What's everyone's best riddle?

[Shadowbane13]

I'm DMing our current campaign and wanted to throw some tough riddles into it. I have a couple already but open to many ideas.

My ones so far
"Kingdom of Queens"
On the board 8 queens stand tall
But not one hurting another at all
They move every which way
Each Queen must remain in play

There are 8 queens that the players can move around but the queens cannot have any of the other queens in their threat line. This was a giant chessboard and the party had to push the queens into place. I put random traps and stuff on some tiles to mess with my party.

[Vizzerdrix]

Whats in my pockets?

[Aetis]

I am but a three-eyed monster

one eye sees you running faster

other eye just a moment later

last eye sees you walking never

[Jowgen]

I once did a quest with an emphasis on riddles. The party would regularly encounter a Cheshire Cat (from the web article) and it would give them a riddle. If they got in in 3 tries, they'd get information that would make the next phase of the quest easier. They were basic riddles, though each answer was something that the players could see in their immediate vicinity (e.g. trees, sky, stone etc.).

I know this isn't really contributing to the thread as intended, but I hope it helps regardless.

[Telonius]

I change my coat when the cold winds blow,
And take it off when it starts to snow.
When the sun comes out again,
I put it on and wait for rain.

(Answer: Trees)

[Xaroth]

Can we also ask that the answer be added to the riddle that is given?

[Doctor Awkward]

I am but a three-eyed monster

one eye sees you running faster

other eye just a moment later

last eye sees you walking never

A traffic light?

[qwertyu63]

I have six siblings, but they say I'm the worst.
My entire family could kill you, but I was the first.

When you are with me, you're above all.
A bruised piper, I lead men and angels to their fall.

pride

[Doctor Awkward]

Pride.

You should connect those so people don't think they are two different riddles. :smalltongue:

[Grand Arbiter]

One of my favorites would be Gollum's last riddle to Bilbo in The Hobbit
This thing all things devours:
Birds, beasts, trees, flowers;
Gnaws iron, bites steel;
Grinds hard stones to meal;
Slays king, ruins town,
And beats high mountain down.

Time


Another good riddle I know is the riddle of the Green Glass Door, which works best as a spoken riddle.
To solve the riddle, you must figure out the rule that determines what can and can't pass through the door.

example clues(make sure to give some):
"Foot" can pass through, but not "shoe"
"cheddar cheese", but not "gouda"
"toboggan", but not "sled"
the Green Glass Door can pass through itself

Once one knows the rule, it is easy to make more.Words with double letters, ("oo", "dd", "ee", "gg", etc.) can pass through the door.

[Aetis]

A traffic light?

You are correct.

[Celestia]

What is green and grows and has four red wheels?

Grass. I lied about the four red wheels.

[Braininthejar2]

What is green and grows and has four red wheels?

Grass. I lied about the four red wheels.

What's red, and bad for your teeth?

a brick

:smallbiggrin:

[Celestia]

Another good riddle I know is the riddle of the Green Glass Door, which works best as a spoken riddle.
To solve the riddle, you must figure out the rule that determines what can and can't pass through the door.

example clues(make sure to give some):
"Foot" can pass through, but not "shoe"
"cheddar cheese", but not "gouda"
"toboggan", but not "sled"
the Green Glass Door can pass through itself

Once one knows the rule, it is easy to make more.Words with double letters, ("oo", "dd", "ee", "gg", etc.) can pass through the door.

That's pretty clever. Mind if I steal it?


What's red, and bad for your teeth?

a brick

:smallbiggrin:
What's brown and smells like crap?

Poop.

:smalltongue:

[unseenmage]

Always a favorite,


If you have it, you don't need it.
If you need it, you don't have it.
If you have it, you need more of it.
If you have more of it, you don't need less of it.
You need it to get it.
And you certainly need it to get more of it.
But if you don't already have any of it to begin with,
you can't get any of it to get started with,
so you have no idea how to get any of it in the first place.

Bottom line,

If you've never had any of it...ever. People just seem to know.

[Shadowbane13]

Some of these a pretty good but knowing the answers would help. Some I have figured out but keep em coming guys. Thanks for the help

[Grand Arbiter]

That's pretty clever. Mind if I steal it?
Not at all, and I can't take credit for its creation. It's from an instructor at a summer camp several years ago.

[Keral]

I wish I could use riddles with my players.

