I knew they had the tools at their disposal to overcome the puzzle. The party was familiar enough with my DMing style to always have plenty of spikes on hand which allowed for a possible sideways mountain climbing. The wizard went with the other option I had anticipated. A little background from an early adventure is needed. I do include wish rings in my games and my players quickly learned to think like a lawyer when using them. Bring someone back from death or similar uses I'm completely fine with but if you try to get an unfair advantage, I think quickly on my feet and if not real careful the player may regret their wish. The wizard character had earlier used the wish ring "to give me an Eye of the Beholder that will be under my control." I smiled happily and took away the wizard's two eyes and replaced them with an Eye of the Beholder's eye of telekinesis. It did give the player telekinesis, but also reduced the ability to hit because of the lack of depth perception. The wizard used the eye to lift himself up and then pulled himself along the ceiling. I also included an alternate route that they could use to regroup but it would be more difficult since they would be fighting alone for a while.

[@genostellar]

0:55 That's how I do it. I have the players figure out my puzzles, but I allow skill checks to help them with clues. Even if they crit an intelligence check, they don't instantly solve the puzzle, they just get a clue about it. This works the other way, too, where if they don't roll high enough, they'll either not get a clue or, if it's bad enough, they might even get a clue that is wrong. Sure, they'll probably know it's wrong if the roll is terrible enough, but it's still fun when they roleplay thinking they figured something out. 6:50 What is it with you and puzzles that rely on music theory? In any case, I've had something like this happen on accident once. Not really with a puzzle, but I had put together a living chess sort of challenge in the feywild where the player characters had to act as pieces on a chess board and could only move as the piece they represent against an Eladrin tyrant who played against them. All of the pieces were people in the game and they all had to use vorpal swords that could only roll crits, so taking a piece meant cutting a person's head off every time, but they were enchanted so they would still live anyway, so nobody was really in danger, but they thought that they were at first. ANYWAY! The problem was that I thought this would be a fun game where they could collaborate on the best move to make and do that move and together they would out-think the enemy... what it soon turned into was one person being in control of the whole thing with nobody else having fun or having any player agency after lots of arguing over who's opinion should be followed... Yeah, I needed to think that one through a little better. 8:00 Yeah, I get what you're saying here. I came across this as well. That's why the current dungeon that my players are in, which is basically one large collection of puzzles, was recently revealed to them by one of the enemies in the dungeon (after they accidentally altered the memory of one of the enemies inside to think they are good friends, don't ask) that the entire place was made not just for the purpose of keeping the treasure inside safe, but also as a means of testing those who sought the treasure inside, making sure that they actually deserve it. Of course, it also has a lot of death traps in it because the owner of the treasures inside also still wants to keep them. So they do occasionally find things that seem a little unfair, like hidden magic wards that trigger a wall of force to spring up around them and then become filled with cloudkill. There is one treasure in the dungeon that he absolutely does not want anyone to get, after all. The rest of them he doesn't mind losing. Puzzles, I feel, can also be more secure than keys and spells, though. After all, it only takes a good thief to get through a locked door, and a good mage can undo any spell. Puzzles are not so easily avoided unless you want to break your way through. Also, if you think about it, a complicated enough locked door, using fancy keys, traps, magic, whatever... isn't that like a mini puzzle? 8:50 I caught onto this one, too. I love giving a cost for failure with puzzles as it makes it more exciting. I'll give you an example. My players recently, in the puzzle dungeon that they're in, came upon a room that had a giant cobra statue on one end while on the other end there were floor tiles with the alphabet written one letter per tile. If they figured out the puzzle, they get a sphere from the cobra which acts as one half of a key for a new area. If they failed, then the cobra's eyes fire off beams that turn them to stone. My players are smart, of course. After a few minutes of debating, they figured it out. Of course, the best use for a puzzle, I think, is to build them into death traps. Have your players locked into a death trap and they must figure out the puzzle to get out. Maybe there is also a key system so if the owner is accidentally locked in, he can just let himself out, and the players can try to take advantage of that if they find it, but otherwise you have the place set up to kill those who are not worthy, or maybe the bad guy just likes giving them a sporting chance to get out of it with the thought that the death trap itself would still discourage them from continuing. I could have done that for my cobra statue room, too, I suppose, but then it wouldn't feel right giving them the orb as it would feel like they got two rewards for solving it (the orb and their lives) instead of a prize for success and a cost for failure.

