Defeated by puzzle - campaign over

[TheAuldGrump]

Feh, one of the games I played in, back in '79 I think, the GM gave us a Rubik's Cube and told us to solve it to get through the door. We handed it back and left the dungeon instead. He never tried that one again. He actually wasn't a bad DM, but he was proud of how fast he could solve it. Me? I first suggested breaking it apart and putting it back together. I was playing a dwarf...

But yeah, knowing what the puzzle is might help, assuming that you haven't made it impossible to solve.

The Auld Grump

 

[Roman]

Well, all of us would consider it unfair to get help on the puzzle externally - such as on the net. On the other hand, since this is the end of the campaign (well we will meet for the next session quickly and if we cannot solve it we will run something else) that point is kind of moot and I would post it here if I remembered the exact details of the puzzle. Basically consists of a 15x15 box square. Most boxes is filled with symbols, but about a third of the boxes are blank. There are three types of symbols: triangles, circles and arrows. The task in the puzzle is to fill in the blanks with the appropriate symbols. Believe me, this is nastier than it sounds - we have solved some pretty complex puzzles before, but this one has the whole group, well, puzzled.

I will ask the DM for the puzzle next week (whether we manage to solve it or not with the latter being much more likely) in order to post it here so that you people can try to crack it.

 

[BOZ]

Well, all of us would consider it unfair to get help on the puzzle externally - such as on the net.

good call. and good luck.

 

[Flyspeck23]

I will ask the DM for the puzzle next week (whether we manage to solve it or not with the latter being much more likely) in order to post it here so that you people can try to crack it.

Most GMs wouldn't want their campaign to end that way, so there's still hope

And I wonder... do you think you'll be trying to solve the puzzle for a whole session?

 

[Kelleris]

good call. and good luck.

Perhaps as a general thing, but I think "cheating" on the puzzle is warranted if the alternative is a pathetic anticlimactic end to a campaign, as Roman acknowledged.

 

[tarchon]

That's the puzzle of the most abysmal kind, totally metagame, ripped right out of a Mensa quiz book. This isn't one of those "insane wizard" dungeons is it?
The problem with the "extend the pattern" puzzles is that you're supposed to able to find the one clear pattern. Someone who doesn't think exactly the same way as the creator however can often see logical extensions that the creator never thought of, so the trick is to guess the bounds of the creator's imagination. Determine what the "rules" are that eliminate possible extensions. Instead of "what should go in this square?" ask "why does X think that a circle couldn't go in the square?"
Also, see if there are equal numbers of each symbol, and if there is a rule about what each symbol's nearest neighbor has to be. A fairly common "twist" to these sorts of things is to impress some sort of commonly known pattern on it as a global map, like maybe the triangles make a big traingle or something like that. Determining whether the putative generating rule is a global pattern or cellular in nature (like a nearest-neighbor rule) can help.

 

[Thanee]

It seems that a campaign I play in is about to end due to us being unable to solve a puzzle to go forward. We are in an evil temple. To proceed any further we have to solve this puzzle and going back is not an option...

Just wondering, did this ever happen to you?

No, not really, in that case, we would try to find another way. We do not usually play extremely linear adventures like this, where only one single outcome is possible.

Why is going back not an option?
What happens, if you do not succeed, maybe you can pick up from there, or is the world going to end?

Can you cast Commune or Contact Outer Planes or something to get some hints?

EDIT: Maybe should have read the rest of the posts before posting...

Bye
Thanee

 

[Thanee]

We once had a similar situation, solving the puzzle was the only way to continue and there was no way back, but then the DM gave us some hints, based on our characters knowledge.

The big problem there was, as we found out in the end, that there was a spelling error in the puzzle (which came from a magazine), this made it extremely difficult (even though that was not really intended, as the error was not in the solution).

Bye
Thanee

 

[Thanee]

Anyways... make an Int roll to see, if your character solves it and tell the DM, that you do not want to metagame, and you do not know whether your character would be able to solve it (hence the Int roll, also ask for the DC, or whether your roll was high enough to beat it), but your own knowledge is certainly completely different to that of the character and therefore, if you would solve the puzzle, that would be metagaming to use the solution for your character!

Then look at his startled face, while trying to find an answer to that...

Bye
Thanee

 

[delericho]

This may be a stupid question, but what happens if you guess the wrong solution?

Because you could always just try every combination until you get it right. Not the best way to proceed, but surely better than ending the campaign.