D&D Puzzles #73 - Back and Forth - Wally DM Puzzle Ideas

As our adventurers explore the corridors of this dungeon or castle environment, they realize that they are trapped in a maze and seem to be traveling in circles. How do they get out of this maze and what clues are available for them to follow the correct path? Let's find out!
#dnd #pathfinder #dungeonsanddragons
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Ambience from KZbin Library
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[@robbechristiaens6384]

fun fact: a bishop in my mother tongue (Dutch) is called a Loper. Loper is also the word we use for a skeleton key...

[@WallyDM]

Oh wow, really? Neat-o! What an amazing coincidence that we featured the bishop. Interesting.

[@HollandWolf01]

leuk!

[@TheAceman1100]

Oh man this one brings back memories. Just keep walking! Great video Wally

[@TheAceman1100]

Also I hide under my blanket!

[@WallyDM]

Haha, yep! What a great time that was. :-)

[@reritheguy6756]

I thought the puzzle had something to do with the way the pieces moved, and I think that could be a fun puzzle of it's own: The players enter a room with a door on the other side and a chess board on a desk. Going through the room takes them to a long, straight corridor with black tiles on the floor, then an L shaped corridor with black tiles and finally a diagonal corridor with white tiles, then the door at the end of that corridor brings them back to the first room. The solution is to bring with them a black rook, a black knight and a white bishop.

[@InquisitorThorn]

I was thinking of something similar. What if the chess pieces create the layout of the next set of rooms and the players have to determine the order to reach or avoid something ahead.

[@WallyDM]

I could definitely see this working out as well. What a great tangent towards another puzzle. :-) Cheers!

[@davebolinger7453]

I used this puzzle in a one shot I ran recently. I altered it so the pieces were playing cards and instead had four doors with the respective suit painted on them. It was hilarious watching the party stumble on this puzzle for almost 2 hours. Thank you for this video and I appreciate your content. Keep them coming!

[@WallyDM]

Oh nice! Playing cards would be an absolute blast with this puzzle. Great choice, Dave. Also... I'm glad that it worked out well. NEW Puzzle videos coming soon so... stay tuned!

[@zooftra]

Oh interesting! When I first saw it, I noticed the pieces were lined up in order of height. I thought that was a hint that the characters needed to travel through the hallways in order of their height.

[@WallyDM]

I didn't even consider height... interesting. I guess the chess pieces had several ways to be labeled a red herring.

[@secretdoorgames6726]

I am thinking a haunted mansion, and maybe the items on the mantle are urns, filled with the remains of a certain family. Each door is slightly different, although maybe not as initially obvious as the black and white doors.

[@WallyDM]

I like that idea! Maybe something on the doors that pertain to whoever's ashes are within. I dig it.

[@secretdoorgames6726]

Yeah, I was kind of thinking of some rp encounters or combat combat encounters with restless ghostly family members.

[@davidrose7938]

My comment before you pointed it out: With dark vision only they wouldn’t really notice a difference between the black and white pieces or doors. I like it. Othello pieces or checker pieces would work too.

[@WallyDM]

Ah, a missed opportunity for me to finally use Checkers as opposed to Chess in a puzzle, lol. Thank you for the comment Dave, glad you liked the video. Cheers!

[@stm7810]

Great puzzle! I'll save this for when the party is higher level.

[@WallyDM]

Glad you liked it, thank you. :-)

[@mmardh799]

very interesting, Wally! great ideas

[@WallyDM]

Thank you Mar! This one took about 45 minutes to solve when I ran this in a game. It was crazy!

[@mmardh799]

@@WallyDM hehe I can see why!

[@RIVERSRPGChannel]

Interesting puzzle I like it I may have to try it out

[@WallyDM]

Absolutely. Thanks Rivers!

[@greatmoustache8731]

heyyyy, I know this one, was fun figuring out.

[@WallyDM]

lol. Yes you do! Good times!

[@InAVallee]

The like to dislike is bonkers! Love it man!

[@WallyDM]

Thank you Andrew! Yeah, its crazy... but I love seeing that 100% Like feedback. It does this old man's heart good... lol. Cheers and on to the next!

[@LunarFerns]

Thank you! I love this puzzle :)

[@WallyDM]

You Bet Lunar, glad you liked it. Cheers!

[@cassiacmueller]

Cool!! Will use this one for sure :D

[@WallyDM]

Awww yeah. Good luck. Thank you Cassia! :-)

[@dr.feargood2669]

I enjoyed this. Made my brain hurt, in a good way! lol

[@WallyDM]

Good times for sure!

[@tinyquokka]

This is really interesting! What would you do if a pc had Detect Magic and used it in the corridors? Surely the doors would give some sort of impression since they aren't ordinary doors-which is great that they're using their spells, but it may give it away too easily. Knowing my party, this would be over pretty quickly, and I'd like to use this puzzle, if not with a few tweaks.

[@WallyDM]

In this case, I would have the doors AND the corridor radiate with Conjuration magic as the entire maze is a magical area. Teleport spells are generally conjuration school, and I consider magical mazes such as this as a form of teleportation. I ran this maze three times and it ended up being a bit difficult for the players to grasp the concept. ANyways, hope this helps. If you run it, be sure to let me know how it goes. Good luck!

[@tinyquokka]

@@WallyDM Oh that definitely makes sense! Thank you so much, I really appreciate the help :)

[@IcsulX]

Where did you get that arcane rune pattern piece? :O It's beautiful.

[@WallyDM]

Ah, yes. That piece is from the WizKids D&D Icons of the Realms Waterdeep Dungeon of the Mad Mage set... I've used quite a few pieces from it. Well worth the buy!

[@PrescottComputerGuy]

My players would split the party. :)

[@elilevinger5981]

or tray to destroy some of the doors or force the last door in the main room to stay open all the time

[@PrescottComputerGuy]

@@elilevinger5981 Yes, definitely work to block the door open. I can always have doors be unbreakable but that is harder to hand wave away.

[@elilevinger5981]

i would say its not the matter of doors but moving throw the threshold @@PrescottComputerGuy

[@PrescottComputerGuy]

@@elilevinger5981 I am OK with that.... but if the party splits things can get complex. I guess it would just mean some might go around the maze more than others.

[@WallyDM]

My players DID split the party on this one... it was a bit hard to track everyone, but what a fun time

[@ALJessica]

where are those 3d tiles from? the doors and so on

[@WallyDM]

A wide array of sources on this one. The walls (grey blocks) are from an old game called Crossbows and Catapults. The prepainted terrain is from one of the Wizkids sets, the doors are a Wizkids unpainted miniature that I had to paint myself. The fireplace was from Griffon Miniatures. And one of the single piece side walls was from the Magic the Gathering board game. I love using lots of resources! :-)

[@ALJessica]

@@WallyDM damn :p I only own the dungeon of doom from dwargen forge

[@kattiepantsart]

I joined the Patreon to get the pdf for this puzzle, but I cant find it.

[@WallyDM]

Hi Kattie! I am at work right now, but when I get home I will look for it and get it to you. Thank you for support. I'll get back to you soon. :-)

[@WallyDM]

The PDF is now ready for download. Thank you again for your support. Cheers! www.patreon.com/posts/77453961

[@kattiepantsart]

@@WallyDM wow thank you so much!