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Binks
2012-02-28, 01:55 PM
So the game I'm running right now is pretty close to coming to an end. I'm trying to make the last few adventures as memorable as possible and as such I've hit a bit of a problem. For story reasons that I won't go into the penultimate bit of the concluding adventure will take place in a structure built specifically to challenge the PCs by a deity (homebrew setting, homebrew deity of prophesy). The deity didn't know specifically who would be coming to the structure, but did know about them via visions/prophesy and as such designed the place specifically to challenge them. Ideally it should be full of puzzles they can solve but would be impossible to anyone but them.

That's the idea at least. The problem is, I'm kind of terrible at puzzles. The only good one I've ever really run was cribbed wholesale from Mass Effect 2 (Kasumi's loyalty mission to be exact) and all my other attempts have fallen relatively flat. I want this to be an exciting session, and there will already be an element of 'we need to hurry through this place' due to background events, but I don't want the puzzles themselves to fail in their duties. As such I'm asking for help in tweaking/making new puzzles that will challenge the party but also seem tailored to them. The system is 4E if it matters (it shouldn't really matter). Ideally I want at least 1 puzzle for each player, but if I can find 2 that are good then that would be perfect (it would give me 8 of the 10 encounters that you're supposed to have in a level, and I have 2 others already planned out, so it would be ideal). Probably will have something in each puzzle area identifying who the puzzle is intended for.

The Professor:
Description
A Changeling Bard who likes to tell tales of his exploits. The party's face basically. He's good, but far from lawful, and loves for people to know who he is. He's become known for using the pyrotechnics ritual to make fireworks in the sky spelling out a capital P whenever he does something cool and important, even if it would be better kept secret that it was them.

He's probably the easiest player to come up with puzzles for as he RPs the most and is quick on his feet during conversations. As such I was planning to make his puzzles primarily RP based rather than actual puzzles.
Puzzles
1.The party enters a barren room with a door on the opposite wall. The door comes to life, looks straight at him, and tells him to speak who he is in order to pass. The door is looking for something along the lines of what he believes he is, the greatest bard that ever lived, king of stories or something similar. The door will converse but will not allow passage until The Professor speaks of whom he is.

The point of this puzzle is that I know the Professor loves to brag about who he is, so while this kind of puzzle might stump anyone else he should get through it very quickly.
2. A magic mouth'd door speaks in a strange language made of metaphors (darmok and jalad at tanagra basically). He needs to puzzle out a way to tell it to let him in.

The door's first words (and its response to any questions about how to get it open) are: "Jorunga, his mind opening with understanding. Rachal, the path barred before him."

The proper phrase is along the lines of 'Myself, the door open before him' but this is a mainly RP puzzle so anything similar will be accepted.
3.Two magic mouths sit on two different doors. As the PCs enter they both tell the players that their door is the way forward. PCs might think it's a standard 'one lies and one tells the truth' puzzle but in truth both of those doors lie, the true way forward is the door the PCs came in by (the room shifted as soon as they entered) which has a magic mouth that comes to life when someone approaches it and tells them both of the other doors are liars.

Solutions - Either figure out that both doors are liars or open them, both open to a trap with a pair of ghosts backing it up. The ghosts fly in under the cover of the trap and beging harrasing the party while invisible. They're minions. The party has fought invisible people before, so no real worries there.

The point of this puzzle and the one before it is basically diplomatically figuring out a solution through conversation, something he's good at.

Regdar:
Description
An amoral human thief. Currently guildmaster of a thief's guild, but won't have that to call on during these tests. He's pretty much a stereotypical thief, killing and looting everyone who's not a PC and complaining loudly when the party stops him from killing/looting people. That said, he loves amusing NPCs and has gone out of his way to protect some of them.

As he's the most combat focused PC I planned to make his puzzles relatively easy but also easily brute force-able.
Puzzles
1. The party enters a room lit by a pair of torches on either wall. Above the opposite doorway a riddle is written.

"The more of it there is, the less you see."

As soon as the party enters the door slams behind the group and a pair of light elementals (homebrew that's been seen before) spawn from near the torches and attack. The solution is either to defeat all the light elementals (6 spawn, then the torches go out) or to put each torch out, at which point glowing runes appear above the doorway that Regdar recognizes as guild runes that say to bring both extinguished torches to the door and put them in a pair of holes near the door.

