A puzzle dungeon is more than rooms filled with puzzles—it is the puzzle. Each space teaches something new, reuses old ideas in clever ways, and slowly reveals how every strange piece fits together. Players succeed not by rolling dice, but by reasoning about their surroundings — seeing how one chamber’s mystery connects to another’s.

And now it's time to make your own tabletop adventure game dungeon filled with OSR-style puzzles and challenges. 

At the end of the jam, I'll highlight some of my favorite submissions and publicize them during the crowdfunding campaign for A Familiar Tower during Zine Month in February 2026.

When possible, I will give public feedback on early submissions. The feedback will be professional criticism you might receive from any peer. The goal is not to bash entries, it's to help everyone produce the best adventures they can. Submissions will be reviewed in the order they were received and you can update them at any time.

You can watch the feedback videos on YouTube.

Format: Submissions must be in PDF format. The maximum space your adventure can take up is 4 full-size sheets (A4 or Letter) formatted however you'd like. So double-sided is 8 pages or 16 half pages (A5 or 8.5"x5.5"). Covers are optional, but any included must fit within these bounds.

System: You may use whatever ruleset you'd like or make your module system agnostic.

Price: Ensure your submission is set as "Free to download" or "Pay what you want" on your itch.io page. Once the jam has ended, you may change the cost of your adventure to whatever you'd like.

No AI content of any kind is allowed.

This stuff is all optional. Use whatever inspires you and helps you create.

Community

• Zine Month discord server - Instead of creating a new discord for this jam, I want to direct folks to this creator-focused server which is active all year round. This is a great place to connect with contributors and ask all your zine and adventure creating questions. I'll also be there for advice if you need me.

Theory

• Overview of OSR-style puzzles
• Puzzle Dungeon Design part 1: Themes & Gimmicks
• Puzzle Dungeon Design part 2: Challenges and Lessons
• How to run a puzzle dungeon
• The Legend of Zelda puzzle box dungeon
• Design Your Locks With More Keys

Procedure

• Designing Dungeons: Or How To Kill A Party In 30 Rooms or Less
• Bite-sized dungeon design
• Cairn's dungeon seeds
• Cyclic Dungeon Generation

Examples

These titles are PWYW for the duration of the Puzzle Dungeon Jam because examples can be awesome tools. Thank you, Brad and deldon.

• Aberrant Reflections - Mirror mirror on the wall, what is that staring back at me?
• Puzzle Dungeon: The Seers Sanctum - They're eyeing to meet you!
• Fabien's Atelier - Floating wizard island with a problem.
• The Door Locks Behind You - Rules and procedures for puzzle adventures with that Zelda flavor.

Assets

• Gordy's Public Domain Fantasy Art Pack 3 - This is where the jam itch page assets are from!
• More of Gordy's work (also CC0) available on their itch page
• New School Revolution Public Domain Art curated selection
• Classic Explorer Starter Template - Simple and effective layout template.
• Yochai Gal's collection of itch art and templates