Help me with a riddle! (my players stay out!)
- Thread starter Asmo
- Start date
MerakSpielman wrote:
"This riddle must be solved to get you inside
Hidden in plain sight the solution entices,
Indeed, this very poem the answer provides,
Shown not only just once, but thrice!"
The word "this" appears twice in the riddle, and once spelled out down the side."
I like this very much!
I don´t know if I should blame my lack of imagination or my general stupidity
,but I can´t come up with a nice way to "unlock" this riddle. I will give some hints that this sign is important in some way (tracks that end at the bottom of the stairs/under the sign, or something like that). The sign is hanging out of reach for the players,so if they want to examine it they will have to climb or make other arrangements.
If they "activate" the riddle, what would happen? And how will they be able to activate it? Do they hear a voice (like a magic mouth) or does the text on the sign "change" to the riddle? I just can´t seem to visualize this in a satisfying way. Please help me out here guys and gals,this riddle is to good to be messed up with some stupid idea of mine.
Asmo
"This riddle must be solved to get you inside
Hidden in plain sight the solution entices,
Indeed, this very poem the answer provides,
Shown not only just once, but thrice!"
The word "this" appears twice in the riddle, and once spelled out down the side."
I like this very much!
I don´t know if I should blame my lack of imagination or my general stupidity
,but I can´t come up with a nice way to "unlock" this riddle. I will give some hints that this sign is important in some way (tracks that end at the bottom of the stairs/under the sign, or something like that). The sign is hanging out of reach for the players,so if they want to examine it they will have to climb or make other arrangements.If they "activate" the riddle, what would happen? And how will they be able to activate it? Do they hear a voice (like a magic mouth) or does the text on the sign "change" to the riddle? I just can´t seem to visualize this in a satisfying way. Please help me out here guys and gals,this riddle is to good to be messed up with some stupid idea of mine.
Asmo
Tilla the Hun (work)
First Post
Asmo said:
Hmm...
"This riddle shows the way,
Hiding the wizards path away.
Indeed, this very poem the answer hides
Shown not only thrice, but in plain sight.
Stand but firmly on and announce it right"
Description:
The long stairway made of stone descends into darkness below. As you proceed down the stairway, a dim glow in the air above the last stair resolves itself into a glowing rectangle of light at least 20' feet up. Regardless of where you stand on the stairs, you can clearly see, written in common words, scribed in glowing lights is a poem: (see above).
Wizard: "Simple riddle really. I step down the last stair, look up at the sign and proclaim "I stand upon *this* portal."
Wizard vanishes in a puff of portal magic (or falls through the floor, which I like
)
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MerakSpielman
First Post
Good re-write, Tilla.
What would be really funny is to listen to the players discuss the riddle, and if any of them utter the word "this" just in casual conversation, cut them off with a dramatic description of them being surrounded by flashing lights and whisked away by magic...
They'll wonder what the heck is going on....
What would be really funny is to listen to the players discuss the riddle, and if any of them utter the word "this" just in casual conversation, cut them off with a dramatic description of them being surrounded by flashing lights and whisked away by magic...
They'll wonder what the heck is going on....
Well, obviously it must be my bad english,but it seems that I´m not good enough to explain this clearly. This is how I envision this encounter :
after a hard fight with the derro they once more reach the long stair with the strange inscriptions.At the bottom of the stair, 20 feet above their heads a sign hangs free in the air. The sign says "This is the way to the college of wizards".
This is what they see at this point. If there´s a riddle they have to unlock it in some manner, probably by examine it closely. If the bard or the cleric Detects Magic they will find a strong aura of magic emanating from the sign. This is where my problems begins, I just can´t find a believable way to make this work.
This is what I´ve been thinking:
all around the edges of the sign there´s a very fine text in some magical writing (Spot DC25) wich demands a read magic check from some of the spell casters to decipher. When he/they succeds,the the text on the sign slowly starts to change: a riddle of some kind appears wich glows faintly in the dark....
It´s corny, but this is the only thing I´ve come up with so far. Does it make any sense? What do you think of this idea?
Asmo
after a hard fight with the derro they once more reach the long stair with the strange inscriptions.At the bottom of the stair, 20 feet above their heads a sign hangs free in the air. The sign says "This is the way to the college of wizards".
This is what they see at this point. If there´s a riddle they have to unlock it in some manner, probably by examine it closely. If the bard or the cleric Detects Magic they will find a strong aura of magic emanating from the sign. This is where my problems begins, I just can´t find a believable way to make this work.
