D&D Sample
D&D Sample
D&D Sample
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TRAPS, PUZZLES
AND DUNGEONS
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AND DUNGEONS
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AND DUNGEONS
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contents
04 06 Disruptive Traps pg. 86
Foreword | Introduction
These traps slow the party down by
sending them somewhere else.
One-Shot Adventures
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numerous means of dealing death.
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The Spire and the Scab
A quiet mountain town is rocked by an
pg. 12
108
earthquake that releases an ancient evil. Puzzles
Pick of the Litter pg. 28 Rhymes & Riddles pg. 110
In order to help a sphinx cub become a A collection of vexing questions worthy of
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guardian for the gods, the party must even the most inscrutable sages.
solve a series of deadly puzzles as part of a
competition on the Plane of Heroes. Ciphers pg. 117
Coded messages and ways to easily
Skhalhammer Manor pg. 44
implement them into ongoing adventures.
The party must do battle with their
own nightmares inside a museum-like Gateway Puzzles pg. 122
manor house.
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Traps
Painful Traps pg. 64
These traps are designed to hurt, rather
than destroy, your party. Still, some traps
work too well.
1. The Tower of Hope pg. 146 26. The Cavern of Cages pg. 196
2. The Holding Cells pg. 148 27. The Wall of Despair pg. 198
3. The Pit of Pendulums pg. 150 28. Tomb of the Forgotten pg. 200
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4. The Open Chasm pg. 152 29. The Tumbler pg. 202
5. The Wave Pool pg. 154 30. The Rotten Temple pg. 204
6. The Firevault pg. 156 31. Construct Loop pg. 206
7. The Switchback pg. 158 32. The Monstrous Closet pg. 208
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8. The Titan’s Trap pg. 160 33. The Final Ballroom pg. 210
9. The Mossy Hill pg. 162 34. Goblin Gully pg. 212
10. The Lava Floor pg. 164 35. The Doors to Elsewhere pg. 214
11. The Turntable pg. 166 36. The Elemental Laboratory pg. 216
12. The Perilous Crossing pg. 168 37. The Hanging Pool pg. 218
13. The Swimming Statues pg. 170 38. The Chained Champion pg. 220
14. The Octogenarium pg. 172 39. The Pixies’ Palace pg. 222
15. The Piston Palace pg. 174 40. The Hive pg. 224
16. A Miniature Fortress pg. 176 41. The Armory pg. 226
17. The Gear Box
18. The Dungeoneer
19. The Underport
20. The Ball Pit
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pg. 180
pg. 182
pg. 184
42. The Bramble
43. Those Four Pools
44. The Fungal Sanctuary
45. The Narrows
pg. 228
pg. 230
pg. 232
pg. 234
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21. The Sand Pit pg. 186 46. The Horrible Maw pg. 236
22. The Oozing Throne pg. 188 47. The Bogmuck pg. 238
23. Shadow’s End pg. 190 48. The Chow Line pg. 240
24. The Cursed Treasury pg. 192 49. The Ascent pg. 242
25. The Garden of Reflection pg. 194 50. The Herbalist’s Greenhouse pg. 244
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Random Selectors
Random Trap Selector pg. 246
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HETHER IT’S THE FRUSTRATING SNARES
of cunning kobolds or the deadly tombs of ancient liches, tricky
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traps and mysterious puzzles are a staple of fantasy roleplaying.
Puzzles and traps turn a benign locale into a site of adventure
by adding an element of danger and uncertainty. They form a
spectrum of game elements that GMs can use to spice up dungeon crawls and other adventure
locations. Unfortunately, there are challenges with visualizing a trap or puzzle and relaying that
information to the players in a satisfying way. It’s all too easy to fall into the “trap” of ignoring
these key features of fantasy adventures entirely, or worse, turning them into perfunctory threats
that amount to little more than a hit point tax with scant room for player choice. Didn’t invest
in the right character options? Sorry! Take some unavoidable and arbitrary damage and move
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along the dungeon corridor.
What a missed opportunity! We’ve all seen so many bad traps and puzzles in play that it can be
hard to recognize a good trap or puzzle: one that enriches gameplay by presenting an opportunity
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for the players to interact with the fantastic environment beyond just a simple die roll. In so many
ways, they are the beating heart of exploration-based play because a good trap or puzzle requires
the players to make choices regarding how to overcome it.
