SC - Puzzle Engine

Overview

SC - Puzzle Engine is a premium, system-agnostic toolkit for creating and running interactive puzzles inside Foundry VTT.

Each puzzle is a special page inside a Journal Entry. The GM configures the rules, secret answer, appearance, triggers, and consequences on the puzzle sheet. Players receive a separate solver window that never contains the secret answer. Attempts are checked by the active GM's client.

Use the module to build:

• locks, passwords, riddles, ciphers, and logic mechanisms
• traps that react immediately when triggered
• timing, tracing, rhythm, and lockpicking challenges
• skill checks that resolve into automatic scene changes
• multi-step encounters that open, arm, or disarm other puzzles
• shared table puzzles or separate copies for each player

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Puzzles remain normal Journal Entry pages, but open with a purpose-built GM sheet instead of the standard text editor.

The module includes 20 puzzle types. Every type is explained in the Puzzle Catalog, including what players do and what the GM must configure.

Compatibility And Installation

This module is premium.

Access and installation are handled through the Shattered Codex Download Hub. See How to Download Premium Modules from the Download Hub for the complete download and installation flow.

After installing:

1. Return to Foundry's Setup screen if a world is open.
2. Enable SC - Puzzle Engine in the world's module list.
3. Launch or relaunch the world so Foundry registers the module's puzzle page and Region Behavior types.
4. Sign in as a GM and open the Puzzle Hub.

Validated compatibility:

• Foundry VTT v13 minimum
• Foundry VTT v14 verified
• no required game system
• English and Brazilian Portuguese interface translations
• no required module dependencies

The puzzle mechanisms themselves work without a specific game system. Built-in profiles provide ready-to-use checks, dexterity assistance, fallback rolls, and health paths for:

• D&D 5e
• Pathfinder 2e
• Daggerheart
• Call of Cthulhu 7e

Other systems use editable generic formulas and paths. Check them before using automatic damage or a character statistic to adjust a dexterity puzzle.

Optional integrations:

• Monk's Active Tile Triggers (MATT) can open puzzles from tile actions and can itself be triggered as a consequence.
• SC - Sidebar Party adds the party-card presentation style to the Check puzzle type.

Open The Puzzle Hub

The Puzzle Hub is the easiest place for a GM to create and manage puzzles. Its launcher can appear at the bottom of the Journal sidebar, in Scene Controls, in both places, or nowhere.

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The Journal sidebar launcher is visible only when that location is enabled in the module settings.

Open the Hub to:

• create a puzzle
• search by puzzle name, parent journal, or type
• filter by status
• find puzzles with no trigger
• open the GM sheet
• test, reset, arm, open, or delete a puzzle
• see who is currently playing and open a read-only watch window

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The broken-link icon marks a puzzle that has no door, map note, Region, enriched text link, or incoming puzzle chain. A GM can still open it manually.

To create a puzzle:

1. Open Puzzle Hub.
2. Click New puzzle.
3. Enter a name.
4. Choose an existing Journal Entry, or leave the selector on a new journal of its own.
5. Confirm. The new puzzle opens as a draft.

You can also add a page with the puzzle page type to an existing Journal Entry.

Build Your First Puzzle

The GM sheet follows one predictable workflow:

1. Choose the puzzle type.
2. Complete Configuration.
3. Set the answer or mechanism in Puzzle.
4. Choose the frame and media in Presentation.
5. Rehearse the player experience in Preview or with Test as GM.
6. Check attempts and status in State.
7. Click Arm to wait for a trigger, or Open for players to start now.

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The right side previews what players will see. The checklist below it calls out missing setup before the puzzle opens.

The five tabs have different jobs:

The status at the top of the sheet moves through this lifecycle:

Use Save after changing the form. The status pill at the bottom reports whether the puzzle is ready to open or how many blocking issues remain.

Configure The Puzzle Rules

The Configuration tab controls the rules shared by every puzzle type.

