Puzzle
- Thread starter zilch
- Start date
Devon
First Post
I once used a forest maze... something enchanted with illusions and/or teleportation, such that they never got to the final clearing until they had left a donation in a particular statue.
Other wilderness type puzzles: take some hollowed-out trees, in which are placed keys and traps. Perhaps an old game (such as mancala or cribbage) has been carved into a nearby boulder, and one needs to lay out a particular move to activate the lock. The playing pieces themselves could be a puzzle.
Someone could have rigged up a set of mountainside pools so that you would have to empty one into the other in order to open a door.
- Devon
Other wilderness type puzzles: take some hollowed-out trees, in which are placed keys and traps. Perhaps an old game (such as mancala or cribbage) has been carved into a nearby boulder, and one needs to lay out a particular move to activate the lock. The playing pieces themselves could be a puzzle.
Someone could have rigged up a set of mountainside pools so that you would have to empty one into the other in order to open a door.
- Devon
Here's a vague idea I'm developing for my campaign. There is an ancient gate deep in a dangerous forest. It is activated by the placement of crystals around it's arch. Now, where you go from there, the choices are many.
1. The PC's need to close the gate. The only way to do that is by replacing a missing crystal at the top of the arch. So, they need to find this crystal. Maybe it's somewhere on the other side of the gate.
2. Maybe there are many combinations in the order of the crystal's placement. A wrong try could release the bad guy from an extra-dimensional prison.
I'm kinda using ideas from the movie/tv series "Stargate SG-1" and the old 70's tv show "Land of the Lost" with thier "Pylons" that were dimensional doors controled by placing crystals in various patterns.
1. The PC's need to close the gate. The only way to do that is by replacing a missing crystal at the top of the arch. So, they need to find this crystal. Maybe it's somewhere on the other side of the gate.
2. Maybe there are many combinations in the order of the crystal's placement. A wrong try could release the bad guy from an extra-dimensional prison.
I'm kinda using ideas from the movie/tv series "Stargate SG-1" and the old 70's tv show "Land of the Lost" with thier "Pylons" that were dimensional doors controled by placing crystals in various patterns.
Tree and Things
There are a lot of way you can this to work. I liked the hollow tree, and or puzzle of the rock. Standing stones with riddles, or symbols, twisted roots that make a key (Mandrake). Perhaps a
undercove, or deep river where a glow comes from is further investigated to be a underwater chamber with a pedistal....
Perhaps a lost elf village, or ancient temple covered with assasin vines....
Just a few thoughts.
P.S. You might want to have a ranger or druid in this one.
Nopau
There are a lot of way you can this to work. I liked the hollow tree, and or puzzle of the rock. Standing stones with riddles, or symbols, twisted roots that make a key (Mandrake). Perhaps a
undercove, or deep river where a glow comes from is further investigated to be a underwater chamber with a pedistal....
Perhaps a lost elf village, or ancient temple covered with assasin vines....
Just a few thoughts.
P.S. You might want to have a ranger or druid in this one.
Nopau
magic scale and keys
If you want a really hard puzzle you can try this:
You have twelve identical keys (or gems, or whatever it is you need to open the whatever to release the whatever). They are all very magical, and only one of them will work. Using the wrong key has some nasty side effect.
All of the keys weigh exactly the same except for the real key which weighs a fraction different than the others, a very small fraction, and you don't know if it is more or less.
You are given a magic balance. You can only use the balance 3 times, and you can only weigh keys against each other. Any other balance the characters try to "rig" won't work, either because of arbitrary magic in the keys, or because the difference in weight is so small that only a special magical scale is accurate enough.
Anyway, the puzzle is to determine which of the 12 keys is a different weight only using 3 weighings.
I used this in an adventure, they almost got it on their own. I ended up giving hints as time went on, lowering the amount of experience I was going to award for solving it with every hint.
How many hints you give should depend on how much you want them to solve it. You could write up a time hint sheet ... after 5 minutes the 1st hint, etc. Or whatever. It's a tough puzzle though.
If you want a really hard puzzle you can try this:
You have twelve identical keys (or gems, or whatever it is you need to open the whatever to release the whatever). They are all very magical, and only one of them will work. Using the wrong key has some nasty side effect.
All of the keys weigh exactly the same except for the real key which weighs a fraction different than the others, a very small fraction, and you don't know if it is more or less.
You are given a magic balance. You can only use the balance 3 times, and you can only weigh keys against each other. Any other balance the characters try to "rig" won't work, either because of arbitrary magic in the keys, or because the difference in weight is so small that only a special magical scale is accurate enough.
Anyway, the puzzle is to determine which of the 12 keys is a different weight only using 3 weighings.
I used this in an adventure, they almost got it on their own. I ended up giving hints as time went on, lowering the amount of experience I was going to award for solving it with every hint.
How many hints you give should depend on how much you want them to solve it. You could write up a time hint sheet ... after 5 minutes the 1st hint, etc. Or whatever. It's a tough puzzle though.
puzzle
That would depend on the 16 year olds in question. It is a hard puzzle though.
One big hint at a later stage is that they need to break symetry, or stop thinking symetrical.
Another big hint is that even keys you know are wrong can be useful.
You can of course word the hints much more poetically if you are so inclined.
That would depend on the 16 year olds in question. It is a hard puzzle though.
One big hint at a later stage is that they need to break symetry, or stop thinking symetrical.
Another big hint is that even keys you know are wrong can be useful.
You can of course word the hints much more poetically if you are so inclined.
another hint
I don't remember how it goes exactly (I usually have to work it out from scratch each time again), but I'm pretty sure you start by weighing 4 against 4, and leave 4 to the side.
This will tell you if it is either in the 4 to the side, or the 8 you are weighing.
If it is the 4 to the side it should be easy to figure out.
If it is in the 8, it is important to remember which way the scale tips, even though you don't know whether the correct key is heavier or lighter.
Remember, the keys you "know" are wrong are also important to use to find the right one.
I don't remember how it goes exactly (I usually have to work it out from scratch each time again), but I'm pretty sure you start by weighing 4 against 4, and leave 4 to the side.
This will tell you if it is either in the 4 to the side, or the 8 you are weighing.
If it is the 4 to the side it should be easy to figure out.
If it is in the 8, it is important to remember which way the scale tips, even though you don't know whether the correct key is heavier or lighter.
Remember, the keys you "know" are wrong are also important to use to find the right one.