[@Scorpious187]

I only use puzzles for two things: 1. Doors that bar entry into the actual dungeon itself, or 2. Traps that need to be reset within a time limit. Especially the second one, because that creates a sense of urgency. I've given my players a puzzle on a 60-second timer that they have to solve before a gold golem formed from the massive pile of coins in the room. That was fun. XD

[@qwertsgamingchannel7504]

[@jacobturner4815]

Regarding number 8: The puzzle should make sense in context... Why do we have combination locks and keypads instead of always keys? Keeping a key is hard. So anything which has a non-corporeal travel option will prefer a puzzle over a key, like a Lich who may have reanimated at his phylactory and still needs to get out the door which keeps people from stumbling across THE way to kill it... Sometimes you need a lot of people to have access to a place. Making a LOT of keys means it is far easier for those keys to be stolen/lost/copied. So an entrance to an area which will have relatively high traffic should be locked by puzzle if it cannot be protected by guards. But... such puzzles need to be pretty simple and self-reset. Perhaps the puzzle access is not at the choice of the BBEG. Maybe they are a warlock, and their eldritch master demands a way to allow other servants to gain access. So sure, a key may exist for easier daily use by himself and his close minions, but there is a secondary option of solving a puzzle because master required it. Or maybe the BBEG did not craft the puzzle, but instead found the ancient lair already protected by a fiendish puzzle that he felt confident nobody but himself would ever solve. Maybe an entire city exists around these ruins and the fact nobody has ever solved the puzzle is part of the legend of the city (with nobody realizing that BBEG solved it decades ago and has been using the monument as a secret base of operations all this time. Tiny Tim accidentally unlocks vault of secrets and ascends to great power is a pretty sweet BBEG origin story...). Traps make for EXCELLENT puzzles with alternative solutions. Sure, you could disarm the traps and make your way through the perilous maze room by room as designed, while it slowly whittles away your resources and breaks you down to soften you up for the BBEG to demolish... but if you Rube Goldberg the crap out of the first room it is possible to smash straight through to the final boss fight. You found clues indicating this possibility because the builder was working under duress and his petty revenge was to set up this alternative use of the deadly traps. Maybe the dungeon wasn't built with the intention of keeping the heroes out, but rather with the intention of sharpening their skills so that they can be capable of finally ending the cursed existence of the BBEG. Or so they learn that the BBEG is misunderstood and actually needs the adventurers to side with him to stop the TRUE BBEG who is really responsible for the peril up to this point. Or it was designed by the gods to turn peasants into heroes...

[@abeedbendall3899]

This was a great video regarding puzzles! I would love to see a follow up on this showcasing some of your favorite puzzles that you found your players enjoyed the most

[@RobKinneySouthpaw]

My most well received puzzle in the last year was a puzzle disguised as a nearly impossible to win combat. By the second round, the players figured out the behavior limitations of the stone golem guardian (with a damage threshold of like 10 or 15) And rushed to get the treasure chest out of the room past the faintly glowing runes, rather than continue to fight it. Luckily we didn't cast a spell magic on the runes which would have suppressed them and let it chase them through the rest of the dungeon until they managed to drop a portcullis or something.

[@Eliezar18]

A recent puzzle I designed was one that appeared and could be solved like a standard carnival game--hit the button with the mallet, and the weight is launched up to ding a bell. However, while this *would* solve the puzzle after a good enough roll, it was the wrong solution for best outcome. If solved this way, it alerted the enemy inside of their intrusion, and gave them a chance to be ready for their arrival. However, there were several context clues that the party could glean from two or three failed checks at hitting the target that might point them at the actual solution. First, the mallet to hit the target was lighter than one would expect, given what it was made of. This was because it was hollow all the way up the handle, with a hidden screwdriver inside. Second, the game was clearly rigged so that only a very heavy hit could ring the bell, which the enemy they were investigating probably could not feasibly accomplish, being probably a rather weak-armed mage. This was meant to indicate that the correct solution was something simpler and brute force might not be the best answer. There were a couple other things, too. The "correct" solution was that you were supposed to examine the puzzle, realize you could detach the bottom from the mallet to find the simple screwdriver, unscrew the bell, and then use the hollow top half of the mallet on the now-accessible screw-post behind the bell as a key that unlocks the door. This let them open the door silently and sneak up on the mage for a surprise round, and some eavesdropping before that.

[@bsabruzzo]

To be fair where I work, the boss requires us to solve a puzzle to get to the large amount of cash. It's a dial with numbers on it that you have to turn in one direction, then another direction, then a third direction or original direction and it has to be the exact numbers based on a certain pattern. And the door to his office also has another puzzle, where you have to press a set of numbers in a certain order. Now one would call these locks, but in days where they didn't have computers and things like that, these locks would come off as puzzles.

