Good puzzles

[XCorvis]

I just skimmed a very long thread about puzzles in game, and a lot of people didn't like puzzles because they were poorly constructed. I think people might enjoy them more if they were well made.

My question to you is: How do you make a good puzzle?

I'll start:
1. Failure to solve the puzzle should not bring the game to a screaching halt.
2. The puzzle should have a legitimate reason for existing.

More?

 

[Blade of Desecration]

3. Puzzle should either be logical or done through hints dropped in-game. Don't make a puzzle the PCs have no hope of ever solving unless you have to come out and directly tell them certain facts or clues.

 

[Catavarie]

4. The simplest of puzzels can baffle a group, while the most complex can be walked through with ease...mold puzzles to your group, don't use prefabs.

 

[XCorvis]

To expand a bit, do people have particular favorite puzzles? What do you like about them?

 

[MarkCsigs]

I don't know if you'd count this as a 'puzzle', but I ran a campaign once where I tried to give the players themselves some extra challenges. For example, once I purchased a cheap, second hand lock-box at a flea market ... filled it with pennies that I'd painted gold and silver, plus a pair of "Very Fine" juice bottles that I labled "potion".

I told the players they could roll "pick locks" at any time, but if they could actually get the box open on their own I would give them an xp bonus (I forget how much). They worked on it for over an hour and never did get it open but had a blast with it. They still bring that story up from time to time ...

 

[XCorvis]

Ah, a physical prop. Great suggestion. Puzzle boxes, chessboards, matchsticks. Lots of people are more physical thinkers and it can be very hard to visualize a purely mental puzzle sometimes.

 

[Nightcloak]

With the advent of 3E, I now write up a small chart of clues for intelligence checks:

DC 15: Minor Hint
DC 20: Resonable Hint
DC 25: Good Hint
DC 30: All 3 hints

The only problem, of course, is that what a GM considers a good hint may fall flat while a minor hint could be to revealing. Thats the joys of puzzles, they can be a crap shoot at times.