The one and only time I tried, they had to figure out a clue written backwards. Like the writing on Harry Potter's Mirror or Erised.
I thought it was too easy so I made the writing be in elvish so only the elf could solve it. It didn't end well. After 10 minutes I gave up and had the others help him out X°D

That kind of discouraged me to try further. However, reading this makes me want to give it another try. :smallwink: Hopefully with better results.

[legomaster00156]

Always a favorite,
That would be money, wouldn't it? :smallwink:

[CharonsHelper]

"I am greater than God
More evil than The Devil
The poor have me
The rich need me
And if you eat me, you will die"

"Nothing"



I wish I could use riddles with my players.

The one and only time I tried, they had to figure out a clue written backwards. Like the writing on Harry Potter's Mirror or Erised.
I thought it was too easy so I made the writing be in elvish so only the elf could solve it. It didn't end well. After 10 minutes I gave up and had the others help him out X°D

That kind of discouraged me to try further. However, reading this makes me want to give it another try. :smallwink: Hopefully with better results.

I think that the key is to not have the adventure go full stop until the riddle is solved. Just have it make the next part easier/harder based upon how they answer.

[SimonMoon6]

What's the worst thing you can put in a dungeon or other adventure?


A riddle!

[unseenmage]

That would be money, wouldn't it? :smallwink:

According to Bruce Campbell it was Old Spice but the consensus among our group is that the answer is either money or sex. I've also seen experience as the answer.

[Tamorlin]

Today he is there to trip you up,
And he will torture you tomorrow.
Yet he is also there to ease the pain,
When you are lost in grief and sorrow.

Alcohol.

[Celestia]

so you have no idea how to get any of it in the first place.
It's sex, right?

:smallfrown:


Not at all, and I can't take credit for its creation. It's from an instructor at a summer camp several years ago.
Cool. Thanks.

[Flickerdart]

Here's a "few" riddles for ya. (http://puzzling.stackexchange.com/questions?sort=votes)

[Doctor Awkward]

I ran an entire riddle session for my group a few years back. Here's a couple of them from that (if you can stand my awful poetry).

Here's one I did myself. I was so proud:

"As sharp as a knife, as flat as the floor.
I cause masses to weep, and spirits to soar.
When my nine fingers turn out a phrase.
I inspire those around to offer their praise."

Music. Notes have sharps and flats, and a standard scale has 5 lines and 4 spaces.

And here's one I adapted from somewhere in my years of reading:

"A trial to many, a game to some;
My goal? To see your mind undone.
Easy or hard, I present you a task.
A question you must answer before you can ask."

A riddle. It's a game or a life or death situation, and you need to know what the answer is before you can ask it to someone else.

[Segev]

A classic:

The beginning of eternity
The end of time and space
The beginning of every end
And the end of every place

The letter 'e'

This one may be inappropriate for a fantasy game, but it was a poem I doodled out in high school. The title is left off here, because it is the answer to this when presented as a riddle:

A silver streak through outer space
A flick'ring knife through Night's black face
A rainbow field follows after
The legacy of its warp factor

The starship Enterprise, or really any Star Trek Starship

Aunts and Uncles have I none
But the man in that picture
Is my grandfather's son

Best used when it is important to identify the man in a portrait. It's the speaker's father.

Though I am no man's slave
She is this to me
My wife's rage and shame
Or my secret mystery

The speaker's mistress

[prufock]

One of my favorites would be Gollum's last riddle to Bilbo in The Hobbit
This thing all things devours:
Birds, beasts, trees, flowers;
Gnaws iron, bites steel;
Grinds hard stones to meal;
Slays king, ruins town,
And beats high mountain down.

Time
I thought of "water." All life requires it, steel and iron are rusted by it, erosion can wear stones to sand and wash away mountains, the king can drown, and the town can be flooded.


Another good riddle I know is the riddle of the Green Glass Door, which works best as a spoken riddle.
To solve the riddle, you must figure out the rule that determines what can and can't pass through the door.

example clues(make sure to give some):
"Foot" can pass through, but not "shoe"
"cheddar cheese", but not "gouda"
"toboggan", but not "sled"
the Green Glass Door can pass through itself

Once one knows the rule, it is easy to make more.Words with double letters, ("oo", "dd", "ee", "gg", etc.) can pass through the door.

This one is cool, but how would you use it in an adventure. Most creatures wouldn't be able to pass through.

[WbtE]

I have a good "meta-riddle" set piece. It's best used with guardians who demand an answer and say that anyone who gets it wrong cannot pass. The riddle can then be anything. Using the Riddle of the Sphinx should guarantee that the players know it. When they confidently declare the traditional answer, the guardian then laughs their head and gives some contorted rationale for another, preferably setting-specific, answer, and tells the characters to go another way.

