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View Full Version : (Any) Different Kinds of Puzzles, and Making Them Work In Game



Gralamin
2010-01-23, 08:19 PM
So, I love having Puzzles in games. However, not all types of puzzles work in games, or require certain conditions to work. So, this brings me to the treads purpose: What puzzles have you seen in a game, and did they require anything special to work?.

I Intend to make this thread into a list of puzzles, separated into "Easy to get to work right" and "Difficult to get to work right."

Heres a start:
Number Grids (Sudoku, charts of numbers that need to be filled in, etc.)
Logic Puzzles (Puzzles requiring the use of logic to narrow down to a single answer)
Quotation Puzzles
Word Searches and Crosswords - Never seen these used, but its mentioned in the 4e DMG.
Riddles - Can work if Players are given the riddle in text form, as well as the means to actually have the knowledge needed to decipher it, and there is no premade answer.
Cryptograms
Mazes

And, before throwing over the thread to the masses to expand, a general note for playing with Puzzles: Allow any solution the players can come up with.

Harperfan7
2010-01-23, 08:42 PM
In the first room of the first dungeon of my last campaign, there was a stone door that had no visible way of opening. If the pcs searched the first room, they found a scrolltube with a scroll reading (in draconic),

"Threats hang over sisters ever with intention to harm whilst internal turmoil deepens inside secret ceremonies every royal needs to rule under the high imperial negotiator commonly omitted moments prior lessening entire xerically illuminated terrestrial yestermen."

I admit, xerically was a stretch, but as I understand, it means desert-ly. So illuminated as it would be in a desert. I guess.

Anyways, saying the right thing in draconic makes the door desolve into black smoke.

The Deej
2010-01-23, 08:50 PM
In a DnD game, my party found a locked spellbook with what was obviously a coded message on the back cover. it was a simple substitution code; each line turned out to be one spell that was in the book except for the last line, which was the password to open the book.

Grumman
2010-01-23, 09:17 PM
In the first room of the first dungeon of my last campaign, there was a stone door that had no visible way of opening. If the pcs searched the first room, they found a scrolltube with a scroll reading (in draconic),

"Threats hang over sisters ever with intention to harm whilst internal turmoil deepens inside secret ceremonies every royal needs to rule under the high imperial negotiator commonly omitted moments prior lessening entire xerically illuminated terrestrial yestermen."

I admit, xerically was a stretch, but as I understand, it means desert-ly. So illuminated as it would be in a desert. I guess.
That's atrocious.

First, xerically is not a word. Second, the players may never have heard the root word that you're mangling, so you might as well have asked for a Profession (manuscript editor) check from the start. Third, if the PC knew the draconic word being translated, they would have translated it into a word they knew (like "arid"), not a word they didn't know. Fourth, "xerically illuminated" would mean lit in a dry manner (?), not lit as if it were a desert.

Harperfan7
2010-01-23, 09:18 PM
That's atrocious.

First, xerically is not a word. Second, the players may never have heard the root word that you're mangling, so you might as well have asked for a Profession (manuscript editor) check from the start. Third, if the PC knew the draconic word being translated, they would have translated it into a word they knew (like "arid"), not a word they didn't know. Fourth, "xerically illuminated" would mean lit in a dry manner (?), not lit as if it were a desert.

The point is moot. The words meaning has nothing to do with the puzzle.

RebelRogue
2010-01-23, 09:47 PM
I think the hardest part is balancing the difficulty of the puzzles. Usually it will be way too easy or way too hard. This depends on the players too, of course, but it's caught me by surprise a lot of the time. Finding that sweet spot is the real challenge IMO.

Anyway, easy or hard, I'd love to see the Playgrounders' favorite ones.

Dimers
2010-01-23, 10:32 PM
My party recently had to draw a certain figure without lifting the pen from the page.

My experience with CRPG riddles recently helped me prepare a treasure hunt for a child's birthday party :smallsmile:

absolmorph
2010-01-23, 10:50 PM
In the first room of the first dungeon of my last campaign, there was a stone door that had no visible way of opening. If the pcs searched the first room, they found a scrolltube with a scroll reading (in draconic),

"Threats hang over sisters ever with intention to harm whilst internal turmoil deepens inside secret ceremonies every royal needs to rule under the high imperial negotiator commonly omitted moments prior lessening entire xerically illuminated terrestrial yestermen."

