Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 EnderXenocide0 Feb 14, 2015 7:03:33	So my players are about to investigate a mad scientist's laboratory complex. This scientist is working alongside a Mind Flayer and a bunch of aberrations and cultists. I'm looking for ideas for logic puzzles to include in this dungeon. Now, there's a couple catches.   1. I would prefer the logic puzzles to have some sort of natural reason for existing (this is difficult to accomplish, but think of the puzzles in the Half-Life series for examples of how they fit).   2. I would like a couple to be more... Lovecraftian. That is, I feel like some shouldn't immediately make sense to a humanoid mind. The Mind Flayer probably thinks about things in a vastly different manner than the players. It shouldn't be impossible to solve, and may require careful foreshadowing on my part, but I don't want it to be obvious. As an example, I may steal one from an episode of Doctor Who. There is a locked (and somewhat sentient) door that requires the right password to enter. Even once the players know the password, though, they may not immediately realize the method of delivery. Mind Flayers don't typically use speech, instead using their telepathy as a method of communication. Essentially, the players would have to think the password at the door. There may be a device that allows them limited telepathy, or they could cast certain spells to achieve this, etc. That's just one possible example of a not-perfectly-intuitive logic puzzle.   I realize that these make it much more difficult to come up with the puzzles, but I think it will ultimately make the experience more enjoyable. Any ideas?
#2 Beoric Feb 14, 2015 9:50:59	Hmm.  How about a puzzle with several apparently correct answers, and one that makes no sense.  The answer that makes no sense to us is the right one.  So, really, it is an illogic puzzle.   Or a puzzle where all of the answers bypass the trap except the correct one.   Or a puzzle which the players have to figure out by brute force, but the correct answer for which reveals something about illithid psychology that is important for the boss fight.  Like, maybe the answer is "paralyzed with love" and they can use a philter of love as a weapon against the illithids (it would daze or stun them in 4e, not sure in 3.5).  Ditto for a puzzle that can be bypassed with skill checks, but some or all of the answers reveal something about illithids, like "What was Ixichlatl's finest work?" or "Why purple?  Pick the best answer."   E:  or at some point in the dungeon they find illusion-piercing magic.  They come across a room which has an obvious safe path surrounded by obvious traps, all of which is so fantastical as to obviously be an illusion.  Maybe include a riddle about seeing the truth of things.  If they use magic to pierce the illusion, they see a different safe path.  However, in truth, it is the illusory path that is the safe one.