Romans Puzzle! I have the solution! (The Puzzle that killed a campaign)

[Umbran]

Did you read this?

Yes I did. To me, that counts as merely an extension of the basic problem of the door - they still have that one door. If they don't get through it, game over. The door is both a physical and figurative bottleneck. The plot is linearaized by that door, and multiple ways through the door don't count as multiple ways the plot can unfold into the next scenes.

 

[hrafnagud]

If I were at the end of a series of rooms I'd like to know that those that have gotten to me are indeed worthy foes.

Really? LOL, if I were sitting in the last room, I'd want to know that all the worthy foes were weeded out, and anyone who has gotten to me is on his last legs!

 

[Roman]

I am glad my DM managed to find the thread on these boards (it naturally slipped down after it was locked) and found a way to post an answer to the puzzle The solution makes sense now that it is posted! I am equally glad that the bashing of my DM has stopped - as I have repeatedly stated he is a good DM who ran an enjoyable campaign for a year, we ventured into the temple voluntarily and were amply warned that it would be hard. The only thing I am a bit unsure about is how we were supposed to find the clues in the treasure given that the pile of treasure was illusionary, but it is irrelevant now. It seems from that post that the DM got the impression that many players wanted the campaign to end. I certainly enjoyed the campaign a lot, but maybe I misjudged the feelings of other players and this was the case.

 

[Roman]

This was definitely unsolvable for us on the boards. The diagram Roman gave us (of which Mark made the nice color version) doesn't fit the solution provided by the DM. The count on the upper left section of circles should have been 29, while the count on the upper area of arrows should have been 30. Then the count of the circle areas would have been 29/19/13 (obviously odd & also prime) & the count on the arrows would have been 30/20/10 (obviously even) with the count on the triangles being 33/21/15 (obviously odd). Then recognizing that the count on the blanks was 25/8/2 could be more obviously matched up to the existing groups.

But the version of the puzzle we saw had counts of the following:
circles - 30/19/13
arrows - 29/20/10
triangles - 33/21/15
blanks - 25/8/2
With no pattern in the counts, there was no way for us to solve this puzzle.

So, did Roman supply us with an incorrect version?

So the question is: Did the DM give the wrong puzzle to the players, or did Roman give the wrong puzzle to the messageboards?

Edit: D'oh! I waited too long and went and did something else first.

Seconded!

......oh.....wait a minute........

Actually, the counts in the puzzle as I presented and those in the solution do match - I just went back and recounted them and they fit. I think you miscounted.

 

[arscott]

Given that monboesen has taken the opportunity for a well-deserved told-ya-so, I want one too.

I'd like to point out that I very specifically asked if there was anything unusual about the treasure.

 

[Tuzenbach]

Actually, the counts in the puzzle as I presented and those in the solution do match - I just went back and recounted them and they fit. I think you miscounted.

OK, I'm going off the "colored" version that was made (I printed up a copy and everything) and, no, they *don't* match!

 

[PaulGreystoke]

OK, I'm going off the "colored" version that was made (I printed up a copy and everything) and, no, they *don't* match!

Yes, I was very careful to check my counts before posting. Just like Tuzenbach, I printed out a copy for reference. My counts are correct.

 

[Particle_Man]

How about someone post the puzzle again in this thread so I don't have to search for it? Then we can all count together.

 

[tarchon]

Really? LOL, if I were sitting in the last room, I'd want to know that all the worthy foes were weeded out, and anyone who has gotten to me is on his last legs!

Well, worthy foes are the only ones you get XPs for, and all those permanent summoning portals take a lot of XPs to create.

 

[Abraxas]

The colored version posted by Mark is not the same as the original version posted by Roman.
Mark added 1 circle in the 4th space from the left, 3rd space down - it should be a <->.

Now for the really funny part this was posted just before the colored version posted by Mark

I noticed that the symbols are grouped into three blocks of each symbol.

Going from left to right, the blocks have the following number of tiles:

Circle: 29, 19, 13
Arrow: 20, 30, 10
Triangle: 15, 21, 33

No one noticed the significance of Circles = Prime, Arrows = Even, Triangles = Odd even though the pattern was seen.