My players happen to be really big into word puzzles and I want to provide good challenging puzzles for them, that fits the theme I am working with. However I am BAAD at word puzzles. If you know of some or have created some, particularly around the themes of death, time, and cycle of life, I would really appreciate them!
Do you mean riddles? When my players encountered a young copper dragon, it challenged them to a game of riddles before it would share information about its domain. I sourced them from the old Baldur's Gate 2 asylum. Players had to INT check for their character to solve each puzzle, with advantage if the player figured out the riddle themselves.
I may not have exactly what you are looking for with regards to theme... but I do have about 30 D&D 5E puzzles on my YouTube channel you can browse through. Most videos provide a demonstration of the puzzle and a link to download props or visual aids if needed...
Guessing at what you are wanting... maybe Puzzle #29, Temple of Raxivort or #14 The Opposite Mirror might be word puzzles? If you want one that fits a "death" theme... #27, Rewriting History, is my favorite.
Anyway... Good luck to you and hope the videos will help you generate some kool ideas for your game!
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I have a YouTube channel with 5th Edition D&D Puzzles, Character Creations, DM Tips and Quests ideas. Check it out!
In a recent homebrew campaign my players were investigating the murder of an art dealer. He had been grievously stabbed and then locked in his gallery to bleed to death.
Before the dealer died of his injuries, he wrote a message on the wall in his own blood. At a glance, the message didn't make any sense: OFTEN I WONDERED, WHETHER THE COLD BRANCH WOULD TAKE ANOTHER. OH, HOW GOOD IT WOULD BE.
After some investigating, the characters discovered that the wall he wrote his message on had once been used to hang paintings, each in a uniquely shaped frame. He had ripped them down and scattered them across the floor. The nails that they had hung on were still in the wall, and the characters could make the faint outline of where each painting had once hung. By matching that dusty silhouette with the different shaped frames, they discovered the paintings covered some of the letters of his message:
O[F]TEN [I] WO[ND]ERED, WHE[THE]R THE COLD [BR]ANCH WOULD TAKE AN[OTHER]. OH, [HO]W GO[OD] IT WOULD BE.
The dealer had cleverly hidden a message within his riddle: "Find the Brotherhood". Most anybody would have stood there and thought the riddle had an answer, when in fact, the answer was scattered within the riddle itself.
If you can find the old Dungeon magazines, look for the Challenge of Champions adventure (issue 108). It was designed to be all about thinky stuff and not about hack ’n’ slash. I used it 3 or 4 times with different gaming groups, and they all enjoyed it immensely, no matter how hack-and-slashy they were. Dungeons
I did a humorous one shot for my party, which went over really well. One of the puzzles they had to solve was this:
Climb the ladder from black to white One letter at a time Every change must be alright Unless you want the slime
The idea was that they had to change the word "Black" to the word "White" by only changing one letter at a time, known as a word ladder. I gave them some INT (Investigation) rolls to know what a word ladder was. The Slime meant that every time they came up with a bad word, slime would fall from nowhere. Some possible solutions were:
BLACK > BRACK > BRICK > TRICK > TRICE >TRITE > WRITE > WHITE
BLACK > BLANK > BLINK > CLINK > CLINE > CHINE > WHINE > WHITE
My players happen to be really big into word puzzles and I want to provide good challenging puzzles for them, that fits the theme I am working with. However I am BAAD at word puzzles. If you know of some or have created some, particularly around the themes of death, time, and cycle of life, I would really appreciate them!
Do you mean riddles? When my players encountered a young copper dragon, it challenged them to a game of riddles before it would share information about its domain. I sourced them from the old Baldur's Gate 2 asylum. Players had to INT check for their character to solve each puzzle, with advantage if the player figured out the riddle themselves.
If you don't mean riddles, then I have no idea.
Even a blind squirrel finds a nut once in awhile.
I may not have exactly what you are looking for with regards to theme... but I do have about 30 D&D 5E puzzles on my YouTube channel you can browse through. Most videos provide a demonstration of the puzzle and a link to download props or visual aids if needed...
Wally DM - D&D Puzzles for 5th Edition
Guessing at what you are wanting... maybe Puzzle #29, Temple of Raxivort or #14 The Opposite Mirror might be word puzzles? If you want one that fits a "death" theme... #27, Rewriting History, is my favorite.
Anyway... Good luck to you and hope the videos will help you generate some kool ideas for your game!
I have a YouTube channel with 5th Edition D&D Puzzles, Character Creations, DM Tips and Quests ideas. Check it out!
Wally DM on YouTube
I have looked into riddles and there are some that fit, but I was thinking more along the lines of ciphers.
Thank you for the Baldur's Gate 2 information though! I will definitely look there for some good riddles!
Thank you so much for this! Rewriting History is actually quite perfect!
Fantastic! Glad I could help! :)
I have a YouTube channel with 5th Edition D&D Puzzles, Character Creations, DM Tips and Quests ideas. Check it out!
Wally DM on YouTube
In a recent homebrew campaign my players were investigating the murder of an art dealer. He had been grievously stabbed and then locked in his gallery to bleed to death.
Before the dealer died of his injuries, he wrote a message on the wall in his own blood. At a glance, the message didn't make any sense:
OFTEN I WONDERED, WHETHER THE COLD BRANCH WOULD TAKE ANOTHER. OH, HOW GOOD IT WOULD BE.
After some investigating, the characters discovered that the wall he wrote his message on had once been used to hang paintings, each in a uniquely shaped frame. He had ripped them down and scattered them across the floor. The nails that they had hung on were still in the wall, and the characters could make the faint outline of where each painting had once hung. By matching that dusty silhouette with the different shaped frames, they discovered the paintings covered some of the letters of his message:
O[F]TEN [I] WO[ND]ERED, WHE[THE]R THE COLD [BR]ANCH WOULD TAKE AN[OTHER]. OH, [HO]W GO[OD] IT WOULD BE.
The dealer had cleverly hidden a message within his riddle: "Find the Brotherhood". Most anybody would have stood there and thought the riddle had an answer, when in fact, the answer was scattered within the riddle itself.
This is an awesome idea! I will definitely be nabbing it! My group loves a little murder mystery!
If you can find the old Dungeon magazines, look for the Challenge of Champions adventure (issue 108). It was designed to be all about thinky stuff and not about hack ’n’ slash. I used it 3 or 4 times with different gaming groups, and they all enjoyed it immensely, no matter how hack-and-slashy they were. Dungeons
I did a humorous one shot for my party, which went over really well. One of the puzzles they had to solve was this:
Climb the ladder from black to white
One letter at a time
Every change must be alright
Unless you want the slime
The idea was that they had to change the word "Black" to the word "White" by only changing one letter at a time, known as a word ladder. I gave them some INT (Investigation) rolls to know what a word ladder was. The Slime meant that every time they came up with a bad word, slime would fall from nowhere. Some possible solutions were:
BLACK > BRACK > BRICK > TRICK > TRICE >TRITE > WRITE > WHITE
BLACK > BLANK > BLINK > CLINK > CLINE > CHINE > WHINE > WHITE
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