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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Mishihari Lord" data-source="post: 2692047" data-attributes="member: 128">I like puzzles, but I tend to use them in a limited way in D&D.  While they I've found over the years that they can be a lot of fun in play, if used incorrectly they can bring a session to a halt.  Here's how I use then:Tactical puzzles are my favorite, as in we ring the alarm bell here with magic, the guards rush there, we hit the weakened guard at this side door here and come at the main group by surprise from behind over there.A puzzle must make sense in context.  A riddle door that can easily be answered by anyone of a certain race or someone with Knowledge[Race] makes a certain amount of sense on a non-critical (from the builder's POV) location.  It keeps the riffraff out while letting your own people in when you cannot or do not want to tell them all the answer.  A puzzle trap that allows someone who know the trick to pass quickly while hurting or slowing pursuit makes sense.  A puzzle lock makes sense if it can be passed in a reasonable amount of time by the owner.  A puzzle requiring knowledge from several people can make sense if you want your heirs to be able to accomplish something together but not separately.  Puzzles guarding treasure or tombs can make sense.  Doing a crossword to open a guarded castle gate, as an example, does not make sense.  The only reason to do this is if you fear your own guards would lock you out, and in that case the entry method should be quicker (since you'll probably be under fire), the puzzle would require specific information that noone but the owner would know, and you wouldn't want to provide clues to the questions by linking the words.Two places where otherwise inappropriate puzzles would work are artificial situations where an NPC is testing the PC's mettle, or the often use though trite "mad wizard" adventure.  Outside of this I don't think I'd ever use a crossword, word find, or maze (aside from the type you walk through)Prophecies make neat riddles.  I've never been much good at this, but check out Piratecat's and Sagiro's storyhours for good esamples of how to use them.Solving a riddle should not be critical to an adventure.  If the the PCs must solve a riddle to enter The Lair of the Creature and all of your prepared material is inside said Lair, then there had better be alternate ways in because the players and/or PCs may fail to solve the puzzle.  If players know that they'll just continue to receive more and more clues untill they solve the puzzle it detracts from the perceptipon of challenge, and hence from the fun.  Puzzles are better used for such things as guarding treasure that would help the party with the BBEG but are not critical to success.Know your players.  Some players like puzzles, some don't.  If your players don't like puzzles and you want to include them anyway, either allow a skill check for Knowledge[Puzzles] or Knowledge[Race] (for some riddles), or make the puzzles of a tactical nature.</blockquote>

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