Running the iron labyrinth with fewer players

This page contains spoilers for the Iron Labyrinth one-shot

The Iron Labyrinth is designed for up to six players, and comes with six pre-made characters and character sheets. Some of the puzzles require control over a specific elements, meaning that the choice of characters may influence the puzzles that can be solved

To accomodate for this, the list below shows alterations you can implement to make the puzzle more accessible:

This water based puzzle is intended to be solved using the hydromancer, Fen. It can also be solved by the desimancer, Corin, using the Attract ability. If neither of these charactes are available, alter the pitchers with the water so that they have a drain on the bottom, and include a metal bucket. Be sure to describe the bucket as being of a weird shape

This earth based puzzle is intended to be solved using the petramancer, Ealasaid. It can also be solved by solving the riddle embedded in the puzzle prompt. It can also be solved by the Desimancer, Corin. Since there is a non-elemental solution, no alterations need to be made to this puzzle to make it more accessible

This air based puzzle is intended to be solved using the aeromancer, Aevelyn. If Aevelyn is not present, you should allow players to physically blow into the puzzle to create the same power as an aeromancer, but you should describe the process as exhausting. Also note that even with this modification, it will require multiple people to be present to solve the puzzle since the solution requires simultaneous blasts of air from different corners of the puzzle. If you only have one player, you can include a bellows in the room to make the puzzle solvable, though awkwardly

This temperature based puzzle is intended to be solved using the Pyromancer, Jasmine. It can also be solved by the Aeromancer (Aevelyn) using the Breath ability. In the supplement, the puzzle setup calls for the balls in the puzzle to be made from living plant matter so that the Desimancer (Corin) ability Attract does not work. However, if there is no Pyromancer or Aeromancer in the party, then the material should be changed based on who is present:

• It can be made of glass which allows Desimancy to work, but which would prevent Petramancy or Hydromancy. This is preferred since there is no desimancy based puzzle
• If the Desimancer (Corin) is not in the party either, Then decide if the balls should have water or earth in them, depending on who is in the party
• If only the Martialist (Shannon) is present, you can put a metal bucket in the room. If you included the metal bucket in the Sacral puzzle, you don't necessarily need a second bucket. The bucket can be used to scoop up lava and poured over the puzzle to create the heat necessary to move the ball

The section above deals with what to do if a particular element is not present in the party, this section will deal with strategies when running the group with very few players.

Strictly speaking, the alterations above can handle any situation such that all puzzles are solvable even if you only have one player, regarless of which character the person picks. That said, the solutions will be easier and less mechanical if the right mix of players is included. Therefore, I have included at table below for the recommended classes.

Use your best judgement on whether or not to share this with your players, even if they ask for a recommendation

The last thing to note is that the Martialist (Shannon) is the least helpful character in terms of solving the elemental puzzles