A good trap or puzzle hints at its potential dangers and secrets, signaling to attentive players that
something is off and it’s worth investigating further. It invites them to ask questions about the
game world to discover its secrets (“What’s this stuff covering the floor?” “What are those symbols
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carved into the brick?” “What’s that smell?” “Can we see the ceiling?”). The cycle of player question
and GM response helps bring the fantastic location to life as play reveals more details about the
world and what’s in it.
A good trap or puzzle facilitates interaction between the players and the adventure’s environment
because it is a part of the setting, not just a nebulous game mechanic. This introduces an element
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of player choice that’s especially essential to making traps engaging problems to solve. Furthermore,
a good trap or puzzle adds a new wrinkle to the game, regardless of its lethality. Effects that change
the dungeon layout, create an ongoing hazard, split the party or result in untimely death make
gameplay more exciting and unpredictable. After all, the point of including devious traps, tricks
and puzzles in our adventures is to create places worth exploring with challenges that will take the
game in surprising directions. The best part is, with The Game Master’s Book of Traps, Puzzles and
Dungeons, the hard work of designing game mechanics has already been done! So, kick back, flip
open a page and start building a dungeon your players will never forget!
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Welcome to
The Game Master’s Book of
Traps, Puzzles and Dungeons...
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t’s happened to the best of us: You’ve placed hook after hook to get your party
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to venture into the ancient temple beneath the city in order to find the artifact
that will help them banish their nemesis once and for all, a cryptic poem
their only clue to a safe path forward. Or maybe they’ve got their primary foe
cornered, holed up in her keep—with a powerful army at her disposal, the
only way in is to venture into the flooded crypts beneath the castle, a labyrinth of
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chambers crawling with the walking corpses of adventurers who died trying to do
the same thing. Or you’ve been building to an epic showdown with a cursed metallic
dragon (Potentia, the Eternal Conundrum) and your party has foolishly agreed to
enter its gauntlet of puzzle-like traps and trap-like puzzles. As you ponder what the
next session—a guaranteed slog through perilous chamber after perilous chamber—
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Now what?
How do you create dungeons as complex as your antagonists? How do you present
a legendary trap or puzzle without raiding your favorite Indiana Jones film?
Where do you turn when your party is up against a motivated mastermind with 24
Intelligence, and so far, all you have in your prep notes is “Can sharks cast fireball?”
Look no further. The Game Master’s Book of Traps, Puzzles and Dungeons has
answers to these and many other questions—some you didn’t even know to ask.
What This Book Is What This Book Is Not
The Game Master’s Book of Traps, Puzzles and The Game Master’s Book of Traps, Puzzles and
Dungeons is a collection of just that: terrifying traps, Dungeons is not for the faint of heart. Some of the
punishing puzzles and dangerous dungeon chambers dungeons presented deal significant damage by default
meant to challenge and imperil your party in ways that (lava’s like that sometimes), so if your players aren’t
force them to bow to your singular genius, beg for your jonesing to try out a completely different character in
mercy and, as necessary, roll up a new set of characters the short term, you may want to ensure they proceed
as tears stream down their cheeks (you know, if you’re with caution.
into that sort of thing). This book is not definitive when it comes to
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The traps section features dozens of deadly damage. Dice totals for damage are presented as an aid,
creations meant to maim, move or massacre not a final word, so if your party reacts negatively to the
adventurers foolhardy enough to venture into a dungeon fact that a boulder fell 200 ft. and landed directly on
without their thieves’ tools handy. There are also a few their paladin and the rules of 5e physics (and this book)
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complex traps that become more difficult to disrupt would suggest the boulder deals an armor-crushing 70
when attempting to disarm them in case your party’s (20d6) bludgeoning damage, the paladin’s plot armor
rogue wants to put their reputation as a reliable talent might protect them from death at your discretion. The
on the line. Each trap is presented as being a meaningful stakes are always as high as you choose to raise them,
threat to parties at Levels 5–10, and the DCs and damage and any resulting TPKs are on your head.*
associated with falling victim to them can be adjusted (or The same can be said when it comes to the answers
not) at your discretion based on the actual levels of the to the riddles or challenges presented in the Puzzles
characters encountering them. The detailed illustrations or Traps sections. If your merry band of adventurers
for many of these traps should serve to further feed the present a particularly clever solution to a puzzle or
more sadistic segments of your imagination. divine a way to disarm a trap other than the ones that
The puzzles portion of the book features a
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collection of rhyming riddles as well as ready-made
ciphers you can incorporate into your adventures
when presenting NPCs with a flair for the dramatic or
are presented here, feel free to reward rather than
rebuke them for their creativity.
