Advice for adding puzzles to my adventures [Archive] - Wizards Community

Advice for adding puzzles to my adventures [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
mjn6172
10-25-05, 09:25 PM I don't want to go into too many details, because I know a few of the other players from my group read the boards here and I want them to be surprised when the time comes. The short version is I've recently started playing D&D again after a long time away from the game. A few of us from the group have recently started taking turns DMing to get a feel for that side of the game too. I've run two pre-made adventures, and I'd like to try my hand at making my own little one-night adventure for the group.

The adventure is just going to be a basic, "Orcs have kidnapped the mayors daughter, go get her back for a reward" type of adventure. The orcs are set up in a series of mountain caves, and have lived there for at least a year. I've got the basic layout setup, along with the encounters and some traps/trouble spots along the way, but I would like to add some sort of a puzzle to enter the BBEG's chamber (or maybe earlier, say just inside the main entrance before they get into the heart of the orcs lair.) The BBEG, incidentally, is a wizard who is using the orcs for his own evil purposes.

The puzzle would have to be something fairly simple, something that your average orc could remember, but complex enough that it will at least slow down the players and give them a break from the usual sort of dungeon crawling. Unfortunately I'm absolutely stumped as to how to make one. Does anyone have some advice on how to make the sort of puzzle I'm looking for, or some references that could point me in the right direction? Thanks in advance for your help :)
feng the red dragon
10-25-05, 10:08 PM have a little guy on one side of a bridge that is over a cliff ask three question like in monty pythons quest for the holy grail.
q1 what is your name ?
q2 what is your quest?
q3 what is your favorite color? ,what is the capital os asiria? ,what is the wind speed velocity of a sparrow?
Koji
10-26-05, 08:12 AM I find that video games are a great source of inspiration--in particular, puzzles with a Zelda sort of flair. They're fairly logical and are not usually based on controller skills.

Try to avoid skill check-reliant puzzles. If they fail, your game crashes right then and there. A seemingly unscalable wall with the door on top is a good start. Maybe there's an invisible ladder built into the wall, or a switch up top that you've got to shoot.

Hell, mix it up--there's a switch on top. If it gets hit by any sort of attack, a little song plays. If your bard plays a countersong, a panel opens in the ceiling and a ladder drops down.

This one is especially foolproof because a character with really good climbing can bypass it, and if the players can't figure it out, they can always go buy a ladder and bring it in. This of course allows the orcs time to regroup and set traps.
mjn6172
10-27-05, 11:57 AM A quick bump back to the top so I can get some more ideas. Right now I'm toying with the idea of a room with a series of levers numbered 1-9, and doors with geometric shapes on them. The number of shapes on the doors show how many levers must be pulled, and the total number of sides of those shapes shows what it must add up to. For example, a door with one Hexagon on it requires that they pull the lever marked 6, and a door with 3 triangles on it would require that they pull 3 levers that add up to 9 (1, 3, and 5 for example, but I'd allow any correct combo to work.)

I'm thinking of adding a "3 strikes and you're out" rule to it. If they guess wrong 3 times in a row, a pit trap opens in front of the levers and an alarm bell sounds. The kennel master (in one of the adjacent rooms) would come to investigate and attack anyone who wasn't caught in the pit trap with his dogs, while the orcs in other areas would move into better defensive positions. I may have a message on the walls nearby that says something like, "Failure to remember the correct code will result in punishment," but I think that would be obvious even without the warning.

Any other thoughts/ideas?
olshanski_home
10-27-05, 12:31 PM A quick bump back to the top so I can get some more ideas. Right now I'm toying with the idea of a room with a series of levers numbered 1-9, and doors with geometric shapes on them. The number of shapes on the doors show how many levers must be pulled, and the total number of sides of those shapes shows what it must add up to. For example, a door with one Hexagon on it requires that they pull the lever marked 6, and a door with 3 triangles on it would require that they pull 3 levers that add up to 9 (1, 3, and 5 for example, but I'd allow any correct combo to work.)

I'm thinking of adding a "3 strikes and you're out" rule to it. If they guess wrong 3 times in a row, a pit trap opens in front of the levers and an alarm bell sounds. The kennel master (in one of the adjacent rooms) would come to investigate and attack anyone who wasn't caught in the pit trap with his dogs, while the orcs in other areas would move into better defensive positions. I may have a message on the walls nearby that says something like, "Failure to remember the correct code will result in punishment," but I think that would be obvious even without the warning.

Any other thoughts/ideas?
I am not so sure that geometric shapes/levers really fits with my idea of what appeals to orcs and what is easy for grunt level orcs to understand.
The trick is to think like an orc... make puzzles that seem designed by orcs for orcs.

{deleted. Idea seemed too good... I'm keeping it for myself.}
Robert 22
10-27-05, 02:03 PM I'm thinking of adding a "3 strikes and you're out" rule to it.

Why not a simple set of numbers. A chequer board floor 10*10. If you step on the wrong square you are teleported back to the start. There should be only one route across - say 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10 in a diagonal. However, the route should change if a character triggers the teleport. The new route should be connected to the square that triggered the previous teleport by some very simple rule (for example - walk diagonal left until the edge then diagonal right, starting in the column that you triggered a square in).

Now the original device could have been installed years earlier by a wizard of some sort, but once you have learnt the rule any idiot of an orc can use it (though he will need two attempts if somebody has triggered it), and it keeps unwanted guests out.

Probably the most important things are:

1, There must be a coherent reason for the puzzle
2, It must have been plausible and non-fatal for the orcs to work a way around it.

