I was wondering, has anyone else used real-world "puzzles" in their games?
As an example, I am preparing a section of river travel for my game, for which I am including a set of canal Lock Gates:
For thoe who don't know, these are used to change elevation on a canal - to join 2 canals together when one is higer up than the other!
To get through them, you need to equaise the height of the water either side of the gate, then open the gate, then raise or lower the water level in the middle to match the other gate, and then open it.
I consider this a real-world puzzle as, if you don't know, you don't know!
Has anyone else just injected something complicated and cool from the real world into their game to act as a puzzle? If so, what?
I personally use real world puzzles all the time. They add some additional complexity and problem solving to the game and can be a fun way to encourage different problem sol isn’t and teamwork.
That said, they do have some gameplay problems - they rely on player skill rather than character skill. This can create some difficulty if there are issues like the player who is good at puzzles is playing the low intelligence character. Or if none of the players know how to solve the puzzle or the puzzle is beyond their skill level or interest - not all players are good at or enjoy logic puzzles. It is important to have other metrics for giving hints through skill checks and to make sure your puzzles match what the players want from their game.
They can be fun for the right table, but as caerwyn points out, you are challenging the players, not the characters. I could see some tables where a player says, “My artificer has a 20 int. He is literally an engineering genius, and way smarter than I am. Can’t I just make an investigate check, and maybe use my flash of genius, along with a guidance, and just say he figures it out instantly.”
Yes. I sometimes also use maps and notes with runes on them. I am thinking of using a simple cipher one day as well.
It is a challenge for the players, which may be a good thing at the right table. And they can have fun deciphering ancient text between sessions while I have fun preparing for the next session and can get players quite involved in the game.
Riddles, cyphers, puzzles everything. I make alot of my own but for times where I don't need anything specific I have a copy of 'The Game Master guide to Traps, Puzzles and Dungeons' by Jeff Ashworth. It's a great book check it out.
Advice for them though, don't lock story progression begind it.
Puzzles etc should just lead to extra stuff or a quicker route. Don't have the campaigns progress locked behind a puzzle that the party is struggling to get. You can always offer clues and steer them in the right direction but the players feel cheated and always feel better when they crack it themselves.
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I was wondering, has anyone else used real-world "puzzles" in their games?
As an example, I am preparing a section of river travel for my game, for which I am including a set of canal Lock Gates:
For thoe who don't know, these are used to change elevation on a canal - to join 2 canals together when one is higer up than the other!
To get through them, you need to equaise the height of the water either side of the gate, then open the gate, then raise or lower the water level in the middle to match the other gate, and then open it.
I consider this a real-world puzzle as, if you don't know, you don't know!
Has anyone else just injected something complicated and cool from the real world into their game to act as a puzzle? If so, what?
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I personally use real world puzzles all the time. They add some additional complexity and problem solving to the game and can be a fun way to encourage different problem sol isn’t and teamwork.
That said, they do have some gameplay problems - they rely on player skill rather than character skill. This can create some difficulty if there are issues like the player who is good at puzzles is playing the low intelligence character. Or if none of the players know how to solve the puzzle or the puzzle is beyond their skill level or interest - not all players are good at or enjoy logic puzzles. It is important to have other metrics for giving hints through skill checks and to make sure your puzzles match what the players want from their game.
All the time, and so does my group’s main DM, and my other DM.
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They can be fun for the right table, but as caerwyn points out, you are challenging the players, not the characters.
I could see some tables where a player says, “My artificer has a 20 int. He is literally an engineering genius, and way smarter than I am. Can’t I just make an investigate check, and maybe use my flash of genius, along with a guidance, and just say he figures it out instantly.”
Yes. I sometimes also use maps and notes with runes on them. I am thinking of using a simple cipher one day as well.
It is a challenge for the players, which may be a good thing at the right table. And they can have fun deciphering ancient text between sessions while I have fun preparing for the next session and can get players quite involved in the game.
And I love to use riddles as well.
Riddles, cyphers, puzzles everything. I make alot of my own but for times where I don't need anything specific I have a copy of 'The Game Master guide to Traps, Puzzles and Dungeons' by Jeff Ashworth. It's a great book check it out.
Advice for them though, don't lock story progression begind it.
Puzzles etc should just lead to extra stuff or a quicker route. Don't have the campaigns progress locked behind a puzzle that the party is struggling to get. You can always offer clues and steer them in the right direction but the players feel cheated and always feel better when they crack it themselves.