Skeleton Key D&D Puzzle - Locked Treasure Chest Puzzle - Dungeons & Dragons

[@greatmoustache8731]

Fun puzzle. Kinda wild magic but for keys. A few key related jokes/puns for ya: What do you use to open a Haunted House? . . . A spoo-key. What type of keys are sweet? . . . Cookies That makes me think of locked doors, and freshly baked cookies, in teh shape of keys. Have to roll will/wisdom to not eat the cookie before you use it to try and unlock the door, will it break off in the door?

[@WallyDM]

lol. I love it! I was actually contemplating a puzzle similar to this here (spookey, cookie), but with animals... turkey, monkey, donkey... don't know what I ever did with that idea. Hmph. Cheers, my friend!

[@dr.feargood2669]

Cool Puzzle! Your face looking in the chest was great.

[@WallyDM]

lol, thanks! I'm starting to do some of my own stunts. ;-)

[@Sword_And_Sorcery]

Thanks for the great puzzle, going to be using a version of it.

[@WallyDM]

Hooray! Hope it goes well for you. Have fun!

[@HowtoRPG]

I like the Key Table. Nice job Wally.

[@WallyDM]

Thank you, my friend. This was a fun one to put together.

[@FlutesLoot]

Gotta be the fish key. The one that smells like red herring.

[@WallyDM]

lol. The red herring is a red herring. :-)

[@Arlongking1]

That's a lot of keys! Great video, as always

[@WallyDM]

A lot of keys, indeed. Thank you Stylianos. Cheers!

[@somethingironic2227]

i was looking for a puzzle to make finding the records/ledger in a key shop more interesting. this puzzle is perfect, tricky key maker likes to mess with potential thieves by making them try thousands of combinations of keys (with random effects) when they have the solution from the beginning. simple puzzle but exactly what i was looking for, thanks!

[@WallyDM]

Hooray! I'm glad that you found this puzzle useful. I hope it goes well for you. The key shop sounds like a fun encounter, be sure to let me know how it goes. Cheers!

[@TabletopBob]

In my opinion, this video was key...great work Wally!

[@WallyDM]

Haha, I see what you did there ;-) . THank you for watching, my friend. Cheers!

[@TheAceman1100]

Great video as always! Really cool puzzle that I could definitely see my players over thinking and spending to much to looking through the keys

[@WallyDM]

Haha, and yep, that's the point. Let them dig through the keys until you're ready to come back from break, lol.

[@nerdaccount]

Sometimes with these treasure chests and locks I wonder why. It's a trope so that's really why, but if I had some gold or gems and I wanted to put them someplace safe I would want to be able to get to them, but not let others. I would say that when you tried to pick up the illusionary key, the false chest disappears and the real one becomes comes into being. It would take two people to open the chest. One to grab the illusionary key and then one to use the skeleton key in the real chest. I would also make each keyhole in the false chest do something different, but that at least one or two of the keys opens the chest to give you some gold and gems as a false reward. I would also put something serious in the chest. If they go through all this work and it's just a collection of copper pieces, then I think players will know these puzzles aren't work the work.

[@WallyDM]

I like your thinking here by using both keys. Thank you for putting time and thought into your idea! Cheers!

[@spencerbryan226]

Interesting little puzzle here Wally. I could see this turning into a big fiasco. And my mind immediately summons imagines of Billy Maize.... "But wait, there's more!!!". Why not have the 24 keyholes divided into sets of 4 (either randomized in location if you have the patience and time to map them, or in groups of 4)? Each set of 4 unlocks a different extra dimensional space (conveniently crafted by that wizard you mentioned) that may contain a treasure, a trap, or a monster. Just brain storming here. I kind of like the inception concept of a puzzle inside a puzzle with this one.

[@WallyDM]

Haha, I love that "But wait, there's more"! I could definitely see myself trying to imitate that tone and voice. I do dig that extra dimensional space concept too... could definitely come up with some fun ideas for that. Thanks Spencer, cheers!

[@RIVERSRPGChannel]

Interesting puzzle. How about a key that looks like a cats claw? A water key?

[@WallyDM]

I like those, Rivers. I'll add them to the list!

[@isazainal778]

Great puzzle as always wally! I would make this puzzle different. to find a way to transfer the key without touching it like point A, open to point B then open point C So A>B>C>B>A>C it's pretty complicated if I explain here in the comments

[@WallyDM]

Sounds like you have a great plan together! Be sure to let me know how it goes, Cheers Isa!

[@Frederic_S]

It's ok to use this key-idea: a rubber key that needs to be stabilized before usage.

[@WallyDM]

Fantastic. I'll add it to the list. Thank you for watching... cheers!

[@biffstrong1079]

Nice

[@WallyDM]

Thank you. Cheers!