Identity and limits

• Title is the name players see in the solver window.
• Flavor text explains what the characters see and should do. Do not rely on the mechanism alone; give the players enough fictional information to understand the challenge.
• Opening sound plays when the solver window opens.
• Attempts is the number of submitted tries. Use 0 for unlimited tries.
• Time limit uses seconds. Use 0 for no timer.
• The timer can either end the puzzle immediately or spend one attempt and restart, turning it into a per-attempt clock.

Decide who owns the state

Choose one State scope:

• World creates one mechanism, one progress state, and one attempt counter for the table. Players operate it together or take turns when the type has limited seats.
• Per player creates a private mechanism and private progress for every player. One player does not see another player's board.

With per-player scope, The table shares one pool of attempts keeps each private board but makes mistakes consume one common attempt counter. This has no effect when attempts are unlimited.

Optional access and accessibility rules

• Players may start the mechanism over adds a reset control. It clears the current arrangement but does not refund attempts.
• Closing the window counts as failing turns the puzzle into a trap the player cannot safely walk away from. The player receives a confirmation before closing.
• Offer a roll instead adds a dice-based way to solve the puzzle. A failed fallback roll spends an attempt. Set the formula, target, whether the roll must meet or stay under that target, and whether players can see the DC.
• Dexterity types such as Lockpicking, Timing bar, Drawing, and Arrow Lane enable a fallback route by default. Keep one available for players using touch controls, a poor connection, or assistive input.

Require or consume an item

Drag an Item into Required item, then choose a mode:

When an item is consumed, the inventory stack becomes the available attempt pool. Restocking the item is how the character gains more tries.

Give different clues to different players

Enable Each player receives a different piece when the table should solve the same puzzle with divided information.

1. Add one or more pieces.
2. Give each piece a public label.
3. Add the private text or image.
4. Use Automatic dealing, or pin each piece to a specific player with By name only.
5. Use Deal again if assignments need to be rebuilt.

Players can see who holds each named piece, but a player's client receives only that player's private text or image.

Present And Test The Puzzle

The Puzzle tab changes with the selected type. It contains a short How this puzzle works explanation and only the controls needed for that mechanism.

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Type-specific editors provide presets and a live rehearsal where the GM needs to judge timing or dexterity.

The Presentation tab controls the frame around the player mechanism.

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Themes change the visual frame without changing the answer or rules.

Use it to choose a built-in plate, set a custom palette, add a background image, and configure sounds for a correct or failed result.

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The theme selector groups dark, stone, light, and special visual plates.

The Preview tab gives the player window more room and lets the GM compare themes safely.

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Preview is visual. Use Test as GM when you need to play the full mechanism.

Before opening the puzzle for the table:

1. Click Test as GM.
2. Play the mechanism exactly as a player would.
3. Confirm that the answer, instructions, difficulty, and fallback roll work.
4. Try one wrong answer as well as the correct answer.
5. Return to the sheet and save any adjustments.

The yellow GM test mode banner means attempts, consequences, and table state are disabled. Testing cannot spend a player's resources, damage an actor, or change a door.

Add Consequences

A puzzle does not lock, damage, reward, or change the Scene by itself. It emits an event, then runs the consequences configured for that event.

There are four ordered lists:

• When solved runs after a correct result.
• On each wrong try runs for every submitted wrong attempt, including the attempt that empties the pool.
• When the clock runs out runs when the timer reaches zero, before terminal failure consequences.
• When they fail runs when attempts or a terminal timer cause a lockout, when a consumed resource runs out, or after a confirmed surrender.

Consequences run from top to bottom. Use the arrow controls to order them and the toggle to disable a row without deleting its setup.

Built-in consequences:

For canvas consequences, click Pick on map, select the intended objects, and confirm. The sheet stores those targets and shows their names. Missing targets are marked clearly if a Scene object is later deleted.

Important: linking a door as a trigger only makes a click open the puzzle. If solving the puzzle should unlock or open that door, also add a Door consequence under When solved.

Add Triggers

A trigger is how a player reaches an armed puzzle. Configure triggers near the bottom of the Configuration tab.

Open it manually

Use Open for players on the sheet or Open in the Puzzle Hub. This changes the puzzle to Open and sends the solver window to the table.

For a quieter workflow, click Arm. The puzzle waits without opening a window until one of the triggers below fires.