Insist that your answer isn't wrong.

[PacMan2247]

According to Bruce Campbell it was Old Spice but the consensus among our group is that the answer is either money or sex. I've also seen experience as the answer.

'Love' is also a reasonable answer for that riddle.

[EisenKreutzer]

Whats brown and sounds like a bell?

DUNG!

[Hiro Quester]

What is long and round, brown and sticky?
a stick

[EisenKreutzer]

What is more powerful? The steel, or the flesh that wields it?

There is no answer to the Riddle of Steel.

[Segev]

What is more powerful? The steel, or the flesh that wields it?

There is no answer to the Riddle of Steel.

The will the directs them both.

[Malimar]

You come to five doors in a line on the wall, each bearing a plaque with writing on them:

There is a dangerous golem behind four of these five doors. Neither the brass golem nor the stone golem is behind this door, and the iron golem is not adjacent to this door.

Each golem is enchanted to breathe an element. The electricity-breathing golem is not adjacent to this door, but the acid-breathing golem is.

The four golems are: a clay golem; a stone golem; a golem that breathes electricity; and a golem that breathes acid. The brass golem is not adjacent to this door, nor is the fire-breathing golem.

Neither the iron golem nor the clay golem are adjacent to to this door, though one of them is adjacent to the golem that breathes acid, and the golem which breathes cold is adjacent to this door.

The brass golem doesn't breathe cold or electricity. The cold- and fire-breathing golems are not adjacent to one another, but the electricity- and acid-breathing golems are.
Riddles bad, eminently solvable logic puzzles good.

[WbtE]

You come to five doors in a line on the wall...

That one's easy.

Open the doors one after the other and kill the golems for XP.

[Malimar]

That one's easy.

Open the doors one after the other and kill the golems for XP.
That's actually one of the nice things about that puzzle: it's solvable with logic, yes, but if your players suck at logic, it's also solvable with violence if you are sufficiently high level. Most puzzles should be easy if you have the solution but bypassable with violence in case the solution is too hard to divine.

Oh, also:

You come to the lair of a gynosphinx, who tells you, "You've intruded upon my territory. But I will give you the choice of how you are to die: If the next words one of you speaks are true, I will simply maul you to death. If your words are false, I will activate the Symbol of Death hidden somewhere in this room".
If you utter a sentence with no truth value (such as "you will activate the Symbol of Death"), she chortles and lets you go.
First time I used that on actual players, the first words spoken were "okay, guys, nobody say anything", which she decided was true, and they had to beat her with violence.


You come to a door with a face of the deity of trickery with a knocker through their nose -- if you use the knocker, or knock with your hands, or cast Knock, or manifest Psionic Knock, or say "Knock, Knock", the door asks, "Who's there?"
If you give it any knock-knock joke, even a terribly unfunny one, it lets you through. If you fail to give it a knock-knock joke, it gets annoyed and hits you with a ray of shimmering light.

[Aggressive_Pear]

What do you call a parrot that belongs to a wagon?

A flying cart pet

[martixy]

You come to five doors in a line on the wall, each bearing a plaque with writing on them:

Riddles bad, eminently solvable logic puzzles good.

I have an irrational dislike of this type of puzzle(remember the fish riddle?). Even though reasoning tells me it's a good one. :)

As for riddles, this is one I found recently that I liked very much:

I welcome the day with a show of light,
I stealthily came here in the night.
I bathe the earthy stuff at dawn,
But by the noon, alas! I'm gone.

Also, "Speak friend, and enter." just to mess with your players.

P.S.

You come to the lair of a gynosphinx, who tells you, "You've intruded upon my territory. But I will give you the choice of how you are to die: If the next words one of you speaks are true, I will simply maul you to death. If your words are false, I will activate the Symbol of Death hidden somewhere in this room".

I tend to spend an unhealthy amount of time on certain meme sites. I've reached a point where I've gotten so sick of pseudo-intellectual self-referential bullcrap, that I'd be rolling initiative before the DM even finished that sentence.

[Bucky]

First time I used that on actual players, the first words spoken were "okay, guys, nobody say anything", which she decided was true, and they had to beat her with violence.


As any grammar nazi will tell you, an imperative doesn't have a truth value.

Although I think the best response is "It's not gonna be us gettin' mauled."

[MesiDoomstalker]

If you utter a sentence with no truth value (such as "you will activate the Symbol of Death"), she chortles and lets you go.
First time I used that on actual players, the first words spoken were "okay, guys, nobody say anything", which she decided was true, and they had to beat her with violence.