The point of this puzzle is that Redgar, being the sneaky darkness-loving type, would be the best suited to recognizing the riddle...and the best suited to just slaughtering the elementals.
2. The party enters a room with a checkerboard pattern (10x10) on the squares between where they are and the other end of the room. The ground beneath their feet and the ground at the other end of the room is glowing green. You can either try and climb across the smooth walls to get to the other side (no one in the party is trained in athletics, so this probably won't happen), or try crossing it. Each square you step on has an effect:

Lights up green - There are no mines adjacent (cardinal only) to this square
Lights up yellow - There is 1 mine adjacent to this square
Lights up orange - There are 2 mines adjacent to this square
Lights up red - There are 3 mines adjacent to this square
Mine - The square explodes, +15 vs. Ref for average fire damage for a 12th level party (don't have my DM screen on me at the moment but it has a chart for that).

The squares are setup like this (10x10 area):
cccccccccc
cmccmcmcmc
mcccccmccc
ccccmcmmmc
mcmccccccc
cccccmcccc
mcmcmcccmc
mmmcmccccc
cmcccmcmcm
cccccccccc

The start and end tiles are clearly glowing green and each square lights up as you go. Don't explain the colors, let the PCs extrapolate them. You can just run straight through to bypass the puzzle, but that means suffering some attacks.
The point of this puzzle is either to let him figure it out (I know he enjoys minesweeper out of character, and he's the best suited to test the spaces IC with his high ref) or he can just run through, using his high ref and other evasive talents to reduce the damage. Which spaces had mines in them will tell the other characters which one to avoid and there's a good chance that, by the time the more fragile characters have to go through, they'll have a safe path.

Aerowyn:
Description
An elf who likes stealth and ranged combat and hates being close to enemies. High movement, almost always stays at the edge of a fight and tries to hide, and generally avoids RP stuff. I kind of want to put the player on the spot for his puzzles, as I know he's capable of it from other games, so these are probably the most focused on a single player at the moment.
Puzzles
1. Across a large chasm a formless black wall sits with a single candlestick holder hanging from it and a candle burning. The candle can only be extinguished with an arrow made of water (the player's preferred weapon), nothing else will put it out. Once extinguished a light bridge forms over the chasm, allowing crossing

Alternatively you can climb to the other side, but it requires climbing around the edge of the chasm in a 'leap of faith' style hope that the walls connect.

Any means of flying over the chasm are met with a blast of light that teleports the flier back to the start.

Searching the near side of the chasm reveals a dusty hidden note on the edge that reads "For each light extinguished, another begins."

The point of the puzzle is the unlikelyhood of anything else having the proper weapon to extinguish the candle, and to allow the character to show off their highly accurate bow shots.
2. Upon entering the room a light shines down on Aerowyn and a booming voice speaks.

"You have been chosen to guide a caravan of elves on their journey. Your caravan has come to an impasse, a crossing point that only permits 2 at a time (the bridge across the chasm lights up and the elven character for 2 shines on it). In your caravan are another elf (light on the professor), a pet wolf (light on regdar, as the backstabbing guy he fits the role best), a nature worshiping elf (light on galen, as a nature focused guy he fits the role best) and a construct (light on book, warforged GMPC). The wolf will consume the nature elf if left alone with him, and the nature elf will destroy the construct if left alone with him. The other elf will not stop any of these actions as he wishes to see your caravan sabotaged. Only your presence will prevent them from destroying each other. You must cross this impasse to continue on your quest."

It's a simple wolf/goat/cabbage puzzle dressed up as an elf caravan. The solution is to bring the nature elf over first, then return alone. Bring either the construct or the wolf over next and return with the nature elf. Then bring either the construct or wolf over, return alone. Then bring the other elf over, return alone, then bring the nature elf over.

If the players try to cheat (3 people on the bridge, climb around, fly over and the like) or galen/regdar or galen/book are left alone with each other then the voice returns. "Your caravan is weakened by your ineptitude and is beset by bandits. Defend yourself!"

A couple of ghosts spawn up to attack the players. If Galen/Regdar or Galen/Book were left alone on one side one is immediately dominated (save ends) and has to attack the other until saving.

The point of the puzzle is to get the character in a position of leadership. The party will probably solve the puzzle together, but the player has to be the one to take the reins and get everyone safely across.