This book does not feature one big dungeon.
Instead, the dungeon chambers section is presented
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mysterious, and each includes an adventure hook or as a series of chambers you can choose to connect at
placement suggestion in case you are intrigued by a your leisure. Not every room will make sense within
riddle but unsure of where to slot it in. The section also the world you’re constructing, and you may need
includes a series of gateway puzzles that serve as ways to augment the flavor text or aesthetics of certain
to block doors or unlock hidden chambers—old school chambers to better align with previously established lore
tabletop challenges that will test your players’ problem- associated with the spots you’re dropping these rooms
solving skills as much as it does their PCs’. into. Is there a temple where it makes sense for there
The dungeon chambers section features 50 unique to be a river of lava and a chamber that’s completely
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rooms that can be slotted into any adventure that underwater? Sure. Could that river of lava be a river
requires a trip into a forbidden temple, fortified fortress of water instead? Of course. Same with the flooded
or lich’s lair. These rooms are packed with peril and even chamber, though if you go this route, please reread the
though each chamber’s description includes a map to lay previous paragraph about nerfing damage dice and
out its specifics, they’re designed with flexibility in mind. adjust accordingly.**
And because most dungeons aren’t devoid of deadly The flavor text in this book is not always going
personnel, in addition to the environmental hazards and to be accurate. The presentation style assumes your
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overwhelming obstacles presented, each chamber also party is moving forward together into a space, and the
features an optional variant encounter table meant to maps provided are meant to serve as an aid for you and
help you insert inhabitants as necessary when the party the players in case an encounter takes place and they
starts to get cocky. Again...if that’s your thing. need to know whether or not they can misty step across
This book also features three one-shot adventures, a chasm or cone of cold a chimera. But because every
each created in a way that allows for the inclusion of party is unique, some may stroll into a space single file,
traps, puzzles and dungeons pulled randomly from this while others might waltz in as a group. Some parties
book. Each adventure has a suggested party level, but split up and send a silent-stepping scout ahead, while
ways to scale the challenges they present up or down as others prefer to let a familiar they found do this task for
necessary have been provided for use at your discretion. them. You may need to adjust statements in the flavor
text to accommodate your party’s particular approach
*Well, and that of the party’s. They’re the ones who chose to enter the Temple of a Thousand Traps as Level 3s.
**Or don’t, you beautiful psychopath.
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Because the dungeons are meant to be modular,
the maps in this title also suffer from a similar issue.
Your party may be fleeing a room with a massive brass GM NOTE: THIS IS A NOTE FOR YOU
gateway they just unlocked only to have you describe the Boxes that look like this are meant to draw your
next chamber as having “a single, iron door, which closes
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attention to information that is imperative to a
behind you.” Many of the maps included circumvent this plot point in the one-shot adventures or to a
problem by including small hallways that lead into and mechanic associated with the traps or puzzles.
out of each chamber, connecting rooms via imaginary Ignore it at your peril.
halls you can flavor as necessary based on the previous
location. Still, it seemed a bit weird to create a bunch
of dungeon chamber maps without any doors at all, Maps. The maps presented in this book are presented on
so as you explore the section in question you’ll notice a grid, and each square represents 5 ft. unless otherwise
that some maps have doors while others have tunnels noted. If you’d prefer to use theater of the mind, feel free
that lead “elsewhere.” Regardless, all means of egress to adjust the sizes of different spaces to suit your needs as
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should be considered barred unless otherwise noted
within the explanatory text associated with the space or
determined at your discretion. In short: yes, that door is
locked. Yes, you’ll need a key or a lockpick. No, I will not
tell you where the key is hidden.
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yourself or share that the door is not locked. At the very least, when one of your PCs says, “I check
for traps,” you’ll be able to sit back, a wolfish grin behind
FURNITURE. Your party may run into your GM screen, fully prepared to show them the dangers
an untold amount of tables, chairs and of curiosity, as the fireball-slinging sharks you spec’d out
more on their adventures and, while circle just beneath their feet.
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some of them are certainly mimics, others are
just normal furniture. These items are presented
as aesthetic rather than vital to their respective
spaces unless otherwise noted.
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them with loot, except where noted.