I admit, xerically was a stretch, but as I understand, it means desert-ly. So illuminated as it would be in a desert. I guess.

Anyways, saying the right thing in draconic makes the door desolve into black smoke.
It is a rather accurate statement.
And a nice puzzle. It takes some thought and work to figure out.

Tavar
2010-01-23, 10:54 PM
The point is moot. The words meaning has nothing to do with the puzzle.

So, wait, what's the point of the puzzle?

absolmorph
2010-01-23, 10:57 PM
So, wait, what's the point of the puzzle?
Take the first letter of every word.

"THOSEWITHWITDISCERNTRUTHINCOMPLEXITY."
Which is actually:
"Those with wit discern truth in complexity."
Which is, if I'm not mistaken, supposed to be stated in Draconic. Then the door goes poof.

Harperfan7
2010-01-23, 10:57 PM
The sentence itself is meaningless. You take the first letter from each word to get the real message.

EDIT: How much sudden strike damage do I take for that one?

Archpaladin Zousha
2010-01-23, 11:13 PM
I didn't encounter this puzzle myself, but I remember someone mentioning it on the WOTC forums:

The puzzle was a large room with a map of the world for the floor, and there were a bunch of stone statues in different nations, with tortured expressions and chains attached. Across the room was a locked door that they couldn't open through conventional means. If someone approached one of the statues, it would come to life and attack, like an Armos in Legend of Zelda, but if the players moved out of the statues reach (the statue would follow the player until it reached its chain's limit) the statue would snap back to its original position and stop moving. After some experimentation, one of the players activated a statue, and his/her companions sundered the statues chain. The statue returned to its original position, but its expression changed to a happy one, and it didn't attack when approached. They did the same thing to each of the statues, and when they were done, the door opened.

The key to the puzzle was symbolism. They needed to "free" the oppressed peoples of the world to move forward. It'll always stick in my mind as a very detailed and interesting puzzle.

Gralamin
2010-01-23, 11:22 PM
Snip
This is a nice idea, I'll have to investigate into making alternative puzzles in this vein.

Forevernade
2010-01-24, 05:08 AM
There are two kinds of puzzles.

Puzzles for the characters. This can usually be ethically based, picking between two contrasting choices, or skill based, where certain skills must be used in an order successfully before they can finish.

Then there are puzzles for the players. Word problems, riddles, maths problems, and imaginary problems.

There is a problem now that you must choose one of the two, because there are smart players playing dumb characters, and dumb players who play smart characters, and through this we have discrepancy.

Forevernade
2010-01-24, 05:46 AM
So, now you can incorporate both types of puzzles.

For example, a following a riddle, you must use the right skills in the right order, and each time you fail you have some summoned creeps or a lightning wand trigger. The wand could damage a hostage it keeps trapped, and if they manage to free the hostage by completing the riddle by using their skills, they get rewarded, and get a clue for the next riddle they will face [in the next room].

Kol Korran
2010-01-24, 09:24 AM
lets see. i'm not that good at puzzles, but i ran a campaign once where the characters went to meet an oracle, which was actually a whole force of people working for a cause, and the party had to face trials in a small straightforward dungeon. the tests also served as a sort of a history lesson of the campaign. i'm not sure i remember it all, but lets see what i can dig up. they resemble Archpaladin Zousha example a bit:

1) room of chains and escape: when the party enters the room the hear a voice telling them of the time when all races where slaves to the fiends, and that they had to fight together to survive and so on. there were 2 things that saved the people (i forgot what they were) other than working together. all over the room there are bars, and there are statues of simple fiends, and also column upon which were statues of chain devils.

in the middle of the room there is a box, in which there are several sets of braces, upon which inscribed a fiend's word for a race. there is one door out, no obvious means of opening.

the fun starts when all PCs put the braces on. suddenly ropes of energy leap between the braces, tying the characters together, with some distance between them, forming a "chain of prisoners". two symbols appear at the opposite far ends of the room. and the statues start to move to attack.

how does this go? the basic solution is to get to the symbols (which represent the things the prisoners needed to get) and then the door opens. meanwhile, the statues (simple construct with some simple special ability) harass the characters. every time a statue "Dies", it reactivates after a few rounds. the party must work together, as their maneuverability is limited. most likely they'll have to time their movement in order to move together.

meanwhile the chain devils try to chain a character and to make it fall, or drag it to a pit ("prison") and hamper the party some more.

other possible things the character could do- break off a statue, blanket the kythons down in fog, lockpick the braces to get out of the chain and so on...

once the party got to the two symbols, the braces deactivate and fall off, the voice gives a passage onwards, and the party moves on.