[@c.d.dailey8013]

Oh wow. Luke got hardcore in this video. I am here for it. This DND channel is so good. Puzzles are such an obsure part of DND. It is easy to forget that they exist at all. This video reminds me of the Legend of Zelda. This is a video game franchise where a significant part of the game experience is taken up by puzzles. This game is action adventure. So it isn't technically an RPG, but the genre is derived from RPG. Zelda is a game that focuses a lot less on character customization than a real RPG, and then it puts a lot more focus on puzzles. Dungeons are full of puzzles. I am a fan of Zelda as a whole. My favorite is the story and lore. The art style is pretty cool. The combat isn't as good as RPG combat, but it is still pretty fun. I especially love opean world games like Breath of the Wild. The exploration and survival stuff is incredible. There is so much stuff to do. Overall Zelda is a wonderful franchise. I don't mean to bash it. I am still a fan. However that being said, puzzles are the weakest part of the Zelda franchise. I admit that I don't like doing them. They are mily amusing at best and extremely frustrating at worse. I know I am not the only gamer that doesn't like puzzles. Yet in this video Luke really articulates how puzzles can be bad. A lot of the problems actually apply to Zelda puzzles. The puzzle is too hard. There are too many puzzles. The puzzles only have one solution. The puzzle prevents forward progress. The puzzle is illogical. The puzzle takes too long. Dude. That is half of the problems in this video. Yikes! Solving puzzles like that is an absolute nightmare. That is why I don't like solving puzzles in Zelda games. I frequently look up answers in guides. I don't have any shame. I think of it as player accessibility, if that makes sense.

[@c.d.dailey8013]

I would like to have puzzles ommitted entirely. They are too much of a hassle. I skip puzzles in Zelda games by looking up the answer. I hope video games in the future will have a skip puzzle option. The counterargument is that I am being either a cheater or an idiot. I would like to make a compromise. The puzzle can just be replaced with a different kind of challenge, one that I would enjoy. That is fair. These challenges can even involve brainpower. I am actually a very intelligent person and therefore not an idiot. Puzzles just don't involve the kind of thinking I enjoy. There are several alternatives to a puzzles. If there is just something that requires an intelligence skill check, an arcane lock would be so much better than a puzzle. I love combat and exploration. Those are way more fun than puzzles. A puzzle would be better off replaced by a combat encounter. It can even be tricky and challenging fight. It is one involving strategy and tactics. That is a much more enjoyable way to use my mind. Dude! I even like Athena from Greek Paganism. She has both war and wisdom. That is awesome. Alternatively a puzzle can be replaced by giving rare and special items. Then I can go on special trips to the areas of the world. Then I can farm items. Navigating that is another fun challenge for the mind. I get into exploration and gathering. A good example of this is getting items to upgrade armor in Breath of the Wild. That is really fun for me. Maybe getting special items can be used to bypass a puzzle. Maybe I can mine gems and use the gems for something. Maybe I can give the gems to an NPC in return for puzzle solutions. Maybe putting gems in a magical lock causes special doors to open. There was an alternative I thought of on my own. I love lore. So maybe puzzles can be replaced by multiple questions about the lore. It is like getting a history test. The lore information can be gleaned from historical sites and monuments. Then answering the questions in the dungeon ulocks extra rooms with loot in them. This is an optional thing. One can fight all opponents and succeede the main mission without aswearing the questions.

[@c.d.dailey8013]

This video does bring up another issue. The puzzle works better if it makes sense for the environment. Screwing this up is not a deal breaker for me. I have a strong suspension of disbelief. So I can tolerate a lot of stuff that doesn't make sense. This is especially true of a fantasy game like DND and Zelda, where weird and unrealistic things is what defines the genre. Making puzzles fit the environment is nice. It is good for immersion. Breath of the wild is basically a Medieval fantasy with a heavy focus on nature. That stuff is awesome. That stuff is right up my ally. However there are some things that resemble sci-fi a bit more. One is shrines. They are very clever. They have an artificial look to contrast the natural environments and add variety. They are little areas with puzzles. I do like how puzzles are short so they don't where out their welcome. This is so much better than a traditional dungeon that is full of puzzles. Shrines are also cool in concept in that they were purposely built to test the hero. So they can a wide variety of crazy contraptions. This makes sense because they are tests. Building special environments for puzzles, instead of the other way around is really clever. My favorite shines are those that ditch puzzles entirely and have a boss fight with a robot. Talk about replacing puzzles with a better kind of challenge. If I were to improve shrines, I would have all of them be boss fights and give more variety to bosses. I also enjoy over world bosses like Hynoxes and Lynals. Tears of the Kingdom is the sequel to Breath of the Wild. Overall it is a great game. If added a ton of cool features. I even say that it is an improvement. I have a save file that has a lot of progress. I didn't beat the game yet. One new feature I don't like is building technological devices. It is so janky and hard to use. It makes bad puzzling even worse. Another issue is that the technology was taking sci-fi too far. Breath of the Wild was already pushing it. Tears of the Kingdom did this way too much. It is jarring to have so much sci-fi in a franchise that is normally medieval fantasy. This video did talk about the issue of having too much sci-fi stuff. Mixing genres would probably be a good thing to reveal right away in promotional material. That is so the audience can be better informed. I guess there are other alternatives. Some games like Cypher System can work with a variety of narrative genres. There is a special case with Paizo. It has Pathfinder and Starfinder. They seem to be separate franchises. So that is good for catering to different audiences.

