A challenge to all. Can you decipher this message? :-)

[Xeriar]

Re: Using Wish is a good point. Need advise.

How can I get around the wish (divination) issue? This is a good point. A wish would probably reveal this entire puzzle's solution.

I was thinking that maybe Mitchifer (the bar keep of the World Serpent Inn) may interrupt the spellcaster and inform him that the 'owner' gets upset when such powerful magics are used.

I don't want to cheapen the PCs ability to hurl powerful magics, but at the same time I don't want my puzzle that easy to solve either.

Any suggestions?

Allow divinations to reveal that the numbers refer to anagrams after 'the', and 'No More' - as in, no more can be revealed.

 

[Kaelynna]

Re: Re: Using Wish is a good point. Need advise.

Allow divinations to reveal that the numbers refer to anagrams after 'the', and 'No More' - as in, no more can be revealed.

This also sounds like a fair compromise. I'll give this some thought. Thanks!

 

[Meds]

Eel filth she non king

I like the overall puzzle structure: very smart and just difficult enough to be challenging.

The anagrams themselves are very tough though. Unless your players are very familiar with the solution phrases, 'Region of Dreams', 'Eye of the Dreamheart' etc. then I think that the anagrams are too long to be solvable, even with those clever limitations you give to the number of words they're looking for.

E.g. "Flesh Knight Leonine" has literally thousands of 4 (or 5?) word anagrams. "Eel filth she non king" is one - most are meaningless like this, but the players would stumble over a lot like this before they found the real solution. There are online anagram generators available if you want to check out the bewildering number of solutions:
http://dmoz.org/Recreation/Humor/Wordplay/Anagrams/Generators/

I vaguely remember an old TSR module (IM1? IM2? IM3?) that also had many-letter anagrams like these, but gave little context. As such, they were difficult to solve by the players, but could be solved by the PCs (via Intelligence checks or similar).

Like I said, if your players are familiar with the solution phrases then it's a great puzzle as is. E.g. the first anagram is fine, because the solver is already familiar with the target phrase "World Serpent Inn".

Otherwise, maybe you could add some other clues, e.g. a map with some of the locations/creatures marked (plus a whole host of red herrings).

Thanks for an entertaining puzzle.

 

[Kaelynna]

Re: Eel filth she non king

I like the overall puzzle structure: very smart and just difficult enough to be challenging.

The anagrams themselves are very tough though. Unless your players are very familiar with the solution phrases, 'Region of Dreams', 'Eye of the Dreamheart' etc. then I think that the anagrams are too long to be solvable, even with those clever limitations you give to the number of words they're looking for.

E.g. "Flesh Knight Leonine" has literally thousands of 4 (or 5?) word anagrams. "Eel filth she non king" is one - most are meaningless like this, but the players would stumble over a lot like this before they found the real solution. There are online anagram generators available if you want to check out the bewildering number of solutions:
http://dmoz.org/Recreation/Humor/Wordplay/Anagrams/Generators/

I vaguely remember an old TSR module (IM1? IM2? IM3?) that also had many-letter anagrams like these, but gave little context. As such, they were difficult to solve by the players, but could be solved by the PCs (via Intelligence checks or similar).

Like I said, if your players are familiar with the solution phrases then it's a great puzzle as is. E.g. the first anagram is fine, because the solver is already familiar with the target phrase "World Serpent Inn".

Otherwise, maybe you could add some other clues, e.g. a map with some of the locations/creatures marked (plus a whole host of red herrings).

Thanks for an entertaining puzzle.

Thanks for your thoughts. I'll be sure and give a good enough amount of hints