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Message: <blockquote data-quote="kigmatzomat" data-source="post: 3277631" data-attributes="member: 9254">I definitely run a mystery campaign, as defined in this example.  And I'm fine with the terms as long as I think of a "puzzle" in terms of "jigsaw", meaning it's just a matter of putting the pieces together.  Mysteries, on the other hand, are more like a huge box of tinkertoys, where there are multiple results.  Puzzles happen, especially as a result of the players deciding to interpret a mystery a particular way, creating artificial restraints,  or seeking to produce a specific result.  I avoid designing puzzles into my games since I hate riddles, levers, and other such claptrap and as a player am known for getting around them with rope and/or explosives, essentially by redefining a puzzle into a mystery.  However I know people who need puzzles to solve, panicking at the open-endedness of mysteries, so it's no sweat off my nose if they choose to approach things that way.There is no right/wrong but there sure as heck is good fit/bad fit.  Players can turn mysteries into puzzles by adding constraints or puzzles into mysteries by changing the implied constraints with a decent GM of either ilk.  However a DM who can't stand to see their puzzles redefined or their mysteries constrained will either go crazy or drive the players nuts.</blockquote>