Grab a Raymond Smullyan book and pick one. Do a little adaptation, add some physical elements maybe and you're good to go.
Where to find puzzles for dungeons?
Grab a Raymond Smullyan book and pick one. Do a little adaptation, add some physical elements maybe and you're good to go.
fireinthedust
Explorer
http://www.cloudkingdom.com/home.aspx]Cloud kingdom games is a riddle and PUZZLE website That I highly recommend.
They have a series of books incorporating riddles *into* fantasy puzzles. No rules, just how the puzzle works.
I've used them in my game and so far they're great. I have two of the books, and when I get some cash freed up I'm going to start grabbing all of them.
I also make up my adventures based around a puzzle the PCs have to solve in some way. I've used the actual board from "master Labyrinth" when the PCs were in a shifting hedgemaze. The miniatures battle was fun.
When I design a puzzle, I try to think:
1) how can I kill my characters
2) what would be a fun trope/situation to be in
3) This is a really cool video game/hobby store item; how do I turn this into a dungeon room?
4) How could this monster be used in a puzzle?
They have a series of books incorporating riddles *into* fantasy puzzles. No rules, just how the puzzle works.
I've used them in my game and so far they're great. I have two of the books, and when I get some cash freed up I'm going to start grabbing all of them.
I also make up my adventures based around a puzzle the PCs have to solve in some way. I've used the actual board from "master Labyrinth" when the PCs were in a shifting hedgemaze. The miniatures battle was fun.
When I design a puzzle, I try to think:
1) how can I kill my characters
2) what would be a fun trope/situation to be in
3) This is a really cool video game/hobby store item; how do I turn this into a dungeon room?
4) How could this monster be used in a puzzle?
I often come across situations that do both. In such cases, one can with a bit of effort tease out the fundamental logic of the puzzle aspect and change the particulars -- including consequences.
As to constructing one's own, I think the basic necessities are:
1) Something initially unknown.
2) Evidence and inferences by which it can be discovered.
3) Some "trick" to require careful investigation, thus creating an interesting challenge.
Collections of "brain teasers" are good sources not only for specific puzzles but for examples of basic elements.
One thing that's pretty easy to do is to scatter through the environment things that may at first seem unrelated, and later clearly be related --- but maybe in an initially unknown way.
For a simple example, there is a door in one place and a key to open it in another. If there are no clues as to which key will open which door, then the problem is a dull one of trial by error. If doors and keys are labeled with a code that takes some reasoning to figure out, then the process of elimination might be completable without investigating the whole set.
Things with which players can interact and get different results tend to be quite engaging. The temptation to pull levers out of curiosity is pretty strong!
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nedjer
Adventurer
There's a UK company that does great puzzle books and games/ 'hands on' puzzles. All kinds of different puzzles. The lateral thinking puzzle books and some of the 'hands on' puzzles are great for RPG sessions.
They ship to US but it'd be cheaper to find a local equivalent.
Happy Puzzle Company
They ship to US but it'd be cheaper to find a local equivalent.
Happy Puzzle Company
Mark
CreativeMountainGames.com
There's a wealth of material there and it is easier to adapt stuff likme this in its raw form, IMO, than to have to strip away other flavor, find the basic mechanics of a puzzle, then rebuild a new puzzle from scratch.
I've cribbed several puzzles from computer games (like The 7th Guest and Bioware's Knights of the Old Republic). I've also done the Google Search on puzzles and mindteasers and snagged a few that way.
Some specific puzzles I've used (adapting them of course for what I needed them for):
KotOR has a puzzle where an alien is currently imprisoned in a cell in the Sith base on the first planet of the game. You have to press the wall lock buttons (which change color from green/red) to get them all to turn green, thus unlocking the cell. I used this for a wall safe.
In 7th Guest, I used the skull & headstones cake (where you have to divide the cake up so every piece has an equal amount of skulls, headstones, and blank frosting) to create a button panel with "Supernal" symbols on them that you need to do the same division on to unlock a rod stuck in an altar.
I'm also prepped to repurpose the sliding barrier with a hole puzzle (that leads to the basement of the Stauf mansion) as well as the coffin lid puzzle when the time comes.
I've also used the disected T puzzle and the hidden star puzzle to good effect. Do a google search under "Disect T puzzle" and "hidden star puzzle" to find them. The T puzzle was to assemble a key from several pieces the party found, the other was a "keyless" locked chest that had the puzzle on the front of it as light-up sections. They had to press (and light up) the correct five sections to unlock the chest (and there were several other small stars painted on the chest to give the hint of what they might need to look for in the light-up section.
Hope these help or prove useful!
Some specific puzzles I've used (adapting them of course for what I needed them for):
KotOR has a puzzle where an alien is currently imprisoned in a cell in the Sith base on the first planet of the game. You have to press the wall lock buttons (which change color from green/red) to get them all to turn green, thus unlocking the cell. I used this for a wall safe.
In 7th Guest, I used the skull & headstones cake (where you have to divide the cake up so every piece has an equal amount of skulls, headstones, and blank frosting) to create a button panel with "Supernal" symbols on them that you need to do the same division on to unlock a rod stuck in an altar.
I'm also prepped to repurpose the sliding barrier with a hole puzzle (that leads to the basement of the Stauf mansion) as well as the coffin lid puzzle when the time comes.
I've also used the disected T puzzle and the hidden star puzzle to good effect. Do a google search under "Disect T puzzle" and "hidden star puzzle" to find them. The T puzzle was to assemble a key from several pieces the party found, the other was a "keyless" locked chest that had the puzzle on the front of it as light-up sections. They had to press (and light up) the correct five sections to unlock the chest (and there were several other small stars painted on the chest to give the hint of what they might need to look for in the light-up section.
Hope these help or prove useful!
grodog
Hero
Excellent link, thanks Jeff!
Yeah, but which ones did you like best: we need titles
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