2) the room of shelter and alliance: on the way to the second room the party crosses a corridor, at it's sides are huge faces of the races in the old alliance (i played 4E so i used most of the races in the PHB quite heavily refluffed, with a few others) a character could touch a statue, and then be asked 3 simple questions in the language of the race about the race's history) according to their success they might have gotten simple rewards that might help in the dungeon (clues to what might happen, a potion, or the like)

before they entered the room they hear how they ran from place to place, seeking shelter, but that they grew to learn more of each other, and became allies. the room is big, and misty, looks like a rain forest and some ruins. it has numerous doors all around. as the party moves in they hear gates opening in the distance, and some more statues. (this time they are opposed by hell hound like statues, and Yuan Ti archers like statues, for historcial reasons). also, two lights appear randomly in the room. while the party searches for an exit, and fights its (reactivating) foes they find various statues of people of the alliance, some of them giving them a hint as to the location of the real exit.

the lights are zones of temporal safety ("shelter") which switch every few rounds. every few rounds (just before the light change) the fog lits up, burning all (statues are immune), that are not near the lights (the light protects from the mist)

in the end the exit is in the middle of the room, at the bottom of a pool.

again, when it's opened, everything stops, the party can rest while the voice gives a bit more history (my players called it "the oracle's guided tour")

you'd notice i put an emphasis in the two rooms of working togehter/ alliance and such. these were new players, and it fitted the campaign greatly. might not be optimal, but that's what i did.

3) room of tools, magic and war: this room is a bit different, the party is on a heightened platform, there is another platform on the other end with a great looking devil statue on it, holding a great orb. between the platforms there were many statues of devil legions, as well as a few other kinds. the party is given a review upon the alliance fight against the devils, and how they used new craftmanship, new magic, and mostly wit to over come the foe.

everything is very still, and the partycan't enter the "battlefield" through the ramps. however, there are "workshops" for creating weapons and magic (sort to speak)- basically there were boards with symbols, and the party could try and assemble some symbols together, upon which they might be granted an item or a "spell" (item with magical effect) they had only a few rounds to do so, so they had to choose right (the clues from the faces might have helpedhere in example). these were the party's tools and magic to face the "devils".

when time is up, the "battle" begins, as the party tries to get to the other side. i am hazy about the details, but a few things i remember is:
- avoiding the Orb's light by discerning it's "search light pattern". when it focuses on the characters there is focused fire from the "fort".
- out maneuvering enemy units- some were quite slow.
- using the right weapon/ magic against the right targets (some were more volnurable, some were less)
- identifying "officers" and taking them down
- some sort of simple puzzle to get the ramp up to the fort. something they should think up quickly on their feat.

unlike other rooms, here no statue reactivated.

there were a few possible paths through this room. my party took the path that echoed the gurilla attacks from the plane of shadow (a hidden corridor in black here)

there might have been more, but i don't remember. i hope someone finds this helpfull.

Kol.

drengnikrafe
2010-01-24, 04:06 PM
My puzzles work very poorly. They fall to pieces most of the time. I have only used one kind that worked, and that's the random challenge. A door that sealed itself. A fountain that paralyzes those who go near it, but has a MacGuffin on it. They critically think their way out of those no problem. When I give them a riddle, they bomb right out.

Only when I have no preset answer can they think of a way out.

randomhero00
2010-01-24, 04:14 PM
The one that's coming to mind was a puzzle where we initially found the answer but written cryptically. It listed beasts in an order. We had to use logic I suppose to figure out that it was referring to the number of their eyes as a combination lock for the puzzle we needed to get by, which the lock itself had pictures of other beasts, but with the same number of eyes.

Flarp
2010-01-24, 05:10 PM
The final dungeon of one of my campaigns was the (incredibly cliché) tower of the BBEG, an evil wizard with a massive inferiority complex.

His plan was to destroy Celestia.

He had a long and convoluted story of delicious villain angst, but the final point was that he was going to open two massive portals to the planes of Negative and Positive Energy, and then channel then directly into another planar gate that lead directly to the private sanctums of the LG gods, which would destroy them.

