Great dungeons are made up of equal parts monsters, traps, boss fights, and… PUZZLES.
Potentially left behind by Elven scholars or totemic defense systems built by long-dead Dwarven societies, puzzles serve to bring much-needed variety to the grind of dungeon crawling. They can provide a much-needed break from exploration or a reward for the progress made so far.
Let’s face it, Dungeons & Dragons attracts fans of problem-solving. Puzzles give players a chance to use their wit to outhink their Game Master or Dungeon Master (or at least, give them the illusion of outhinking them). They’re a great way to give your players a sense of agency over their dungeon experience, especially after facing monsters and traps, and give the GM a chance to reward players with magic items or boons without outright handing them over.
If you're running a dungeon of almost any kind, it should always include at least one puzzle. Not sure where to begin? Here are four ideas for your next dungeon puzzle. Plus, we’ll include a couple of design tips to help draw up each puzzle in your next dungeon.
The Frozen Monster
Premise
In a large ice chasm, divided into a tiled grid of frosted glass, lies a dangerous creature encased in ice. Soon after the players wander inside, the doors shut behind them, and the party finds themselves unable to escape the chamber. The room steadily warms, and with it, the ice around the creature slowly melts. If players don’t act fast to stop the creature from emerging and solve this puzzle, they’ll meet a grim fate.
Mechanics
At the end of the room opposite the creature, a chilled pressure plate appears frozen to the touch. Here, the frozen creature will be unaffected by the warming temperature of the room, and the doors will once again open. However, between the pressure plate and the creature lies a room full of tiles, each with some degree of heat. Each tile the creature passes over will cause it to melt slightly, and others will cause it to accelerate. If players are unable to get the creature to the frozen tile before it melts, the now unfrozen monster will wreak havoc, and combat begins.
Trick
The tiles risk causing pain to those who cross them, and moving the creature requires immense strength. At least one player will have to take it upon themselves to physically move the creature along the coolest path. However, the others can still be of some aid. Hanging from the ceiling are delicate frost-gems, which will reduce the temperature of a tile to a much more bearable warmth when broken upon its surface. While the creature is being maneuvered, other party members can assist by knocking the frost-gems out of the air and coordinating where they land to create a path for their ally. However, the creature melts with each round, and will be free in 5 rounds or less, meaning the pusher must decide between relying on their teammates to succeed on their attempts to knock the frost-gems down, or pushing through the heat and getting the task done as quickly as possible.
Design Tips
This puzzle will work well in any large indoor space with enough space to take multiple paths from one end to the other. When designing this puzzle, treat every grid as a tile with its own heat source.
- Use the Custom Images feature or Dungeon Scrawl’s Free Imagers to drop custom “heat” icons on each tile to indicate varying degrees of warmth and make it easy to keep track of the changing temperature.
- To create an ice-like effect, either for the creature or for the pressure plate, Dungeon Scrawl Pro subscribers can use the Lava World Building Preset and change the cell colors to varying shades of blue to create a new “Ice” texture. While you’re there, make sure to save your new texture for future use.
Of Lights & Levers
Premise
The players stand in the foyer of a long chamber cloaked in a deep magical darkness. The foyer is lit just enough to reveal a complicated wall panel with 8 different levers. Pulling a lever will dispel the darkness in a small circular area of the chamber, bathing the ground in pure white light. Pulling more levers will reveal more sections of the chamber until a path of light pierces through the darkness. However, before the players can reach this conclusion, they’ll first realize there’s a sequence. One wrong lever, and the chamber is bathed in total darkness once again. They could try to brave the darkness, but the horrible sound of gnashing teeth and ravenous growls can be heard from within. To keep their path true and secure, they’ll need to pull the levers in the correct sequence of 6.
Mechanics
To make this puzzle feel rewarding and, more importantly, decipherable, make sure to have a copy of the lever key on hand, hidden from your players. With each lever pulled, keep an eye on your lever key to make sure players are on the right path. On even a single failure, shut off the lights.
Trick
You can go one of two ways with this magical darkness. You can make the monsters real, and even roll for potential combat as players traverse the light path, or you can make them an illusion and roll intimidation checks that threaten to paralyze your party. If a player decides to brave the darkness, you can paint an image of their character's greatest fear and have them deliver their most chilling scream to really sell the horror of the darkness.
Design Tips
- This map will work perfectly with the Roll20 connection, allowing the GM to utilize the Hide/Reveal Mask or Dynamic Lighting to manipulate light and darkness.
- If you’re casting to a TV or a monitor in an in-person game using Dungeon Scrawl’s Send to Tabletop feature, use the Fog of War tool to obscure and reveal the map in set sections and wow your players in real time.