[@robbechristiaens6384]

a key that needs a ki point to work

[@WallyDM]

Brilliant. Added to the list!

[@EmpireofHaske]

Key idea A key that opens any lock and locks it immediately after unlocking the lock. 🔐

[@WallyDM]

I dig it. Added to the list!

[@davidrose7938]

I suspected at the very beginning the skeleton key would open the second chest. The way my players over think things I’m certain they would try using all of the the keys in the first chest. 😊

[@WallyDM]

Your suspicion was correct! I was hoping to put all of those keys out on the table to try and distract everyone from the skeleton key and focus on all of the extra keys. I'm sure my players would do the same, lol. Cheers David!

[@immortalorigins9446]

Leaving a comment so it can be a Key factor for the algorithm LOL

[@WallyDM]

Feeding the algorithm is key... thank you!

[@needycatproductions6830]

I've watched maybe a dozen or so videos of you by now - mostly about puzzles and traps. I have to say, I like your general ideas but the execution is often just lackluster. In this one, you don't even bother to describe the key as "made from bones" or something. Right off the bat, you call it Skeleton Key. Ok fine, not everyone has heard that term before and knows what it means. But if they have, they instantly know the "solution". I'm putting solution in quotation marks because, sorry, I wouldn't even call this a full puzzle. You have 2 red herring CONCEPTS in this; one of them even being a huge list made up of individual red herrings. First of all: No way in hell does anyone take the time to describe 100 different keys. So you'd probably just give your players a list. But even that means they have to read through 100 lines of description. I would at least shorten it to 10 and then also shorten the keyholes on the 2nd chest to 5. That way, the players would actually consider looking for similarities in the keys or how they could be complementary. But the absolute worst part is that, in the end, all the effort they put into looking for clues in the key names, coming up with combinations and theories - as well as the time invested - turns out to be absolutely worthless. They could never have been able to find the solution this way. That is so disappointing. Imagine the players come up with really elegant, even logical ideas and theories that they feel like somehow will definitely be part of the answer; they just can't quite put the pieces together. They would feel let down because none of their keen observations and clever outside-the-box thinking have anything even remotely to do with the real solution. Sure, as a good DM, you would tell the players they have the solution if you hear a really good idea from them. But if that's what you're going with, why try to come up with a puzzle in the first place? You could just give them a handful of random items, listen to them try to make any sense of it for a while and then at some point say: "Oh yeah that last one. You got it." Which, btw, is a suggestion I have actually red somewhere on Reddit. I'm sorry if this sounds really mean or condescending. That is really not what I'm trying to do. I just get frustrated because some of your general ideas are really GOOD! And I feel there is a lot of wasted potential in many of your puzzles and traps. Anyway, hope you can still have a nice day and can keep up your interest in TTRPGs.

[@WallyDM]

You are being a bit mean and condescending, but no worries, I can work around that. It seems that you have missed the whole point in my channel. I provide Puzzle and Trap IDEAS for game masters. You stated that you liked my "general ideas"? Good. Mission accomplished. That is what I do here. I present ideas and its up to the Game Master to make them fit into their game. I merely give you a few building blocks and send you on your way. Why don't I dive into more detail and absolutes? Well, because my audience is on an extreme spectrum. Every table is different and every GM is different in how they run their games. Also, a lot of folks use a variety of different systems to run my puzzles and traps. D&D, Pathfinder, Call of Cthulhu, DCC, Starfinder, Star Wars... the list goes on. So, I present a simple, but fun idea to use in your game. On this puzzle in particular, I did not say, give your players a list of 100 keys... and you told me what you would do in the situation by only giving them about 10. See? You get it. I spitballed a bunch of ideas and you were able to take the ideas and start to formulate something that would work in your game. Bingo. With this in mind, not every idea is a good fit for every table. There are some a GM will find useful and some that the GM won't find useful. But, by the end of the day, I hope the GM found the video inspiring or at the very least... entertaining. I could continue on trying to explain what I do here, but I'll end with this. I have been doing KZbin for 6 years. I have a best selling puzzle book nearing 10,000 copies sold, and I have hundreds of friends and players in my games that have enjoyed what I brought to the table. So, I will not be changing anything. My brain is different from yours, and let's leave it at that. I appreciate you stopping by, but obviously, my channel is not for you.

[@needycatproductions6830]

Eh, it's still to SOME extent for me :D Yes, it does inspire me and I'll probably keep finding ideas I like. I do disagree about you (just) giving "a few building blocks" but I don't mean to argue and waste even more of your time. Thank you very much for the answer and also for how in-depth it is. I do appreciate you investing that time effort.

[@WallyDM]

@@needycatproductions6830 No worries at all, I appreciate you taking time to watch my videos and I do hope you stick around for future content. Feel free to reach out anytime. Cheers!