Add a clickable link to text

1. Find Link for journals and chat in the puzzle's Triggers section.
2. Click Copy link.
3. Paste the resulting @Puzzle[...] text into an enriched Journal, Item description, or chat message.
4. Save the text.

Clicking the rendered puzzle link opens the GM sheet for a GM and the solver window for a player. If the puzzle is moved or deleted and the UUID stops resolving, the link appears as broken instead of crashing the document.

Link a door

1. Open the Scene containing the door.
2. On the puzzle sheet, click Link a door on the map.
3. Select one or more doors, then confirm the picker.
4. Configure a Door success consequence if the puzzle should unlock or open those doors.

Linking preserves the door's current state and arms a draft puzzle. When a player who may operate doors clicks a linked, unsolved door, the puzzle opens instead. After that player solves the puzzle, the door returns to normal Foundry behavior for that scope.

Use a map note

Drag the puzzle page from its Journal Entry onto a Scene. Foundry creates a map note that already points to that page; no extra link field is needed.

When a player clicks the note, the puzzle opens instead of exposing the GM sheet. The player must still have permission to view the referenced page.

Link a Region

The shortest setup starts from the puzzle sheet:

1. Open the Scene containing the Region.
2. Click Link a region on the map.
3. Select the Region and confirm.
4. In the Region Behavior dialog that opens, choose the events and audience.
5. Save the behavior.

The module adds an Open puzzle Region Behavior. Available events include:

• token enter, move in, move within, move out, and exit
• token turn start and end
• token round start and end
• a click inside the Region
• a double-click inside the Region

Choose whether the solver opens for whoever triggered it or every player. For movement events, the triggering audience is based on the active non-GM owners of the moved Token. This means a GM moving a player's Token can still open the puzzle for that player.

Optional Region controls:

• Stop movement on entry stops the moving Token at the crossed edge before it continues through the area.
• Only once disables that Region Behavior after its first activation.

You can also begin from the Region itself: add Open puzzle, use Copy UUID on the puzzle sheet, and paste that UUID into the behavior's Puzzle field.

If Open puzzle is absent from the Region Behavior list, return to Foundry's Setup screen and relaunch the world. Foundry reads custom Region Behavior types when the world starts.

Use the chat command

The GM can enter this in chat:

/puzzle <name or UUID>

Name matching is case-insensitive. An exact match is preferred; otherwise the module tries a partial name match. Players cannot use this command.

The Journal sidebar context menu also includes Open puzzle for players for Journal Entries that contain puzzle pages.

Use a Macro

Click the code icon in the puzzle sheet footer to copy a one-line trigger Macro. Paste it into a Script Macro or another automation that should open this exact puzzle.

The copied line uses the module's public API:

game.modules.get("sc-puzzle-engine").api.triggerPuzzle("JournalEntry...JournalEntryPage...");

Keep the generated UUID from your own puzzle. The example above is only the shape of the command.

When a GM runs it, the puzzle opens and appears for the players. When a player runs it, only that player's solver window opens; the active GM remains the authority that accepts attempts.

Use Monk's Active Tile Triggers

When MATT is active:

1. Add an action to the Tile.
2. Choose the SC Puzzle Engine action group.
3. Select Open Puzzle.
4. Choose the puzzle.
5. Choose whoever triggered or everyone.

You can also select Trigger tile (MATT) as a puzzle consequence. That consequence is visibly warned and does nothing while MATT is inactive.

Chain puzzles

Add Open puzzle, Arm puzzle, or Disarm puzzle as a consequence to build multi-stage encounters without a Macro.

Avoid circular chains unless they are intentional. The module stops a cycle, but the table can still be sent through a confusing loop of mechanisms.

Run And Monitor A Puzzle

Use Open for players when the table should start immediately. Use Arm when the Scene, door, note, Region, link, Macro, or earlier puzzle should decide the moment.

While players work:

• the active GM validates every attempt
• the secret solution is not sent to player clients
• the State tab records attempts in a GM-only log
• consequences run on the GM side
• the Puzzle Hub can show who currently has a puzzle open
• the GM can watch a player's live board without gaining control of it

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State shows the current status, attempt use, and GM-only attempt log.

