Scholarly puzzles and issues

[Hand of Evil]

As you are playing Zweihander hint at some truth(s) that has been hidden from everyone. This could be the man in the iron mask or a family that is keeping something hidden or even the character being pulled into a cult/secret society, like the knight templars or masons. If you want to be on the evil side of things, you can corrupt him with the black arts.

Something simple to do is to provide the players with props, like a decoder ring and then drop coded messages into the game for the player to decode between games.

 

[Jd Smith1]

As you are playing Zweihander hint at some truth(s) that has been hidden from everyone. This could be the man in the iron mask or a family that is keeping something hidden or even the character being pulled into a cult/secret society, like the knight templars or masons. If you want to be on the evil side of things, you can corrupt him with the black arts.

Something simple to do is to provide the players with props, like a decoder ring and then drop coded messages into the game for the player to decode between games.

A decoder ring? This is an adult, for crying out loud.

 

[Hand of Evil]

A decoder ring? This is an adult, for crying out loud.

yea, well then book on codes, it is just a prop, I don't expect them to have a bombe S

 

[aramis erak]

A decoder ring? This is an adult, for crying out loud.

A portion of the ring, not the whole thing. But the code used needs some of the missing letters...
And not a simple alphabetical shift one, either.

 

[aramis erak]

Another idea, straight from the ASVAB and SAT: symbol sequencing. For example, the 2 sequences: pull one from each row. Have him draw in the missing glyphs (which are, BTW, unicode points U+2500 to U+256C - box drawing symbols.)
│ ║ ╢ ╜
─ ═ ╤ ╕

Another one, from the Fire Department tests... this takes some prep, but it's a standard in FD entry exams of the past...
Draw a series of hoses from 4-8 labeled rigs to a similar number of locations, half being fires. Draw them in as single pencil lines. Then ink walls to either side, with intersections randomized for over/under. Erase all the pencil. n Give him a short time limit (10 sec per PC IQ point?) to find the key ones. Don't tell him to be, but also don't prevent him from, working from fire to hydrant, either. (This type of puzzle is all throuoghout TLOZ: Breath of the Wild, and FF X in other media) A completed game of Tsuro can also generate such a map.

 

[Jd Smith1]

Another idea, straight from the ASVAB and SAT: symbol sequencing. For example, the 2 sequences: pull one from each row. Have him draw in the missing glyphs (which are, BTW, unicode points U+2500 to U+256C - box drawing symbols.)
│ ║ ╢ ╜
─ ═ ╤ ╕

Another one, from the Fire Department tests... this takes some prep, but it's a standard in FD entry exams of the past...
Draw a series of hoses from 4-8 labeled rigs to a similar number of locations, half being fires. Draw them in as single pencil lines. Then ink walls to either side, with intersections randomized for over/under. Erase all the pencil. n Give him a short time limit (10 sec per PC IQ point?) to find the key ones. Don't tell him to be, but also don't prevent him from, working from fire to hydrant, either. (This type of puzzle is all throuoghout TLOZ: Breath of the Wild, and FF X in other media) A completed game of Tsuro can also generate such a map.

Impressive, but I'm not looking for in-game puzzles. Elvis got me the idea that I'm running with.

 

[Bluenose]

Investigating and recording details of ancient ruins, studying the music of the dwarves or halflings or elves, surveying land within some lordling's territory for possible mineral deposits, studying historical battles and visiting their sites, trying to learn how to improve steam tanks or bombards, studying the religions of the southern lands, working for a noble family to prove their ancestry entitles them to land some other noble holds illegally, and so on. Those all involve travel and potentially intrigue, But they might also be a lawyer and work with a group of investigators to solve mysteries and bring the criminals to justice, staying in one city nearly all the time. A lot depends on what sort of scholar they are, what areas of knowledge they prefer. It doesn't all have to be delving in dusty libraries while the other characters go out adventuring.