[@mabbott093]

These are all good tips. I recently had a session were my players found the BBEG's secret plans encoded in three layers of puzzles (state secrets, bibliographic cypher, etc). It took about two hours to solve even lots of rolls for hits. If I were to do it again I would make the puzzle easier or break it up more so they party solves different parts during different sessions.

[@k012957]

Another bad GM response is when a player immediately knows how to solve the puzzle, presents the solution, and the GM rejects the solution or requires a die roll because the puzzle was supposed to take more than a minute of play time.

[@kaylaa2204]

I’m a big fan of old school dungeon crawling, and there if you have a puzzle it’s often some trick of the room or playing with your perception that you have to navigate, maybe one path to a section of the dungeon is only sometimes open, so you have to be there at like noon or something. But point is that would unlock a new section of the dungeon with more treasure and goodies the players didn’t know existed until they figured out the trick. But often this didn’t mean the rest of the dungeon wasn’t open to them, it is an extra reward for being smart or thorough. Much like secret doors, or searching a room for hidden treasure. Just more elaborate. This means you can have a very difficult puzzle without being obligated to hand your players the solution. As long as the reward for solving it is commensurate with that difficulty. So I would say a good puzzle then is one that rewards its solvers for completing a difficult task, rather than keeping them from playing the game if they can’t.

[@MonkeyJedi99]

I like to occasionally throw in a "This door requires [BLUE CODE KEY]." type of puzzle. Not very often, but it has its place.

[@kaylaa2204]

@ right now specifcally I’m running 1e Gamma World, and this is a whole mechanic there. For context it’s a post nuclear apocalypse game. And there’s pre-bombs security devices you might find that could open certain doors in the ruins, which are basically dungeons, or let you operate some robots and computers. And they can even be color coded at the referee’s discretion, exactly like that. Like white might mean it was an ID for a scientist and blue might have been security personnel or law enforcement. For fantasy I like keys whether just literal keys or some magical key object like a gemstone that has a port.

[@biffstrong1079]

I like puzzles in a game but I like them to be optional. The Bonus is gained for solving the puzzle. It's still possible to brute force your way through or go around the puzzle missing out on a possible reward. White Plume Mountain has the logic puzzle. similar to the one Hermione beat in the Philosopher's Stone. In this one if you solve the puzzle you get a flesh golem as an ally. If you fail you have to fight the flesh golem.

[@mixttime]

A couple thoughts. 1) Designing subcomponents of a puzzle for certain players I don't think is too bad. But share the spotlight, and have a backup plan if they can't (or don't want to) do what you hoped they would. 2) For more in world puzzles, it helps to come back to "the puzzle wants to be solved". If something is meant to be absolutely secure a puzzle doesn't make sense, but if an NPC wants someone to get through that's a different story. And stepping outside of riddle type puzzles, maybe it's not NPC crafted at all, maybe that challenging obstacle developed by accident

[@EdS-du2wu]

I created a puzzle. My players couldn't solve it. I then gave them hints and then allowed them to use dice rolls, but I told them they get a time penalty. This allowed the necromancer in the floor above to put on a disguise and try to pretend to be a prisoner.

[@michaelguth4007]

I often incorporate the 'puzzles' with other encounter types. Like, players need to figure out what mirrors to turn to solve the puzzle during combat, so two statues see each other. Each combat round, the players get a new hint. Or an old sphinx who already suffers from memory problems. Mixes up riddles, forgetting the solution, etc. Can be fast-talked into believing even weird solutions. A 3D jump-and-run battle arena with moving parts of the map, where the players need to figure out how to reach the exit.