GM recovery actions:

• Solve as GM marks the puzzle solved and can run the normal success consequences.
• Reset returns the puzzle and its type-specific progress to a fresh state.
• Unlock reopens a locked-out puzzle with refreshed counters and timer while preserving its historical log.
• Close stops accepting attempts without treating the puzzle as solved.

Some types use seats or turns at world scope. Players can join, queue, leave, start together, or pass the turn as appropriate for that mechanism. The GM directs these sessions from the Hub and watch controls rather than taking a player's seat.

If no active GM is connected, a player can see the solver but cannot submit an authoritative attempt. The window reports that it is waiting for a GM.

Puzzle Catalog

Open the type selector at the top-right of the puzzle sheet. Search or scroll through all 20 built-in types.

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Choosing a type replaces the contents of the Puzzle tab and keeps the common Configuration, Presentation, Preview, and State workflow.

Direct effect

What it is: A trigger with no player mechanism. The trigger itself is the puzzle and immediately produces the verdict selected by the GM.

How players play: They do not enter an answer. The trigger fires, the window settles automatically, and the matching consequence list runs.

GM setup: Choose Solved for a pressure plate that opens a gate or grants a blessing. Choose Failed for a trap that immediately goes off. This is one act with one final verdict.

Check

What it is: A skill, ability, save, trait, or custom formula checked against a target. The roll itself is the puzzle.

How players play: Depending on Style, the roll happens automatically, from a button, from an overlay, or through the optional SC - Sidebar Party card. One roll settles the puzzle: pass runs success consequences and failure runs failure consequences.

GM setup: Pick a system preset or formula, set the target and pass direction, choose whether to show the DC, then choose roll style and Foundry roll visibility. The type intentionally allows no second attempt.

PIN

What it is: A numeric keypad protected by a secret code.

How players play: Click the digits in order, use backspace if needed, and press Try when all slots are filled. The GM may show entered digits or mask them.

GM setup: Choose a length from 3 to 8, choose digits 0-9 or 1-6, and enter a valid secret code of that length.

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Test mode shows the real player keypad while protecting table state and consequences.

Password

What it is: A free-text answer for riddles, spoken passwords, names, or short phrases.

How players play: Type an answer and press Try. By default, differences in capitalization, surrounding spaces, and accents do not matter.

GM setup: Add at least one accepted answer. Enable strict matching only when exact text matters. Optional hints can be revealed manually or automatically after a configured number of wrong attempts.

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The fallback roll remains available when the common puzzle rule is enabled.

Mastermind

What it is: A hidden sequence of gems, runes, or symbols that players deduce from feedback.

How players play: Build a full sequence and press Try. Feedback reports symbols in the correct slot and symbols that belong elsewhere. Use the previous rows to narrow the next guess.

GM setup: Choose 3 to 6 code slots, a symbol set, whether symbols may repeat, and how much feedback is shown. Build the secret code or generate one. Custom images can replace the built-in symbols. The default is 10 attempts so players have room to reason.

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A complete row is one submitted attempt; removing a symbol before submission does not spend a try.

Ordering

What it is: A set of cards that must be arranged into the correct sequence, such as ritual steps, historical events, or story fragments.

How players play: Drag the cards or use their up and down controls, then submit the complete order.

GM setup: Add at least two labeled or illustrated items. Their order in the GM editor becomes the answer. Enable Lock correct when correctly placed cards should remain fixed after a wrong attempt. The default is 6 attempts.

Lights Out

What it is: A grid in which clicking one cell changes that cell and nearby cells. The board must match the target pattern.

How players play: Click cells and observe which neighbors toggle. Continue until every cell matches the target. The puzzle submits itself when the board matches.

GM setup: Choose grid size, target pattern, scramble depth, neighbor rule, and visual skin. The generated starting board is built from the solved state so it remains solvable. This type has no secret answer to enter.

Simon

What it is: A sequence-memory game played with crystals or custom pads.

