I’m about to start running my first proper campaign for a few friends. I ran a one shot a few weeks ago for some of them which included a lot of puzzles which they enjoyed and I want to add into the campaign.
The puzzles included things like a checkmating a game of chess in one move and moving a glowing orb around a room into the correct spot that they had to deduce from objects in the room. Puzzles that challenged the players as much as their characters and made them work together.
Does anyone know a decent list of puzzles I can pull inspiration from that aren’t just riddles? Also what puzzles have you experienced as a DM or player that you enjoyed?
Puzzle can be tricky. Not being able to see something can turn a rudimentary challenge into a nightmare. Consider a well drawn diagram or props if it isnt a language based puzzle or riddle. I would also look to video games for examples. Click and point adventures are a treasure trove of the type of “solve puzzle to progress” puzzles you seem to be looking for. And one last piece of friendly advice: Leave two more clues than you think you’ll need, and make sure at least one is obvious.
As far as sources: I’ve gotten quite a bit of use out of “The Game Master’s Book of Traps, Puzzles and Dungeons.” There might also be older edition books you can find pdfs for online.
I don’t really play video games so I don’t have much to draw from.
Thanks, I’ll check the book out