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<blockquote data-quote="OnlineDM" data-source="post: 5839864" data-attributes="member: 90804">I used puzzles in my second and third adventures, <a href="http://onlinedungeonmaster.com/2011/09/08/updated-adventures-the-stolen-staff-and-tallinns-tower/" target="_blank">Tallinn's Tower</a> and <a href="http://onlinedungeonmaster.com/2011/10/21/descent-into-darkness-free-heroic-tier-dd4e-adventure/" target="_blank">Descent Into Darkness</a>.In Tallinn's tower, the party enters a large, round room filled with slightly maze-like walls and glowing runes on the floor. They encounter a poem written on a wall that explains (in vague form) what's going on in the room, what they need to do about the runes, and what happens with the monsters that keep getting summoned. Most parties figure it out before summoning too many monsters. The solution DOES involve some skill checks, and I've actually had some players ask if maybe this could be changed so that the order of runes is ALSO a puzzle. I haven't done that yet, though, and I'm not sure that I want to.In Descent Into Darkness, there's a room with varying runes on the floor, some of which are safe to step on and some of which are not. I went through several drafts of this puzzle before finding one that works. The current version has worked well so far, and the fact that the party is on a timer in this adventure ramps up the tension. However, I do allow for a skill-based way to &quot;solve&quot; the puzzle if I have a table of players who don't like puzzles.So, my overall thoughts are:- Puzzles require a surprising amount of play testing in order to work- The puzzle has to make sense in-game- Give players who don't like puzzles a way to solve it with in-character skills</blockquote>

[QUOTE="OnlineDM, post: 5839864, member: 90804"] I used puzzles in my second and third adventures, [URL="http://onlinedungeonmaster.com/2011/09/08/updated-adventures-the-stolen-staff-and-tallinns-tower/"]Tallinn's Tower[/URL] and [URL="http://onlinedungeonmaster.com/2011/10/21/descent-into-darkness-free-heroic-tier-dd4e-adventure/"]Descent Into Darkness[/URL]. In Tallinn's tower, the party enters a large, round room filled with slightly maze-like walls and glowing runes on the floor. They encounter a poem written on a wall that explains (in vague form) what's going on in the room, what they need to do about the runes, and what happens with the monsters that keep getting summoned. Most parties figure it out before summoning too many monsters. The solution DOES involve some skill checks, and I've actually had some players ask if maybe this could be changed so that the order of runes is ALSO a puzzle. I haven't done that yet, though, and I'm not sure that I want to. In Descent Into Darkness, there's a room with varying runes on the floor, some of which are safe to step on and some of which are not. I went through several drafts of this puzzle before finding one that works. The current version has worked well so far, and the fact that the party is on a timer in this adventure ramps up the tension. However, I do allow for a skill-based way to "solve" the puzzle if I have a table of players who don't like puzzles. So, my overall thoughts are: - Puzzles require a surprising amount of play testing in order to work - The puzzle has to make sense in-game - Give players who don't like puzzles a way to solve it with in-character skills [/QUOTE]

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