Golgordand's Gauntlet

[rounser]

The players later (after RttToEE) complained that they haven't "solved any puzzles in a while". Killing things is fun, but killing things and killing things and killing things makes for a dull game.

I agree, there aren't nearly enough puzzles in dungeons these days. The emphasis on realism (empty rooms for instance, or combat encounter after combat encounter) is often at the expense of players having fun.

 

[Geoff Watson]

Richards,
Challenge of Champions 4 was probably a bad suggestion, as there's a Minesweeper puzzle in that as well.

Geoff.

 

[LcKedovan]

LcKedovan - Cool; I'm glad it worked out so well for you. And if you like puzzle-oriented adventures, check out "Challenge of Champions IV" in Dungeon #91. It's definitely puzzle-oriented, and suitable for PCs of any level as well.

Hi Richard,

Nice to see your responses here. Any session that leads to my GF liking D&D and overall having a good time can never be bad in my books... She even cunningly used Mage Hand on the helmet across the ravine to reveal the Jermaline (sp?).. sometimes her freshness leads to inventive uses of her powers, rather than alot of us who have played for many years falling into a groove. I'll definately keep an eye out for Issue #91 to arrive in the mail.

As for the minefield puzzle, I can see Ma'varkith's groups point, but we have to also remember not everyone uses PCs or indeed has or plays minefield. It was an interesting challenge for my GF for example, the only problem was it's length.. once you get the hang of how to solve the puzzle it gets tedious. In a way it'S like a riddle... if you know the riddle you roll your eyes at it, but if you don't then it's a challenge to your character. It's the nature of the game.

-Will

 

[Mistwell]

I just put my player's through the gauntlet, with some heavy changes. I added some riddle rooms, subtracted the faery dragon and coin dragon, added some other challenges, threw in the totem pole room from that Dungeon issue (though most of that adventure I felt was too hard overall for the PC's), and made a couple of other changes. I thought overall Gauntlet was the best adventure I have seen in a VERY long time. My player's love traps and riddles!

Minesweeper was one of the things they really enjoyed actually. They found it strangely different on paper, and the dynamic was different (they managed to jump over some squares, something totally new for that game). It went well. Besides, after wracking their brains over riddles and traps for so long, it was a nice break to work on what is essentially a math problem.

If anyone is interested, I could provide a link to a web site with the additional rooms I threw in there.

Thanks for a great adventure!
-Mistwell

 

[Geoff Watson]

The characters I DM got through the Minesweeper part by grabbing an unconcious Rust Monster and pushing it through the 'minefield' to rust the metal plates until the RM died from shock damage.

They then built a bridge over the minefield using wood from the RM's barrier.

I think the players got perverse pleasure from bypassing the puzzles without solving them.

Geoff.

 

[FungiMuncher]

I ran my players through the Gauntlet quite a while ago. For most of them, I'd say that is was one of the most fun adventures they had (the one exception would be the bard, who enjoys role playing much more than puzzles).

One of the players really got into the minesweeper puzzle. The rest of the party just let him solve it to the finish.

They're not quite done with it all, though- they still have the sword, and Gorgoldand can speak to sorcerers through it. He's in trouble on the astral/spirit plane, and needs help (it's part of one of my big secret plots). However, the party's only sorcerer is now gone; even when he was around, he was kind of freaked out by "the talking sword" and avoided using it.

FM

 

[Trellian]

check out "Challenge of Champions IV" in Dungeon #91. It's definitely puzzle-oriented, and suitable for PCs of any level as well.

Johnathan M. Richards
Author, "Gorgoldand's Gauntlet"

Any chance of obtaining CoC II & III? I only have I and IV (latter coming to me today from my RPG dealer!) I would love to play them though..

 

[Richards]

"Challenge of Champions II" was in Dungeon #69, and "Challenge of Champions III" was in Dungeon #80. They're probably getting harder and harder to find as time goes by, but check with your dealer and see if he can snag you a back issue.

 

[andrew]

If your players aren't good at riddles or puzzles, the gauntlet will chew them up. That's what happened to my group. I used the gauntlet as a "bridge" into another adventure. The mirror at the end led to their destination rather than a treasure room.

I just wanted something fun to set the players up for the next adventure. They would be helping a fairy kingdom, so I used the gauntlet as a set of challenges the fairies used to test potential heroes. Instead of the faerie dragon, they had a pixie helping them through. I felt the gauntlet still had a very mischevious quality to it that would help set the stage for the upcoming adventure. Boy was I wrong.

The party of 3 PCs took well over an hour on each puzzle, with the exception of minesweeper. It was the worst gaming session we ever had. The Pa's Weapons puzzle was probably the worst because the pixie actually wrote down the answer for them after they tried for over an hour to figure it out. And they still couldn't get it!

They passed the "trapped" stairs by summoning celestial dogs and running them up the stairs until they burned up, and then just avoiding that stair.

I can't even remember the other puzzles too well at this point; just remember the Pa's Weapons puzzle is prretty painful. It should have been a fun little diversion, but my players suffered serious mental failures and were lucky to not have furniture thrown at them. College degrees just aren't worth what they once were I guess.

 

[Quickbeam]

Richards:
Thanks for stopping by this thread...I was completely unaware that the adventure's designer frequented these Boards ! First, let me begin by saying that I did locate a copy of the CD included with Dragon #284, and just finished printing a copy of Gorgoldand's Gauntlet. The primary reason I posted this thread, was that our current DM (we rotate DMing amongst three of us) just finished running our group through a very modified version of GG. He knows that several of us love puzzles and similar thinking challenges, so he pirated your story John and then changed what seems to be about 60-70% of the encounters. I wanted to know whether he made these alterations because there were problems with the story as written, or for some other reason. Based on what I've read herein, and my own opinions after perusing the adventure, I'd say he changed things because he wanted to put his new copy of Traps and Treachery to good use at our expense !! Besides, by making these adjustments he didn't have to worry about whether or not any of our group members had previously read GG.
I will definitely make every effort to secure copies of the various Challenge of Champions adventures -- thanks for the head's up!! I'm always looking for campaigns frought with challenges that test the player's minds along with their mettle .

Dr. Midnight:
I will have to check out your "Silver Quill" Story Hour, since it appears our group is moving along a similar path of progression, with RttToEE looming on the horizon. I'd love to hear how your players fared with GG for comparison and entertainment.

Everyone Else:
Thanks for sharing your comments thus far. I never imagined this thread would get more than two or three replies .