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<blockquote data-quote="TheAuldGrump" data-source="post: 2226037" data-attributes="member: 6957">Ayuh, especially when it is a subject that the DM is fond of. A DM who likes, oh let us say cryptography (not a random choice I fear), can make a cipher that he thinks is moderately hard, but for folks who have not read books and taken classes on codes and codebreaking they will be impossible. I make it a point to test out ciphers before using them in game for this very reason. I don't want to make an unsolvable puzzle. I know about shifting key ciphers, but there is no reason to expect my players to.I have seen GMs who ran science fiction games with the belief that all the players would know how to use a computer... and then got upset when the players left his game, even the ones who could program a computer. They wanted to play a game, not write a routine to get through corporate security.I can read Middle English, but using a phrase in Middle English might be as useless in the game as using Swahili, if the players don't have the information then the inscription is useless. (No, I can not read Swahili...)DMs can be too clever for the good of the game. (Though I have my doubts in this instance... The DM's resistance to giving the answer to the players after the game just seems off.)In those cases a die roll may be the only way to get out of the corner that the DM has painted himself into.The Auld Grump</blockquote>

[QUOTE="TheAuldGrump, post: 2226037, member: 6957"] Ayuh, especially when it is a subject that the DM is fond of. A DM who likes, oh let us say cryptography (not a random choice I fear), can make a cipher that he thinks is moderately hard, but for folks who have not read books and taken classes on codes and codebreaking they will be impossible. I make it a point to test out ciphers before using them in game for this very reason. I [i]don't[/i] want to make an unsolvable puzzle. I know about shifting key ciphers, but there is no reason to expect my players to. I have seen GMs who ran science fiction games with the belief that all the players would know how to use a computer... and then got upset when the players left his game, even the ones who could program a computer. They wanted to play a game, not write a routine to get through corporate security. I can read Middle English, but using a phrase in Middle English might be as useless in the game as using Swahili, if the [i]players[/i] don't have the information then the inscription is useless. (No, I can not read Swahili...) DMs can be too clever for the good of the game. (Though I have my doubts in this instance... The DM's resistance to giving the answer to the players after the game just seems off.) In those cases a die roll may be the only way to get out of the corner that the DM has painted himself into. The Auld Grump [/QUOTE]

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