What do you do about riddles/puzzles?

[Avatar_V]

I've often wondered about the place of riddles and puzzles in D&D games. Personally, I love them, live for them, think they add a much more interesting element then just hack, hack, loot, hack, hack, loot. At the same time though, puzzle-solving seems very hard to roll-play. The group I play with is a nice spread, and while they're all pretty bright, there are some in the group that won't be challenged by a puzzle unless it's far beyond the ability of some other players to solve. I've had some puzzles that these couple of characters thought were brilliant, but others didn't even participate in solving them. This was bad. Of course the other way around is even worse. The ranger solves it before the others can furrow their brows. Furthermore, consider that those players' characters do NOT have the highest ints in the party I guess the problem I see is that while I love problem solving (I'm a math major), it's very hard to roll play. It's incredibly difficult for many players to roll play a character with less intelligence then they have; and often it's impossible to roll play a higher intelligence. Rolling an intelligence check and having me give them the answer seems very inadequate. Are puzzles doomed for the difficulty in roll playing them?

 

[Gulla]

Are puzzles doomed for the difficulty in roll playing them?

I don't think so, but have come to the conclusion that most puzzles are not for the Characters but for the Players. I have yet to find any other way than rolling a die on an appropriate skill to find if the character can solve the puzzle, but having the players trying is often rewarding (trying their best to stay in character, but using their own skill). Of cource, a less klever character's player can reduce his involvement, but I can see no easy way for a player to contribute more to the solving than his own skills.

Håkon Gaut

 

[nsruf]

Depends on what kind of riddle you have. If the entire adventure is a murder/mystery thing, that usually involves a lot of roleplaying, e.g. gathering information, shadowing suspects, etc. But from my personal experience, pure riddles for their own sake won't work very well. I mean, either the players know it already or manage to guess it - in which case it is over and no roleplaying involved - or they fail. And only then do things get interesting, as they try to work around it.

I haven't used "pure" riddles in my adventures for a long time because of that, and also because they seem too artificial to me. Apart from a contest of wits between PCs and NPCs, what is the justification for riddles turning up in mid-adventure? Hiding treasure behind a sequence of puzzles is rather a dumb idea, even if it seems to be popular in fiction. I mean, basically the guy who created the riddles is saying "I don't mind if I get robbed, as long as it is by a clever and sophisticated thief"

 

[Eccles]

I like puzzles & Riddles, and I really want to put a few in my upcoming campaign.

My only problem is, I can't think of any.

Where do you puzzling DMs get your puzzles from, then?

Any recommended websites?

 

[seasong]

Representing Character Intelligence

When I riddle my players, we usually establish who will be answering the riddle. Sometimes this is as simple as saying, "Well, George has the highest intelligence" and other times it's more like "Well, Joe is the one the Sphinx asked".

Then, anyone who comes up with an answer tells the person answering the riddle; that person can then choose whether or not the character would use that answer. The last time I did this, the players just discussed it among themselves.

Worked out just fine.

Combining Roleplaying With Dice

I prefer to roleplay it as much as possible. If the players simply can't decide on an answer (which sometimes happens - I like hard riddles), I'll let the answering character make a skill check.

On a failure, no hint, and I rule that the character can't answer the riddle that day.

On a success, I give a hint and let them think some more.

If they STILL can't come up with an answer, it usually means I made the riddle *too* hard. So I let the answering character make a second skill check.

On a failure, I rule that the character can't answer the riddle that day.

On a success, I give them the answer.