Complex Co-op D&D Combat Puzzle Encounter - Chamber of Vistas - Dungeons and Dragons

[@VladdViever]

I know this was super challenging to present but I'm happy to see this turned out very clear, at least to me. It was super awesome being able to work with you Wally, hopefully we'll be able to work together again in the future.

[@WallyDM]

Thank you Owen, I do admit, I have a boatload of hours into producing this, but it was worth every minute, for sure, lol. But all-in-all, I'm glad that you liked the final result of the puzzle and I hope it still holds some of that core idea from your original puzzle. Cheers, friend. Looking foward to hanging out and creating again someday. :-)

[@Zr0din]

This wouldl probably be easier if you have the images on the appropriate M:TG Cards. If not, people may get stuck at the first puzzle without a prompt.

[@WallyDM]

Absoulutely. When/if I run this, I'm using the MtG images, for sure. handouts are always good.

[@b0baf00t8]

I like this a lot. I'm always looking for puzzles that involve combat.

[@WallyDM]

Hooray! Glad you liked the idea. :-) Cheers!

[@thactotum]

theres the chance to make this puzzle so that the answers of all of them create 2 orbs of each color, with two extra orbs, and then give them a ... stargate, like portal where the destination is a place similar to various of the paintings and the orb colors that colorized the painting in key locations around the gate are how you dial that location into the gate. You should have some indicator what the color lock is for the starting locations so you can enter it, to return. Once a gate is 'dialed' you can remove all the orbs except one of them to take them with you before passing through the gate. It then becomes important to choose which gates you open, and which orbs you sacrifice, to get to each of the locations and eventually back to the start.

[@WallyDM]

This is a fantastic idea! I'm sorry it took me so long to read it. I love the idea of activating the murals and then traveling through them to other locations. So much fun potential here. Well done!

[@Jon0326]

Excellent puzzle! Thanks for sharing!

[@WallyDM]

You betcha. And thank you for watching. Cheers!

[@greatmoustache8731]

great breakdown of this puzzle. Interesting concept, and way to make things more tense/important with the combat and rising waters, etc.

[@WallyDM]

Thank you my friend. :-) You know, while I was writing the tutorial and recording the demonstration, I was thinking of how this might be done differently without colors, and figured, quite simply, the orbs could show the symbol of the lands from MTG. Death/Sun/Tree/Water Droplet/Fire. What do you think?

[@greatmoustache8731]

@@WallyDM I was thinking of actually making a comment with suggestions. The only issue with MTG symbols is it would be... more obvious.. maybe make it easier/too easy to solve? Whereas the orbs could be gems that are cut. So each color has a different cut of gem. Could be easy symbols of just square, rectangle, triangle, oval, tear drop, etc (can look up gemstone shapes guide)

[@zombe22]

I was searching for inspiration for game I run this Sunday and I found it just now! Thank you so much for this puzzle, with some modifications it will be great for my game!

[@WallyDM]

Hooray! Glad I could help. Good luck!

[@VladdViever]

I wish your players luck!

[@Taiyougetsu13]

I love that this episode is finally out. Love to see how you guys evolved the puzzle!

[@WallyDM]

Thank you Marvin! This has been in the works for quite a while. Glad to finally be able to present it to the public. Hope you are doing well. Cheers!

[@orgixvi3]

I just wanna thank you, because I'm currently crafting an adventure featuring a villain inspired by the Riddler from Batman and your puzzles have been invaluable.

[@WallyDM]

Ah, you are welcome! I'm glad you are enjoying the puzzle series and its cool to hear that you have been able to use the ideas. I appreciate you reaching out. Cheers!

[@mason5115]

Thanks for the puzzle. I can't wait to try it out in Starfinder sometime! Force field doors, a teleporter, and pneumatic tubes will slot nicely into that system. I saw you were using card art and was going to suggest using land cards to represent the orbs. This could prevent the players and/or DM from bumping your setup.

[@WallyDM]

Pneumatic tubes! That was exactly what I was thinking on the SEND/RECEIVE system. It very much felt like the pneumatic tube system from banks, but I didn't know the name of it, lol. Thank you for sharing the Starfinder ideas. It is amazing to me that it converts so smoothly over to another system. Cheers, Mason!

[@EugeneYunak]

