Designing a weird dungeon based around the idea of a pocket-plane that grew out of control (inspired in part by House of Leaves and Control).
For one of the puzzles I want to present the party with a room where what they need is beneath an impossibly heavy object (currently an obsidian pillar or some such), the idea being that if they progress down a specific hallway it will reverse the gravity, but if they try to return that way it will reverse back, requiring another approach. I don't want it to be as simple as "go through the hallway and then trek around back to the room a different way", even if that is ultimately the solution what sorts of complications could the temporarily reversed gravity create on a space that's like if The Overlook Hotel and a Rubiks cube had a child?
My mental map is based on the rotating rooms of the Forest Temple of Ocarina of Time, since I'm not familiar with the House of Leaves or Control, but hopefully my ideas will be useful.
The room in question is oddly shaped with some features that identify a surface as a floor or ceiling being on the walls, not just the actual floor and ceiling from your current perspective. The party travels down a long hallway that rotates like an aileron roll. ending perpendicular to the original orientation. Across the room is the trigger, maybe a puzzle to be solved where the players' characters each have to hold up something specific while standing in specific places, which opens the next door, but also causes a massive stone door to slams to the floor behind them. (it can be some sort of heavy-duty cement with lead rebar through it if your players have Stone Shape, otherwise, let it just be a stone door). The door slammed shut because when the door forward was opened, the gravity of the shifting room shifted 90°, and the stone door shifted to reflect the new "down".
The party moves forward through other challenges not related to the rotating room, until they come to another aileron roll hallway, with another puzzle they have to solve on the other end, which when completed, causes a massive stone door to fall down blocking their path back and opening another door forward. They encounter some other challenges and rewards, then enter the shifting room, which they might recognize... the massive pillar is laying on its side in the floor, and the thing they need can be seen in the ceiling hole that the pillar was originally sitting in (maybe it's a tapered hole so the pillar wasn't crushing what was under it, and the needed thing under it is in a chest that's riveted to the ground, which is why it didn't fall when the pillar did now that gravity is fully reversed.
There's a new hallway accessible now from the shifting room, that was previously blocked by a massive stone door, but now that the gravity is reversed, that stone door fell into the slot for it (which was above it in the original orientation). From here there's more puzzles and two more aileron roll hallways before finding another path that leads back into the shifting room, the way down to the thing you needed is now open, because the pillar is now laying next to the wall, having fallen sideways before falling down due to the way gravity shifted.
First, I’d make sure to leave room for the players to come up with some ideas. Like, when I think heavy object, I think reduce + levitate. Or a Goliath rune knight with a 20 str using giant’s might. I’m sure there’s lots of other solutions that wouldn’t involve engaging with the puzzle as you intend.
Beyond that, was this room designed with the intention that it would be flipped over sometimes, or did that happen later? Because that would really impact the design.
I like t omake this sort of one work about the party. So rather than "how do they solve this as a whole", consider that they are multiple individuals.
So, I would say that every person/item at the end of the corridor will cause gravity to reverse for the lightest item in the room. Solution is to move items from the room to the end of the corridor. Ultimately will lead to 1 person and the pillar in the room, and then gravity will reverse for both of them (2 people, it just levitates the 2 people). You could also just say "2 lightest things are inverted gravity". They need to empty the room and leave only one person and the pillar. This will be a puzzle for getting the two things that are floating on the ceiling down!
Make it even trickier by having a point below the gap in the ceiling that the pillar needs to sit in, so if it drops, it falls over! Adds a remembering element when they all walk through later, two of them start floating, and the pillar comes crashing down!
Oh Cube is one of my all time favorite films, and while it informed some of the other traps and puzzles here it doesn't really help with this one. Thank you though!
First off: yes always room for player shenanigans. I think the closest thing they have off the dome is Reduce, but who knows what else they could come up with.
Secondly: That's the tricky part. Canonically this room wasn't "designed" at all, it grew organically out of a spell designed to create living spaces for unhoused people (much of the interior looks like an AI's interpretation of what an old 1920's apartment building would look like). However some parts grew strange and wrong, and with a seeming intelligence of its own. Does that help at all?
