A desert-themed astrological puzzle inspired by a 2000 year-old analog computer, an ancient supernova, and the Ziggurat of Ur.

Worn runes on ancient ruins, scrawled annotations on old maps, scribbles in the margins of arcane tomes – cryptic text is a central part of the adventuring experience. Basic encryption schemes are an excellent way to embellish your campaign with a consistent textual theme while allowing for the inclusion of messages hidden in plain sight. This post describes a simple connected cipher, named Crypt, perfect for arcane languages and alien text.

Can you beat the swamp witch at her own game? Voodoo Reinforcement Learning is an interactive puzzle that will set your party on edge.

A primer on guarded doors, honest and dishonest sentries, and tricky questions.

A new twist for a classic puzzle. There are 25 statues of horses around a chessboard, and need to be arranged properly to proceed.

A shape assembly puzzle that can be inserted into any cask/door/wall in a dungeon

Phantom Paths is a mirrored motion puzzle that requires collaboration among three players. Ready to be inserted into pretty much any dungeon or setting.

It lies nestled deep in the wooded hills surrounding Craeger's Crossing, carved from the living rock of the outcroppings which dot the landscape. Evil may not enter. The living may not enter. None who have sought the remains of Sir Valyrian and the Mirror of the Zealot have ever returned. Now it is your chance to perish.

Necropolis is a self-contained role-playing puzzle adventure for three players. Heavily influenced by Dungeon & Dragons and the Tomb of Horrors, this adventure is specifically designed to strip away all of the extra fluff and focus on puzzle solving and sweet, sweet, horror.

Mora stepped up to the wicked-looking pipe-organ; the carved demonic head which it was made from leered silently at him. Sweating with anxiety, Mora looked back to his friends before swallowing hard and shakily bringing his fingers to the ivory.

Mora pressed the keys down into several minor chords, and a thunderous peal of music echoed, sounding mockingly similar to a church. Suddenly, the eyes of the carved head lit up with fire, and with a *WHOOSH* a pillar of flames burst into life around Mora. The man's screams were cut short after just a second and the fire disappeared just as quickly. Mora was gone.

After a moment of shocked silence, Mora's friends cheered excitedly.

The Pendulum Puzzle is a simple ordering challenge backed up by a neat rhyme. Ready to be inserted into pretty much any dungeon or setting.

'We followed the map as best we could, periodically checking our bearings using the chronograph and the sextants that the seer had given us. Eventually we found the deserted location that corresponded to the coordinates on the rapidly disintegrating map. And we began digging...

'We started a trench that went down about fifteen feet into the baking sand and headed due South. After a few hours our spades rang with the sound of steel on stone and as it did so the group gathered round to see what we had hit. Some hand digging revealed a dark black stone that had been carved with a strange texture on it's surface like a series of overlapping layers of petrified tendrils frozen for perhaps a thousand years. It looked and felt utterly alien, and yet our goal lay in the centre of this forbidding artefact.

"Don't just laze about! Help with the seating arrangement! The guests will be here any minute, and the king said everything must be perfect tonight or heads will roll! Now remember, the King must sit at the head of the table with her majesty at his side. Lord and Lady Pemberton must sit next to each other but not next to either the Knight-Commander Gren or his wife.. The Priest Lenard mustn't sit next to any of the attractive Ladies, and the Matriarch will certainly cause a ruckus if not placed in a respectable seat, but don't put her near the wine fountain either. Also, the Ladies...."

A bare bones dungeon concept, you can add the monsters and the treasure al a cart, but the big bads in this crawl are the puzzles.

A celebration of Strolen's 5555th post.

Painted walls and a shadowy figure ... how can these insubstantial elements open that all-too-solid door? A locked-room puzzle with multiple solutions!

A tricky-ish puzzle that will work for both low and high level players.

The party has obtained a treasure map, and it seems pretty straightforward... but digging in the indicated area for hours has revealed nothing...

A local Wizard, rumored to have lost his mind, like he has his hand, Has issued a Challenge and a prize for all. Simple-Enter his tower and find him to claim your prize.

When a young noblewoman goes missing the real cause may not at first be apparent.

Maranesh, God of Magic, wearied of the multitudes of humans who came to him, clamouring to be taught the secrets of magic. So it was that he devised a test that would separate the worthy from the unworthy.

You have all chosen to follow the Path of the Philosopher. Not for you the warrior Path of the Battlemage, fighter for justice, nor the Path of the Healer, worthy though it may be to heal the sick. Equally you have rejected the Path of the Artificer, the tinkerers, who work on devices and techniques, as well as the Path of the Loremaster, who merely delves and catalogues the knowledge of the past. No, you have decided upon the Path of the Philosopher, the highest calling, the way of true enquiry, where you will probe the realms of higher mathematics, ponder the meaning of truth itself and tease out the deepest secrets of nature and the workings of the world.