[@austinfox2663]

The best puzzle I made involved a unique lettering system. A crazy guy wrote notes to himself but also labelled all his recognizable plants in the garden with the same "letters" Just a simple cypher but it let the players divide up the task, solve the next travel location, role play some character traits (low INT, stubbornness) and reveal a bit of lore about the unidentified homebrew plant i designed as a special potion ingredient.

[@chiepah2]

Puzzles should challenge the players but they should be able to get clues based build of each of the characters. What I like to do is set up a situation without really knowing what the solution will be, for example: 'Near the entrance of the cave you find a pile of stones seems deliberately arranged into a triangular shape, with odd runes etched onto each stone. One rune resembles the dials on the door, while others are unfamiliar. When touched, the stones emit a faint warmth, but they don’t move, no matter how hard you push or pull them. Further into the cave, you find a rusty lantern hanging from a jutting rock, swaying slightly in the stale air. Next to it, someone has painted a symbol in red-almost identical to one of the symbols on the door. On a wall to the left of the stone door, a series of small, carved arrows point toward a recess in the floor. In this small alcove sits a dusty, cracked mirror, angled up toward the dials on the door. ' I have some idea what I might try but I don't know how to open the lock. So I'd like to see what the player might try. Once they think of something interesting I might have something move, like one of the blocks locked in place at the entrance. They'll solve the puzzle once the players think about the solution long enough, usually 5 to 10 minutes.

[@Pobafett]

This is a perfect video for me just now. My players have been complimenting my puzzles - mixing character rolls and player deduction - and want more. But I'm running empty on ideas!

[@Ironoclasty]

My contribution here is this: the best place for a puzzle is the side-room where extra treasure gains can be made, and the worst place is right smack dab in the middle of your quest track. If a puzzle has to block your players' quest, never make it an "All-Or-Nothing," puzzle where they cannot proceed without the answer; instead, make it a "Do-Or-Die," puzzle where failure incurs hardship. Like the sphinx who has a riddle and if you can't answer it, they attack.

[@WayneBraack]

Yes indeed. That is how it's done. Would be funny to see a situation where the dungeon master had put a procedure stop trap in the middle of the dungeon route and the player completely fails the role. And can't solve it on their own.

[@MarkoSeldo]

Here's my thoughts on the solid reasons for the existence of puzzles: 1. A test of the worthy (Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade) 2. The puzzle is a trap, or disarming the trap is a puzzle 3. The "puzzle" is a mystery (here are the clues - what happened/who's the murderer?) 4. The villain has a sick sense of humour, and likes to think they're smarter than everyone else and want to prove it 5. The puzzle is a fey riddle, a fiendish contract, or similar (effectively a test, but with a twist from point 1) 6. A broken mechanism needs fixing (features in a lot of video games)

[@kayakingrivers7394]

I do think that yes in many situations a puzzle shouldn’t take all session, but my favorite puzzle that I have encountered as a player did, so it isn’t a certainty, albeit our usual sessions for that game are only 2 hours but many of us did stay late to finish the puzzle, which consisted of 4 smaller puzzles that each member of the party only saw half of (we had earlier been separated but were still able to communicate through some magic in the dungeon) and we had to communicate what we could see to walk each other through the puzzle

[@IonicEnder]

This channel is awesome! You got yourself a sub for life

[@theDMLair]

Thank you so much!!!

[@princesskanuta3870]

Very good tips, thank you!

[@BLynn]

I have always used puzzles as distractions so NPCs can prepare for what comes through the "puzzled door". As you said a spell or key is the better tool. The puzzle is not a filter for who can go through & even with reality it is a distraction from life.

[@chrisc359]

All points are valid. For my self, I came down to just not bother with puzzles a lot, unless I have a particular strike of genius. If the latter, I still think whether I really should include it. That said, I ran a game at an "event" that was basically only puzzles/riddles. Everybody was aware of that before the game, and of the fact that it is not standard DND. So it was fine...I still think it would have been better as a normal game that includes all facet of RPGs properly.

[@scotthorn3996]

I make it so where if the puzzle is required to progress through the dungeon or to receive crucial info, I'll give hints, or multiple failures will trigger an alarm that aggressive some monsters and they can move on after the combat. If the puzzle reveals optional info (like the bbeg's weakness or next whereabouts) that doesn't impact progression, I'll leave it as is.

[@SamuelDancingGallew]

For the metaphor: instead of getting half a pack of bacon, it's a mountain of hashbrowns.

