Ladies & Gentlemen,
1) How easy was it for your group to get through the Starry Mirror? Would you have done anything differently to make the puzzle easier/harder?
2) Not mentioned in the book, but if a PC wanders around inside the SM for a while first, does he/she have to "walk the pattern" (heh heh ... Zelazny) starting from whatever color she/he happens to be standing in at that time, or from the color originally entered?
3) What's your favorite color? Red? NO, BLUE! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAhhhhhhhh
;^D
Thanks,
FM
My party figured it out after about 20 minutes. The puzzle contains plenty of clues. A propper discription, as well as the handout so thoughfully provided should get your players to solve it.
The mirror is only hard if the players have no idea about their clues. The handout of the tablet was really the key. As long as the DM properly emphasizes the importance of the giant's tablet it shouldn't be impossible to figure it out (unless your players are not so cerebral and more monster-smashy).
Just emphasize that the clue is the key and one of their attempts should eventually be the correct one.
When me and my party experienced this puzzle, we spent a good 20 minutes experimenting before I managed to stumble onto the correct answer.
My group made a number of attempts, and one person ended up being "off by 1" on the puzzle. Eventually, the cleric cast Divination which got them through.
Everyone agreed that Alek had more than enough reason to be driven mad by the end of it.
1) How easy was it for your group to get through the Starry Mirror? Would you have done anything differently to make the puzzle easier/harder?
2) Not mentioned in the book, but if a PC wanders around inside the SM for a while first, does he/she have to "walk the pattern" (heh heh ... Zelazny) starting from whatever color she/he happens to be standing in at that time, or from the color originally entered?
1. For my group, the challenge was just right. Not totally obvious, but they were able to decode it. Two of the players each solved about half the puzzle, and once they put their heads together - bang. Oddly enough, one of those players is color blind. After i labeled each color with text, he was all over it.
2. The combination is a circular pattern, so it matters not from which color a character begins. As long as each move takes them to the next color in the combination, they get out.
Thank you, gentlemen.
The group I run is not really into the whole puzzle thing. We used a combination of figuring out the puzzle and a variety of skill checks. I let them work at it until they started getting frustrated and then added some skill and/or ability checks to throw some clues their way. It worked out pretty well that way.
The group I run is not really into the whole puzzle thing. We used a combination of figuring out the puzzle and a variety of skill checks. I let them work at it until they started getting frustrated and then added some skill and/or ability checks to throw some clues their way. It worked out pretty well that way.
I am a firm, FIRM believer that there should always be more than one way to bypass a "puzzle" encounter. I have had some bad experiences with exchanges like:
DM: You see a magic sword sitting at the end of a hall. There are some poles lining the path between you and the sword. There's a poem that says [details not important].
PC 1: I walk over and pick up the sword.
DM: The poles shoot out some kind of energy and kill you.
PC 1: Do I get a save?
DM: No.
PC 2: What kind of energy? Maybe I can cast Protection from Fire on the next guy.
DM: It's not fire, just energy.
PC 3: I throw some rocks at the poles and try to break them.
DM: The poles are invulnerable.
PC 3: I try to tunnel through the floor.
DM: The floor is protected by a wall of force.
PC 2: I summon a jann and get him to travel etherally to the end of the hall and pick up the sword.
DM: There's a dimensional anchor effect in place.
PC 2: I dispel it.
DM: It didn't work. Guys, just read the poem and figure it out...
(Etc., etc. -- the details have been changed to protect the innocent and the guilty.)
I gave my group color copies of the rooms with the numbers and the tablet. The players figured that the tablet was the key to the puzzle but couldn't get through it. They enjoyed the puzzle initially, but grew frustrated. After an hour, one member used the last of her Divination raisins (three had been acquired a long time ago).
I let the spell get them through the maze, but I didn't explain how it worked. They were even more frustrated at that! They really wanted to know how the puzzle worked. I didn't budge; told 'em I might want to use it again. They told me I had better use it again! They wanted another crack at it.
It has been a few years, I think I'll wheel it out during the Savage Time.
It has been a few years, I think I'll wheel it out during the Savage Time.
(Assuming you mean "Savage Tide")
It has been a few years, I think I'll wheel it out during the Savage Time.(Assuming you mean "Savage Tide")
Is this the AP about chronomancy? :D
The PCs in my campaign have just entered the Starry Mirror. They did not take the tablet nor have they taken any notice of the floor pattern prior to the maze. We finished the last session with the PCs individually in the Starry Maze. I'm not sure how they're going to figure it out without these clues.
While my players agree that SCAP was the most fun they had in a campaign, they all seem to agree that the starry mirror was one of the least fun experiences.
The player who had the hand out kept looking at it and telling the more puzzle loving members of the party that there was nothing on it that would help and then would walk away from the table in frustration. It was tough since another player who normally sits patiently through that players role-playing sessions but doesn't really participate LOVES puzzles and really wanted to figure this one out but was denied all the clues by his own party.
Finally the puzzle was solved through the use of divination magic. But while the cleric was quick to say he was resting to rememorize, two other party members kept trying to brute force a pattern out of it... which means the 8 hours of rest approached real time.
Anyway... didn't work well for my party. Lots of frustrated players and the one who would appreciate it most was denied the chance.
Sean Mahoney
The PCs in my campaign have just entered the Starry Mirror. They did not take the tablet nor have they taken any notice of the floor pattern prior to the maze. We finished the last session with the PCs individually in the Starry Maze. I'm not sure how they're going to figure it out without these clues.
I would suggest coming up with a series of skill checks that they can make to figure it out. Or if they will do that type of thing use divination magics to give them the answer.
Whatever you do, don't let it drag out too long.
Sean Mahoney
Having run the Starry Mirror puzzle past two different gaming groups that both solved it within 15 minutes I'm always confused when I hear that it gave people lots of trouble. I wish the Shackled City had a few more neat puzzles like it.
I've found that it's hard to predict whether a given party will find a puzzle to be too easy or too hard. (Well, sometimes it's obvious when it'll be too hard...) I've been on both sides of that one (as DM and as player).
My party did the Starry Mirror last session. They spent 20-30 minutes trying to figure out the pattern. They got it eventually but were stumped by the inscription code. They could count to 6 but apparently, not to 5. I kept laughing at them and they got more determined to figure it out. They knew most of the pattern but were stuck on the middle color.
In all, the puzzle was challenging but not anything that derailed play.
Two of my party members came very close to mutiny when confronted with the puzzle. While the other two did there best to use the trial and error method, one PC almost had it, but had the starting point wrong. After numerous comments about people hating puzzles, I just gave it to them. Disappointing for me, as I had been looking forward to it for weeks. We were also dealing with online play, via chat, and so things can get a bit confusing at times. It was in danger of getting ugly. Id grade this puzzle out high for RL play, but online (at least this one time) it was a bit of a flop in my game.
Well we finally got together and played through the Starry Mirror. It took a couple of hours but they were enjoying the challenge. After several failures, the cleric cast some divination magic and that gave them enough of a clue to solve it themselves. Thanks for the advice from everyone.