This is brilliant! Thank you for putting the time and effort into this answer, it means a lot. I think this concept is the way to go, though I may pare it down a little since this is only meant to be a smaller section of a larger "dungeon", but at its core this is exactly the energy I was thinking.
The party enter a room, for arguements sake its 50ft across. In the centre of the room is the Obsidian pillar. Surrounding the pillar are 8 glyphs, if viewed with Detect Magic style spells or abilities these all radiate Abjuration Magic. The glyphs are all Glyphs of Warding. Above the pillar is a hole the same shape as the pillar. The pillar radiates Transmutation magic if viewed with Detect Magic.
Leading out of the North side of the room is 100ft long tunnel, this tunnel leads to nowhere and is a dead end but does have two more glyphs; one on the floor and one on the ceiling. These are not magical but are written in Primordial , the one of the floor reads "Mountain", the one on the ceiling reads "Feather".
EDIT: in the middle of the tunnel is a 20ft area of magical darkness, this serves no real point aside form causing that moment of "what if something nasty is lurking in it" for the players when they have to walk a character down the tunnel to get out.
The Northen most Glyph of Warding is keyed with a Dimension Door spell which teleports anyone who stands on it to the end of the tunnel. All other glyphs around the pillar have some sort of other magical effect. Along the wall, also written in Primordial, are the words "LIght as a Feather, Heavy as a Mountain".
Anyone standing on the glyphs in the tunnel can say either "LIght as a Feather", which will cause the Pillar to rise, or they can say "Heavy as a Mountain" which will cause the pillar to sink back down. Once they have said "Light as a Feather" enough times the pillar inserts itself into the hole above it and the way on is unlocked.
You can then assign a number of times they have to say Light as a Feather and even assign an arcana check to each one to determine success if you want to and the extra Glyphs of Warding should give them enough to be concerned about if you pop in a mix of explosive runes and other spell effects.
Designing a weird dungeon based around the idea of a pocket-plane that grew out of control (inspired in part by House of Leaves and Control).
For one of the puzzles I want to present the party with a room where what they need is beneath an impossibly heavy object (currently an obsidian pillar or some such), the idea being that if they progress down a specific hallway it will reverse the gravity, but if they try to return that way it will reverse back, requiring another approach. I don't want it to be as simple as "go through the hallway and then trek around back to the room a different way", even if that is ultimately the solution what sorts of complications could the temporarily reversed gravity create on a space that's like if The Overlook Hotel and a Rubiks cube had a child?
My mental map is based on the rotating rooms of the Forest Temple of Ocarina of Time, since I'm not familiar with the House of Leaves or Control, but hopefully my ideas will be useful.
The room in question is oddly shaped with some features that identify a surface as a floor or ceiling being on the walls, not just the actual floor and ceiling from your current perspective. The party travels down a long hallway that rotates like an aileron roll. ending perpendicular to the original orientation. Across the room is the trigger, maybe a puzzle to be solved where the players' characters each have to hold up something specific while standing in specific places, which opens the next door, but also causes a massive stone door to slams to the floor behind them. (it can be some sort of heavy-duty cement with lead rebar through it if your players have Stone Shape, otherwise, let it just be a stone door). The door slammed shut because when the door forward was opened, the gravity of the shifting room shifted 90°, and the stone door shifted to reflect the new "down".
The party moves forward through other challenges not related to the rotating room, until they come to another aileron roll hallway, with another puzzle they have to solve on the other end, which when completed, causes a massive stone door to fall down blocking their path back and opening another door forward. They encounter some other challenges and rewards, then enter the shifting room, which they might recognize... the massive pillar is laying on its side in the floor, and the thing they need can be seen in the ceiling hole that the pillar was originally sitting in (maybe it's a tapered hole so the pillar wasn't crushing what was under it, and the needed thing under it is in a chest that's riveted to the ground, which is why it didn't fall when the pillar did now that gravity is fully reversed.
