So, I picked up an hourglass that has a 5-minute run time. I thought it might be fun to have a puzzle in a dungeon that is timed, and my players can see the time actually slipping away. They won't actually know the amount of time they have (let the panic begin).
Anyway, I am having trouble finding good puzzles that will fit this idea, anyone have any good ideas?
note: I do want a standard success for completing, but maybe a trap door that takes them to another part of the dungeon or something for time running out.
While this can be fun, using an irl timer means you are challenging the players, not the characters. If you’ve got a character with a 20 int or wis, (likely far higher than the player’s) the puzzle should be much easier for the character than the player.
Some players will get upset: “my hyper intelligent artificer should have been able to recognize that pattern even if I didn’t.” Just something to keep in mind.
If you have a way of making the timer apply to the characters — they have 10 rounds to solve it before something bad happens — it lets the players use their character’s abilities, not their own.
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So, I picked up an hourglass that has a 5-minute run time. I thought it might be fun to have a puzzle in a dungeon that is timed, and my players can see the time actually slipping away. They won't actually know the amount of time they have (let the panic begin).
Anyway, I am having trouble finding good puzzles that will fit this idea, anyone have any good ideas?
note: I do want a standard success for completing, but maybe a trap door that takes them to another part of the dungeon or something for time running out.
Thanks!
While this can be fun, using an irl timer means you are challenging the players, not the characters. If you’ve got a character with a 20 int or wis, (likely far higher than the player’s) the puzzle should be much easier for the character than the player.
Some players will get upset: “my hyper intelligent artificer should have been able to recognize that pattern even if I didn’t.” Just something to keep in mind.
If you have a way of making the timer apply to the characters — they have 10 rounds to solve it before something bad happens — it lets the players use their character’s abilities, not their own.