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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Nonlethal Force" data-source="post: 2957287" data-attributes="member: 35788">Okay.  I have created a situation in one of my games where the players have the potential to earn some serious XP from proper RPing.  Their reward is a free level that will move them up to the same location in the next level.  IE, if they are 4th level with 9,000 XP (or 3,000 of 4,000 needed) then they are 75% of the way from level 4 to level 5.  Therefore, the player would end up at 75% to the way to level 6, or 13,750 (or 3,750 of the 5,000 needed).  Now, I am not arguing as to the fairness of the award.  I simply don't care about the fairness of the award - it is a free award, after all!  What I do care is about rewarding their efforts big time.  I have some players who like puzzles - inspired by Haley on OOTS.  [Even if Haley's speech is a simple cypher.]  They've asked me to end a session on a cipher - a really hard one.  They get a week to figure it out.  If they come back with it at the start of the next session and it is correct, they get to go into the "special place filled with an XP boon."  Else, they move on with the adventure as their characters assume they just aren't smart enough yet.Assuming they pass, I want to make them work for it.  Assuming they fail, I want to keep it open so they can come back to it later.The question is ... is this puzzle too hard?Translate the following text:[Code]GGDV UJH SGDTJX[/Code]The rules are:  1. Each letter represents another single letter's place, however this is not a mere "replacement" cipher like Haley's from OOTS.  For example, if you think the "G" represents the letter "A,"  the "G" need not be an "A" the whole way through the puzzle.  Thus, it is possible that the e "G's" in the cipher above might just represent 3 different leters!2. Since each letter does take the place of a single letter, the correct solution can be assumed to be a three word answer in which the first word has 4 letters, the second word has 3 letters, and the third word has 6 letters.Can you do it?  Remember, this cipher is asked to be very challenging, so if I did my job as a DM it shouldn't be easy.EDIT:  By the way, Rule #1 implies that their is in fact a pattern.  A person could read rule #1 and simply say, "Oh, the DM made up a bunch of letters and Rule #1 cover's his butt."  But the players will know that there is a straightforward mathematical progression at work in the cipher.  The reason I stated Rule #1 as I did is because I wanted them to understand that this cipher is designed to push the envelop beyond simply "matching letters" to using their mathematical sides of their brains!  The cipher, then, is not about matching letters but finding the proper mathematical expression along with matching letters!   <img src="http://www.enworld.org/forum/images/smilies/devious.png"  class="smilie" loading="lazy" alt=":]" title="Devious    :]" data-shortname=":]" />EDIT 2:  For a harder cipher, ignore the one given in this thread and procede to this post within this same thread:  <a href="http://www.enworld.org/showthread.php?p=2957469#post2957469" target="_blank">Better Cipher</a></blockquote>

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