i mean, it's a fine setup. it gives every player something to worry about (which in my head is a baseline for an interesting puzzle anyways). but a) it's not thematically tied to anything, and at least to my eye there's no flavor - that is not to say it cannot be added! but the puzzle setup itself doesn't contribute imo. b) it's not guaranteed that the players that enjoy the puzzles are going to be the ones engaging the puzzles instead of facing combat with no goal other than "survive" and no input. unless the "sealing doors" mechanic is established previously and the players know to expect this, so the ones that want to deal with the puzzle are the ones that enter the archways. lets face it, not every player is super into puzzles. i would also strongly want the players on the other side of the puzzle have some additional goals and input. perhaps even players could switch positions but face a telegraphed penalty, so there's even more choices for them to consider. c) in my opinion, I'm sorry but you are not taking this puzzle far enough, you are barely scratching the surface here. the mtg color thing is so universal and so well understood by gamers of all kinds that I can't believe 99% of players won't find the correct solution on first try. the space for possible solutions is also rather small - and even smaller on the last one because two orbs are the same color! if the rules are clearly established (and they should be) - this is waaay too simple, especially the third one. don't get me wrong, like I said I like the concept and I have used something similar previously. and I especially enjoy that the first mural is sort of like a "learning" mural that can very easily teach the players how this is gonna work. but then normal game design practice would be to take the training wheels off in the second mural and make it a little bit more challenging. make the third one really challenging with already established mechanics. then add a new concept in the fourth mural. then bring it all together in the most complex way in the fifth mural. the way things are, it's way too simple and way too short; I am not sure how to improve it, but I am convinced you need at least three stones per mural by mural 3, maybe even by mural 2. I would love to hear you ideas on how to use the "mtg colors" concept in a more complex puzzle, as I quite like the idea but this might be just an intro to a more serious puzzle at best.

[@WallyDM]

You've definitely listed plenty of interesting perspectives, for sure. And, I really dig the way you broke things down in section "c" above with ideas on how to make the puzzle progressively more challenging. You are identifying how you could see using the puzzle, but more importantly, how you would like to see it modified. Which of course, is exactly what I want from viewers. My channel is about providing an idea for an encounter and let the GMs watching the video modify these ideas to fit their own games with regards to complexity, theme, mechanics and flavor. Here's the truth: For me to write, record, setup, edit, and publish my puzzle and trap videos is *at least* 1 hour per 1 minute of video. I have 2 days worth of work into this video and I work a full time job. I don't "take the puzzle farther" because I'm simply providing an encounter idea that I would use in my game and my rpg game is probably quite different from that of other GMs. But I started this channel because I enjoy sharing puzzle/trap ideas and seeing how other GMs would do things differently. In most cases, viewers take these ideas and create something better than I did and I love that. :-) So, I hope this clears things up and you don't walk away disappointed. Please know that I put my heart and soul into every puzzle and trap video I make and I give them everything I have. And, if that is not enough for folks, then, well, I don't know what to say. Ya know, I did find it cool that you are interested in the MTG element of the puzzle and that inspires me to think of something I might be able to build on and use in the future. I'm always looking for inspiration as well. :-) Thank you for taking the time to watch, comment and subscribe. I appreciate it. Cheers!

[@VladdViever]

Hi Eugene! I actually brought this puzzle to Wally some months ago for this collaboration so I don't mind contributing some thoughts. I think you identified some actual concerns, and one that did come up in the initial game: the risk that your puzzle people will be on the outside and your tanks will be stuck in the puzzle. In my case, in the original version, this was an intended risk. The dungeon was especially unforgiving and the fight on the outside, while not normally dangerous, nearly tpk'd that half the party despite their relatively high level, thanks to some bad rolls. The original version was a lot more complex, with each alcove in room A having their own color wheel and room B showing the shared enemy color. It was a significantly more complicated puzzle and the reality is the needs of my table are different than the needs of Wally's vids. We agreed that it would be best to simplify that aspect to be more friendly to an audience who might not know the mtg color wheel in character character [i ran in a mtg setting] I'm really happy with those changes, but I do think there's plenty to change to take it further, make it more dangerous/complex, etc. I hope that this video serves to give a kernel of an idea for how to run your own version. If you do, I hope to hear how it goes, and the changes you've made.

[@VladdViever]

Oh and regarding the flavor, the original version was a room within an Aether Lich's tomb designed to keep people out and entertain. The flavor though is just the coat of paint on the idea, which is to force a collaboration while half the party fight for their lives

[@THEPELADOMASTER]

About the flavor thing, I really like when people present ideas for puzzles or traps with no flavor at all, because that allows me to put my own. If this was all about... Idk, dragons, well guess what? In my world dragons are gone and have been for millenia. It would be hard for me to justify why this is a dragon themed dungeon. So having no flavor allows the viewer to insert it in their world and pick whatever theme and flavor they want. Obviously you can change the pictures, the colors and anything you want. This is presenting an idea. Nothing is set in stone in DnD.

[@WallyDM]

@@THEPELADOMASTER It's great to hear this perspective because it is exactly what I'm trying to do with my channel. I want my videos to be a resource for GMs to provide encounter ideas, but its up to them to change or apply theme, flavor, or changes so that it fits in their game. Thank you for chiming in on this. I've seen a lot of comments from you today. I hope you are enjoying the backlog of puzzle and trap videos. :-) Cheers!

[@elilevinger5981]

Hi :) good morning . I will love to put a bit of lore and story into the puzzle The ghouls can look as tropical islanders The dragon cod be seen with some speers inside of him and a tropical swamp arund. The water that raises can be swampy and the mountain with a plume of smoke as it's going to erupt soon. When all the orbs are in the right place, In the end of the corridor there is a sentence that say "we are the cursde onse, can you tell awere story?" If the pc tell it correctly the enemy will stop attacking and melt into dust. There were islanders that killed a dragon that attacked their home and the as he died he made the volcano erupt - but it can be a different story if the pc can make a good one :) It can be a test from the godess of the dead islenders

[@VladdViever]

Love the suggestions. I like how this makes it your own.

