Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
White Dwarf Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Nest
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions, OSR, & D&D Variants
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
EN Publishing
Twitter
BlueSky
Facebook
Instagram
EN World
BlueSky
YouTube
Facebook
Twitter
Twitch
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions, OSR, & D&D Variants
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*TTRPGs General
Dungeon brain-teasers
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="nogray" data-source="post: 5977134" data-attributes="member: 28028"><p>I'm a pretty big fan of these types of challenges in general, and I've thought of how to work this sort of thing in campaigns I've DMed, but I often run into stumbling blocks when I consider using the puzzles. The justification for their use, as mentioned by [MENTION=6682161]Will Doyle[/MENTION] is vital. They make very little sense in many cases, especially with the instructions given nearby. Pretty much, you are left with using them as mad wizard fodder.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Your answer doesn't quite work. (More comments and a correction given in the sblock.) Also, keep in mind that if you describe it that way, the PCs might just cast some form of alignment detection spell to determine which is the good, and which the evil. D&D PCs have a lot of options of which puzzle designers must be aware. (Would "Zone of Truth" or "Discern Lie" or "Know the Path" work? Be ready with justifications or whatnot.)</p><p></p><p>[sblock="Two Statues"]Let's say that the left door is good, the right door is bad.</p><p></p><p>The Good statue knows that the Evil statue will say, "Right," so that is what it responds. The Evil statue also knows that it will say, "Right," so it lies and says, "Left."</p><p></p><p>What you want to ask (and this can actually be done with just one question total, not per statue) is, "What would the other statue tell me is the safe way to go?" This means that Good still says, "Right," but now, so does Evil. (Evil knows that Good would say, "Left," so it lies and says, "Right.")[/sblock]</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>This one falls through in a fantasy world. First off, matches are a bit of a modern (or at least semi-modern; 1827 or so). Assuming you go with the 3e "tindertwig," though, you at least have a shot at maintaining genre.</p><p></p><p>Of course, PCs who are survivalists (who would use flint and tinder to start the initial fire, saving any [strikethrough]matches[/strikethrough] tindertwigs for when they need fire really fast), fire mages of some sort (who can start pretty much anything on fire at will, and will thus start with whatever they feel is the best light source), or people with a light spell/cantrip (who might cast that on ... pretty much anything) might all ignore the matches in favor of their own methods for lighting the darkness. </p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>If the puzzle resets "as soon as the scales are used twice," then it is an unsolvable riddle. As soon as the determination is made (the second weighing), the puzzle resets, meaning there is no time to select the lighter ball an place it on the solution platform. You need some other resetting mechanism to make it work.</p><p></p><p>You can use this exact method for nine balls, too, assuming that you know for sure that the ball is lighter (or heavier). You need another weighing if the ball is different, but are unsure if it is heavier or lighter.</p><p></p><p>The big obstacle here is that, you need to account for possible PC scales/balances, too (arguably part of an alchemist's or appraiser's kit, definitely available for purchase or pretty easy to make), or other ways that they might be able to determine the weights of the balls on their own without involving the puzzle resetting scale. (A PC, particularly one with appraise or thievery or just a particularly perceptive one, might argue for a check of some sort to "feel" any weight difference.) The puzzle might work better if there is some "immeasurable" quantity that the scales are to measure for it to work.</p><p></p><p>Of course, all of these are subject to the player having heard them or seen their solutions before. The sphinx's riddle only works until its answer is well-known.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="nogray, post: 5977134, member: 28028"] I'm a pretty big fan of these types of challenges in general, and I've thought of how to work this sort of thing in campaigns I've DMed, but I often run into stumbling blocks when I consider using the puzzles. The justification for their use, as mentioned by [MENTION=6682161]Will Doyle[/MENTION] is vital. They make very little sense in many cases, especially with the instructions given nearby. Pretty much, you are left with using them as mad wizard fodder. Your answer doesn't quite work. (More comments and a correction given in the sblock.) Also, keep in mind that if you describe it that way, the PCs might just cast some form of alignment detection spell to determine which is the good, and which the evil. D&D PCs have a lot of options of which puzzle designers must be aware. (Would "Zone of Truth" or "Discern Lie" or "Know the Path" work? Be ready with justifications or whatnot.) [sblock="Two Statues"]Let's say that the left door is good, the right door is bad. The Good statue knows that the Evil statue will say, "Right," so that is what it responds. The Evil statue also knows that it will say, "Right," so it lies and says, "Left." What you want to ask (and this can actually be done with just one question total, not per statue) is, "What would the other statue tell me is the safe way to go?" This means that Good still says, "Right," but now, so does Evil. (Evil knows that Good would say, "Left," so it lies and says, "Right.")[/sblock] This one falls through in a fantasy world. First off, matches are a bit of a modern (or at least semi-modern; 1827 or so). Assuming you go with the 3e "tindertwig," though, you at least have a shot at maintaining genre. Of course, PCs who are survivalists (who would use flint and tinder to start the initial fire, saving any [strikethrough]matches[/strikethrough] tindertwigs for when they need fire really fast), fire mages of some sort (who can start pretty much anything on fire at will, and will thus start with whatever they feel is the best light source), or people with a light spell/cantrip (who might cast that on ... pretty much anything) might all ignore the matches in favor of their own methods for lighting the darkness. If the puzzle resets "as soon as the scales are used twice," then it is an unsolvable riddle. As soon as the determination is made (the second weighing), the puzzle resets, meaning there is no time to select the lighter ball an place it on the solution platform. You need some other resetting mechanism to make it work. You can use this exact method for nine balls, too, assuming that you know for sure that the ball is lighter (or heavier). You need another weighing if the ball is different, but are unsure if it is heavier or lighter. The big obstacle here is that, you need to account for possible PC scales/balances, too (arguably part of an alchemist's or appraiser's kit, definitely available for purchase or pretty easy to make), or other ways that they might be able to determine the weights of the balls on their own without involving the puzzle resetting scale. (A PC, particularly one with appraise or thievery or just a particularly perceptive one, might argue for a check of some sort to "feel" any weight difference.) The puzzle might work better if there is some "immeasurable" quantity that the scales are to measure for it to work. Of course, all of these are subject to the player having heard them or seen their solutions before. The sphinx's riddle only works until its answer is well-known. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*TTRPGs General
Dungeon brain-teasers
Top