This is my first post here, been playing since 3rd edition, played as a player only a handful of times, and in my group I have become the forever DM. I love it behind the screen. I have my regular adult group, and I run an "intro" kind of a group with a bunch of kids for my local Park District.
Anyway I have an idea for a dungeon that I'm having a little trouble with that I want to send my players into (Both groups) I would love to see how they each think through it.
ok here is the idea: this is a small dungeon, as they enter there is a central dais or an alter of some sort in the center. On said alter there is a box or a container that is closed and cant be opened. This box appears to be controlled by switches that need to be activated for it to open. So here is the layout idea. From the central room there are 3 short paths that lead to 3 different rooms equal in size and shape maybe similar looking overall. Inside each room is a lever or mechanism that needs to be activated to open the box in the central room. when a switch is activated a door closes the player inside and there is a death trap of some sort or dead mans switch. once all 3 are activated the box opens and the players can get the item inside. I plan on the item inside to be quite important to the campaign.
Ok here is the catch: What I want to happen is that if you throw one of the switches without the others the box doesn't open. But when the switches are activated they create a group dead mans switch. For example a door closes off one of the rooms and it fills with water. This is meant to make the party realize they need to face the dangers in each room and possibly take some damage when opening the box. And I'm hoping this will create some panic in the group. lol
Anyway let me know what you think, and if you have any ideas, mostly having trouble working on the other 2 rooms and what traps to add.
I know this will be a complicated dungeon but I like to give my players challenges like this sometime to change things up.
Is there a “theme” to the dungeon or a characteristic of the treasure that you can work with? One approach might be that the rooms are functionally similar, but each provides a different kind of elemental damage. The party might then investigate each room to guess what kind of damage they would have to withstand, and choose the party member most resistant to that type of damage. You could also design the rooms as a kind of “circuit” where each player has to withstand an arcane/electrical/etc. charge as it goes through their body in order to reach the next room, and all three players have to “connect’ to the circuit simultaneously (and take damage) for the charge to travel from room a - c and the treasure box to be released.
That's not a bad idea, I like the circuit idea. I mentioned the water room, and I was thinking about one being fire. I don't want the party members to endure too much damage just want to scare them more than anything.
you asked about a theme, in fear that one of my players sees this post I will try to explain as spoiler free as possible. This is for a Home brew campaign. The over aching of the story for the campaign is following a prophecy and and investigating clues, and as several items that are needed for them to find the answers they are looking for they will come across a series of puzzles like this. maybe easier maybe worse. When I put this together I was thinking about the kind of death traps that Indiana Jones or Lara Croft might have to deal with.
If you choose Earth as your third element, you could go with a collapsing ceiling or maybe quicksand. If you choose Air, you could maybe go with poison gas.
In terms of themes, you don’t have to stick to purely elemental, or damage type, etc. Does the party have any specific traits they lean into for storytelling? If you have a Druid, maybe one room is a kitchen, and they need to overcome the rotten vines that attack intruders. Or you could have an armor room that comes to life when a worthy opponent enters the room for the fighter. Catering to the character’s backstory/skills always makes for a wild session, and it can open pathways for a deeper plot line later on. That being said, it’s easy to lean into pandering territory, so be cautious to avoid heavy-handed ness or making each room for one specific player (teamwork makes the dream work) This sounds super cool- your party’s gonna love it :)
Hey thanks for the specific traits thought, that's not a bad way to go either. the whole point of these puzzle dungeons is to open up deeper plot lines. Each one is designed to make them dig deeper. so far, it's been really fun to watch them get upset at the end of each session. I have the giant plot outlined to the end so ultimately i know where is going but I'm allowing for them to wander in the world. i also give them enough choices so they may end up doing a different puzzle at a different time that i intended which means they might get plot lines out of order which adds to the puzzle and i get to watch them put it all together.
glad you like the idea so far.