So "This statement is false" would win every time, as it's a non-sequitor.

My personal favorite, which I came up with but certainly stole from somewhere else and just forget where;

"I have a bed, but I never rest.
I have a mouth, but I do not speak.
I wander but I have no legs.
What am I?

A river. Riverbed, mouth of the river, untamed river's 'wander' meaning they change their exact course of long periods of time. The last one gets most people as it doesn't happen in our day in age much. Human's don't like having their river-adjacent cities becoming river-inhabited.

[Deophaun]

This one is adapted from an old computer rpg: The PCs are on a quest that requires them to journey to somewhere on Thanatos or some other place associated strongly with death. They could plane shift there, but then that would just get them to the plane, not the specific, secret place they need to go. Instead, they need to use a particular portal. That portal is tended by a gatekeeper that asks a harmless sounding question to those who approach:

"Do you wish to enter the domain of the dead?"

If the party answers yes, they and their armor are all hit with a targeted chained greater dispel magic and a [Death] spell (death ward and soulfire armor thus being no guarantee of survival). If they answer "no," the gatekeeper praises their wisdom (for no one who values life would ever wish for such a thing) and asks a second question:

"Do you have need to enter the domain of the dead?"

This time if they say yes, the portal opens and they can pass through safely.

[BilltheCynic]

Here's an interesting scenario: a spirit or some other entity desperately wants to tell the party some vital information, but is forbidden from directly giving it to them or answering their questions due to some magic or another. Instead, it uses a series of riddles to try to tell the party what it needs them to find out. Alternatively, perhaps some neutral entity or oracle asks them in riddle form because it likes toying with them. Either way, if they figure it out they get to prepare for whatever the spirit is warning them about. If they don't they can look back on it later and slap their heads saying, "How did we not get that?"

For example, say they were asked the following three riddles:

If it's information you seek, come and see me.
If it's pairs of letters you need, I have consecutively three.
What am I?
Bookkeeper
The one who made it didn't need it.
The one who bought it didn't want it.
The one who used it didn't know it.
What is it?
Coffin
I forge bonds with strength of hardest steel,
And place kings upon their thrones.
You will find me on the battlefield,
And in the heart of every soul.
What am I?
Blood
The bookkeeper/librarian [of some town the party is familiar with] is a vampire.

Also, this (http://cmelliso.wikidot.com/riddles) and this (http://www.geeknative.com/3031/ride-the-riddles/) are decent sources for riddles in a campaign.

[noce]

We're like
in fall
on trees
leaves

Soldiers.
Actually, it is an Italian poem, written by Ungaretti. "Soldati" (soldiers) is its title. I tried to translate it.

Spider legs and chameleon skin
in the water it can very well pin.
You look like me with one on your face
I will eat your brain for mocking my race!

Illithid.
The first part of the riddle refers to an octopus (having eight appendages and mimetic skin).

[PersonMan]

One problem with riddles and the like is that they need a very solid foundation of mutually shared expectations and definitions, which are difficult to check for without spoilering the riddles you're planning to use. So beyond being good as a riddle, it generally needs to have the right context.


If it's information you seek, come and see me.
If it's pairs of letters you need, I have consecutively three.
What am I?
Bookkeeper

The problem with this is that 'bookkeeper' means 'accountant', and you'd only see them if you're looking for information like "how is the business going?".


The one who made it didn't need it.
The one who bought it didn't want it.
The one who used it didn't know it.
What is it?
Coffin

This is clever, but it relies on a mutual understanding that "Well, no one wants to buy a coffin, but they have to". If this is missing, you get people like me saying 'This riddle makes no sense, of course you want to have the coffin you bought'.


I forge bonds with strength of hardest steel,
And place kings upon their thrones.
You will find me on the battlefield,
And in the heart of every soul.
What am I?
Blood

The jump between metaphorical blood meaning family ties and literal blood shed in battle makes this one tricky, but the 'heart of every soul' bit is pushing it, in my opinion. Unless you use 'souls' to refer to 'any living being' often enough, the logical assumption is that it's in the heart of actual, literal souls - which means one can perfectly logically come to the answer of "virtue", or similar, and be completely stymied when it's the wrong answer.

[Buufreak]

You come to five doors in a line on the wall, each bearing a plaque with writing on them:





Riddles bad, eminently solvable logic puzzles good.

Am I to assume the room is round, with door 1 adjacent to door 5? Just wanting to be absolutely clear.

