I’m an old bloke who’s struggled to stick to hobbies, but I finally built a functioning mechanical puzzle for my D&D table (T-Puzzle)
Hey everyone,
A few months ago I had a shower thought which led me to create a functional piece of tabletop terrain. I subscribe to a lovely bunch over at DM Stash, and their Discord is great for submitting ideas. My brain went down a rabbit hole of encounter concepts and I just had to build this.
I am an old bloke and I have struggled most of my life keeping a hobby or even just concentrating on a project of any sort. D&D has been my only consistent thing, from forever DMing to painting minis and cutting tiny bricks out of foam to make terrain.
I have always loved seeing moving parts on the table. A lot of people have done doors, chests, windows, or ships, but I wanted to push the engineering a step further. I wanted to create a literal, physical logic puzzle for my players.
The concept is an interactive combination crypt or mausoleum where the four corner pillars aren't just decorative because they actually rotate. When players align the correct runes on the columns, a mechanical tray in the dead center physically unlocks and triggers. The grand centerpiece sarcophagus then rises to reveal the hidden loot chamber inside.
I started this months ago with rigid geometric blockouts in my CAD software to dial in the mechanical tolerances. I wanted to make sure fingers could actually reach in to turn the dials without knocking over miniatures, and that part is finally done.
Now, I have been personally attempting to make this aesthetically pleasing, so I have been watching some beginner friendly Blender tutorials to add the details.
To date, i now have 6 other concepts to do that will be similar to this T-Puzzle (terrain puzzle)
TL;DR: I have made a terrain puzzle that actually functions mechanically, and now I am working on the pretty part.
I would love to know what you think of the layout. Would a mechanical puzzle like this keep your players engaged at the table, or do they usually just try to smash the doors down with a warhammer?