Help me with a logic puzzle?

[Ninja_Prawn]

So, one of my players asked me to set a puzzle. It's not something I normally do, because it's unfair on players that aren't good at puzzles and doesn't use their character's skills. I've decided to give it a whirl, though, and I was wondering if anyone wanted to lend a hand.

What I have so far is this (https://www.dropbox.com/s/q4wc3bc06n898pb/Puzzle.pdf?dl=0), where the player has to find the correct 8-sigil sequence. I believe it has only one solution and there's enough information in the clues to find it. I'd appreciate it if someone could make sure of that though.

I'm aiming for something that might take an average person 5 or 10 minutes to figure out. Is this too easy? Too hard? Is there anything I could change or improve?

And I know this isn't a 5e-specific problem, but we are playing 5e, and if you can think of a good way to integrate character skills into something like this, I'd love to hear it! The character is a wizard, but she only has 13 Int so I don't want to make solving the puzzle contingent on that.

[Lvl 2 Expert]

There are 8 places in a row on which to place numbers.
1 occurs 3 times, but never adjacent to itself or 2. You could read "never twice in a row" as "it could be three times in a row, but we also know 4 occurs only ones and sits between two 1's.
3 occurs once, and sits in front of 2, which probably means it sits after 1.
The third symbol is a 5.
The first symbol is a 2 or a 6. With the restrictions on the placement of 2's, especially since the second place will probably have to be a 1 because it can't sit on either place one or three, the first symbol will probably be a 6.

61514132

Yeah, that puzzle works. If your player is looking for a logic puzzle not using elements from the RPG itself, this will keep them busy for a couple of minutes.

I think this is the only solution, if there is another one it's harder to find, and as long as it's correct I'd just approve it.

[Final Hyena]

There is indeed only one solution and 5-10 minutes sounds reasonable.

The only thing is that several of the symbols are rather similar to each other, some might get confused by that.

[Ninja_Prawn]

There are 8 places in a row on which to place numbers.
1 occurs 3 times, but never adjacent to itself or 2. You could read "never twice in a row" as "it could be three times in a row, but we also know 4 occurs only ones and sits between two 1's.
3 occurs once, and sits in front of 2, which probably means it sits after 1.
The third symbol is a 5.
The first symbol is a 2 or a 6. With the restrictions on the placement of 2's, especially since the second place will probably have to be a 1 because it can't sit on either place one or three, the first symbol will probably be a 6.

61514132

Yeah, that puzzle works. If your player is looking for a logic puzzle not using elements from the RPG itself, this will keep them busy for a couple of minutes.

I think this is the only solution, if there is another one it's harder to find, and as long as it's correct I'd just approve it.

That's the solution I had in mind. Thanks for checking! I really didn't want to set something that wasn't solvable.

Still open to suggestions if anyone has any.


The only thing is that several of the symbols are rather similar to each other, some might get confused by that.

True. I could change one (I'm thinking the one Lvl 2 Expert called '3').

Edit: done.

[pwykersotz]

Now just replace the sigils with potions and have the goal to walk through a portal of black flame. :smalltongue:

[Gray Mage]

There are 8 places in a row on which to place numbers.
1 occurs 3 times, but never adjacent to itself or 2. You could read "never twice in a row" as "it could be three times in a row, but we also know 4 occurs only ones and sits between two 1's.
3 occurs once, and sits in front of 2, which probably means it sits after 1.
The third symbol is a 5.
The first symbol is a 2 or a 6. With the restrictions on the placement of 2's, especially since the second place will probably have to be a 1 because it can't sit on either place one or three, the first symbol will probably be a 6.

61514132

Yeah, that puzzle works. If your player is looking for a logic puzzle not using elements from the RPG itself, this will keep them busy for a couple of minutes.

I think this is the only solution, if there is another one it's harder to find, and as long as it's correct I'd just approve it.

Wouldn't 61513241 also work?

If it was both sides instead of either then I think it'd be unique.

[Ninja_Prawn]

Wouldn't 61513241 also work?

If it was both sides instead of either then I think it'd be unique.

The 4 is supposed to be surrounded immediately by 1s, as in '141'. Does the wording need to be changed to clarify that?

[Dr. Cliché]

I think it's fine and definitely solvable within 5-10 mins.

[krugaan]

The pdf and the runes are a nice touch, but it's going to immediately devolve to paper and either letters or numbers, lol.

[Gray Mage]

The 4 is supposed to be surrounded immediately by 1s, as in '141'. Does the wording need to be changed to clarify that?

Doesn't either mean one side or the other? If it needs to be surrounded I think both would fit more.

[Telesto]

The 4 is supposed to be surrounded immediately by 1s, as in '141'. Does the wording need to be changed to clarify that?

Not going to lie, with that wording and it being a puzzle the 4 can exist anywhere as long as there is a 1 on both sides of it. So 1xxxx41x is valid, so is 141xxxxx and just about any other option where a 4 is between two 1s.

[Ninja_Prawn]

The pdf and the runes are a nice touch, but it's going to immediately devolve to paper and either letters or numbers, lol.

Well yeah, but this is a PbP game, so that's not a problem. That also means that the other players aren't necessarily waiting around for a solution, which is nice.


Not going to lie, with that wording and it being a puzzle the 4 can exist anywhere as long as there is a 1 on both sides of it. So 1xxxx41x is valid, so is 141xxxxx and just about any other option where a 4 is between two 1s.

Okay, I'll change it to "There is one 4 sigil, which must be adjacent to 1 sigils both before and after." That should remove any ambiguity.

[Dr. Cliché]

The pdf and the runes are a nice touch, but it's going to immediately devolve to paper and either letters or numbers, lol.

I did it with pen and paper, but used the runes (not letters or numbers).

They weren't too hard to draw, save for the fact that most of them have 'flicks' in them.

[Eriol]

Another few ideas for puzzles:

Matchstick Puzzles: You can search for them online, and it's easy to put into "the real world" as well. I did it with "stones on magical altars" that punished you for cheating, but not for failing. So "only move 3" or something means the PC can fiddle as much as they want, but they must put BACK the stones if they were going to exceed the maximum number of moves before trying again. Otherwise, I made them suffer a burst of un-resistable force damage. But they weren't trapped in the room, so they never need to feel like "succeed or die" either.

Classic 2-jug problem: You have a 3-litre (quart, cup, whatever you want) jug and a 5-litre jug, and you have an infinite basin, and a scale that only reads "Correct" with a jug + 4 litres. Expand if you want to, but this is "just hard enough, but not too hard" for most if you haven't seen it, or it's been since grade school since you have.

Sliding Puzzles: lots of these online too. Coins, or just tokens of some kind.

Other types of puzzles are obviously good too, but you have to make sure you're making the difficulty fun, but not frustrating. That's the hardest part I'd say. You have to know your audience.