This is my most ambitious dungeon to date! It’s a gauntlet of four valves that need turning before you can finally access the treasure room, which itself is guarded by what is undeniably a boss arena.
This dungeon is inspired by the Zelda games I enjoyed on my Game Boy as a kid. Though the “puzzle” here is very simple, I hope that it invokes the same sense of adventure! The whole thing revolves around lowering the lava in the central room.
What would be a suitable monster for that boss room, and all the other minor combat rooms? I’d love to hear your selection below. :)
A 44×32 cave map featuring a vast pool of acid for your player characters to avoid as they jump between narrow stone platforms… I began this cave map with the vague idea of “jumping puzzle.” I drew the central entry/exit tunnel and it’s to-and-fro walkway, and then branched left and right via the oddly-spaced stone pillars. Read more
Each jump is about 10 feet at maximum, feasible to most athletic characters with a good run-up – but where will they get their run up once should they hesitate atop a platform? Throw in some enemies to threaten opportunity attacks, tempt your players to stop and fight, and then watch them squirm when they don’t have space for that run-up. (Am I growing too evil?)