[@xXpandypopXx]

I struggle to run puzzles in my game, if I had 9 people in red shirts and give them normal names and one guy in a blue shirt called Fakir Incognito, and tell my players one of the group is an imposter, they'd still spend 3/4 of an hour debating which of the red shirts is the imposter. I ran one where it was 8 tombs and one imposter, the name on the grave with the hidden lever was literally A. Fulcrum... nothing

[@ultrakitten674]

I rarely use puzzles in adventures mostly because my previous group wouldnt have been able to get through them (Literally just didnt try at all) and my current group is smarter than I am. That said, I did run a side quest with them that was ALL puzzles one time. They went somewhere that was having an event that they could choose to pay and sign up for. each group of 4 people who entered had two hours to complete the 5 puzzles to open a door. and whoever was able to complete it won prizes and the one who could do it fastest got to meet with the city lord. The event was different each time it was held and this door had been created by a gnomish inventor for this event. I had worried they wouldnt be able to get it but i really worried for nothing and that was when i realized they were way smarted than me. Honestly the only point they had an issue with was because of a math issue related to a disability that i had to poke them in the right directly when they got it all twisted up. They had a blast with it even though it took up almost half of the session, and they got some cool loot and a meeting with the city leader, who was one of my old characters from the 90s, so it was a win for everyone. I think for this group i need harder puzzles though, and maybe nothing with math problems!

[@TheVTTDM]

I agree with a previous comment about why there would be a puzzle: To only allow a certain type of person/people access to a macguffin or place (where there is probably a macguffin). Think the puzzle traps in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. (Granted, he had no alternative if he failed the puzzles, but that's another topic.) For example, my players are, quite literally, on a mission from God. (Well, ***A*** God.) The old tomb of a champion of that god has a puzzle--backed up by a timed trap and a mini-boss battle of they don't succeed--before they can progress to the tomb. It took the players about 15 or 20 minutes to solve with a solution I didn't plan and with some guardians constantly reminding them that time was ticking down to the party getting an ass whooping. And, of course, the puzzle was thematic to the deity in question. Did I just brag while making my point? Yes, I think I did. But while I covered most of the points made in the video, I think it showed one reason why puzzles can make sense.

[@normative]

On making puzzles fit the world: I thought the old-school game Riven did this brilliantly. The best puzzle is something that, in world, was not meant to be a puzzle. It’s a technology you don’t understand yet. A cryptogram isn’t supposed to be a puzzle to the recipient who knows the key. An elevator isn’t meant to be a puzzle, but it would be a puzzle to a medieval samurai teleported to our time, who has to figure out how it works and what those squiggles on the buttons are. Make the players reverse engineer tech or magic that’s only a puzzle TO THEM because they don’t have background or cultural context it assumes.

[@liamcage7208]

I give the players 5-15 minutes (depending if they are making progress or not), then I give then the 'option' to do a skill check instead to keep things moving. Modifiers may be applied if the players were close but just fell short.

[@amogorkon]

Playing Shadowrun, I figured the best place to have puzzles actually is the matrix - the equivalent of the internet - basically equivalent to computer games with no magical or physical component. But aside from games, what's the point of a puzzle? There are digital creatures in the matrix that could easily break any regular lock, but they have no sense of the physical reality - so, a puzzle involving knowledge of the physical world really is much like a CAPTCHA. I figure, in DnD this could be the same: use a puzzle to test if someone is who they say they are - keep demons or otherworldly creatures out of an area who don't have the ability or knowledge to solve a puzzle.

[@vusatednd]

A good (though slightly overused) reason why BBEG might build a puzzle in his dungeon is his own entertainment. Thus, it's a good idea to include some way for BBEG to watch the show of players trying to figure it out. Another reason for a puzzle to be there is for some patron to challenge a group of adventurers before hiring them for a dangerous mission.

[@vm6692]

Turn dials puzzle, the door opens regardless of orientation of the dial. But trap will only be deactivated when puzzle is completed before opening.

[@beverleybee1309]

I once tried to incorporate a puzzle/mystery into the game environment. But, all the true clues were ignored and the red herrings were fixated upon. 😔 I couldn't figure out how to fix it.

[@emilyjones9816]

great shirt! the rest was good too i guess

[@haleyr3028]

I think having an easy puzzle is okay sometimes, like in the beginning of a campaign. Low level characters learning to use their stuff and work together I think can be beneficial. Sometimes even set a mood, you know when you meet that one weird little “guy”. Should be done very sparingly though.