How players play: Watch the sequence, then repeat it by clicking the pads or using number keys. In progressive mode, each successful round adds one step. A wrong pad spends an attempt and restarts the run.

GM setup: Choose the number of pads, total sequence length, playback speed, progressive behavior, and whether replaying costs an attempt. Enter or generate the sequence. Custom images can replace the built-in pads.

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Players can replay the shown sequence when the GM allows that control.

Cryptex

What it is: A cylinder of rotating rings whose center line must spell the secret word.

How players play: Rotate each ring by dragging, scrolling, or using arrow keys until the glyphs in the center band form the answer, then confirm when the button is enabled.

GM setup: Enter the secret word and adjust each ring's available alphabet. The number of rings follows the answer length, and the editor ensures that each required answer glyph exists on its ring.

Memory

What it is: A card-matching board.

How players play: Turn over two cards. A matching pair remains face up; a mismatch turns back over. Find every pair to solve the puzzle.

GM setup: Choose the number of pairs, built-in symbol set or custom images, card back, card size, preview time, whether a mismatch costs an attempt, and when the turn passes. The deck reshuffles whenever the puzzle opens and needs no secret answer.

Lockpicking

What it is: A dexterity mechanism in which the player searches for a lock's sweet spot while managing pick stress.

How players play: Move the pick around the lock, then hold Tension with the mouse, Space, or the button. The farther the pick is from the sweet spot, the more it shakes and wears down. A snapped pick spends an attempt.

GM setup: Choose a difficulty preset or set sweep, sweet-spot width, stress, feedback, and whether the spot changes with each pick. The configured character statistic can widen the sweet spot. Keep the roll alternative enabled for players who cannot comfortably use the real-time controls.

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The Roll button is the accessible alternative to manipulating the pick.

Timing bar

What it is: A moving cursor that must be stopped inside a target zone.

How players play: Click the bar, press Strike, or press Space while the cursor is inside the colored zone. Reach the required hit streak. A miss always breaks the streak and can optionally spend an attempt.

GM setup: Choose speed, zone width, hits required, shrink per hit, fixed or moving zone, miss cost, and the character statistic that widens the zone. The editor reports the real timing window in milliseconds.

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The dots track the required hit streak; the highlighted segment is the valid strike window.

Cipher

What it is: An encoded message that the table must decipher.

How players play: A Caesar cipher provides a rotation wheel. A substitution cipher provides a letter mapping workbench. Depending on the chosen solve mode, players use the tool, type the decoded answer, or do both. Tool adjustments are free; only Try spends an attempt.

GM setup: Write the original message, choose Caesar or substitution, choose the solver mode and workbench visibility, then use Encipher and save. Test the result before opening it.

Word search

What it is: A letter grid with hidden words placed horizontally, vertically, diagonally, or backwards according to the GM's rules.

How players play: Drag across a word, or click its first and last letter. Found words remain highlighted. Finding every required word solves the puzzle.

GM setup: Choose language, grid size, word count, visible word list, direction rules, and whether an incorrect selection costs an attempt. Enter the words and generate a valid grid.

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The word list can be visible or hidden. A completed selection stays marked on the grid.

Wordle

What it is: A word deduction board with green, yellow, and gray letter feedback.

How players play: Enter a full word and press Try. Green means the right letter in the right position, yellow means the word contains that letter in another position, and gray means that occurrence is absent. Repeated letters are counted correctly.

GM setup: Choose language, word length, and 1, 2, or 4 simultaneous boards, then enter one secret word for each board. The attempt rule is the available row count. Multi-board games send the same guess to every board, so give them more attempts.

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Each submitted word consumes one attempt and updates every active board.

Placement

What it is: A board where objects must be placed into the correct slots, such as offerings on an altar or keys in matching locks.

How players play: Drag tray objects, or allowed Items from a character sheet, onto the board slots. Fill every required slot and submit the layout.

GM setup: Add the available objects, add and position slots on a background, then assign the correct object to every slot. Optional rules control order, inventory consumption, template hints, and whether unlisted inventory Items may be placed.

Drawing

What it is: A tracing challenge scored by how closely the player's stroke matches a guide glyph.