There's a new hallway accessible now from the shifting room, that was previously blocked by a massive stone door, but now that the gravity is reversed, that stone door fell into the slot for it (which was above it in the original orientation). From here there's more puzzles and two more aileron roll hallways before finding another path that leads back into the shifting room, the way down to the thing you needed is now open, because the pillar is now laying next to the wall, having fallen sideways before falling down due to the way gravity shifted.
Is this the sort of idea you're looking for?
First, I’d make sure to leave room for the players to come up with some ideas. Like, when I think heavy object, I think reduce + levitate. Or a Goliath rune knight with a 20 str using giant’s might. I’m sure there’s lots of other solutions that wouldn’t involve engaging with the puzzle as you intend.
Beyond that, was this room designed with the intention that it would be flipped over sometimes, or did that happen later? Because that would really impact the design.
Watch a movie calmly The Cube, I think you’ll get some inspiration from that.
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I like t omake this sort of one work about the party. So rather than "how do they solve this as a whole", consider that they are multiple individuals.
So, I would say that every person/item at the end of the corridor will cause gravity to reverse for the lightest item in the room. Solution is to move items from the room to the end of the corridor. Ultimately will lead to 1 person and the pillar in the room, and then gravity will reverse for both of them (2 people, it just levitates the 2 people). You could also just say "2 lightest things are inverted gravity". They need to empty the room and leave only one person and the pillar. This will be a puzzle for getting the two things that are floating on the ceiling down!
Make it even trickier by having a point below the gap in the ceiling that the pillar needs to sit in, so if it drops, it falls over! Adds a remembering element when they all walk through later, two of them start floating, and the pillar comes crashing down!
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Oh Cube is one of my all time favorite films, and while it informed some of the other traps and puzzles here it doesn't really help with this one. Thank you though!
First off: yes always room for player shenanigans. I think the closest thing they have off the dome is Reduce, but who knows what else they could come up with.
Secondly: That's the tricky part. Canonically this room wasn't "designed" at all, it grew organically out of a spell designed to create living spaces for unhoused people (much of the interior looks like an AI's interpretation of what an old 1920's apartment building would look like). However some parts grew strange and wrong, and with a seeming intelligence of its own. Does that help at all?
This is brilliant! Thank you for putting the time and effort into this answer, it means a lot. I think this concept is the way to go, though I may pare it down a little since this is only meant to be a smaller section of a larger "dungeon", but at its core this is exactly the energy I was thinking.
Maybe it was Cube 2: Hypercube that had the gravity hijinks.
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If its still needed here's my 2cp worth....
The party enter a room, for arguements sake its 50ft across. In the centre of the room is the Obsidian pillar. Surrounding the pillar are 8 glyphs, if viewed with Detect Magic style spells or abilities these all radiate Abjuration Magic. The glyphs are all Glyphs of Warding. Above the pillar is a hole the same shape as the pillar. The pillar radiates Transmutation magic if viewed with Detect Magic.
Leading out of the North side of the room is 100ft long tunnel, this tunnel leads to nowhere and is a dead end but does have two more glyphs; one on the floor and one on the ceiling. These are not magical but are written in Primordial , the one of the floor reads "Mountain", the one on the ceiling reads "Feather".
EDIT: in the middle of the tunnel is a 20ft area of magical darkness, this serves no real point aside form causing that moment of "what if something nasty is lurking in it" for the players when they have to walk a character down the tunnel to get out.
The Northen most Glyph of Warding is keyed with a Dimension Door spell which teleports anyone who stands on it to the end of the tunnel. All other glyphs around the pillar have some sort of other magical effect. Along the wall, also written in Primordial, are the words "LIght as a Feather, Heavy as a Mountain".
Anyone standing on the glyphs in the tunnel can say either "LIght as a Feather", which will cause the Pillar to rise, or they can say "Heavy as a Mountain" which will cause the pillar to sink back down. Once they have said "Light as a Feather" enough times the pillar inserts itself into the hole above it and the way on is unlocked.
You can then assign a number of times they have to say Light as a Feather and even assign an arcana check to each one to determine success if you want to and the extra Glyphs of Warding should give them enough to be concerned about if you pop in a mix of explosive runes and other spell effects.