Okay, I think the biggest complaint I've heard about "Gorgoldand's Gauntlet" over the years has been that silly Minesweeper puzzle. I included it for several reasons: I happen to
like Minesweeper, and as it's a purely logic-based (and somewhat mathematical) puzzle, I thought it nicely counterbalanced the "word-play" puzzles elsewhere in the Gauntlet.
Obviously, though, not everyone's thrilled with having a quick little game of Minesweeper show up in the middle of their dungeon adventure. Okay, fair enough. For those of you who would just as soon replace it with something else, the rest of this post is for you.
The following alternative puzzle was tailor-made to fit in the exact same room as the "Minesweeper puzzle." Here's the description:
The cavern floor is smooth on this side of the wooden door, although the walls remain jagged stone. Twenty feet ahead, the floor is divided up into 160 squares, each a 2 foot by 2 foot metal plate, forming an 8-by-20 grid. Each square holds a carved letter, and the floor immediately before the gridwork holds the following legend:
A GRID OF LETTERS ON THE GROUND
PLEASE CHOOSE EACH STEP OUT IN ADVANCE
THERE'S ONE SAFE PATH THAT CAN BE FOUND
IT DOESN'T STAND OUT AT FIRST GLANCE
And here's the actual gridwork (I can't really do up the whole graphics, so just assume that each letter below is centered on a separate, square metal plate, and that they stretch from one wall to the other so there's nowhere to step except on the metal plates):
B A Y N O D E R
O N L Y O N C E
G I N A Z N I S
W H O L E B A G
R P G S O N T V
S D O C M I T D
O D D D R E A M
N L Y M E N E L
Y O U M I G H T
G G E H T O C K
D E Y V U A I R
N H T O W B N A
A T A P R O O M
D L I F E U R N
L E A R N T H E
I O N I C S C I
B R U S H O U R
A R A C H N I D
M O A T L I F E
A G E O F M A N
(PCs start at this end)
The solution follows; I tried putting it in "spoiler mode," but the red lettering leaks through and gives the answer away anyway, so I'll just state now that the answer appears below, and it's going to be a
SPOILER if you don't want to know about it ahead of time.
S
P
O
I
L
E
R
There is one safe path through the grid of letters, and the answer is spelled out in front of the PCs' noses. The phrase "each step out in advance," as mentioned in the carving, actually states which squares are safe to step on: the "E" in the first row, then the "A" in the second row, then the "C" in the third row, etc. See the diagram below for details: the "safe path" is shown in red. Stepping upon any of the other grid squares has the same result as in the original "Minesweeper" puzzle.
B A Y N O D E R
O N L Y O N C E
G I N A Z N I S
W H O L E B A G
R P G S O N T V
S D O C M I T D
O D D D R E A M
N L Y M E N E L
Y O U M I G H T
G G E H T O C K
D E Y V U A I R
N H T O W B N A
A T A P R O O M
D L I F E U R N
L E A R N T H E
I O N I C S C I
B R U S H O U R
A R A C H N I D
M O A T L I F E
A G E O F M A N
Of course, with this set-up, Snooky the pseudodragon no longer plays a necessary role in this puzzle, so ignore the part where he mentally contacts the PCs and describes the workings of the puzzle to them. The PCs are on their own!
Those of you who aren't into Minesweeper (or doubt that their players will enjoy it) now have another option to throw at them. Of course, if they don't like word puzzles, either, then maybe "Gorgoldand's Gauntlet" isn't the best adventure to run them through!
Baumi, I'd be interested to hear how the adventure works out this Saturday. If you get a chance, post the details here in this thread. Thanks!
Johnathan M. Richards
Author, "Gorgoldand's Gauntlet"
(and self-professed Minesweeper fan!)