I need a good riddle, and how do you handle initiative with large groups?

[Al'Kelhar]

For initiative, we use a page of "paper-steel" (some sort of ferrous-impregnated rubber laminated with cardboard - I think you can get it from hobby shops) with the numbers from 27 down to 1 marked down the side (initiative count) and 0 to 15 or so across the top (round number). Every character and monster has a magentic counter allocated to it, and we just pop the counter against the appropriate initiative number and go down them one-by-one. Readied actions and delayed actions are easily handled by just moving the creature's counter down to the new initiative number. A separate counter marks off the rounds across the top. The players take it in turns each week to be the "Keeper of the Initiative" (the DM has enough paperwork to contend with).

In relation to riddles, I asked a similar question late last year, and received many useful responses. Unfortunately, I'm not an En World Supporter (oh, the shame), so can't find the relevant thread. However, ultimately I followed the advice of "make the riddle/problem relevant to the adventure and its set up". I synthesised about three different ideas that'd been thrown at me on the thread, and came up with the attached encounter area.

Cheers, Al'Kelhar

 

[Fieari]

On riddles:

Unfortunately, people these days have lost the art of riddling... everyone seems to insist on using riddles made before. "Riddle constests" tend to boil down to who has memorized the larger set of pre-written riddles. Hardly anyone makes up new ones on the spot anymore.

It used to be that way for me too, until I figured out the trick. A riddle is just a poem, and the answer is either the title of the poem or the interpretation of the poem. If you can think poetically, make a poem up on the spot, then you too can make a riddle! Furthermore, you can make a riddle to go with any situation!

I recently gave my players a riddle encounter. More specifically, they were duelling a sphynx who was attacking the castle they were constructing at the time. Now, the reason she was attacking the castle is because the construction of said castle was located in the center of her hunting grounds and territory... she was basically defending her home from invaders, much like we would probably discourage a mountain lion from sitting in your backyard, even if the cougar in question PROMISED to be a good neighbor and not eat you.

At any rate, one of my players, in the middle of combat, asked the sphynx why she was attacking them. And I knew, just knew, that I needed to answer enigmatically in riddle form. So I told the players to give me a moment to formulate the reply, and I spent half a minute or so contructing the following poem, describing how her land was her honor and that not only was she honorbound to defend it, but that they were the ones impringing on that honor.

(These aren't the exact words, I'm reconstructing this from memory)

"A stone to rest the head,
The fires that heal the soul
One sword of air to peirce the heart"

Line 1 refers to the land, line 2 makes it clear that this land is more than just land but HOME, and line 3 presents the conflict... "One sword of air" is an attack, but not a physical attack, rather an intangible one... their presense impringed on her -honor-, not just her flesh.

You could argue that perhaps this is not a very good poem, and I'd agree with you. But it was a -riddle-, and a spontaneous one at that, which fit the scene and the mood and the character. I'm sure you could manage something similar with a bit of practice...

That's how a riddle works. Just write -flowery- and -ornate- poetry, talking AROUND things instead of naming them outright. Use imagry, metaphore, simile. Put together, the clues are there, and it becomes a riddle.

 

[Evilhalfling]

For iniative I call out numbers in groups of five and have a a player write down the exact numbers on the battle mat. After the 1st round the monsters intiatives are added to the list.

 

[cmanos]

"Answer this once and answer it true or ye will be flavour for my stew.
Just one answer and just for fun, the answer must be a palindrome.
A single answer is what I bade. Now what do you call a dark elf’s blade?"

DROWSWORD

 

[cmanos]

here's a classic

Round she is, yet flat as a board
Altar of the lupine lords
jewel on black velvet, pearl of the sea,
E'erchanging but unchanged, eternally.

 

[shaylon]

Not sure where you can get one of these, but I think the RPGA gave them out to FLGS's who run RPGA-sanctioned events.

It was a 8 1/2x11 dry erase sheet with lines to write in characters name and a box to write initiative score. Every time a new init roll came, the DM erased then we all called out our numbers and he put them in order. I thought it was a great idea, and am looking for one. I will probably wind up making my own, but if anyone knows where I can get one, please post to this thread.

Good luck with the riddles. I am decent at solving them but none seem to come to mind right now.

-Shay

 

[Barendd Nobeard]

For our Wold's Largest Dungeon game, I am the "Initiative Monkey" - everyone rolls and then I ask for Initiative results and put a stack of cards (one for each PC and one for the baddies) in order. I have grown very anal-retentive about the cards, and will not put one on the bottom of the stack until I have told the player that it's their turn. This is because the first few times we played, I occasionally skipped someone because I looked at the card, thought to myself, "oh, it's his turn when so-and-so is done," but then forgot about it because so-and-so took a while to complete his action(s).

The best part is that after using this method for a while, our DM judged a bunch of mods at a con. He told us that he would ask for initiative, and then everything would stop for a few minutes as he waited for the "initiative monkey" to start calling out the order. By the end of the con he remembered that he had to do that himself (or assign someone during each mod to do it for him).

You could buy "Improved Initaitve" - it's a great little chart you can use battle mat markers on. The only problem with it is that it doesn't go below "1" for initiative, which is important with those low-Dex oozes & whatnot.

 

[Barendd Nobeard]

It was EN Worlder "Negative Zero" who created 'Improved Initiative' and the website was www.improvedinitiative.com but I can't get to it anymore.

 

[Psychic Warrior]

here's a classic

Round she is, yet flat as a board
Altar of the lupine lords
jewel on black velvet, pearl of the sea,
E'erchanging but unchanged, eternally.

The Moon. A little too easy.

I love riddles but Fieari is correct when he says that there aren't new riddles anymore - just old ones that people have memorized. The Creatur Collection 2 had some riddles (and a few I hadn;t actually encountered before) apporpriate for a fantasy setting.

I use earth, air, fire and water to make a point.
What am I?


I count time in circles.
I have no voice,
But my limbs allow me to whisper in the wind.
What am I?


Taller than forests,
Lighter than air,
Often do I break,
And often to I tear.
Home of the ocean, river and lake,
I spring do I give,
In summer do I take.
What am I?



At the end of a passage built out of stone
Lies a sparkling treasure to appease anyone
What am I?

There are about 8 more but I'm typing all of them up!

 

[Tuzenbach]

Though armed with a thousand blades,
I still have cause to fear the dark.
What am I?

Spoiler

a lawn