Robert

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
mjn6172 10-25-05, 09:25 PM	I don't want to go into too many details, because I know a few of the other players from my group read the boards here and I want them to be surprised when the time comes. The short version is I've recently started playing D&D again after a long time away from the game. A few of us from the group have recently started taking turns DMing to get a feel for that side of the game too. I've run two pre-made adventures, and I'd like to try my hand at making my own little one-night adventure for the group. The adventure is just going to be a basic, "Orcs have kidnapped the mayors daughter, go get her back for a reward" type of adventure. The orcs are set up in a series of mountain caves, and have lived there for at least a year. I've got the basic layout setup, along with the encounters and some traps/trouble spots along the way, but I would like to add some sort of a puzzle to enter the BBEG's chamber (or maybe earlier, say just inside the main entrance before they get into the heart of the orcs lair.) The BBEG, incidentally, is a wizard who is using the orcs for his own evil purposes. The puzzle would have to be something fairly simple, something that your average orc could remember, but complex enough that it will at least slow down the players and give them a break from the usual sort of dungeon crawling. Unfortunately I'm absolutely stumped as to how to make one. Does anyone have some advice on how to make the sort of puzzle I'm looking for, or some references that could point me in the right direction? Thanks in advance for your help :)
feng the red dragon 10-25-05, 10:08 PM	have a little guy on one side of a bridge that is over a cliff ask three question like in monty pythons quest for the holy grail. q1 what is your name ? q2 what is your quest? q3 what is your favorite color? ,what is the capital os asiria? ,what is the wind speed velocity of a sparrow?
Koji 10-26-05, 08:12 AM	I find that video games are a great source of inspiration--in particular, puzzles with a Zelda sort of flair. They're fairly logical and are not usually based on controller skills. Try to avoid skill check-reliant puzzles. If they fail, your game crashes right then and there. A seemingly unscalable wall with the door on top is a good start. Maybe there's an invisible ladder built into the wall, or a switch up top that you've got to shoot. Hell, mix it up--there's a switch on top. If it gets hit by any sort of attack, a little song plays. If your bard plays a countersong, a panel opens in the ceiling and a ladder drops down. This one is especially foolproof because a character with really good climbing can bypass it, and if the players can't figure it out, they can always go buy a ladder and bring it in. This of course allows the orcs time to regroup and set traps.
mjn6172 10-27-05, 11:57 AM	A quick bump back to the top so I can get some more ideas. Right now I'm toying with the idea of a room with a series of levers numbered 1-9, and doors with geometric shapes on them. The number of shapes on the doors show how many levers must be pulled, and the total number of sides of those shapes shows what it must add up to. For example, a door with one Hexagon on it requires that they pull the lever marked 6, and a door with 3 triangles on it would require that they pull 3 levers that add up to 9 (1, 3, and 5 for example, but I'd allow any correct combo to work.) I'm thinking of adding a "3 strikes and you're out" rule to it. If they guess wrong 3 times in a row, a pit trap opens in front of the levers and an alarm bell sounds. The kennel master (in one of the adjacent rooms) would come to investigate and attack anyone who wasn't caught in the pit trap with his dogs, while the orcs in other areas would move into better defensive positions. I may have a message on the walls nearby that says something like, "Failure to remember the correct code will result in punishment," but I think that would be obvious even without the warning. Any other thoughts/ideas?
olshanski_home 10-27-05, 12:31 PM	A quick bump back to the top so I can get some more ideas. Right now I'm toying with the idea of a room with a series of levers numbered 1-9, and doors with geometric shapes on them. The number of shapes on the doors show how many levers must be pulled, and the total number of sides of those shapes shows what it must add up to. For example, a door with one Hexagon on it requires that they pull the lever marked 6, and a door with 3 triangles on it would require that they pull 3 levers that add up to 9 (1, 3, and 5 for example, but I'd allow any correct combo to work.) I'm thinking of adding a "3 strikes and you're out" rule to it. If they guess wrong 3 times in a row, a pit trap opens in front of the levers and an alarm bell sounds. The kennel master (in one of the adjacent rooms) would come to investigate and attack anyone who wasn't caught in the pit trap with his dogs, while the orcs in other areas would move into better defensive positions. I may have a message on the walls nearby that says something like, "Failure to remember the correct code will result in punishment," but I think that would be obvious even without the warning. Any other thoughts/ideas? I am not so sure that geometric shapes/levers really fits with my idea of what appeals to orcs and what is easy for grunt level orcs to understand. The trick is to think like an orc... make puzzles that seem designed by orcs for orcs. {deleted. Idea seemed too good... I'm keeping it for myself.}
Robert 22 10-27-05, 02:03 PM	I'm thinking of adding a "3 strikes and you're out" rule to it. Why not a simple set of numbers. A chequer board floor 10*10. If you step on the wrong square you are teleported back to the start. There should be only one route across - say 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10 in a diagonal. However, the route should change if a character triggers the teleport. The new route should be connected to the square that triggered the previous teleport by some very simple rule (for example - walk diagonal left until the edge then diagonal right, starting in the column that you triggered a square in). Now the original device could have been installed years earlier by a wizard of some sort, but once you have learnt the rule any idiot of an orc can use it (though he will need two attempts if somebody has triggered it), and it keeps unwanted guests out. Probably the most important things are: 1, There must be a coherent reason for the puzzle 2, It must have been plausible and non-fatal for the orcs to work a way around it. Robert