How players play: Draw over the guide, switch between brush and eraser, clear when allowed, and click Consecrate the trace. The 0-100 score must reach the GM's required value.

GM setup: Choose a built-in or custom font, select the glyph, set passing score, guide fade time, score visibility, clear permission, and character-stat assistance. At world scope, the table draws together on one canvas. Keep the fallback roll enabled.

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The controls support brush size, eraser, clearing, and rebindable keyboard shortcuts.

Discs

What it is: Concentric engraved rings that must place the correct symbols under a fixed mark.

How players play: Rotate each ring by dragging, scrolling, or using arrow keys. Turning is free; pressing the confirmation button submits the alignment.

GM setup: Choose ring and symbol counts, glyph set or custom images, snapping, angular tolerance, and whether correctly aligned rings are revealed. Arrange the rings on the GM answer plate to save the correct alignment.

Mosaic

What it is: One image sliced into concentric rings and scrambled.

How players play: Rotate the rings until the picture becomes whole again, then submit the arrangement.

GM setup: Choose the image, number of turnable rings, number of rotation stops, and whether the outer reference band remains fixed. The complete picture is the answer, so no separate secret is required.

Arrow Lane

What it is: A precision track where directional notes fall toward a timing line.

How players play: Press the matching Arrow key, WASD key, or on-screen button as each note crosses the line. Pressing with no note or missing the window counts as a miss. Exceeding the allowed misses ends the run.

GM setup: Choose note count, interval, visible approach time, tolerance, difficulty changes over the track, miss limit, lane keys, and solo or crew ownership. Crew modes can divide lanes among players and start them together. Keep the fallback roll available.

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The flight time lets players anticipate each note; the tolerance is displayed and configured in milliseconds.

Module Settings

Open:

Configure Settings > Module Settings > SC - Puzzle Engine > Open settings

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World-level settings control the shared theme, Puzzle Hub launchers, GM watch notifications, and the health fields used by the Damage consequence.

Available settings:

Use Use the defaults for [system] to restore the built-in health values for the current game system. Change these paths only when automatic damage is not reaching the correct Actor field.

Troubleshooting

Open for players is unavailable

Read the readiness pill and checklist. Common blockers are:

• no player-facing title
• no puzzle type
• no valid secret answer or generated mechanism
• incomplete type-specific setup

Save the sheet after correcting the fields, then use Test as GM once more.

Players see that the mechanism is closed

The solver window can open while a puzzle is still not accepting attempts. Check the State tab:

• a Draft must be armed or opened
• an Armed puzzle needs its trigger to fire or the GM to open it
• a Locked out puzzle needs Unlock
• a Solved puzzle needs Reset before it can be played again

Attempts wait forever

An active GM must be connected. Player clients never validate secret answers locally. Sign in as a GM or make sure the connected GM is active.

A linked door opens the puzzle but stays locked after success

The door link is only a trigger. Add a Door consequence under When solved, pick the same door, and choose Unlock or Open.

A Region does not open the puzzle

Check all of the following:

1. The puzzle is Armed or Open, not Draft or Solved.
2. The Region Behavior is enabled.
3. The expected event is selected.
4. The behavior still points to the correct puzzle UUID.
5. For click triggers, click empty ground inside the Region rather than a Token or map note.
6. If Open puzzle is missing from the behavior list, relaunch the world from Foundry Setup.

A map note opens the normal Journal page

Confirm that the note points directly to the puzzle page and that the current user is a player. GMs intentionally open the puzzle's configuration sheet from a map note.

Damage does not change health

Open the module settings and verify Health path, Temporary health path, and Damage direction for the current system. Try the system defaults first. If a target has no numeric value at that path, the module warns the GM and does not guess another field.

A MATT action or consequence does nothing

Make sure Monk's Active Tile Triggers is installed and active. The puzzle engine treats MATT as optional and does not activate it automatically.

Players run out of attempts unexpectedly

Check these rules together:

• State scope
• The table shares one pool of attempts
• required item consumption mode
• whether a timer spends an attempt
• whether the selected type counts misses automatically

The State tab and attempt log show which player acted and how many tries were used.