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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Quickleaf" data-source="post: 5794506" data-attributes="member: 20323">The old school mapping technique and the abstract skill challenge both have something to offer. Me, I take a bastardized hybrid approach that's taken several sessions (make that years <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f609.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=";)" title="Wink    ;)"  data-smilie="2"data-shortname=";)" /> ) to hammer out. It's meant to challenge both the characters and the players...1. Think of a puzzle, then layer it inside another puzzle (or two!); think it of like matroshka dolls with one stacked inside the other. Solve the puzzle to escape the labyrinth. Make sure there is more than one answer. Scatter clues around the labyrinth.For example, I ran a clockwork labyrinth which was malfunctioning, so that it could change as the PCs walked thru it, in order to stabilize the labyrinth the PCs had to reach a central control panel had a series of three teleporter gates each which teleported to a certain side of another gate. However, none of the teleporter gates teleported to the control panel. The trick was the PCs had to solve another puzzle to unlock a gear mechanism which allowed them to rotate the order of the teleporter gates. Then they could go back to the teleporter gates and use them in the right sequence to reach the central control panel.2. Make up a random encounter table, with several of the entries being navigational hazards/complications.For example, one of the hazards in my example labyrinth was "Vertigo" in which a shift of the clockwork floor revealed a yawning chasm. 3. Orienteering Checks. Have the group make group skill checks (the type of skill useable and DC is up to you). For each failure roll on your random encounter table. For each success provide a clue to one of the puzzles. Also be generous with auto-successes for clever ideas or useful spells. This provides built-in pacing. As soon as the party enters the clockwork labyrinth they set to work exploring. Let's say there are 4 players, 2 who get successes and 2 who get fails. That means roll twice on random encounter table and provide two clues.4. The Map. If you're going to be exploring the dungeon for a long session or several sessions make an appropriate map. If it's just for a short session or part of a session the map is not needed. If you do end up using a map, I suggest incorporating it into one of the puzzles, as something the PCs can discover after reproducing the map. This can really add incentive to exploring the labyrinth.In the example labyrinth, the way the PCs located the gear which unlocked the teleporter gates was thru a set of coordinates. Once they explored the entire clockwork labyrinth (it wasn't too large), I gave them an 8x11 version. They just had to determine how the coordinate system related to the grid, and they were good to go. </blockquote>

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