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General Tabletop Discussion
*TTRPGs General
DMing Puzzles: Not Too Easy, Not Too Hard, What's Just Right?
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<blockquote data-quote="OnlineDM" data-source="post: 5840200" data-attributes="member: 90804"><p>I'll also share that my initial version of the Room of Runes puzzle from Descent Into Darkness was too hard. It was one of those things that totally made sense if you came upon the right way of thinking, and was otherwise just not going to happen. The current version is sadly somewhat similar, but I've provided the players with hints that they can earn.</p><p></p><p>A great puzzle is one that the party can actually work on and get closer to the answer. A not-so-great puzzle is one that is completely opaque until you guess what the GM was thinking, at which point it's solved with no additional work. The latter type is really a riddle rather than a puzzle. Riddles can be fine in RPGs, too, of course, but if you're going for a puzzle and you create a riddle (as I think happened in the OP's case), then you're probably not going to be satisfied with the result.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="OnlineDM, post: 5840200, member: 90804"] I'll also share that my initial version of the Room of Runes puzzle from Descent Into Darkness was too hard. It was one of those things that totally made sense if you came upon the right way of thinking, and was otherwise just not going to happen. The current version is sadly somewhat similar, but I've provided the players with hints that they can earn. A great puzzle is one that the party can actually work on and get closer to the answer. A not-so-great puzzle is one that is completely opaque until you guess what the GM was thinking, at which point it's solved with no additional work. The latter type is really a riddle rather than a puzzle. Riddles can be fine in RPGs, too, of course, but if you're going for a puzzle and you create a riddle (as I think happened in the OP's case), then you're probably not going to be satisfied with the result. [/QUOTE]
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DMing Puzzles: Not Too Easy, Not Too Hard, What's Just Right?
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