So my players will soon have to make their way through a dungeon to rescue a princess. The princess is a demon in disguise trapped by a witch who finally caught her after years of trying.
The tower she's in will be trapped by various obstacles to prevent certain things from rescuing this powerful demon.
As in, to prevent someone from sending a horde of zombies to rush some defense, there's a puzzle involving pulling certain levers while someone jumps some platforms.
There's a blood sacrifice puzzle to prevent undead from getting past a certain point.
Because the whole reason to have a lock on something is to keep out everyone BUT YOU. So there's this powerful demi-god being who wants to keep out things from this prison. What else would you try to keep out? What "lock" would you put on it that you could also pass through?
The blood sacrifice keeps out any kind of machines
Logic puzzle to prevent someone trying to mount a huge assault on the tower.
There's a "Final Room" full of monks who are kind of "blessed undead" whose job it is to destroy anything evil that comes into the room as a last ditch effort.
I had to upvote your post because you've hit upon something that so many GMs miss: Puzzles and Traps need to exist for an in-game reason, and don't exist as pure abstract puzzles in Adventures for any other reason than it's traditional ( thanks J.R.R. Tolkien and your design of the back entrance to Moria :p ) - and, IMHO, a stupid tradition at that.
OK, onward.
I don't have any concrete puzzle or trap suggestions, but I think you've almost got the means to answer your own question ( although you haven't communicated it completely enough for me to use it on your behalf ).
Ask yourself three questions: Who did the witch think would try to reach the Demon Princess who she wanted to keep out?Who did the witch think would try to reach the Demon Princess who she wanted to allow to reach her?What characteristics differentiate the first group, from the second?
That's the basis for all the traps/security barriers in your dungeon. Much of security is built around something you know, something you have, or something you are. That can flow both ways, positive & negative: a barrier might not allow you by unless you are alive ( your blood sacrifice example ), or a trap might only work if you are alive ( a level of dungeon filled with poison gas ). Another example ( taken from Critical Role ) is creatures that target only individuals using spells ( disallow magic users, ) and the inverse of that was a portal that only activated when it absorbed evocation spell energy ( only allow magic users ).
Your puzzle/trap barrier should either test for a characteristic that only the allowed group would have, or a characteristic that only the disallowed group would have - or both, or some combination ( e.g. - you need to be alive, a magic user, and not an Arcanist ), and act accordingly: If "allowed" is detected, barriers fall; If "disallowed" is detected, traps go off.
Then you - as the GM - need to think of a way that the barrier could be tricked, or circumvented. Yes - it is the job of your Players to come up with their own solution, but you as the GM should be confident that there is at least one way to get by the barrier, or you need to edit your Barrier so that there is such a way. Also - don't make the means of bypassing the barrier too difficult. Remember, things might look obvious to you as the GM, with perfect knowledge of the world - things are a lot less obvious to the Players.
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In a manner, my current dungeon has a "puzzle" where the party simply needs to find the key in their search of a room. They also benefit if they find the partial map of the dungeon from a clue in a letter. The map isn't required, but it should make navigating the dungeon more fun. In this particular case, the key is being carried in the NPCs bag of tobacco (or you fill in the leaf here). If you open the pouch and see it has tobacco and then set it aside, you don't find the key. But as a fail safe, if the party chooses to share the tobacco with a friendly NPC he will find the key when he goes to fill his pipe.
In my experience, you need to be very careful creating a puzzle that must be solved to allow the plot to move forward. Give yourself some "outs."
Good luck and have fun.
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So my players will soon have to make their way through a dungeon to rescue a princess. The princess is a demon in disguise trapped by a witch who finally caught her after years of trying.
The tower she's in will be trapped by various obstacles to prevent certain things from rescuing this powerful demon.
As in, to prevent someone from sending a horde of zombies to rush some defense, there's a puzzle involving pulling certain levers while someone jumps some platforms.
There's a blood sacrifice puzzle to prevent undead from getting past a certain point.
Because the whole reason to have a lock on something is to keep out everyone BUT YOU. So there's this powerful demi-god being who wants to keep out things from this prison. What else would you try to keep out? What "lock" would you put on it that you could also pass through?
The blood sacrifice keeps out any kind of machines
Logic puzzle to prevent someone trying to mount a huge assault on the tower.
There's a "Final Room" full of monks who are kind of "blessed undead" whose job it is to destroy anything evil that comes into the room as a last ditch effort.
I had to upvote your post because you've hit upon something that so many GMs miss: Puzzles and Traps need to exist for an in-game reason, and don't exist as pure abstract puzzles in Adventures for any other reason than it's traditional ( thanks J.R.R. Tolkien and your design of the back entrance to Moria :p ) - and, IMHO, a stupid tradition at that.
OK, onward.
I don't have any concrete puzzle or trap suggestions, but I think you've almost got the means to answer your own question ( although you haven't communicated it completely enough for me to use it on your behalf ).
Ask yourself three questions: Who did the witch think would try to reach the Demon Princess who she wanted to keep out? Who did the witch think would try to reach the Demon Princess who she wanted to allow to reach her? What characteristics differentiate the first group, from the second?
That's the basis for all the traps/security barriers in your dungeon. Much of security is built around something you know, something you have, or something you are. That can flow both ways, positive & negative: a barrier might not allow you by unless you are alive ( your blood sacrifice example ), or a trap might only work if you are alive ( a level of dungeon filled with poison gas ). Another example ( taken from Critical Role ) is creatures that target only individuals using spells ( disallow magic users, ) and the inverse of that was a portal that only activated when it absorbed evocation spell energy ( only allow magic users ).
Your puzzle/trap barrier should either test for a characteristic that only the allowed group would have, or a characteristic that only the disallowed group would have - or both, or some combination ( e.g. - you need to be alive, a magic user, and not an Arcanist ), and act accordingly: If "allowed" is detected, barriers fall; If "disallowed" is detected, traps go off.
Then you - as the GM - need to think of a way that the barrier could be tricked, or circumvented. Yes - it is the job of your Players to come up with their own solution, but you as the GM should be confident that there is at least one way to get by the barrier, or you need to edit your Barrier so that there is such a way. Also - don't make the means of bypassing the barrier too difficult. Remember, things might look obvious to you as the GM, with perfect knowledge of the world - things are a lot less obvious to the Players.
Hope that helps! Best of luck :)
My DM Philosophy, as summed up by other people: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1rN5w4-azTq3Kbn0Yvk9nfqQhwQ1R5by1/view
Disclaimer: This signature is a badge of membership in the Forum Loudmouth Club. We are all friends. We are not attacking each other. We are engaging in spirited, friendly debate with one another. We may get snarky, but these are not attacks. Thank you for not reporting us.
In a manner, my current dungeon has a "puzzle" where the party simply needs to find the key in their search of a room. They also benefit if they find the partial map of the dungeon from a clue in a letter. The map isn't required, but it should make navigating the dungeon more fun. In this particular case, the key is being carried in the NPCs bag of tobacco (or you fill in the leaf here). If you open the pouch and see it has tobacco and then set it aside, you don't find the key. But as a fail safe, if the party chooses to share the tobacco with a friendly NPC he will find the key when he goes to fill his pipe.
In my experience, you need to be very careful creating a puzzle that must be solved to allow the plot to move forward. Give yourself some "outs."
Good luck and have fun.