This is what I´ve been thinking:
all around the edges of the sign there´s a very fine text in some magical writing (Spot DC25) wich demands a read magic check from some of the spell casters to decipher. When he/they succeds,the the text on the sign slowly starts to change: a riddle of some kind appears wich glows faintly in the dark....
It´s corny, but this is the only thing I´ve come up with so far. Does it make any sense? What do you think of this idea?
Asmo
MerakSpielman
First Post
Ok, so all in all this is a three step process:
1) Finding the stairway
2) Finding out how to reveal the riddle
3) Solving the riddle
#1 is easy. Kill derro. Find stairway.
You probably have enough ideas for #3 now, so...
#2 is your problem now.
Let's think about this. The wizards in the college might only want other wizards to be able to find the riddle (and therefore the school). What traits do all wizards have in common? Well, they all, regardless of skill level, can cast cantrips.
I'm envisioning a clever little cantrip test. Detect magic - to indicate something magical is going on. Open/Close to open an out-of-reach wall compartment containing a magical button. Mage hand to push the button. and reveal some magical runes. Read magic to decypher runes and reveal the riddle. Arcane Mark to insert the correct answer into the provided blank.
How's that sound? If anything other than 0 level spells are used to solve any of the steps, the whole thing magically re-sets itself.
1) Finding the stairway
2) Finding out how to reveal the riddle
3) Solving the riddle
#1 is easy. Kill derro. Find stairway.
You probably have enough ideas for #3 now, so...
#2 is your problem now.
Let's think about this. The wizards in the college might only want other wizards to be able to find the riddle (and therefore the school). What traits do all wizards have in common? Well, they all, regardless of skill level, can cast cantrips.
I'm envisioning a clever little cantrip test. Detect magic - to indicate something magical is going on. Open/Close to open an out-of-reach wall compartment containing a magical button. Mage hand to push the button. and reveal some magical runes. Read magic to decypher runes and reveal the riddle. Arcane Mark to insert the correct answer into the provided blank.
How's that sound? If anything other than 0 level spells are used to solve any of the steps, the whole thing magically re-sets itself.
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MerakSpielman
First Post
LOL!
The hours I spent on that game, back when I could go the night without sleep and still function the next day.
You guessed it, Terraism. It's still a neat idea, though!
The hours I spent on that game, back when I could go the night without sleep and still function the next day.
You guessed it, Terraism. It's still a neat idea, though!
MerakSpielman wrote:
"I'm envisioning a clever little cantrip test."
Wow.
Brilliant idea.
The problem is that none of my players don´t have the brains to figure that out.
The bard-maybe, on a very creative day. The cleric-well, it´s the first time he plays anything else than a fighter, so I´ll be happy if he remembers to cast cure spells now and then. And the bard is playing the Monte Cook variant, so I´m not sure he even has those cantrips on his list.
The guys who usually solves riddles are playing the frenzied berserker, so I will keep an eye on him, that´s for sure.
I´m usually the one who plays the arcane spellcaster in our games, but now I´m dm:ing.
Riddles are something the group (including me,when I play) has an hate/love relation to. They´re cool, cause something awesome usually happens,but the time it takes to solve them makes the players really bored .
Still, I can´t resist. I´ll just have to make it worthwhile,and give them something even better on the other side of the portal.
Thanx for all the great ideas guys, and keep ´em coming!
Asmo
"I'm envisioning a clever little cantrip test."
Wow.
Brilliant idea.
The problem is that none of my players don´t have the brains to figure that out
. The bard-maybe, on a very creative day. The cleric-well, it´s the first time he plays anything else than a fighter, so I´ll be happy if he remembers to cast cure spells now and then. And the bard is playing the Monte Cook variant, so I´m not sure he even has those cantrips on his list.
The guys who usually solves riddles are playing the frenzied berserker, so I will keep an eye on him, that´s for sure.
I´m usually the one who plays the arcane spellcaster in our games, but now I´m dm:ing.
Riddles are something the group (including me,when I play) has an hate/love relation to. They´re cool, cause something awesome usually happens,but the time it takes to solve them makes the players really bored
.Still, I can´t resist. I´ll just have to make it worthwhile,and give them something even better on the other side of the portal.
Thanx for all the great ideas guys, and keep ´em coming!
Asmo
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