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Calinero
2009-10-02, 04:21 PM
A Cthulhu game I am currently planning revolves around an artifact the Investigators receive. They are led to believe good things are inside (there are not), but they have to solve its puzzles to open it first. I don't want to leave this puzzle solving purely to rolling, but I don't want it to be solely based on the players' intelligence either--there should be some footwork involved. I would also like the puzzle to have more than one layer. Any ideas?

BenTheJester
2009-10-02, 04:29 PM
In a chtulhu game, I would know nothing good is inside. In those games, nothing is ever good. ever. or nice. just insanity. laying at every corner. or death. if you're lucky.

Calinero
2009-10-02, 04:41 PM
Well, yeah, I'm sure they know that inside won't be good. But I'm planning on having a cult come after them once they have the object, and as soon as they mess with it they will start to have bad dreams every night--dreams that get more and more intense. Still working out the specifics, but I'm going to try and make them think that if they manage to solve the puzzle, the dreams will stop, and they'll be able to avoid or stop the cult from coming for them.

Vangor
2009-10-02, 04:50 PM
I don't want to leave this puzzle solving purely to rolling, but I don't want it to be solely based on the players' intelligence either--there should be some footwork involved.

Keys (not necessarily literal keys) to active additional sections of the overarching puzzle can make footwork necessary; maybe you need to turn a dial as though a combination lock, but this doesn't work without the dial you need to locate elsewhere.

As well, hints based on intelligence checks while still needing to complete the puzzle itself should give a good central ground. Usually, my groups will attempt a puzzle first, forget about the ability to make intelligence checks, and be aggravated with obvious clues, which makes me too amused to remind them of the possibility for checks. Make this a forced check every X amount of time spent on the puzzle; do not do what I do (we have had entire sessions based around the premise of throwing a handful of dirt in a hole...five hours of not solving).

Calinero
2009-10-02, 05:03 PM
Wow. That sounds like a scenario to avoid if possible.

And yeah, I had figured on giving them hints based on intelligence checks (or possibly idea/luck rolls) if they were having trouble. My main issue is just figuring out what puzzles to face them with. Riddles? Ciphers? Math would be too straightforward, but the problem I run into with using wordplay is that the artifact probably would not have been made by Englishspeakers--so, that rules out anagrams, puns, rhymes, ect. Riddles are still applicable, I suppose, but I would like there to be...more, I suppose. I am probably going to end up making a physical puzzle of some kind. Not like a jigsaw puzzle, but...I dunno. Something.

Croverus
2009-10-02, 05:09 PM
Rubix-cube style combinations, similar to Hellraiser.

That'd be funa nd fits the whole "oh @#!& its some insane hellspawn in a box!"

Calinero
2009-10-02, 05:13 PM
I had thought of Rubik's cubes, but I think that literally giving them one would kind of kill the mood. Plus, it would be kind of unfair to expect them to be able to solve it. And I doubt my ability to manufacture one of my own. But yes, I do like the idea of having something tangible (and perhaps three dimensional) to give them. Preferably with plenty of creepy symbols.

jiriku
2009-10-02, 05:15 PM
Perhaps you need to insert your fingers into certain holes and physically manipulate the interior of the object to open it. However, the race that designed it didn't have human-like fingers, and human fingers are too big/clumsy for the job. Thus, the players will need to figure out that the funny holes are manipulation points, then jury-rig appropriate tools to perform the manipulating. The pattern of manipulations could be recorded on a tablet or stele in some obscure location, but a cryptic series of points or numbers on the object is actually a set of directions on how to find the tablet/stele.

So, to solve:

Interpret map on object.
Find lost tablet which serves as instructions for opening.
Decode tablet.
Realize that holes in object are manipulation points.
Design tools to open object.
Follow instructions from tablet, using jury-rigged tools, to open object.

Jothki
2009-10-02, 06:42 PM
You could have it be a combination lock that requires them to spell out the name of some god in some alien language, which they have to figure out through research into the artifact's origins.