Anyone have any good puzzles? [Archive] - Wizards Community

Anyone have any good puzzles? [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
badash56
12-03-05, 02:14 PM Hello fellow DMs!

I'm currently running a game where the players have been trasported to a ancient temple that is kind of 'stuck' in time. There goal is to make it through whatever lies here, in hope of getting to drink from a special well, which will grant them visions of their possible future.

Now I made this a real odd place, not a traditional type of temple/dungeon. One thing I want is a few good puzzles, a way to sort of test the PCs if they are worthy enough. I'm kind of stumped here though. I looked around the boards and the DM Links, I found some good traps, but that really isn't what I'm looking for. Some sort of puzzle that will challenge them mentally, not just dice rolling. I haven't been able to come up with anything good, and was wondering if anyone here has had a good puzzle in their game.

Anyone have an idea what I can do? Or maybe a PDF adventure with some puzzles in it?

Thanks! :)
Dylan02
12-03-05, 03:35 PM The players enter, and find a table in the centre of the room. On that table lies a large, ornate chessboard, with writing around the edges, and eight chess pieces. All eight pieces are queens, but instead of all being black, or white, or even a mixture of the two, they are of eight different colours. The inscription around the edge of the board reads 'When eight kingdoms without kings live in peace, then shall the way be opened to what you seek'
Once the eight queens have been placed on the chessboard in such a way that none of them can take any of the others, a hidden door in the far wall of the room will open up. This door can be detected with a careful search, but cannot be opened without solving the puzzle.
LordHumungus
12-03-05, 03:36 PM "If you can find humor in a slaughter then you may proceed"
I used this on a door a couple of years ago. Without the "S" you're left with Laughter. Press the letters and the door opens(or say it out loud, or any number of other ways). Of course, the "S" is trapped, or you could go the other was and pushing the "S" makes the "S" disappear, leaving "Laughter" behind with all of the other letters trapped.

It's entirely possible that I may have pilfered this from a book, but if so, I have no clue which.

I'm looking forward to seeing more myself.
Koji
12-03-05, 04:22 PM I had one recently that was really neat.

Basically there were four hanged skeletons in a room, each wearing a necklace with a dwarven rune for a crime.

Theft, Arson, Kidnapping, Murder.

In the next room were four coffins, each a different height off the ground, but all in two-foot intervals.

Putting a criminal in a coffin lowered it a certain number of two-foot intervals based on the crime, but also raised each adjacent coffin two feet. The goal was to get all the coffins to rest in the lowest possible position. Once a coffin had been in the lowest position possible, it locked into place and putting bodies in nearby coffins wouldn't move it back up (though taking the body out would).

So it ended up that the murderer lowered a coffin by one space, the kidnapper by two, the arsonist by three, and the thief by four. However it was noted that theft isn't a crime punishable by death in that kingdom (the others were) so the thief's corpse wouldn't move the coffin until someone thought to remove the necklace and just use that.

The coffins were arranged in such a way that only one order would work, and it took a good long while to figure out.
badash56
12-04-05, 11:21 AM Ohh good ideas guys! Thanks for the help! Probably the best puzzle my group liked was taken from one of the free Cooperative Dungeon pdfs. I forget which one, but it entailed a room with 6 statues, each holding a weapon. There was a phrase written on each statue, and each weapon had a word written on it. It was a riddle type puzzle where you had to place the weapon that answered the riddle in the statues hands. Once you thought you had the right answer you could try to open the door. If you were wrong the statues would fire magic missiles at you. :)

It was pretty fun, and wasn't terribly hard so no frustrated players. I did a riddle once where the group just could not figure it out and everyone got very upset hehe. So I try not to make that mistake again.
Deacon Liadon
12-04-05, 06:33 PM A tricky little puzzle but very appropriate if there's any musician as the BBEG.

12 numbers arranged in a circle starting from zero at the top and ending on eleven.