[Pex]

My favorite riddle of the Chucklepatch from The Magic Garden.

What looks like a bell, rings like a bell, and sounds like a bell?

a bell

[Flickerdart]

What is more powerful? The steel, or the flesh that wields it?

There is no answer to the Riddle of Steel.

Nothing can change the nature of a man

Wait, wrong riddle.

[Malimar]

Am I to assume the room is round, with door 1 adjacent to door 5? Just wanting to be absolutely clear.

No, square; 1 and 5 are not adjacent. That's what I meant by "in a line"; it's clearer with a map.

[Thurbane]

From an old Fighting Fantasy gamebook:

So tumblers two sealed deep inside,
One lock made of golems hide,
By Courga's grace and Fourga's pride,
I bid you portal, open wide

In the book, that meant you turn to entry 214 (words in the riddle). I've used it in a game where the party had to touch a series of keystone in that order to open the door.

[Pex]

Tom Riddle Jr. perhaps?

[ZamielVanWeber]

I have a good "meta-riddle" set piece. It's best used with guardians who demand an answer and say that anyone who gets it wrong cannot pass. The riddle can then be anything. Using the Riddle of the Sphinx should guarantee that the players know it. When they confidently declare the traditional answer, the guardian then laughs their head and gives some contorted rationale for another, preferably setting-specific, answer, and tells the characters to go another way.

Insist that your answer isn't wrong.

In Final Fantasy: Unlimited there was someone who did this. They would give riddles that had a generic, well-known, answer and an answer specific to Wonderland. If anyone gave one answer she would declare them incorrect and give the other. The only true answer was "nothing" because each riddle she gave had no other true answer.

[Bohandas]

Whats brown and sounds like a bell?

DUNG!

you beat me to it

[Quertus]

Hmmm... Define "best".

Toughest puzzle I ever solved solo? 12 spheres. My fellow geniuses generally solved this deceptively simple puzzle in 1-2 hours.

Toughest puzzle I ever solved in a group? Albatross. Tag teamed that with my brother, probably for hours. Really, really good times.

Easiest puzzle I had a hard time with? Probably the aforementioned coffin puzzle.

Puzzle I've remembered longest & best? Probably the aforementioned Gollum puzzle.

Puzzle I'm most likely to steal? Sphinx asking, "Why shouldn't I kill you?"

Puzzle I'm most likely to bastardize?
At home, my walls are round, not square.
I rest head down, "feet" in the air.
Until something gives you a scare.
Then I'll go flying through the air.

[Benthesquid]

I like Knights and Knaves- generally done with statues or engraving to prevent clever players from just beating answers out of one of them.

[Deophaun]

I like Knights and Knaves- generally done with statues or engraving to prevent clever players from just beating answers out of one of them.
Unfortunately that's been done to death.

Which is why you add the Joker. Then enjoy the confusion.

[Segev]

Unfortunately that's been done to death.

Which is why you add the Joker. Then enjoy the confusion.

Doesn't he just kill everybody?

[Deophaun]

Doesn't he just kill everybody?
Only if the party doesn't have a Batman wizard.

(But seriously, the Joker sometimes tells the truth and sometimes lies. Fortunately, you get a whole second question out of the deal.)

[Bohandas]

I have a good "meta-riddle" set piece. It's best used with guardians who demand an answer and say that anyone who gets it wrong cannot pass. The riddle can then be anything. Using the Riddle of the Sphinx should guarantee that the players know it. When they confidently declare the traditional answer, the guardian then laughs their head and gives some contorted rationale for another, preferably setting-specific, answer....

Possibly something lewd about a werewolf

[Malimar]

Unfortunately that's been done to death.

Which is why you add the Joker. Then enjoy the confusion.

I did one with five doors: two always tell the truth, two always lie, one answers randomly. The questions weren't strictly number-limited, but it was a "you're fleeing, you can only ask one question a round, each round more dudes chasing you appear on the edge of the map" deal.

The PCs wound up beating it in a few more than the minimum possible number of questions, in part using epic Sense Motive checks.

[Benthesquid]

Wait, wait, what's this "let them ask questions," nonsense? The way I do it, each statue indicates one door and has a written statement with a truth value. By considering all of the statements, it is possible to determine which statues are knights and which knaves, and therefore who should be trusted when it comes to their choice of door.

Here (http://philosophy.hku.hk/think/logic/knights.php) is a good source for them.

[Deophaun]

Wait, wait, what's this "let them ask questions," nonsense?
The challenge is in coming up with the right question(s). It's the entire purpose of the exercise.