[@storytime7408]

I run my fair share of puzzles. A few things I ensure to do Never riddles. Bad design. Poor fun. anywhere a module has a riddle, I redesign the encounter The characters need to be able to interact with the puzzle. Can you move that thing? Can you twist that mcbob? When the characters do things, the players get a feedback loop of information The feedback loop should be informative even if the characters did not solve the puzzle. If you want players to interact with a mcbob, then when they interact with the mcbob something needs to happen. Even if the characters did the incorrect interaction, the feedback loop should be encouraging to continue to interact. Encouraging does not always mean nice. Match type puzzles are easier to create, and there are endless reflavouring you can do that will keep this style consistently interesting. Movable Piece puzzles can also add a lot of variety and are nice on the feedback loop a GM needs to provide. There are other types, but these are easy for a new(er) GM to create and drop into their games. Also, you don't suck. No need to cry in the corner ;)

[@gbprime2353]

I like to give the players a couple options to solve a puzzle, including some extra stuff for solving it by smashing it. "Its an elaborate mechanism that seems to..." "We smash it!" "Okay, moving on, you come to a dead end." "How can it be a dead end, the Find the Path spell says to go through here?" "Well its a dead end NOW... you broke the Phase Door thingie that was part of the trap." "..."

[@jierdareisa4313]

I love ALL the DM Lair videos!!!! ❤

[@theDMLair]

Thank you!!! :)

[@BubbleSlaya16]

I need that Bidoof-ee shirt

[@Housenflou]

if only 90s puzzle game makers considered point 6.

[@edwardbirdsall6580]

Luke, could you do a video on the Lyre of Building? My math skills are sometimes questionable and I find it difficult to describe what a player can and can not do with it. Thanks.

[@denisnadeau865]

I like to use puzzles this way : the npc wants to test de pcs and/or amuse himself before agreeing to help. Think of a sphinx or a dragon with useful knowledge, a wizard with a rare spell or a fey who will only help or let you pass without a fight if you can solve it.

[@Notsogoodguitarguy]

"Puzzles are like bacon" - I would be careful with analogies like that, Luke! xD There is NEVER too much bacon!

[@danielslack4078]

I let them try to solve the puzzle first, and if it seems they're having problems or are get bored with it, I'll resort to skill checks. I do actually do multiple checks per puzzle and try to make sure each player's character has the appropriate actual knowledge or skills to solve it so it's a team effort.

[@DuDleyAllDay]

Really fixating on the advanced music theory bit now...ive been working on getting better at puzzles lately and im wanting to make a really advanced cipher for my players for the next campaign (its meant for them to figure out over a long period of time not all at once) and all my friends and i are all music majors and the advanced theory bit will both make them feel rewarded and also annoyed that im making them pull out their HW notes lol 😂

[@SneakyNinjaDog]

Yea I am gonna be one of those guys. Characters should solv the puzzles just like characters push open the stuck door or disable traps. And there SHOULD be obstacles that require INT based rolls to make that stat more useful. But it is similar to the problem with charisma, the character might have it even if the player is not very wellspoken or eloquent at all. However, I would still allow for good ideas to help solve puzzles, I mean if the players are actually really clever I do not want to stand in their way. Similar to how a well roleplayed speach to the townsfolk might improve that charisma roll. I agree w most of the rest of your advice but would also caution - some players just really don't like puzzles or riddles and if those are your players, just don't give them any.

[@RengarAlgerad]

Simple rule to go by: The best puzzles are the ones that make solver(s) feel smart for completing them.

[@Edshosaki]

I had a former gm that used a color theory puzzle that did alot of radiant damage if you did it wrong. It was inside a godess temple. It was while running behind a bbeg that smashed the party because of the damage taken during the puzzle. Don't do it.

[@leandroschenone7253]

"Logical, satisfying and fun" should be the 3-numbs-rule for (almost?) everything.. also rpg board games 🔥

[@Dragonmoon98]

Bad puzzles are like those convoluted 90s point and click games where the solution is some cryptic shit that you would not automatically know without a walkthrough (see also Hello Neighbor official release)

[@aldenfalor4454]

Y do you have precursor to talk In chat? I know I've been gone awhile working on my own channel but dang lol.

[@simontmn]

I didn't mind the hilariously easy puzzles in Skyrim. Anything actually hard is extremely annoying unless it's clearly optional.

[@tinaprice4948]

OMG I got some candied pepper bacon from my butcher, my dad came over and ate the whole pound! lol never enough

[@mifigor1935]

What about puzzles that are so easy that is so easy that the players go into "well it can't be that easy" mode and turn something that they solved within 2 minutes into half an hour debate on what to do. (at least that's what happened with every puzzle I've been in)

[@Frederic_S]

I like bacon, but good bacon is hard to come by and there is a too much bacon scenario. Especially if it's low quality bacon. Also Luke does not suck.

