The Thread of Riddles

[Goblins Eighty-Five]

So, I thought, for a GM source, we could plaster down our favorite riddles. I'll start.

Poor men have it, Rich men need it, God fears it, and if you eat it you die.

Answer:

Nothing

[Chris Mortika]

I like riddles that have a wordplay aspect to them:

(from Wikipedia) Athenaeus of Naucratis (fl. C. 200 AD) compiled a copious anthology of ancient Greek riddles citing some 1,250 authors under the title Epitome.

"My first, tho’ water, cures no thirst,
My next alone has soul,
And when he lives upon my first,
He then is called my whole."

Spoiler:

The answer to this charade is "sea-man".

Another, composed by Miranda Plowsworth herself, is this:

When my first is a task to a young girl of spirit,
And my second confines her to finish the piece,
How hard is her fate! but how great is her merit
If by taking my whole she effects her release!

Spoiler:

The answer is "hem-lock".

--+--+--

If you want to encourage the players to dig into their campaign setting lore, you can base riddles on mythological events, as the Norse did:

I was a hostage for him
Who being brave broke faith;
Now I and my twin brother are parted forever.
Who am I?

Spoiler:

That would be Tyr's hand.

A Golarion-specific riddle might look like this:

A pet of old Magnimar, docile in daylight.
But wicked and wild before the next dawn.
Hark and hear nothing, o noble Lord Mayor.
Till the jaws close about you and black drapes are drawn.

[Aberzombie]

I can't think of any off the top of my head right now, but I do love riddles. I was, at one point in time, developing a little adventure I called The Crypt of Illusions, and part of it was going to be some riddles that would (hopefully) be open to multiple interpretations, one of which would get your through, the other which would lead you astray and into danger.

I've still got some of the stuff, and may continue working on it at some toerh point in time.

[Goblins Eighty-Five]

Cannot be seen, cannot be felt, cannot be heard, cannot be smelt. It lies behind the stars and beneath the hills.

Answer:

Darkness

[Charlie Bell]

Here's a couple of original riddles I wrote for a sphinx encounter. I think these are posted somewhere else on these forums, too.

A gape, a smile, no mouth at all,
A smile, a gape again;
'Tis only in the sky you see
My brilliant, toothless grin.

Answer:

the moon

The house of the king of beasts am I
Yet I make beasts of kings.
I go as summer comes; the meek
Escape the fall I bring.

Answer:

Pride. It's a play-on-words type riddle. The king of beasts is a lion, whose "house" in the sense of "household" or family is called a "pride." Pride makes kings act beastly. "Pride goeth before a fall" as summer comes before fall. The meek escape the fall prides brings.

[LuZeke]

I haven't used that many riddles in my adventures, though I do put in smaller riddles to serve as clues on how to get through a specifik room. I prefer when there more to a riddle than just coming up with the answer.

Take this one for instance:

Goblins Eighty-Five wrote:

Cannot be seen, cannot be felt, cannot be heard, cannot be smelt. It lies behind the stars and beneath the hills.

That's a good one, but imagine that in order to solve the rooms puzzle, not only would you have to figure out the solution to the riddle, but also cast the spell whose name is the same as the answer to the riddle.

Would suck if there wasn't a spellcaster in the party though...

[Chris Mortika]

Charlie, I thought your first riddle was pretty easy, but I really like your second one. (It assumes that "common" is English, though, which a number of people think is unfair.)

[Prince That Howls]

Charlie Bell wrote:

The house of the king of beasts am I
Yet I make beasts of kings.
I go as summer comes; the meek
Escape the fall I bring.
** spoiler omitted **

Really, really good.

[Mikhaila Burnett]

What can you put in a wooden box that makes it weigh less?

The Answer:

Holes

What do you call your father-in-law’s only child’s mother-in-law?

The Answer:

Mother

Like a monarch of a tiny nation
My subjects often are quite few.
Like the brightest student in the class
In the end I get the point, I do.
Like the snake who lies upon the grass
Whose scaly coils run on and on
You’d not refer to me as tall
But might insist I am quite long.
I’m short.

The Answer:

A sentence.

[GermanyDM]

Love these! Thought they deserved a bump!

[DungeonmasterCal]

I Su-huh-huh-huck at riddles, both creating and solving them. I'm going to steal every one posted here.

[Azure_Zero]

Wow, great riddles here

[Krisam]

I really liked the Golarion-based one Chris Mortika did! I hope people post more so I can pretend not to suck at riddles in my games. The most complex riddles I know came out of a Childcraft book, so...

[Lamontius]

What have I got in my pocket?

[Azure_Zero]

Here's two not bad ones from .hack in hidden in the Epitaph of Twilight

the first riddle

"What clings to you?
Bear it—you cannot.
Accept it—you cannot.
But hidden—it is from you.
Recite its name."

Answer:

Your own Name - for it is your Shadow, your Darkside

though I have modified the above riddle by changing the last line to be easier on some people

"What clings to you?
Bear it—you cannot.
Accept it—you cannot.
But hidden—it is from you.
What is it?"

Answer:

Your Shadow, Your Darkside

the second riddle

"Though equally it exists before everyone's eyes,
grasp it not one person can.
Tell me—what is it?"

Answer:

"The moment."

[Calybos1]

Glittering points
that downward thrust,
Sparkling spears
that never rust.

Spoiler:

icicles

My legs are long, my legs are short;
My legs end ere my first report.

Spoiler:

lightning

I am free for the taking all your life,
And a painful death when quelled.
I am less than nothing to feel my weight,
but will fell the strongest if held.

Spoiler:

breath

A spirited jig when I’m dancing bright,
Banishing all but the darkest night.
Give me food and I will live;
Give me water and I will die.

Spoiler:

fire

I am the black child of a white father;
A wingless bird, flying to the clouds.
I give birth to tears in eyes that meet me,
And at once on my birth I’m dissolved into air.

Spoiler:

smoke

I come more softly than a bird,
And lovely as a flower;
I sometimes last from year to year
And sometimes but an hour.
I stop the swiftest cart or horse
And break the stoutest tree.
And yet I am afraid of fire
And children play with me.

Spoiler:

snow

There's someone that I'm always near,
Yet in the dark I disappear.
To this one only I am loyal,
Though in his wake I'm doomed to toil.
He feels me not (we always touch);
If I were lost, he'd not lose much.
And now I come to my surprise,
For you are he - but who am I ?

Spoiler:

shadow

The more that there is, the less that you see.
Tremble in fear when surrounded by me.

Spoiler:

darkness

What does man love more than life,
Hate more than death or mortal strife;
Is that which happy men desire,
The poor all have, the rich require;
The miser spends, the spendthrift saves,
And all men carry to their graves?

Spoiler:

nothing

Lighter than what I am made of,
More of me’s hidden than seen,
I’m a tooth in the sea, the bane of the sailor,
And whiteness formed from green.

Spoiler:

glacier

Deep, deep, they dwell below.
Spreading outward as they go.
Never needing any air.
Sometimes stretched as fine as hair.

Spoiler:

roots

The Moon is my father,
The Sea is my mother;
I have a million brothers,
But die when I reach land.

Spoiler:

waves