Galen:
Description
A human druid who honestly doesn't RP very much. I really don't know much about who he is as a character as he tends to leave the problem solving to the other players, the same issue as with the elf player above. I do know he thinks of his character as highly intelligent, however, so I tried to make his puzzles the most mental-focused ones.
Puzzles
1. A single chessboard sits at the center of the room with 8 queens on it. Etched in the table around the chessboard are the words

'8 queens ruled 8 kingdoms great
until the day they grew to hate
The realm found it could not advance
So long as they remained in this stance
The only way to stop the fight going further
Was to stop the queens from threatening each other'

Searching the room yields a hidden panel that when flipped shows most of the solution, with 2 queens missing (and around 8 spaces damaged where they could be)

Breaking the chessboard summons up 8 'queens' to fight, once bested the queens can't threaten each other so the door opens, and commends them for an unconventional solution.

The point of the puzzle is a simple mental exercise. If the players can solve it without the hidden panel, great. If not, they have 2 outs they can use to get past it. The character being tested is probably the most 'intellectual' of the party.
2. The players enter a room with a bowl on a pedastool in the middle of it. Within the bowl are 5 flowers. On the pedastool are the words:

"Five flowers. Five heroes. An even division will show the way. Be warned, however. Should the fifth flower be removed from the bowl nature will show her displeasure."

The solution is to give 4 flowers to 4 people and have the fifth pick up the bowl with the flower still in it, this causes the door to open.

Alternate solutions - Just divide all 5 flowers, the door opens but is immediately barred by vines that attack.

The point of the puzzle is that the druid has to find a way to balance nature basically.

I will gladly take any tips/tricks/comments/ideas. This session won't be for a while (probably early to mid April due to some things that have come up) but I want to be prepared for it since it's probably going to be the hardest one for me to run anytime in the near future, the others are either already stated out or just simple boss fights. Thanks.

DaMullet
2012-02-28, 02:16 PM
Since you're doing the 8 Queens puzzle and the wolf-chicken-grain river puzzle, I'm guessing you've already looked through and decided against the other stock puzzles (like the Towers of Hanoi, measuring 4 ounces with a 3 and a 5 ounce cup, finding the oddly-weighted coin, and so on).

All of the ones you have seem to be very well-suited to your party, though, I'm impressed.

Binks
2012-02-28, 04:23 PM
Since you're doing the 8 Queens puzzle and the wolf-chicken-grain river puzzle, I'm guessing you've already looked through and decided against the other stock puzzles (like the Towers of Hanoi, measuring 4 ounces with a 3 and a 5 ounce cup, finding the oddly-weighted coin, and so on).

Yeah, Towers and the different sized cups one are too well known within our group. I hadn't heard of the oddly-weighed coin puzzle before, so I went and googled it. Might make a good puzzle for the thief character, though I'd first have to be able to wrap my head around the solution and find a couple alternate solutions...worth thinking about at least, thanks.

brantaylor105
2012-02-28, 04:49 PM
I recently finished a campaign and wanted to do something similar, so this is what I came up with. I thought of one of the more creative or "just plain awesome" moments each of the players had, then I made a short puzzle or challenge based off of that. I can't help you much in the execution of this one, but I can give an example.

One player joined the party late, but in his first session with them, they were trying to sneak into a compound. Rather than use pure stealth, the player created a distraction involving a huge fire at one side of the complex. So, for the final session, they came to a certain part with tons of patrols and guards and the only way for them to get by was for them to create another huge distraction by fire.

It was a ton of fun because the players got to reminisce about some of their favorite exploits all while going through this final dungeon. Sounds like it might work great for your game too since this homebrew deity of prophecy made the dungeon specifically for these PCs!

Rorrik
2012-02-28, 07:03 PM
Can't say I can improve on that, though I think the odd-weight coin would be clever for the thief.

Just wanted to say, I'm stealing your mine puzzle. Not sure when, but I'm keeping it locked away in the grey matter for a future date. I think you've done great and they should enjoy it.

Binks
2012-02-29, 01:02 PM
I thought of one of the more creative or "just plain awesome" moments each of the players had, then I made a short puzzle or challenge based off of that. I can't help you much in the execution of this one, but I can give an example.
That is a great idea. It'll take some work, but it would make an excellent 'party puzzle' to end with, totally stealing that idea.


Just wanted to say, I'm stealing your mine puzzle. Not sure when, but I'm keeping it locked away in the grey matter for a future date. I think you've done great and they should enjoy it.
It's basically just minesweeper refluffed, got the idea from a google search for rpg puzzles. I hope it works well for you.

brantaylor105
2012-02-29, 04:26 PM
Great! I'm glad I could help and I hope it goes well.