[D&D All] 101 Dungeon Puzzles & Mysteries | Dungeons & Dragons / Fantasy D20 Spotlight (2025)

(Inspired by the cool puzzle in this post.)

1) Match the Mirror: The reflection shown in the mirror in this room isn't right. There's an extra object, or an object missing (or even an extra person!). The players need to find the missing object, and place it in the right spot in the mirror to pass.

2) Orbs unleashed: Three orbs await infusion with elemental energies. In the correct order, they will become a powerful tool for the PCs. In the wrong order, they will explode, destroying themselves and damaging the characters.

3) History in the Making: The history lessons about this battle are all wrong. Scattered through-out the castle are journals and battle logs from the soldiers who fought in it. If the characters can piece together the truth, they can clear their ancestor's names.

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4) Lack of Support: A fairly starightforward puzzle. The treasure the PCs are looking for has been hidden within a false support on the lowest level of the dungeon. Useing the blueprints and the builder's notes, they need to figure out which one to destroy.

5) Weighing in: The classic weight problem, with a twist - instead of matching the weights exactly, they need to make one side weight slightly more, without weighing it down too much, so that the other will rise slowly into the hole in the ceiling as an elevator, instead of a catapult.

JoAT said:

(Inspired by the cool puzzle in this post.)

1) Match the Mirror: The reflection shown in the mirror in this room isn't right. There's an extra object, or an object missing (or even an extra person!). The players need to find the missing object, and place it in the right spot in the mirror to pass.

Click to expand...

I am absolutely, without a doubt, stealing this one. You have been mugged; do not pass "Go," do not collect 200gp.

I'm loving everything here so far, and I think the mirror one is my favorite too. Here's my own contribution, which I will be rolling out in my next session:

6) Lend me a... There is a statue on a rotating base. The statue is of a wizard with one arm out, hand open, and the other hand pointing a wand at the first. There are two magic runes engraved in the floor, several feet apart. If the PCs put the correct object in the statue's hand and turn it to face the correct rune, it summons something cool (phat lewtz, a key to the goal area, whatever). With the wrong object and/or the wrong rune, it summons a demon to attack them. There are clues elsewhere in the dungeon to indicate what the correct stuff is (in my setup it's a portrait of the same wizard, holding the correct object, and with the correct rune drawn in the background somewhere).

I think the best puzzles are ones that aren't obviously puzzles- a sudoko grid locking a door (perhaps with arcane runes or gems instead of numbers) can be a mental challenge and a fun minigame, but it's pretty obviously so, and can be frustrating if the players don't like puzzles. Most of the ones listed so far are good, especially if they're presented in a way that doesn't overemphasize the puzzleness: a character with a good Perception skill might notice the weirdness in the mirror room, but players could choose to shrug it off or explore it.

7) Putting the Clues Together: The characters are doing research of some kind. Each successful skill check yields a specific clue, written on a piece of paper as a handout to the players. Each clue is useful information in its own right, but if the players are canny and put the context and subtext together, they might gather an even bigger picture about what's going on.

I'm trying to add more of these to my games - roleplay is fun, and so are fights, but sometimes, you really need to get the brain going. (Also - running a Legend of Zelda game soon, which is translating into a need to think of puzzles, puzzles and more puzzles!).

8) Justice! Or is it...? This one requires a bit of lateral thinking. A the question of a murder is presented to the PCs, a young noble killed to death in his own room. Only two suspects remain - his servant, an honest youth which he often abused, and his father, a cruel man given to fits of rage. The youth has a strong reputation for honesty, and a sweet temper, but his only alibi is that he was asleep, alone when the crime was committed. The father is well known for his cruelty and temper, but another noble, a good friend of his, vouches for his whereabouts. The PCs must decide which to send to the gallows.

Now, here's where the lateral thinking part comes in. This puzzle can be presented in multiple locals, and the answer different in each. If found in a temple of a god of evil or power, sentencing the youth is the answer. In one devoted to good, the father. And in a temple devoted to Justice, the correct answer is to sentence neither, for there is not enough evidence to convict them.

JoAT said:

(Inspired by the cool puzzle in this post.)

3) History in the Making: The history lessons about this battle are all wrong. Scattered through-out the castle are journals and battle logs from the soldiers who fought in it. If the characters can piece together the truth, they can clear their ancestor's names.

Click to expand...

This one is really great. Immediate inspiration.

More fun with mirrors!

9. Tesser-mirror-act: There is a mirror on the wall. It can be removed from the wall, but is just a bit too large to remove from the room without breaking it. The mirror appears to show a reflection of the room (complete with reflected characters), but if it is moved, it will be seen to be a magic portal into another room. It can be placed on all four walls, as well as the ceiling and floor, and on each wall it opens into a different chamber. The mirror is the only way to reach these chambers. A character can step through the mirror, like quicksilver, but will find that the party's "evil twins" are in the room in the mirror. -- And his "evil twin" exits just as he was entering. The evil twins will attack the party instantly, but any attacks on a twin also affect the real character, and vice versa. If one dies, the other dies. (How to deal with this, I have no idea!) Each of the six rooms has a piece of a key, and when all six parts are assembled, it leads somewhere else. If the mirror is broken, the rooms become inaccessable, but the evil twins will continue to stalk the party through mirrors and reflections.

10. Treasure Trick: A chest in the room is empty. There is a mirror on the wall, that shows everything to be normal, except that the chest contains treasures and magic items. As the party watches in the mirror, and old man comes and removes an item from the mirror-chest and leaves again. He does this repeatedly until the chest is empty, at which time he points at the party and laughs hysterically. If the mirror is tilted on its side, the remaining treasure will spill out of the chest upon the floor, both in the mirror and in reality. If the old man is present when this happens, he will also fall down and appear in the room, where he will answer one question truthfully (with a cryptic riddle of course)before cackling and disappearing in a puff of smoke. (Shamelessly stolen from Pulp Dungeons: An Infestation of Kobalds, but its too good to ignore)

(I used this one in my Dark Sun game, it seemed to go over quite well)The Party:

PCs are invited to a lavish party to celebrate a noble that's fabulously wealthy. They've been tipped off, however, that one of the attendees is a Defiler (or a BBEG, a corrupt official, a cultist, etc). The PCs get a list of names and a couple tips, otherwise it's up to them to find out who the bad guy is, and what to do with him.

I laid out events that took place over the course of the night, such as dinner, speeches, drinking, tours of the wine cellar, and a game of Three Dragon Ante with several of the suspects.

It was a unique and fun session, I felt. The PCs successfully identified the bad guy, which was even better.