To stop the scheme, the players had to make the flows of energy that were conducted through the tower equalize on each floor, which would weaken the current and allow access to the next floor. It required character intelligence (many, many, MANY spellcraft checks were involved), as well as player intelligence.

One particular floor worked like this: the players entered the long rectangular central room first, which contained an obvious (the wizard had Arcane Sight on at the time) Arcane Eye at the end and four pedestals on either side. The flow of positive energy was obviously going into one set of the pedestals and the negative was going into the other.

The pedestals had slots in them that would allow a metal rod to be placed in them - they were, in fact, spell turrets that had been outfitted with the Gate spell. Throughout the floor, rods with metals corresponding to the Outer Planes (excluding "lean" planes, like Carceri or Bytopia) were guarded by the wizard's creations - when inserted, that turret would summon an entity related to the Outsider race of that plane.

When the Arcane Eye was activated, the turrets fired. If the Outsiders were opposed to each other, i.e. a Devil and an Eladrin, the two neutralized each other and that conduit was destroyed. If, however, they were not opposites, i.e. Slaad vs. Demon, they would fight and the players would have to kill the weakened survivor. For the purposes of puzzle, it was stated that the good outsiders were the wizard's thrall and commanding them to fight each other/the PCs/evil Outsiders was not an Evil act.

Miraculously, they managed to do it, though they were missing the Mechanus rod until the very end.

Deth Muncher
2010-01-24, 06:20 PM
In the first room of the first dungeon of my last campaign, there was a stone door that had no visible way of opening. If the pcs searched the first room, they found a scrolltube with a scroll reading (in draconic),

"Threats hang over sisters ever with intention to harm whilst internal turmoil deepens inside secret ceremonies every royal needs to rule under the high imperial negotiator commonly omitted moments prior lessening entire xerically illuminated terrestrial yestermen."

I admit, xerically was a stretch, but as I understand, it means desert-ly. So illuminated as it would be in a desert. I guess.

Anyways, saying the right thing in draconic makes the door desolve into black smoke.

Those with wit discern truth in complexity?

SensFan
2010-01-24, 06:35 PM
The point is moot. The words meaning has nothing to do with the puzzle.
"You can read that it is in draconic. You translate it to mean this: [stuff]."
"What does that x-word mean?"
"You don't know."
"But...I translated it from Draconic.."
"You don't know."

Justin B.
2010-01-24, 06:50 PM
Stuff.

This is by far the best D&D puzzle I have ever heard of. I daresay you win a cookie.

Harperfan7
2010-01-24, 07:05 PM
"You can read that it is in draconic. You translate it to mean this: [stuff]."
"What does that x-word mean?"
"You don't know."
"But...I translated it from Draconic.."
"You don't know."

Comprehend languages.

Flarp
2010-01-24, 11:28 PM
This is by far the best D&D puzzle I have ever heard of. I daresay you win a cookie.

D'aw. Is it chocolate chip? I think my PCs poisoned an emperor with a chocolate chip cookie once.

It's a long story.

Karen Lynn
2010-01-25, 04:36 AM
One of my DMs had this thing for puzzles, real ones. Let's see... In order to open a secret door, we had to unfasten one of those metal puzzles, the ones with two pieces intertwined.

Our gnome was building a trap, and to test it, he had to do the circle over the metal wire puzzle, if you fail and touch the sides, it buzzes.

In one, we had to win a chess game in a set number of moves.

He had more, we just never got to get to them.

Using physical problems to solve in game trials: Awesome.

SensFan
2010-01-26, 02:31 PM
Using physical problems to solve in game trials: Awesome.
Not so much, in my opinion. Not unless the wizard's player needs to create explosions out of thin air to cast Fireball.
It's the characters themselves who are solving (or making) traps. Not the players.

TheCountAlucard
2010-01-26, 04:08 PM
EDIT: How much sudden strike damage do I take for that one?None, actually; that was a case of being simu'd, not ninja'd. :smallamused:

Anyway, the paralyzing-font one actually sounds pretty good; I'll likely steal it for a game of my own.

Kinda curious to see how anyone could manage a puzzle in Exalted without the team of Solars just beating the encounter into submission.

"A box without hinges, key, or lid-"

"I use my Combo of Pounding Hammer of Devastation Technique, Sledgehammer Fist Punch, and Thunderbolt Attack Prana to uppercut the door. With Solar Hero Form up, and the Slayer Khatars, I believe it has to roll to soak 296 damage, and then there's an automatic sixteen it's taking."