When your party takes on a puzzle or an encounter, you settle it right on the Run screen. No other pages, no paperwork, and the rewards look after themselves.
Find the puzzle in the scene
Here's a running scene with a puzzle in it. It shows as a red card in the Current scene box, with its name and level.
puzzle · The Sluice Gate Lock · level 3
Show details
150 gp pending on this puzzle. Marking it Success grants it to the party.
Either answer asks your players to rate how hard they found it.
SuccessFailureEdit puzzle
Remove from scene
A puzzle card in the running scene
Press Show details to see the premise, the hints and both outcomes. The solution sits behind its own spoiler, so a quick glance never gives it away.
Three wheels, one gate, and the water is rising.
Premise
An iron sluice gate blocks the tunnel. Three bronze wheels turn its locks, each stamped with a tide mark: low, half and high.
Hints
The tide chart painted on the wall shows the order. Turning a wheel out of order lets in a gush of water.
Success outcome
The gate grinds open and the water drains away down a side channel.
Failure outcome
The chamber floods to the chest. The gate opens, but every lantern goes out.
Show solution (spoiler)
DM notes (players never see these)
Give the first hint for free if anyone studies the wall.
Show details: the premise, hints and both outcomes, with the solution behind a spoiler
If you rolled loot or linked items to the puzzle while preparing, a note tells you what's waiting. It stays pending until the party earns it.
Success or failure
When the players crack it, press Success. The gold goes to the party pool or is split between the characters, by your Reward gold setting, and the items are marked as obtained by the party. You never have to work out who's owed what.
Where the reward goes
150 gp: to the party pool, or split between the characters
Your Reward gold setting decides which
Linked items: marked as obtained by the party
Where the reward goes when you press Success
If they don't crack it, press Failure, and nothing is handed out.
If they don’t crack it
puzzle · The Sluice Gate Lock · level 3
FailureReopen
Asked your players how hard they found it. No ratings back yet.
Nothing is handed out. The 150 gp stays pending.
Failure: nothing is handed out
Your players rate it
Either way, your players are asked to rate how hard they found it.
On each player’s side
Rate the puzzles
How difficult did these feel at the table? Your DM sees the results.
The Sluice Gate Lock
Really easyEasyModerateDifficultReally difficult
Thanks. Your rating was saved.
Each player rates how hard they found the puzzle
Their ratings show on the card as they come in, so you learn which puzzles suit your table.
Success
Reward granted to the party.
Reopen
Most players found this: Moderate(4 ratings)
Really easy0
Easy1
Moderate2
Difficult1
Really difficult0
The players' ratings on the puzzle card
Pressed the wrong one?
Press Reopen. The puzzle goes back to unsolved, and you can choose again. Rewards already given stay with the party, and nothing is ever paid twice.
Encounters work the same way
Show details opens the setup, creatures, terrain, tactics and rewards.
encounter · The Drowned Hymn · level 3
Moderate
Show details
75 gp pending on this encounter. Marking it complete grants it to the party.
Mark completeEdit encounter
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An encounter card, with its reward pending
Voices sing from beneath the black water.
Setup
Past the second bend, a hymn rises from the flooded crypt. The singers are not alive.
Creatures
4 Zombies and a Ghoul, under the water until the party wades in.
Terrain and hazards
Waist-deep water is difficult terrain. The walkway is slick: DC 10 Dexterity or fall prone.
Tactics
The zombies grab and hold. The ghoul waits for someone to be grappled.
Rewards
A silver hymnal worth 25 gp, and the sacristan’s real name.
DM notes (players never see these)
If the party stays silent, the hymn stops and the dead sink back down.
The encounter's details
When it's over, press Mark complete. The card says Complete, and any pending rewards go to the party. Reopen takes the mark off again if you need it.
Roll an encounter on the spot
No encounter planned, and your players have wandered off the map? Roll one. Under Add to this scene, open Add encounter and press Auto generate.
Add encounter
Create with WizardAnswer one section at a time, with guidance on what each field needsAuto generateRoll one from Critsmith's built-in table of 200, skipping any you have used
Choose an encounter you have already written…▾Add
Add encounter, with Auto generate
Critsmith rolls one from its built-in table of two hundred, skipping any you've used in this campaign. Nothing is saved until you accept it, so re-roll as often as you like.
Nothing is saved until you accept it. Re-roll as often as you like.
Re-roll
Predator and Prey
A wounded, exhausted wolf limps onto the road ahead of the party, clearly fleeing something bigger further back in the treeline. Whatever’s hunting it soon notices the party too, whether or not they choose to help.
Inspired by the title “Predator and Prey”
Accept and add to scene for editing
A rolled encounter, ready to accept or re-roll
Accept it and fill it in
Found the right one? Press Accept and add to scene for editing. It's saved, marked as used and put in the scene, and its fields open right there.
DifficultyNot set▾
Suggested party levelNot set▾
Some of the encounter's fields, open in the scene
Add creatures, tactics, whatever you need, then press Save encounter. Or press Done for now and come back to it later.
Done for nowSave encounter
The foot of the encounter, with Save encounter and Done for now
encounter · Predator and Prey
Show details
Mark completeEdit encounter
Remove from scene
The new encounter, saved in the scene
Settle each one with a press, let Critsmith hand out the rewards, and keep the game moving.