Defeated by puzzle - campaign over: Here is the offending puzzle!

[Particle_Man]

A way out

I don't know how to solve the puzzle, but there is a way to retreat. Have all the characters in the party switch teams and vow allegiance to the evil gods, or one of them. At that point the clerics will get full spell points, and can cure the stat drains. Plus, it is quite possible the monsters will no longer attack you.

Mind you, I think that this would make all of your characters (or at least the clerics) into npc's...

 

[Particle_Man]

Frankly, if you hadn't been around these boards for so long, I'd have written you off as a troll before page one of this thread.

Isn't that technically impossible? I mean, the first post starts page one, so to write someone off as a troll before page one of this thread you would have to do so before the first post, but that would be before you got the evidence with which to write someone off as a troll.

 

[Roman]

I don't know how to solve the puzzle, but there is a way to retreat. Have all the characters in the party switch teams and vow allegiance to the evil gods, or one of them. At that point the clerics will get full spell points, and can cure the stat drains. Plus, it is quite possible the monsters will no longer attack you.

Mind you, I think that this would make all of your characters (or at least the clerics) into npc's...

Hey, welcome back Particle Man - you missed the first session of the new replacement game on Friday - coming to the next one?

 

[Particle_Man]

No, in my experience in this campaign, puzzles are basically impossible to surpass by means other than solving the puzzle and are not red herrings. However, it is usually possible to simply go away/back and do something else - this particular dungeon is a special case though as it is linear (as our research tells us and as has held true thus far - that did not stop us thoroughly searching the room but we found nothing).

What were the walls/doors made of? Did you have any mining picks? Ideally, adamantine mining picks, of course, but with "Create food and water" you might have lasted long enough to dig a tunnel out or something.

 

[atra2]

Well, I see some possible brute force approaches.

1) 225 squares, no one symbol currently has more than 75 of itself I think,
so:

add sufficient numbers of each of the three symbols to add up to 75 of each,
regardless of placement.

2) The two empty spaces to the left have none of the third symbol nearby, so you
could fill them with that, except that the empty space on the right has instances of
all three.

3) Think of it as art, and extend each group of symbols towards the center of the
blank space it is adjacent to.

For the two leftmost blank spaces, cut them in half and fill them with more of the
respective symbols. For the one on the right, you end up with three triangular
projections meeting in the center of the blank space.

Finally, if this puzzle isn't solved mathematically, think artistically so that you end up
with patterns that would look wonderful on a quilt

If you knew anything about how the lich was in life, and he happened to be an
artist, or an art-lover, there's probably a very visual non-logic solution to this puzzle,
and I say this as a logic-lover

 

[Particle_Man]

Hey, welcome back Particle Man - you missed the first session of the new replacement game on Friday - coming to the next one?

Absolutely! I had the miss the first one because I was entertaining guests (a previous committment) but now I will endeavour to keep my fridays free. The new DM's style matches my playing style perfectly, despite the high body count. And while he has evil conspiracies up the yin-yang, I don't think he ever leaves puzzles. Thank. God.

I am going to try a "maneuver" fighter, so instead of going for spec. in one weapon, or for extra attacks via cleave or whirlwind, I will take a lot of the int: "improved" stuff and some of the tactical feats from CW (I haven't planned beyond 12th level, but hey, I might not live beyond 1st!).

 

[Roman]

What were the walls/doors made of? Did you have any mining picks? Ideally, adamantine mining picks, of course, but with "Create food and water" you might have lasted long enough to dig a tunnel out or something.

Bash Smashalot (the name of the surviving barbarian - his player is the new DM) tried to bash it open but to no avail at all. Besides, you were in this campaign before you quit - you know very well that puzzles have to be solved to be surpassed.

 

[Roman]

Finally, if this puzzle isn't solved mathematically, think artistically so that you end up
with patterns that would look wonderful on a quilt

If you knew anything about how the lich was in life, and he happened to be an
artist, or an art-lover, there's probably a very visual non-logic solution to this puzzle,
and I say this as a logic-lover

Hmm, I still think it will turn out to be a mathematical puzzle in the end, but this is an interesting way to think about it. We know the lich used to be a female elf before, so I guess she could think artistically.

 

[Roman]

Absolutely! I had the miss the first one because I was entertaining guests (a previous committment) but now I will endeavour to keep my fridays free. The new DM's style matches my playing style perfectly, despite the high body count. And while he has evil conspiracies up the yin-yang, I don't think he ever leaves puzzles. Thank. God.

I am going to try a "maneuver" fighter, so instead of going for spec. in one weapon, or for extra attacks via cleave or whirlwind, I will take a lot of the int: "improved" stuff and some of the tactical feats from CW (I haven't planned beyond 12th level, but hey, I might not live beyond 1st!).

Although one was close, there have been no actual deaths in the first session, so perhaps your fears are not justified.

 

[Gorrstagg]

Besides, you were in this campaign before you quit - you know very well that puzzles have to be solved to be surpassed.

Hey Roman, here is something I want you to personally ask your old DM.

Since you posted the particular puzzle on Saturday. Sunday, Monday and now Tuesday have come by and it has been viewed 7,563 times. And no one has come up with the answer, other than, fill in 7 triangles, 15 circles, and 12 arrows.. anywhere in the puzzle.

Does the DM have an answer for the puzzle, if so. Does he feel that maybe it was inappropriate to actually put said puzzle in the game. Considering that hundreds of people have been going over this for many days now and to our knowledge NO ONE has solved it. Would he consider sharing the answer with you and everyone here, as it has now gone much further than just ending a campaign.

The guy doesn't have to defend his actions, you the players accepted it. That's on y'all. He may be a great DM, and obviously is standing by his guns on this one. But so far he tacitly put a puzzle out in front of us, by letting you post it. Four days is more than enough time to actually supply an answer.

And here is something for you to consider.. non-vitriol applied. Without knowing how long your typical gaming sessions run, we'll say 6 hours.. for simplistic sake.

With each session running once a week for 6 hours a session, would he of honestly let you sit there for 16 weeks (4 months) without supplying an answer? Or considering that maybe this puzzle was WAY to obscure and out of place, to have been placed in a game?

(And hey, some gamer out there must know a MIT graduate.. or someone in MIT.. who could try to solve this.. or get some math club to try to solve this equation.)