Simple Riddle... but TOO simple?

[Imaculata]

If time is the answer, I don't feel some of the lines fit that well. A good riddle excludes all other options. Is time really a child's desire? It is a bit of a stretch.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

True, if you go with just the base riddle, there are some answers that fit perfectly without being exactly what you are after. One pops in mind immediately:

Spoiler

Age

That was the answer I got.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

So, I'm just going to warn you, that when someone says "I've got a riddle" I sometimes just blurt out the answer

Spoiler: answer?

time!

as a joke because it is a cliché riddle answer.

You calling Gollum cliché?

 

[Paul Farquhar]

If time is the answer, I don't feel some of the lines fit that well. A good riddle excludes all other options. Is time really a child's desire? It is a bit of a stretch.

Indeed. A child might want to be grown up (age/maturity/years), but it's usually adults who want more time.

 

[Benjamin Olson]

You calling Gollum cliché?

In his literary context, not really. With the riddles in the dark sequence having spent eighty-odd years as increasingly the most familiar riddle challenge in Western literature, yes.

 

[BookTenTiger]

In his literary context, not really. With the riddles in the dark sequence having spent eighty-odd years as increasingly the most familiar riddle challenge in Western literature, yes.

Every Easter my parents would hide Easter baskets somewhere around the house, and then my dad would write a series of riddles. If my brother and I got the riddle right, he would tell us the location of the next riddle.

One year my dad decided to use the riddles from the Hobbit. Coincidentally, the day before, I had been trying to remember the riddles from the Hobbit so I sat down and reread them all. On Easter I was able to answer each riddle immediately.

My dad still talks about that day!

 

[DND_Reborn]

Thanks all for the responses. I thought it up on the ride home from work last night.

I think I will offer just the base to start with, and maybe the extra lines if the PCs are will to pay a "price" to get extra hints.

Most of you said the correct answer, and it is a cliché riddle answer, but I really didn't want anything crazy or extreme for these guys.

And yes, most riddles can have more than one answer if you think about it long enough. If they said something like "age" I would offer them one of the hints for free. shrug

It seems like none of it is really "off" or "problematic", which is what I really wanted to avoid. Thanks again for the feedback! Much appreciated.

 

[LordEntrails]

Apparently I never got it. I thought 'Trust' at first, and then after the second clue thought 'Experience'. I guess that's close to the answer, but I still wouldn't use it. But then I don't use riddles for anything important in my RPGs. Just like any type of puzzle, they don't fit for me and rarely for the people I play with.

But if they work for your table, go for it.

 

[J-H]

I read it with no clues and came up with an answer of "Age" or "Aging" within the first 10 seconds.

 

[Shiroiken]

True, if you go with just the base riddle, there are some answers that fit perfectly without being exactly what you are after. One pops in mind immediately:

Spoiler

Age

I got the exact same thing. The first clue immediately switched me to the correct answer.