[@MonkeyJedi99]

"This door requires a Religion roll of 14 and a Perception roll of 16." - "That's boring, Monkey!" "Well, the last four puzzles made you all angry, so this is what you get."

[@kevinpatrick6080]

Ya know, I kind of sympathize. I've run into the same problem when I require players to complete an obstacle course and a sparring match to win a physical combat. Greg (whose a paraplegic) complains that he wants to play a physically competent, martial character. But, he should realize that is really just not for him. He should really know his place and these unrealistic expectations of fantasy roleplay are just preventing him from behaving in a way that is appropriate to him in the correct, preordained way. In a similar vein, I just wish players would realize that playing brilliant characters is just not for them. That's just not the hand they've been dealt. Why can't they understand? ;)

[@simontmn]

DM forcing my INT 8 drunken dwarf berserker to engage intellectually with an arcane puzzle trap was about the worst experience of my RPG career.

[@LeonardHarris]

Exactly you can't have enough bacon. However one puzzle per real life year, is about one puzzle too many.

[@nagredmoonstriker252]

BACONNNNNN!!! Metaphor THAT, flunkies!

[@CrazyRoundMan]

Puzzles are often a great time to integrate backstory or lore. Why the puzzle was made, what knowledge the puzzle relies on (IE Insider knowledge for a cult or religion that would not be common knowledge for the average rando) or purity tests for a religion or culture all require the party to either have or develop an understanding of the puzzle maker to proceed. The puzzle is the spoonful of sugar that helps the backstory go down.

[@kirkwagner461]

Yah, that bacon thing didn't work. Howabout "too much vodka?"

[@nickolaskling4640]

This is just an argument of rolling vs roleplay

[@telarr9164]

Some players enjoy puzzle. Some players do not enjoy them. If the DM sets the most creative engaging puzzles imaginable and the players are sitting there with their arms folded then maybe just let them roll an INT check and move on? It's D&D night not Suddoku night !!

[@scoots291]

I have literally took riddles off of a restaurants child activity sheet And take more than 45 minutes to solve and this included an engineer and a teacher granted this was also coming from people who developed a pulley system that can open up 820 ton door by one person and a person who proofreads for college professors respectively😂

[@RIVERSRPGChannel]

True You can never have too much bacon 🥓 I suck at puzzles so I watch other KZbinrs to get good ideas for puzzles.

[@RobOfTheNorth2001]

The puzzle should challenge the players. And they should not be hard. The fun is in solving - even if it’s relatively easy.

[@imoote]

"Glutton for puzzlement."

[@robertburns4429]

Why should the GM come up with combat encounters if the players are going to just roll dice to resolve them?

[@theDMLair]

Combat is just mindlessly rolling dice. Interesting. Last time my players were in combat they had to decide tactics, battlefield positioning, which spells to cast, magic items to use, which enemies to focus on first--whole lots of choices. If you're just rolling dice, you're probably doing something wrong.

[@robertburns4429]

@@theDMLair Didn't say anything about mindless, or anything of the sort. Just pointed out the parallel. All too often combat, especially in systems such as 5e, requires no more thought than moving up to the monster and rolling attack/damage rolls until the foe drops.

[@jbrecken]

I enjoy solving puzzles or playing puzzle games when I'm myself, but I don't really like them in a RPG, since most character classes aren't puzzle solvers. I don't want to have to break character - a big dumb barbarian is not going to try to answer the riddle; he's just going to attack the sphinx.

[@israelmorales4249]

I'm puzzled by your advices! Ba dum ts! Great video thx for the advices!

[@Sephiroth517]

The best puzzles are unlocked doors and totally climbable walls... These are more than enough to stall a game ^^

[@maxdragonslayer]

So if the players are struggling with the puzzle, that's not when you should then ask for the character rolls? Um....😅

[@Japhox45]

Just take your local paper and use the crossword in it.

[@adventureswithfrodo2721]

It is called role playing. The character should solve the puzzle. I like puzzles but it is then not role playing.

[@weaver7811]

Lasers don't belong in fantasy? That feels like a weird line to draw. Light beams exist in fantasy just fine. Puzzles that rely on using mirrors to reflect sun or moonlight through a dungeon fit in fantasy pretty well but a puzzle maker just being able to create a thin, bright beam of light is out of place? And if it's a laser that's meant to be damaging, there's already inanimate objects that can cast spells as part of a trap and plenty of 'beam' style attacks.