A riddle on a door, a trap in the floor, a lock with three dials. Write each puzzle once, with its answer and its hints, and you'll never be caught out at the table.
Two ways to make a puzzle
Every puzzle lives on the Puzzles page. Create with Wizard walks you through it a section at a time. Manual puts every field on one page.
Create with WizardAnswer one section at a time, with guidance on what each field needsManualWrite one from scratch: premise, solution, hints, and how it resolves
The Puzzles page, with its two ways to make a puzzle
Basics
To use the wizard, start with Basics: a name, and a one-line summary you can read straight off the list. Only the name is required.
1. Basics
2. Level & place
3. Premise & solution
4. Resolution
5. Soundscape
6. Review
Name
What shows in your puzzles list. Keep it short enough to spot at a glance.
The Moon Door
Summary
A one-line hook you can read straight off the list, e.g. "a locked vault door with three carved dials."
A round stone door with th
NextCancel
Basics: a name and a one-line summary
Press Next, and this step is saved. If you stop halfway, the puzzle waits on your list marked Unfinished.
Waiting on your Puzzles list
The Moon Door
A round stone door with three carved moons, each one a dial.
Unfinished
Delete
A puzzle you stopped halfway, waiting on your list
Level and place
Set the party level it's built for, and the location it belongs to, if it has one.
Suggested party level
The party level this is built for. Also shown to other DMs if you share it.
3▾
Location
Ties this puzzle to one of your campaign’s locations, if it belongs to one.
The Sunken Chapel▾
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Level and place: the party level and the location
Premise and solution
The Premise is what the players see: the situation, and the clues in front of them. The Solution is the answer, and how the party reaches it. Your players never see it.
Premise
What the players see and interact with: the situation, the clues in front of them.
A round stone door seals the crypt. Three carved dials show the moon, and a verse is painted around the arch.
Solution
The answer and how the party reaches it. Shared with other DMs if you submit this, but never shown to your players.
Read the verse from the bott
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Premise and solution: what the players see, and the answer
Resolution
Hints are the clues you hand out when the party gets stuck, from a gentle nudge to a near giveaway. So when the table goes quiet, help is already written. Then the Success outcome: what solving it grants or unlocks.
Hints
Clues you can hand out if the party gets stuck, from gentle nudge to near-giveaway.
1. The verse is read from the bottom up. 2. Each line names a moon. 3. The last line sets the first dial.
Success outcome
What solving it grants or unlocks.
The door rolls aside, opening the chapel’s hidden rel
Hints, and what solving the puzzle grants
Linking a reward
Right under it, Linked items holds the treasure. Press Add item, choose one of your items, and press Link. It shows as Pending until the puzzle is solved.
Linked items (Optional)
Item rewards for solving this puzzle. A pending reward moves into inventory once this puzzle is marked Success on the Run Campaign screen, and its gold is added to party gold. Change this in Settings
Moonsilver Key
Pending
Remove
Add item
Roll new loot
Significance
Notable find▾
CR (optional)e.g. 3
A worthwhile reward for a real fight. Add a challenge rating to scale the drop to what the puzzle guards.
At the table
✓Brannoc HaleLevel 3
✓Isolde FennLevel 3
✓Sir Roland BrightshieldLevel 3
✓Wren AshdownLevel 3
Party levels3, 3, 3, 3
4 characters · average level 3
Roll loot
Linked items, with a key waiting as a pending reward
Rolling new loot
No reward in mind? Roll new loot. Choose how significant the find is, and Critsmith matches it to the party at the table. Press Roll loot, and re-roll as often as you like. When it looks right, press Add to inventory and link to this puzzle. The coins and items wait, pending, until the party earns them.
Significance
Notable find▾
CR (optional)e.g. 3
A worthwhile reward for a real fight. Add a challenge rating to scale the drop to what the puzzle guards.
At the table
✓Brannoc HaleLevel 3
✓Isolde FennLevel 3
✓Sir Roland BrightshieldLevel 3
✓Wren AshdownLevel 3
Party levels3, 3, 3, 3
4 characters · average level 3
Re-roll
85 gp2 items
Cloak of ProtectionUncommon
Potion of HealingCommon
Queued as a pending reward, linked to this puzzle. It moves into inventory and party gold once the puzzle is marked Success on the Run Campaign screen.
Rolled loot, matched to a party of four at level 3
Failure and notes
Last on this step, the Failure outcome, for when they give up or take the wrong path. And your DM-only notes, which no player ever sees.
Soundscape and review
The Soundscape step picks what plays while the puzzle is on screen, and soundscapes have their own guide. Press Continue to review, check everything on one card, and press Finish. Your new puzzle is on the list, marked New.
Review
Everything you set on the previous steps. Go back to change anything, or finish to save.
Name
The Moon Door
Summary
A round stone door with three carved moons, each one a dial.
Suggested party level
3
Location
The Sunken Chapel
Premise
A round stone door seals the crypt. Three carved dials show the moon, and a verse is painted around the arch.
Solution
Read the verse from the bottom up: full, new, half.
Hints
1. The verse is read from the bottom up. 2. Each line names a moon. 3. The last line sets the first dial.
Success outcome
The door rolls aside, opening the chapel’s hidden reliquary.
Failure outcome
Cold water floods the antechamber, and the door stays shut until dawn.
DM-only notes
Brother Tobin wrote the verse. He gives the answer to anyone who speaks his old name.
Review: the whole puzzle on one card
Making a puzzle on one page
Prefer one page? Manual has every field together. Press Next, and the puzzle is made, with Linked items open below, ready for its rewards. Press Save and finish when you're done.
NameThe Drowned Hymn
SummaryAn organ in the flooded nave that only sounds the right notes.
Suggested party level4▾
LocationThe Sunken Chapel▾
PremiseHalf the organ’s pipes stand under black water. Sunk into the pews are hymn boards, each missing one number.
SolutionPlay the hymn numbers in the order the boards hang: 7, 3, 12.
HintsThe boards are numbered from the altar outwards.
Success outcomeThe water drains through the floor grates, and the vestry door unlocks.
Item rewards can be linked once this puzzle is created, under Linked items on the next page.
Failure outcomeEvery wrong note wakes something below the water.
DM-only notes (Players can't see this)
The sacristan hums the hymn if the party is kind to him.
Manual: every field on one page
Running the puzzle
Put the puzzle in a scene, and it's ready on the Run screen. When the party cracks it, press Success, and the rewards go straight to them. Resolving puzzles has its own guide too.
On the Run screen
puzzle · The Moon Door · level 3
Show details
Success
Reward granted to the party.
Reopen
Asked your players how hard they found it. No ratings back yet.
A solved puzzle on the Run screen
How hard your players found it
Once a puzzle is settled, your players are asked how hard it was. On their Puzzles tab, under Rate the puzzles, each player presses one rating, from Really easy to Really difficult. Their rating is saved, and the puzzle leaves their list.
Rate the puzzles
i
How difficult did these feel at the table? Your DM sees the results.
The Moon Door
Really easyEasyModerateDifficultReally difficult
Rate the puzzles, on a player's Puzzles tab
The results show on the puzzle's card on the Run screen: what most players found it, and how the votes fell. So you learn which puzzles suit your table, and can pitch the next one just right.
What your players thought
puzzle · The Moon Door · level 3
Success
Reward granted to the party.
Reopen
Most players found this: Moderate(4 ratings)
Really easy0
Easy1
Moderate2
Difficult1
Really difficult0
What your players thought, on the Run screen
Write the answer once, keep the help ready, and let the rewards look after themselves.