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Hello everyone,
This is my first post here, been playing since 3rd edition, played as a player only a handful of times, and in my group I have become the forever DM. I love it behind the screen. I have my regular adult group, and I run an "intro" kind of a group with a bunch of kids for my local Park District.
Anyway I have an idea for a dungeon that I'm having a little trouble with that I want to send my players into (Both groups) I would love to see how they each think through it.
ok here is the idea: this is a small dungeon, as they enter there is a central dais or an alter of some sort in the center. On said alter there is a box or a container that is closed and cant be opened. This box appears to be controlled by switches that need to be activated for it to open. So here is the layout idea. From the central room there are 3 short paths that lead to 3 different rooms equal in size and shape maybe similar looking overall. Inside each room is a lever or mechanism that needs to be activated to open the box in the central room. when a switch is activated a door closes the player inside and there is a death trap of some sort or dead mans switch. once all 3 are activated the box opens and the players can get the item inside. I plan on the item inside to be quite important to the campaign.
Ok here is the catch: What I want to happen is that if you throw one of the switches without the others the box doesn't open. But when the switches are activated they create a group dead mans switch. For example a door closes off one of the rooms and it fills with water. This is meant to make the party realize they need to face the dangers in each room and possibly take some damage when opening the box. And I'm hoping this will create some panic in the group. lol
Anyway let me know what you think, and if you have any ideas, mostly having trouble working on the other 2 rooms and what traps to add.
I know this will be a complicated dungeon but I like to give my players challenges like this sometime to change things up.
Thanks for reading.
Is there a “theme” to the dungeon or a characteristic of the treasure that you can work with? One approach might be that the rooms are functionally similar, but each provides a different kind of elemental damage. The party might then investigate each room to guess what kind of damage they would have to withstand, and choose the party member most resistant to that type of damage. You could also design the rooms as a kind of “circuit” where each player has to withstand an arcane/electrical/etc. charge as it goes through their body in order to reach the next room, and all three players have to “connect’ to the circuit simultaneously (and take damage) for the charge to travel from room a - c and the treasure box to be released.
That's not a bad idea, I like the circuit idea. I mentioned the water room, and I was thinking about one being fire. I don't want the party members to endure too much damage just want to scare them more than anything.
you asked about a theme, in fear that one of my players sees this post I will try to explain as spoiler free as possible. This is for a Home brew campaign. The over aching of the story for the campaign is following a prophecy and and investigating clues, and as several items that are needed for them to find the answers they are looking for they will come across a series of puzzles like this. maybe easier maybe worse. When I put this together I was thinking about the kind of death traps that Indiana Jones or Lara Croft might have to deal with.
thanks for the circuit idea though!
If you choose Earth as your third element, you could go with a collapsing ceiling or maybe quicksand. If you choose Air, you could maybe go with poison gas.
In terms of themes, you don’t have to stick to purely elemental, or damage type, etc. Does the party have any specific traits they lean into for storytelling? If you have a Druid, maybe one room is a kitchen, and they need to overcome the rotten vines that attack intruders. Or you could have an armor room that comes to life when a worthy opponent enters the room for the fighter. Catering to the character’s backstory/skills always makes for a wild session, and it can open pathways for a deeper plot line later on. That being said, it’s easy to lean into pandering territory, so be cautious to avoid heavy-handed ness or making each room for one specific player (teamwork makes the dream work)
This sounds super cool- your party’s gonna love it :)
Hey thanks for the specific traits thought, that's not a bad way to go either. the whole point of these puzzle dungeons is to open up deeper plot lines. Each one is designed to make them dig deeper. so far, it's been really fun to watch them get upset at the end of each session. I have the giant plot outlined to the end so ultimately i know where is going but I'm allowing for them to wander in the world. i also give them enough choices so they may end up doing a different puzzle at a different time that i intended which means they might get plot lines out of order which adds to the puzzle and i get to watch them put it all together.
glad you like the idea so far.