One of the things that originally drew me to Dungeons & Dragons were the ways it reminded me of The Legend of Zelda series. In an attempt to give my players a classic, Zelda-esque dungeon experience, I created this puzzle-ridden tomb! Let's go through the rooms one-by-one. 1 This is the first room players enter in the dungeon. There are no puzzles or traps in this room, but I used the flat wall for some lore-dropping inscriptions.
2 This room features a narrow bridge that stretches over a deep pit. There are large fans that generate a strong force blowing towards the bridge. Any creature that passes through the wind current must succeed on a DC 16 strength check or be pushed off the bridge. When the players first enter the dungeon, the east fan is off, and the west fan is on. There are switches on both ends of this room that can be activated by the impact of any projectile. When a switch is activated, both fans switch from on to off or vise versa. Players can safely cross the bridge by passing the first fan (which is off when they enter) and shooting the switch with a projectile, causing the second fan to shut off, and the first fan to turn on.
-If a creature falls off the bridge, they fall 40 feet, taking 4d6 falling damage. If the party does not have a way to get back onto the bridge on their own, you can add a ladder next to the door to area 1 that they can use to climb out of the pit.
-The wind currents generated by the fans cause all projectiles fired through them to miss their targets.
3 This room features a coffin. An inscription on the wall labels the room as The Tomb of the Maiden Inside the coffin is a skeleton, holding a key that can be used in area 4.
4 This room is split into two halves. The north door is barred by a portcullis when the players first arrive. When players enter the southern chamber, they'll see a large mirror that covers the entire north wall, and a heavy ball sitting somewhere random in the room. The player characters will notice that the reflection in the mirror is imperfect. In addition to seeing themselves, the door they came through, and the ball reflected in the mirror, the mirror also shows a pressure plate in the corner of the room, and a door on the east wall that doesn't exist in the player's room. If the players move the ball to where it'd be sitting atop the pressure plate reflected in the mirror, they'll hear the sound of the portcullis that bars the northern half of this area open. They will then be able to go back through the door they entered, and go into the north door. This time, they'll find themselves on the other side of the mirror room, and the ball they moved can be seen sitting on the pressure plate.
The door that leads to area 5 is locked by a key obtained in area 3.
5 This room features a narrow walkway that wraps around a deep pit. Atop a large column in the center of the room is a mechanical turret that fires lasers. Any time a creature ends their turn in this room, the turret makes a ranged weapon attack against them with a +5 to hit, dealing 2d12+3 radiant damage on a hit. The turret has an AC of 14, 59 HP, immunity to poison and psychic damage, and vulnerability to piercing damage.
-If a creature falls down the pit, use the same tactics as the pit in room 2.
6 This room features 4 coffins, and an inscription on the wall labelling the room as The Tomb of the Triplets. This is a clue that one of the coffins is actually a door to area 7. This room also features some low level undead monsters. Refer to the table at the end of this post to determine a good encounter.
7 This room features a single coffin. It's labeled as The Tomb of the Matriarch. Inside the coffin is an undead mini-boss. Either inside the coffin, or on the boss's person, is a pair of boots of springing and striding.
8 This room features another large pit, which can easily be cleared with the boots of springing and striding obtained in area 7.
9 This room contains a chest with the key to enter area 11.
10 This room contains a single chest, which contains a potion of greater healing. On the wall is carved a strange grid pattern. This pattern is used to solve the puzzle in area 11.
11 This room has a grid-like floor. Each grid space is a pressure-activated trap. Anytime a creature stands on a space, they take 4 piercing damage from a set of spikes that rise up from the ground. There is a path of safe squares to walk on that is revealed in the strange grid pattern carved on the wall in area 10.
12 This room has an inscription on the wall that labels it as The Grave of the Archmage. Inside the coffin is an undead mini-boss, who possesses the key to enter area 13.
13 Inside this room is an undead boss monster. I used a homebrew creature. Other good options would be nosferatu, a revenant, or a wraith.
14 This room is the tomb of the boss fought in Area 13. Inside the large coffin is a valuable treasure that the boss monster was burried with. Good rewards include magic items, story-specific items, or valuable jewlery that can be sold for money. Alternatively, I chose to reveal that the main villain of my campaign had beaten the party to the area, and stolen something important ahead of them!
Low Level Undead Encounters
4 skeletons
4 zombies
3 crawling claws
2 ghasts
3 shadows
Undead Mini-Bosses
Flameskull
Banshee
Ghost
Mummy
Whenever a player searches a coffin that doesn't have anything else listed, roll on this miscellaneous loot table to determine what they find.
Miscellaneous Loot Table
1 Nothing
2 Nothing
3 Nothing
4 Nothing
5 Nothing
6 1 random trinket
7 1 random trinket
8 Potion of Greater Healing
9 Potion of Superior Healing
10 Diamond worth 50 gp
11 Diamond worth 500 gp
12 5 Bombs
This dungeon was a lot of fun to run! It really had that classic Zelda-feeling to it, and the puzzles weren't too difficult and time-consuming. If you decide to run the Puzzle Tomb in your own game, I hope it works as well for you as it did for me.
If you'd like to run this dungeon with some classic monsters from the Zelda series like I did, check out Creatures of Hyrule, my complete Zelda Monster Manual. I ended up using bubbles, redeads, poes, and used Phantom Gannon for the dungeon's boss!
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