Avoid these 12 terrible puzzle mistakes that ruin games

15K views • 1 year ago • 11:43 These are the 12 things you should NEVER do when you make a puzzle for D&D. PATREON | Get loads of D&D 5e and Pathfinder 2e adventures, traps, puzzles, monsters, and Foundry VTT modules. Reduce your prep time; run amazing games! https://www.patreon.com/thedmlair NEWSLETTER | Monthly RPG book giveaways and free D&D 5e and Pathfinder 2e goodies emailed to you every week! - https://thedmlair.getresponsepages.com/ This video dives into designing D&D puzzles that challenge players directly, making games more engaging and immersive. Learn how to create balanced, story-driven puzzles that go beyond dice rolls and involve player problem-solving, keeping gameplay dynamic and exciting. We explore essential tips for fitting puzzles naturally into your D&D world, with stakes that matter and puzzles that encourage teamwork and creativity. Avoid common mistakes like overly simple or too-difficult puzzles that disrupt flow, and instead build puzzles that enhance the adventure. Perfect for dungeon masters looking to add rewarding challenges, this guide makes D&D puzzle design easy and fun. 🔴 ASK ME QUESTIONS https://forms.gle/zKXscNMuUdbj4EAo6 🔴 SUPPORT & GM RESOURCES The DM Lair Store https://thedmlair.com/ Newsletter https://thedmlair.getresponsepages.com/ Patreon https://www.patreon.com/thedmlair Lairs & Legends https://thedmlair.com/collections/lairs-legends The Secret Art of Game Mastery https://thedmlair.com/collections/the-secret-art-of-game-mastery on Audible: https://www.audible.com/pd/The-Secret-Art-of-Game-Mastery-Audiobook/B0D73ZN1D2?action_code=ASSGB149080119000H&share_location=pdp Lairs & Legends 2 https://lairs-and-legends-2.backerkit.com/hosted_preorders Firelight Fables Candles Use promo code THEDMLAIR to get 10% off. https://www.firelightfables.com/ 🔴 SOCIALS Discord https://discord.gg/thedmlair X (Twitter) https://x.com/TheDMLair ~~2025 Convention Schedule~~ Please come up and say hi if you see me! GAMA Expo | February 23-27 Gary Con | March 20-23 Chaosium Con | ??? Origins | June 18-22 Gen Con | August 1-4 Gamehole Con | ??? Intro 0:00 #1 The Puzzle Is Too Hard 1:26 #2 Too Many Puzzles 2:07 #3 The Puzzle Only Has One Solution 2:58 Sleazy Plug 3:28 #4 The Puzzle Relies Too Much on Dice Rolls 4:06 #5 The Puzzle Prevents Forward Progress 4:53 #6 The Puzzle Involves Illogical Assumptions 5:52 #7 The Puzzle Relies on One Character to Solve It 6:40 #8 The Puzzle Doesn’t Belong 7:30 #9 The Puzzle Has No Stakes 8:49 #10 The Puzzle Takes Too Long to Solve 9:32 #11 The Puzzle Uses Magic or Mechanical Design That Is Out-of-Place 10:23 #12 The Puzzle Is One and Done 10:53 #dungeonsanddragons #dungeonmaster #ttrpg