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general >> wanted >> A DM's Conundrum
(Message started by: Cathos on Feb 9th, 2004, 1:10pm)

Title: A DM's Conundrum
Post by Cathos on Feb 9th, 2004, 1:10pm
A group of friends and I like to indulge in weekly games of AD&D (Yea, I'm a nerd!  So what?  Wanna fight?!)  :P and as the most experienced, It's my job to host the game.  I like to think that I do a good job at this, but I've never been great at coming up with riddles/puzzles, so I've come seeking help.

For those of you who have never heard of it, AD&D is a role-playing game played primarily on paper (and in one's imagination), usually set in a mideival fantasy realm (swords and sorcerers).  One player is designated a DM and comes up with a story, supporting characters, puzzles, objectives to be completed, etc.  The other players choose characters and interact with the world the DM has created, working through his story, trying to solve the puzzles and accomplish whatever goals are set.

Soo.... My plans are to include a "dungeon" or someplace, in which the players will get trapped, and must work their way out through an elaborate series of puzzles.  I've got some ideas from this site already, and I was hoping other people could come up with some really brilliant stuff, or suggest ways a riddle from the site could be integrated into this setting.  Some ideas I have so far:

>Trying to find the way out, they come accross a crossroad with two guards, one speaks the truth...

>Players are given a large bag of tiles with letters on them.  They find boxes with riddles carved on them, and spots to insert a specific number of tiles.  They must solve the riddle and spell out the word using tiles to open the box. (ala BaK)

>Variations of the "Logical Signs" puzzles.

Any ideas you might have as to how to implement some riddles in this type of setting, or hooking more than one riddle together would be greatly appreciated.  Thanks!


Title: Re: A DM's Conundrum
Post by towr on Feb 9th, 2004, 1:42pm
I'm not really good at thinking up puzzles..

But here's a prank you can try :P http://sitandspin.keenspace.com/d/20000616.html
(There must be places where they expect to find treasure chests after all..)

Title: Re: A DM's Conundrum
Post by Speaker on Feb 17th, 2004, 12:54am
You should have them use their psychic abilities. Not imaginary psychic abilities, but the real thing, unless you think that they are imaginary, then use the imaginary one.

Tell them that everybody has some psychic ability or esp. Then make them display it. Tell them they have to predict the future. They must state the number that will appear on the dice before they roll it.

Or, have them guess the number you are thinking of.

Or, have them guess the number that another person is thinking of.

Or, use those funny cards with circles and wavy lines.

These would add an element of mysticism to the game. After all, these kinds of otherworldly things happen all the time in Middle earth, don't they. You know, one fellow is lost in the maze and the fellow psychically tells him to run for door number one because the ork are coming through door number 3 to kill him. So, if he guesses the right number he lives. Or some facsimile of same.

Title: Re: A DM's Conundrum
Post by Benoit_Mandelbrot on Apr 20th, 2004, 8:42am
I have an idea for a different story.  I'm not trying to tell you to use this one instead, but just hear me out.  You could be a prince from another land, in search of a princess.  You find one, but the king doesn't think you are worthy.  He wants you to prove you are worthy by going on a quest, solving puzzles, and also proving that you would be a great king one day.  The current king sends the prince to slay a dragon, but the prince doesn't know that the king set puzzles along the way.  He also set up ways that the prince could potentially lose.  If the prince gets to the end and slays the dragon, the prince can marry the princess.  If not, then the prince is SOL.  What do you think of this story?



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