The Dark Path
Premise
The party enters a dramatically lit, long chamber filled with tall stone statues arranged in a staggered line leading towards a sealed door. The statues are robed figures, with hoods covering their eyes and heads hung low to hide their faces completely. Behind them, a sealed door adorned with a massive human-like eye stands staunchly, unwilling to open despite the player's best attempts. The room is cloaked in long shadows that cascade off the statues' silhouettes. A little investigation reveals that the eye on the door shuts completely when party members are in the shadows, and opens when they step back into the light. Above the eyed door, an inscription reads “Only those unseen may pass unharmed”.
Mechanics
This is a classic tile puzzle with a “stealth” mission twist. The floor is divided into a grid, with some tiles cast in shadow by the statues and others fully illuminated by the glow of the few lanterns and candles in the chamber. The statues block light, creating subtle paths across the floor, some interconnected and others further apart. Light sources such as torches and candles remain lit by some form of magic, and shadows cannot be illuminated by conventional means. Aside from some very clever solutions, players must physically trace a path from the entrance to the exit, stepping only on connected shadowed tiles.
Trick
When players get about halfway through, the chamber begins to rumble, and the statues start to groan. Slowly (give players enough time to react), the statues begin to shift along the surface, changing their positions on the floor and with them, their shadows. Throwing a wrench in the players' plans by switching up their perceived path and forcing them to rethink their approach. However, reward players with the realization that certain statues can be rotated, giving the party an opportunity to shape their fate and their path forward.
Design Tips
Designing this puzzle on Dungeon Scrawl? This is the perfect opportunity to give the Lighting effect in the Pro Subscription tier its “time to shine”! Here are some helpful tips to get the most out of the Dungeon Scrawls lighting tool for this map:
- To create the effect of the statues blocking light, place small rectangles or shapes underneath the statue and set them to “Blocks Light”.
- Before or after selecting “Add Source” to drop in a light, adjust the radius and strength to manipulate the strength of the shadows. We’re looking for long arching shadows that cover defined, focused paths in darkness.
The Humming Bowls
Premise
Players enter a nondescript, mostly empty room with high ceilings and a large layout. On the floor are multiple brass bowls, and against the wall on one end is an elevated pedestal with a larger brass bowl on top. From the ceiling, a stream of water gently cascades onto the floor. The room echoes with every step, and investigating the bowls reveals a sonic element within them. The large brass bowl emits a faint ringing when touched; a sequence of three tones, high, low, and medium. Players must solve this puzzle by recreating the large bowls song, using the elements in the room.
Mechanics
When a bowl on the floor is repositioned underneath the dripping water, it gradually begins to fill. All the while, emitting a ringing sound much like that of the larger brass bowl. When the water reaches a specific line in the bowl, the ringing sound will match either the high, low, or medium tone sung by the bowl, or will sound slightly different. Players have to identify the high, low, and medium floor bowls and fill them to the correct level so that each emits its corresponding sound. Once each bowl is correctly filled, players pour the water from the bowls into the large brass bowl, following the tonal sequence. The floor bowl emitting a high tone goes first, the low tone bowl goes second, and the middle tone last.
Trick
If a bowl overflows, the room fills with a cacophony of bells, causing the players to make wisdom saving throws to avoid psychic damage. Once the ringing subsides, the large brass bowl resets, but this time following a different sequence, bringing the puzzle back to square one.
Design Tips
This map design is more minimal, but features some key elements that will work well with Dungeon Scrawl tools.
- Use the Water World Building Preset to fill the bowls with water, and indicate where the stream originates.
- Use the Custom Images feature to indicate which bowl emits which sounds, using custom icons. One for high, one for medium, and one for low.
The above puzzles are designed to be setting-agnostic, so other than a few mechanisms, most of these puzzles should translate well to any type of dungeon or map. Whether encountered in ancient crypts, decadent castles, or forest clearings, each of these puzzles should introduce a break in the action that will get players' minds spinning without driving them up a wall. If you’re looking for more inspiration, start with designing the dungeon itself, and allow the overarching theme/story of your dungeon to inform your puzzles, or look at classic dungeons like Castle Ravenloft or The Sunless Citadel and take lessons from the way they lead players into various traps and conundrums.
To many, puzzles are the best part of the TTRPG experience, so taking the time to really flesh them out will go a long way for your table. While a good dungeon puzzle requires little more than your own imagination, bringing it to life is leagues easier with Dungeon Scrawl Pro, offering everything from Lighting tools, Custom Presets, Unlimited Cloud Library, and more!
Aedan Hunter is a TTRPG writer and content creator with a background in marketing and copywriting. Drawing on his experience in stand-up and improv comedy, Aedan approaches tabletop games as a social medium, creating content that strengthens table dynamics while connecting the hobby to broader cultural audiences.