Looking for high quality printable D&D puzzles to spice up your games? Well look no further. We have the largest collection of illustrated printable puzzles for D&D and other rpgs on the web. But we don’t only provide printable puzzles for D&D. Our puzzle packs also come with images for virtual table top play. You get the best of both worlds in a single puzzle pack.
Now that you’ve come to the right place, you may wish to browse our webshop. You can find all of our puzzles here.
But if you are looking for some tips to get the most use out of printable puzzles for your D&D game, read on.
Using Printable Puzzles in D&D Games
Dungeons & Dragons is a game that relies heavily on the players’ imagination. That’s okay. DMs can use the ‘theatre of the mind’ to make their world come alive. But sometimes you want to add something tangible to your game. You can use the three standard options: Miniatures, terrain, and props. Or you could go the fourth route with printable D&D puzzles.
A richly illustrated printed puzzle has the ability to draw players in and immerse them into the story. You don’t have to rely on describing everything for immersion, but can let the puzzle do the work for you.
A well designed puzzle also blends seamlessly with the D&D fantasy vibe you’re trying to create. Other non-fantasy puzzles like sudokus take the players away from feeling immersed in the game. So having your puzzle be integral to your world both visually and story wise matters. All of our printable puzzles have been designed with your D&D world in mind. I try to strike the balance between adding enough flavour and having puzzles be flexible enough so you can adapt them into your story.
Practical Tips for Using Printable Puzzles in D&D
If you have the option, I would definitely go with full colour prints instead of monochromatic ones. Full colour prints do so much more for immersion. They are well worth the extra buck in my opinion. And for some puzzles full colour prints are required in order to solve them. If you are on a tight budget, there’s always coloured pencils but spending the extra dollar on full coloured prints is worth it.
The second tip would be to only print what you need. The puzzle packs are very elaborate and often contain around 30 puzzles each. But you might not want to use every puzzle in the pack. Printing only the puzzles you need for your upcoming D&D games will save you a lot of ink.
Also, each puzzle pack comes with an instruction manual. You can print those. But you could also upload the pdf to your ipad and keep the online version handy. The same goes for puzzle solutions.
For the puzzle pieces you are going to print, using thick stock paper is recommended. I try to design puzzles in such a way that the stuff you print has maximum replay value. Players will be touching the puzzle pieces a lot so printing them on sturdy paper really makes a difference. Also, many puzzle pieces have a front- and backside. If you glue them together on thick paper they become as sturdy as playing cards.
Of course, there are some pieces you will only use once. For those piece maybe use the cheaper print paper.
Also, try to print puzzle pieces at their actual size. Many puzzles pieces are 1 by 1 inch or 2 by 2 inch size. This way, you can easily place them on a battle mat and they’ll fit perfectly. Make sure you set your printer to ‘actual size’ in the option menu.
Maximising Replay Value of Printable D&D Puzzles
For many puzzles I try to maximise replay value by creating card decks. The printed puzzle pieces of Lock Puzzles, for instance only require you to print about 11 pages. But they can be combined into over 500 different puzzles. And Runestone Puzzles gives you unlimited puzzle designs with only a few printed puzzle pieces.
I also try to give puzzle pieces multiple uses. With Dungeon Puzzles you print a deck of cards with pieces of dungeons on them. Using those cards you can create a lot of different puzzles, but you can also use them as a random dungeon generator.
Another way to maximise replay value is to rotate you puzzle solution 90 or 180 degrees. You can also create a mirror image. It doesn’t work with all puzzles but in many cases you can double or triple the use you get out of a puzzle.
The Vault Bundle
By Paul Camp