Whenever I plan a session, design a module, or build a dungeon, I surround myself with resources, both physical and digital. A rollable table of dungeon items here, an article on devising good traps there. There's no shortage of material these days when looking for inspiration for almost anything you can think of in the OSR TTRPG space. Almost anything.
The one area, I have found, where it is difficult to uncover usable examples and advice is PUZZLES. I love a good puzzle, both in life and in-world. Like many of you fine folk my favorite games are those that encourage the players to debate choices, postulate solutions, and generate plans. What I don’t like are games where you just roll a die, check a character sheet, reveal the key information, and move on.
This is where puzzles, in game design, really come into their own. We want our friends to think creatively and collaboratively when they play with us. We want them to experience "a-ha" moments. We want them to be on the edge of their seat wondering if they "got it right". We want them to stop saying things like "my character wouldn't know that" and start shouting excitedly "I think I know what this is!" Or, at least, that's what I want my players to do.
With this in mind it can be almost impossible to find a pre-designed puzzle that slots right in to our dungeon rooms or wilderness points of interest. Adapting monsters, traps and other aspects of the myriad resources on our shelves can be pretty easy. Finding and altering puzzles in other games, not so much.
So then we think smugly to ourselves, "I'll design a puzzle". This, in my experience, is an extremely difficult thing to achieve. What do the characters see? What does it mean? How will the players engage with it? Most importantly, what is the solution? In pondering that last question, recently, I actually experienced my own "a-ha" moment. It occurred to me that the design of a good puzzle comes down to a devilishly simple concept:
Design your puzzle to have no solution.
Think about it. Much like any type of planning we do, the one thing we can be assured of is that the players will not behave or decide in the manner in which we predict they will. This is the core of our beautiful hobby. The best sessions always end up with the Narrator saying "well, that didn't go anything like I thought it would!"
Knowing this to be the true tenet of roleplaying games allows us to lean into the creative chaos of the players and take the pressure off ourselves when it comes to devising a puzzle.
All you need to do is think of two components:
What bonkers thing will the party see, hear, or smell?
What clue, item, or advantage will be the reward for "solving" the puzzle?
From there it is up to the collaborative storytelling of you all as a group. Remind your players that the solution to the puzzle is not on their character sheet, and let them take it from there. Be the neutral mediator in their discussion. Prod and poke them when they need it, and give the group lots of "yes .. and" encouragement.
The solution, for this group in this moment, will organically make itself known. If you still like to roll some dice, yourself, to see if they succeed (or to what extent they succeed), you can. Make a judgment call on what percentage chance the group's suggested solution has of being "right". Roll a d100 and inform them of the result. If they succeeded then that becomes the puzzle's answer. If they didn't "solve" it then I guess they'll never know what the answer was ... and neither will you, which is fine.
The next time you use that puzzle, for a different group, the solution will most likely turn out to be something completely different. As for the reward for solving the puzzle that really depends on the rest of your adventure and what types of goodies your players are excited by. If in doubt remember the mantra ... secret passage.
OK ... OK ... everyone loves a table.
Let's give some love to the often overlooked, yet exceedingly pleasing to use, d12.
d12 dungeon puzzles just begging for a solution:
In a circular room with two of the exits blocked by portcullises you find an ice sculpture of a rat rotating slowly, suspended from the ceiling by a long copper wire.
A small oak sapling sits in an ornate pot, in a tunnel alcove. It has a single green leaf. The soil is damp and smells like tomato soup.
A locked door has a small panel of glass embedded in the wall beside it. Looking in the glass is like peering into a mirror that shows you to be at least a decade younger.
You find a diorama of a graveyard, made out of chocolate. One of the three-inch tall headstones belongs to a random party member. Touching it causes them burning pain.
Three keys adorned with monkey faces (one with no eyes, one with no ears, one with no mouth) sit on a plinth with a sign reading "Take ONE Only".
A skeleton is found, in a room or a corridor, walking repeatedly into the same spot on the wall. It won't be distracted from this activity, but small pieces of bone are regularly coming loose.
A player character finds a scrap of paper in their pocket that says "If you do that one more time, I'm coming for you".
The group finds a room where the floor is tiled. Some tiles are green, some are red, some are yellow. The far wall has three sconces, each holding a torch blazing with purple flame.
A chalk circle has been drawn on the floor and, immediately above it, one of the same circumference is drawn on the ceiling. The floor circle contains twelve identical marbles.
An ornate brass bell is suspended in mid-air by nothing at all. When struck, no sound is heard, but one random party member tastes blood.
You find a shallow well of perfectly still water. If the party all look into it at the same time one of them is missing even though, individually, everyone casts a reflection.
A large hourglass lies on its side, sand in both ends. If a character (or characters) stands it up, their shadow/s begin to drain away at the rate of the falling sand.
What are the solutions? Don't ask me ... ask your players!