Above it are the words "For a Major Key, Look to the Sea"

All the numbers may be pushed in and all are trapped unless pressed in the correct order which is:

0, 2, 4, 5, 7, 9, 11

Convert them to musical notes and you get C, D, E, F, G, A, B. In other words, the scale of C (Sea) Major.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
badash56 12-03-05, 02:14 PM	Hello fellow DMs! I'm currently running a game where the players have been trasported to a ancient temple that is kind of 'stuck' in time. There goal is to make it through whatever lies here, in hope of getting to drink from a special well, which will grant them visions of their possible future. Now I made this a real odd place, not a traditional type of temple/dungeon. One thing I want is a few good puzzles, a way to sort of test the PCs if they are worthy enough. I'm kind of stumped here though. I looked around the boards and the DM Links, I found some good traps, but that really isn't what I'm looking for. Some sort of puzzle that will challenge them mentally, not just dice rolling. I haven't been able to come up with anything good, and was wondering if anyone here has had a good puzzle in their game. Anyone have an idea what I can do? Or maybe a PDF adventure with some puzzles in it? Thanks! :)
Dylan02 12-03-05, 03:35 PM	The players enter, and find a table in the centre of the room. On that table lies a large, ornate chessboard, with writing around the edges, and eight chess pieces. All eight pieces are queens, but instead of all being black, or white, or even a mixture of the two, they are of eight different colours. The inscription around the edge of the board reads 'When eight kingdoms without kings live in peace, then shall the way be opened to what you seek' Once the eight queens have been placed on the chessboard in such a way that none of them can take any of the others, a hidden door in the far wall of the room will open up. This door can be detected with a careful search, but cannot be opened without solving the puzzle.
LordHumungus 12-03-05, 03:36 PM	"If you can find humor in a slaughter then you may proceed" I used this on a door a couple of years ago. Without the "S" you're left with Laughter. Press the letters and the door opens(or say it out loud, or any number of other ways). Of course, the "S" is trapped, or you could go the other was and pushing the "S" makes the "S" disappear, leaving "Laughter" behind with all of the other letters trapped. It's entirely possible that I may have pilfered this from a book, but if so, I have no clue which. I'm looking forward to seeing more myself.
Koji 12-03-05, 04:22 PM	I had one recently that was really neat. Basically there were four hanged skeletons in a room, each wearing a necklace with a dwarven rune for a crime. Theft, Arson, Kidnapping, Murder. In the next room were four coffins, each a different height off the ground, but all in two-foot intervals. Putting a criminal in a coffin lowered it a certain number of two-foot intervals based on the crime, but also raised each adjacent coffin two feet. The goal was to get all the coffins to rest in the lowest possible position. Once a coffin had been in the lowest position possible, it locked into place and putting bodies in nearby coffins wouldn't move it back up (though taking the body out would). So it ended up that the murderer lowered a coffin by one space, the kidnapper by two, the arsonist by three, and the thief by four. However it was noted that theft isn't a crime punishable by death in that kingdom (the others were) so the thief's corpse wouldn't move the coffin until someone thought to remove the necklace and just use that. The coffins were arranged in such a way that only one order would work, and it took a good long while to figure out.
badash56 12-04-05, 11:21 AM	Ohh good ideas guys! Thanks for the help! Probably the best puzzle my group liked was taken from one of the free Cooperative Dungeon pdfs. I forget which one, but it entailed a room with 6 statues, each holding a weapon. There was a phrase written on each statue, and each weapon had a word written on it. It was a riddle type puzzle where you had to place the weapon that answered the riddle in the statues hands. Once you thought you had the right answer you could try to open the door. If you were wrong the statues would fire magic missiles at you. :) It was pretty fun, and wasn't terribly hard so no frustrated players. I did a riddle once where the group just could not figure it out and everyone got very upset hehe. So I try not to make that mistake again.
Deacon Liadon 12-04-05, 06:33 PM	A tricky little puzzle but very appropriate if there's any musician as the BBEG. 12 numbers arranged in a circle starting from zero at the top and ending on eleven. Above it are the words "For a Major Key, Look to the Sea" All the numbers may be pushed in and all are trapped unless pressed in the correct order which is: 0, 2, 4, 5, 7, 9, 11 Convert them to musical notes and you get C, D, E, F, G, A, B. In other words, the scale of C (Sea) Major.