[Kato]

Trying to come up with three or four puzzle style traps/challenges to put in the mansion the PC's will get trapped in. They have to solve these puzzles before they can access a train that gets them to another facility. It's been awhile since I've had to put these together and I don't want to railroad them hardcore, so anyone have any puzzles that have been successfully implemented in a game?

I'm thinking that one will be a long hallway or room with nothing in it at first, but when the PC's enter, unbreakable glass walls etched in clue style designs will roll out and separate them. The will still be able to see the other characters and must use the clues etched in the glass to solve the maze, but anytime a PC gets near a wall a door opens up and releases a monster of some kind.

[DigitalZombie]

Hhhm whats the mansion background? Ordo maximus? Some crazy AAA corp exec hideout? Former secret delta facility?

[Kato]

Thinking of a Resident Evil style puzzle house with Ordo Maximus type cult called the Harrowing, which seeks to bring the Horrors back into the world. It takes place on Rathlin Island, of the north east coast of Ireland and will exist in a sort of in between realm of the earth and the Court of Shadows setting. The island is sort of a gateway between the two worlds and the Harrowing have hidden out there and conducted nasty experiments on people they have kidnapped from both realms.

PC's will be dispatched to the real Rathlin Island, but will be pulled into the shadow version unknowingly. They'll have a few random encounters that indicate they're not in Kansas anymore Toto and then head to the main village, where they'll attacked by the villagers who have been warped by the Harrowing into zombie/ghoul style fanatics. From there they'll wind up in this mansion where I want them to learn some more about the background of what is going on. After the mansion they find a train that lead to a research facility where the Harrowing is attempting to make cyberzombies. They finish out the run having to find the way back home, which is found in the research facility.

This is going to be an insanely long run with tons of stuff going on, but the campaign has been building up to it for a bit. I feel like I have a lot of combat planned but also wanted to add in some non-combat related encounters and role playing. They're a pretty smart group and enjoy the mysteries and putting clues together, so I thought something like the room with glass walls that move and shift depending on what actions they take might be good combined with bad guys.   

[Michael Chandra]

Having it as non-Earth location is a nice way to block certain approaches players would normally take in these scenarios to cheat, though I do suggest you communicate that to them so they don't get frustrated trying things that don't work.

Puzzles are risky. I once experienced a few of us debating puzzles in D&D while others just sat back for a while. You also risk people getting frustrated when they fail to grasp the logic. I suggest you try a form of physical representation and allow knowledge skills to help them.

[Kato]

I'm thinking of doing something more like they can use magic to detect hidden symbols on the glass walls that help them to solve the puzzle easier. Maybe have it so they are being chased in the maze so they have to move the glass walls so they can move forward but not let the bad guys into the same areas they are in. Something to add a sense of urgency so its not just a "solve this to get from A to B" but "solve this and you'll be able to lock the ravenous horde out as you move from A to B while not getting lit on fire."

I'm considering some lock and key style puzzles but I'm afraid my PC's will spend more time trying to figure out how to break down the door than they would trying to solve the key part!

[cantrip]

If you want to add some paranoia for your players, have them run across a very worn copy of "Grimtooth's Traps"...   

[DigitalZombie]

You could use some code word puzzles.

 Find some 10 letters Words, with 10 unique letters and number them.
Like Vampireson
V is 1,  A is 2, etc All the way to O as 9 and N as 0.

Now: suppose your players come across a locked door. With a keypad.

Next to the keypad are the letters PIMPMAMA etched in the wall.

So, All the badguys knows that on this floor the codeword is Vampire son.

So when looking at the letters next to the keypad they know the password is: 4534 3232.
The players dont know that ofcourse. So the first couple of times they need to Hack the keypad. At some point they Will have hacked enough keypads to be able to arrange the letters correctly. (Maybe Vampire son is to be used as a password for a high rating host- which they Will have trouble hacking).
To put and element of stress into it All, have it be on time limits. With poisonous gas or something being released after a set limit or time.

Here are a couple og other codewords that might fit the theme

L'nosferatu ( yes, its cheating a big

Ghoul fiend
Goblin jape
Glitch drek