Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Piggyfreak6 07-08-06, 09:47 PM	I'm having trouble with puzzles in my Campaign. I'm hosting an evil campaign, where the players are evil and the enemies are.. good, evil, whatever they want to kill. Anyway, I don't want it to be just, hack and slash, and i'm having trouble figuring out what a good puzzle would be. I can't even think of a #1. So please, please help me out.
CryoSilver 07-08-06, 09:57 PM	An elemental puzzle: have your dungeon set up in a giant pentagram. At each point of the star, there is a room with a brazier. In one, they need to light a fire. Into another, they need to pour water. Into the third, place some soil or rock. Into the fourth, a magical fan that prodices wind. Then the fifth becomes a portal into the center of the dungeon.
Rolof 07-08-06, 10:54 PM	Some things I've used: 1) Hidden room or dungeon area, the room the characters had access to had an ornamental fountain/pool in it. In order to get to the hidden area, a character has to actually wade in the water and make a search check, then discovers a submerged tunnel leading to an identical font in the next room. (The whole thing's round, but is a semicircle in the individual rooms. I thought this was really clever, and had made it up beforehand...not knowing that a player intended to play a Sea Elf...and that they got sonar like a dolphin.) 2) Stole the concept off the computer game Minesweeper; characters come to a room with a tiled floor with predetermined "mines", numbers appear on the floor as appropriate when a character steps on a tile. You can set the "mines" to activate whatever trap is appropriate to the CR of the party. 3) Guarunteed to worry the dickens out of your players no matter what you ACTUALLY decide to put in the room; just have a room where the floor is 8x8 5ft squares, tiled black and white like a chessboard. Put a few statues in the room which resemble fantastic chess pieces, and the players will sweat buckets. Whether the statues are REALLY animated or not, or if there is some other threat entirely (medusa?), is up to you. 4) Another chessboard idea, with a cryptic message or riddle; the one I've used in the past is "Only the bravest of knights may cross". So the players start urging the fighter to go ahead and try...only if he doesn't move on the board the way a CHESSPIECE KNIGHT does, he either can not make any progress (instant walls of force) or Something Bad will happen to them. Your call what the Something Bad is, by party CR. If you don't like my original message, think of another one like "The path of righteousness is straight and narrow". Which will probably have the players trying to convince the paladin or cleric in the group to try, but they should only succeed if they move like a bishop (diagonally). 5) Scales of Balance; the party enters a room with a statue, artwork, or other symbols showing it's decorated in patterns to revere a deity with justice in it's portfolio. There is a balance in the room, currently tilted to one side or the other. In order to unlock the door leading onward, a character must balance the scales until they're perfectly even. You can add some cryptic message written on the walls, engraved on a plaque, etc to give a clue if you want. You can also have the scale already have something in it to explain why it's tilted; a few gold coins or the like, it can be a test of greed if you want also, if they take them it's Bad News.