javenspell
Paint Manipulator
Is this your Character sheet Larry?
Posts: 166
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Post by javenspell on Dec 23, 2013 19:55:56 GMT
This is one I did years ago. It is a very simple puzzle
There was a NPC that had the solution to get a treasure in a dungeon. He hires the PC's to help him retrieve it.
Once at the Dungeon, I have the NPC die in some way. when searched they players find the piece of leather they saw the NPC looking at every night Burned into the leather is the word "Barrow"
So the puzzle is a door deep in the dungeon (When I say deep I mean through many corridors and doors not tiers) with 6 small holes in it that cannot be opened without the proper key
The key is a stone pedestal that sits across from the door. The pedestal has sunlight shining down on it through a hole in the ceiling and another six indentations in it.
Through out the Dungeon there are six rooms which are difficult to get to...in each room the players find a gem on a pedetal
Puzzle solution: There are 6 gems in total (1) Amber Gem (2) red gems, (1) White Gem, (1) orange Gem, & (1) Blue Gem
These gems fit perfectly into the indentations on the pedestal in the main room
they need to be placed into the pedestal in this order: Blue, Amber, Red, Red, Orange, & White (B,A,R,R,O,W)
The light shines through the gems and shoots the colors into the holes in the door, unlocking to allow access to the treasure within. Wrong order is wrong color formation and wont work or causes something bad to happen
Seems simple, but my players struggled with this for some time...when one finally figured it out, he jumped around the room screaming "I GOT IT, I Got it!" it was fun
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Post by adamantinedragon on Dec 23, 2013 20:24:42 GMT
It has been my experience that puzzles have to be very simple for most players to work them out. What seems simple to a GM who has full knowledge of all the history and circumstances can be an impenetrable mystery to players who can get wrapped up in beating down bad guys. I've had player groups forget the names of their enemies, much less remember enough to work out complicated puzzles.
What I tend to do with puzzles is make them fairly simply, but time-box them in some way to make the players work to solve it quickly.
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javenspell
Paint Manipulator
Is this your Character sheet Larry?
Posts: 166
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Post by javenspell on Dec 23, 2013 21:41:27 GMT
I agree, this one seemed simple to me but stumped the party for some time. I tend to stay away from riddles for this reason...it would take me 500 guesses to get an answer right on a riddle...even an easy one
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Aeldrei
Cardboard Collector
Posts: 15
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Post by Aeldrei on Jul 30, 2014 4:26:11 GMT
... a very simple puzzle ... piece of leather ... is the word "Barrow"
... the door ...six indentations in it ...a gem on a pedestal
Puzzle solution: There are 6 gems in total (1) Amber Gem (2) red gems, (1) White Gem, (1) orange Gem, & (1) Blue Gem
This would work out fantastically for my first home-made dungeon crawl. I am working on a bad wizard, monster spider scenario, where magically augmented spiders have grown more intelligent, extremely large, and have taken to abducting passing humans as food and/or pets. Instead of a door, I would like to use a spider carving or discarded carapace positioned on a dais at the end of a long room. She could have two normal black spider eyes, but empty spaces for the six remaining eyes. At intervals along the sides of the room would be six bowls filled with 'gems' (real life tiny glass beads) of the correct colours, and one Red Herring colour added to confuse things; probably green, since I have that colour of bead. The correct colours would trigger a door to open at the back of the dais. Now, I just have to go look up how to make those interesting alcoves along the sides of a room ...
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