Test my riddle.

[Ambrus]

I've put together a riddle to be answered for my players during tonight's session. There's only three PCs and ideally I'd like them to be able to answer it relatively quickly so as not to bring the game to a grinding halt. I think it's relatively straightforward, but one never knows right? Please read it over and try to answer it. If it turns out that most people here can't answer it then I'll know to change it. Thanks.

Your prey I become once I'm heard,
but caught am I with but a word.
I live only as I am sought,
but cease to be if I am caught.
So hunt me now with your mind's eye,
and tell me now, oh what am I?

 

[Sammael]

Is it

Spoiler

revenge?

Verses 1, 3, and 4 fit, but I'm not sure about verse 2...

 

[GMforPowergamers]

Your prey I become once I'm heard,
but caught am I with but a word.
I live only as I am sought,
but cease to be if I am caught.
So hunt me now with your mind's eye,
and tell me now, oh what am I?

Your a thought...

 

[ruemere]

[...]
Your prey I become once I'm heard,
but caught am I with but a word.
I live only as I am sought,
but cease to be if I am caught.
So hunt me now with your mind's eye,
and tell me now, oh what am I?

Twice used the word "caught".
Inititally, I thought the answer would be "silence", however both "riddle" and "answer" or "solution" seem to be viable.

Regards,
Ruemere

 

[fba827]

a couple ideas came to mind, but nothing that works for each of those verses, so i can't figure it out. but also that goes with the caveat that i SUCK at riddles.

 

[Ambrus]

Hm. I hadn't realized I'd used the word "caught" twice. A revision is in order. Replacing the first "caught" with "seized" will do the trick I think. Thanks for pointing it out.
[sblock=The Answer]ruemere got it right; the answer is a riddle.

Cheesy perhaps, but it's appropriate to the circumstances and plot. It was first formulated by a now defunct group of mystics who sought the answer to the metaphorical riddle represented by Sigil, the City of Doors. As such, riddles and riddling were considered sacred by their faction. The riddler in this case will be a sphinx; a creature held sacred by the faction as the embodiment of the the eternal riddle. Also, the party will receive a cipher book in exchange for a correct answer. So, in effect, the riddle, the riddler, the answer and the prize are all one in the same.

Feedback is welcome. Is it too hard? Just plain stupid? [/sblock]

 

[MarkB]

Twice used the word "caught".
Inititally, I thought the answer would be "silence", however both "riddle" and "answer" or "solution" seem to be viable.

Regards,
Ruemere

I was going to say "riddle" based on just reading the riddle. "Solution" and "answer" don't really work, as they don't cease to be once discovered. "Problem" might be viable, except that a problem isn't always pursued after simply being heard.

EDIT: ninja'd by the OP.

I liked it, as riddles go (though they do, of course, have a notorious YMMV factor). It required me to really think about it for a few minutes, reasoning it out from each line, but didn't stray into being so super-hard that only someone who already knew the answer could work it out.

So far as I can see, it also doesn't go too far the other way, of yielding to multiple possible answers - it's pretty tightly bound.

 

[Ambrus]

Thanks for the constructive feedback MarkB. I'll give it a try as is and pray that I don't get confronted with blank stares or thrown dice. Besides, violent and/or impatient PCs always have the option of simply attacking the sphinx and trying to take the cipher book from her.

 

[UngeheuerLich]

yeah, nice one, but a bit easy^^

 

[Wulf Ratbane]

I think you did a great job. Like it a lot.