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Please help with Chess puzzle
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<blockquote data-quote="MarkB" data-source="post: 5713397" data-attributes="member: 40176"><p>You've got the solution to turning this from a poor trap to a good one right there in the show: You need to include something in the run-up to finding the trap which informs the players that the dungeon's designer favours rule-breakers and hates rule-followers, and may have built this trap on that principle.</p><p></p><p></p><p>If you want a variant on the "not-so-obvious solution", there's a memorable one that I saw used in a Star Trek graphic adventure which could be adapted to your needs.</p><p></p><p>The set-up in that game was that the characters needed an outpost's computer to perform a particular task, but it's been maliciously rigged into devoting all its attention to a game of 3D chess, and until that game is resolved, it won't perform any other task.</p><p></p><p>The problem is that it's almost impossible for an organic character to beat the machine at chess - even if the most adept character tries, the best they can achieve is to stall the game into a series of cautious moves, and time is limited here.</p><p></p><p>The trick lies in realising that you're not trying to win the game - you're just trying to end it. The moment a character starts playing to lose, the computer wins in a couple of moves and its runtime is freed up to perform the tasks the characters require of it.</p><p></p><p>You could adapt a scenario like that for a D&D game by replacing the computer with a golem, whose strength is required to remove an obstacle, but whose attention is fully absorbed by a chess puzzle.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="MarkB, post: 5713397, member: 40176"] You've got the solution to turning this from a poor trap to a good one right there in the show: You need to include something in the run-up to finding the trap which informs the players that the dungeon's designer favours rule-breakers and hates rule-followers, and may have built this trap on that principle. If you want a variant on the "not-so-obvious solution", there's a memorable one that I saw used in a Star Trek graphic adventure which could be adapted to your needs. The set-up in that game was that the characters needed an outpost's computer to perform a particular task, but it's been maliciously rigged into devoting all its attention to a game of 3D chess, and until that game is resolved, it won't perform any other task. The problem is that it's almost impossible for an organic character to beat the machine at chess - even if the most adept character tries, the best they can achieve is to stall the game into a series of cautious moves, and time is limited here. The trick lies in realising that you're not trying to win the game - you're just trying to end it. The moment a character starts playing to lose, the computer wins in a couple of moves and its runtime is freed up to perform the tasks the characters require of it. You could adapt a scenario like that for a D&D game by replacing the computer with a golem, whose strength is required to remove an obstacle, but whose attention is fully absorbed by a chess puzzle. [/QUOTE]
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