[@WallyDM]

You had me at "ghouls look like tropical islanders". I love the lore and story you put into this. Thank you for sharing your idea. :-) Cheers!

[@HowtoRPG]

That was very complex. Eekk...

[@WallyDM]

Yep. This is a tough one, for sure.

[@THEPELADOMASTER]

I love this, but my issue with the water is that I have a gnome in my party lol so after the first round they would be fully submerged in water. I guess you could replace the water with sand. You might not drown at first and be able to stand on it, but if it gets to the ceiling you are still in a lot of trouble.

[@WallyDM]

lol, yeah, the gnome is going to be up to his neck in trouble. Literally. lol. But, for a party full of 3-4 ft tall characters, I'd definitely reconsider that water element and make it optional. For sure. Glad you liked the puzzle. Cheers!

[@VladdViever]

Fun fact, when I ran the guest draft of this puzzle, we had a halfling rogue in the water hazard. He was swimming by the end of the encounter and holding the paralyzed Bard up to stop him from drowning. It is an extra wrinkle

[@isazainal778]

Awesome puzzle as always mr wally 😄 I would totally use this combat puzzle encounter but my only complain is that whoever don't play MtG might get confuse of the colour orb maybe introduce the colour orb mechanics early on to the dungeon to get a better idea of it but overall the puzzle is easy to run it feels like a video game raid mechanics where you assign two players to do the orb puzzle and the rest fight the ghouls! Have a great day/evening wally

[@VladdViever]

For sure, the players would benefit from being introduced to the colors early on. When I ran this puzzle initially it was in MtG setting and used the color coding earlier in the dungeon, so that helped the players so they weren't totally off guard.

[@WallyDM]

I like the idea of finding the orb mechanics earlier in the game. That is a great idea Isa, I hope that this puzzle encounter works for your game. Keep me updated. Have a great day!

[@TheAceman1100]

Really neat puzzle I like this one a lot. Could have a lot of fun and create high intensity With the water rising.

[@WallyDM]

Definitely lots of fun moving parts. I can't wait to run it at some point. That water level is going to be the deadliest part, I think. Cheers Aceman!

[@Nysteria]

This is great, though I do think the puzzle is too simple. However! This could easily be the first puzzle in a series of puzzles, and it could introduce the notion of these colors and what they're meant to represent, so that they could be used later on in more obscure ways in other puzzles. That's most definitely what I'll do whenever I use this one!

[@WallyDM]

Thank you @nysteria. And agreed, the puzzle is a bit simple, especially if you take out combat. If you come up with something cool to add on to this, be sure to get back to me. I'd love to hear what you were able to do with it. Cheers!

[@Nysteria]

@@WallyDM Working on it c: I'll let you know if I come up with anything that ties in nicely... By the way, are there any other co-op puzzles like this in your book? I do own it, but I thought I'd ask for page recommendations before taking a look myself

[@WallyDM]

@@Nysteria You bet. Take a look at the Mirror of Separation in my book. It is a co-op puzzle. I had a lot of fun running it a few years ago. HOWEVER, the solution in the book/pdf is incorrect, so send me a message if you have questions about it. I will be fixing the solution when I push out version 1.1 in a few months. I hope you like it!

[@Nysteria]

@@WallyDM Funnily enough, I was already planning to have a mirror puzzle deeper in the adventure, I'll see if I can adapt this with the little bits that I already had planned, thanks! I'll contact you on Discord if I have any questions

[@DaPenguin]

All of my players have played a lot of Magic the Gathering, so this would be way too easy for them. I'd need to come up with alternates for the murals.😅

[@WallyDM]

Nah, it's okay to throw in some easy puzzles... its all about fun. ;-) . Besides, they might really get a kick out of the MtG reference. Let me know how it goes!

[@VladdViever]

In the original version I had the same issue. What I did was instead of trading gems, the players had to merge them, creating the enemy color in the other room. You might be able to work out something like that.

[@angelospanagopoulos]

I do believe that the color matches the meaning of the color of MTG card game

[@WallyDM]

It sure does! Magic was definitely an inspiration for the design. :-) cheers, Angelos!

[@RIVERSRPGChannel]

I don’t know anything about MtG. The ghouls could really cause problems if they hit and someone fails a save Not to mention the water if one is a halfling or dwarf

[@Taiyougetsu13]

When Owen ran the original version of this for our home game, the Halfling Rogue and the Elf Bard were the ones dealing with the ghouls and both almost died to low rolls. The Bard failed his save 3 turns in a row.

[@WallyDM]

I'm curious. Do you think this version still holds the same level of being a deadly encounter? Or is it a bit easier/harder than the original?

[@WallyDM]

We need to get that dwarf some boots of levitation or a water walking ring, lol.

[@Taiyougetsu13]

@@WallyDM I think this is probably about the same danger level. And certainly more streamlined for the two that are solving the puzzle.

[@calebrobinson7965]

First