Okay Homew-brewers. Today's challenge is this. I need good riddles from you guys. Let's hear them. And don't forget the answers please. Secondly, how does your group handle riddles in game?
RPG Superstar 2010 Top 16
|
What kind of riddles?
Like: Where do otters come from?
Or like this one, composed by Miranda Plowsworth:
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!
--+--+--
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?
A Golarion-specific riddle might look like this:
This is for a Home-Brewed setting at this specific time. But any others I get that I really like I can use at another time. The biggest problem I have is that I've used all of my really good ones.
Also, here's one that is really tough for all you DM's out there. We call it the Gary Gygax Riddle, as the DM who tossed it our way learned it from him personally.
3 is to Six, as 6 is to Twelve, as ____ is to 10?
ANSWER IS (3). Six has three letters in it, Twelve has six, and ten has 3. That one was a really tough one for us......until he tried to use it again a month later.
This is for a Home-Brewed setting at this specific time. But any others I get that I really like I can use at another time. The biggest problem I have is that I've used all of my really good ones.
Also, here's one that is really tough for all you DM's out there. We call it the Gary Gygax Riddle, as the DM who tossed it our way learned it from him personally.
3 is to Six, as 6 is to Twelve, as ____ is to 10?
ANSWER IS (3). Six has three letters in it, Twelve has six, and ten has 3. That one was a really tough one for us......until he tried to use it again a month later.
The only problem is that 5 is also technically a correct answer. 3 is half of 6, 6 is half of 12 and 5 is half of 10.
|
|
The only problem is that 5 is also technically a correct answer. 3 is half of 6, 6 is half of 12 and 5 is half of 10.This is for a Home-Brewed setting at this specific time. But any others I get that I really like I can use at another time. The biggest problem I have is that I've used all of my really good ones.
Also, here's one that is really tough for all you DM's out there. We call it the Gary Gygax Riddle, as the DM who tossed it our way learned it from him personally.
3 is to Six, as 6 is to Twelve, as ____ is to 10?
ANSWER IS (3). Six has three letters in it, Twelve has six, and ten has 3. That one was a really tough one for us......until he tried to use it again a month later.
That's not a problem, if a riddle has more than one correct answer then it is perfect for a game, as it is simply more likely that somebody will solve it.
I used to Riddle a lot, but changing players found them odd. One sneaky thing was to 'foreshadow' upcoming plot twists. Three variations of the 'Egg' riddle by a sphinx, warning the party that their target Dragon had young, for example. By delaying their attack, the players now faced a clutch of young Dragons as well as the adult.
The most fun was a riddling Ogre in a friend's game. He kept getting his riddles mixed up and giving away answers. Not that it helped, as he couldn't remember the question if you got it right.
That's not a problem, if a riddle has more than one correct answer then it is perfect for a game, as it is simply more likely that somebody will solve it.The only problem is that 5 is also technically a correct answer. 3 is half of 6, 6 is half of 12 and 5 is half of 10.This is for a Home-Brewed setting at this specific time. But any others I get that I really like I can use at another time. The biggest problem I have is that I've used all of my really good ones.
Also, here's one that is really tough for all you DM's out there. We call it the Gary Gygax Riddle, as the DM who tossed it our way learned it from him personally.
3 is to Six, as 6 is to Twelve, as ____ is to 10?
ANSWER IS (3). Six has three letters in it, Twelve has six, and ten has 3. That one was a really tough one for us......until he tried to use it again a month later.
True, perhaps I should have phrased it as "a point to keep in mind".
True, perhaps I should have phrased it as "a point to keep in mind".That's not a problem, if a riddle has more than one correct answer then it is perfect for a game, as it is simply more likely that somebody will solve it.The only problem is that 5 is also technically a correct answer. 3 is half of 6, 6 is half of 12 and 5 is half of 10.This is for a Home-Brewed setting at this specific time. But any others I get that I really like I can use at another time. The biggest problem I have is that I've used all of my really good ones.
Also, here's one that is really tough for all you DM's out there. We call it the Gary Gygax Riddle, as the DM who tossed it our way learned it from him personally.
3 is to Six, as 6 is to Twelve, as ____ is to 10?
ANSWER IS (3). Six has three letters in it, Twelve has six, and ten has 3. That one was a really tough one for us......until he tried to use it again a month later.
The way to "fix" this, if you feel it needs fixing, is to offer your party one wrong answer. Then, when they pick the obvious choice and it is wrong, they can stop and think about it.
An old favorite is: What lives under mountains, at the bottom of the sea, and frightens little children?
Here is a classic:
What does man love more than life, hate more than death, or mortal strife?
What poor man has, and the rich man requires, and what on earth does the content man desire?
What the miser spends, what spendthrift saves, what all men carry to their graves?
As far as how to handle it in game- don't let a riddle bog down the game, after they've discussed it for a while let them a Intelligence check to figure it out.
There are also Zen Questions.
While the sound of one hand clapping has been solved, others have surfaced. They empty the mind and still the thoughts. They allow Psionic individuals to regain their focus.
Here's a riddle that has no answer.
A Wyvern uses poison, attacks like a coward, and is smart enough to know better. How is it neutral? How does a Paladin get punished by attacking one in their sleep?
There is no answer, but it can disrupt hypnotic suggestions. In science fiction, it can kill artificial intelligence.
You could turn it around and ask, when is a backstabbing, poison using, coward not evil?
oh dear god, please not the wyvern riddle
no offense.
baldurs gate 2 had lots of cool puzzles (answers were multiple choice tough)
One, I can't remember it that well:
You are walking over an old bridge, what step is the most difficult to make?
The next one, because some lie in the past and cannot be changed, and some may be lie in the future, but you can't be sure.
Okay, it ain't one of the best out there.
Here come some of the Baldurs Gate 2 riddles, WITH answer (more or less)
At night I come without being fetched, at Star Medallion day I am gone without being stolen.
No beginning. No end. I am a symbol of the Golden Circlet world's cycles.
Two brothers we are, great burdens we bear, Worn Out Boots all day we are bitterly pressed; Yet this I will say - we are full all the day, and empty when we go to rest.
Here, in this place, you swallow me. Yet, were I Jar of Water more, I could swallow you.
I have seen the mountains rise. I have seen the fall of Netheril. You shall die but still shall I march on: Sundial
To those within the dungeon I am joy. To those
fully beneath my gaze, I can be Hell: Sun Medallion
I will save your life but yet can you die by me. I
will settle disputes yet not with words: Sword Medallion
Name me and so shall you break me. Gagged Man
Always do I tell the truth, yet cannot speak. Look to me and see what really is: Mirror
I have two heads but one body. The more I stand still, the faster I run: Hourglass
Try to defeat me but try in vain. When I win I end your pain: Grinning Skull
here some more, without answer tough
Edit: they are copy pasted, and the answer is somehow in the text so now it's spoilered
Lighter than what I am made of, more of me is Ice hidden than is seen, I am the bane of the mariner, a tooth within the sea. Speak my name.
A spirited jig it dances bright, banishing all Fire but darkest night. Give it food and it will live; give it water and it will die.
The man who invented it, doesn't want it for himself. A Coffin The man who bought it, doesn't need it for himself. The man who needs it, doesn't know it when he needs it.
The life I lead is mere hours or less, I serve all my A Candle time by being consumed. I am quickest when thin, slowest when fat, and wind is the bane of the gift that I bring.
The more that there is, the less that you see. Squint Darkness all you wish when surrounded by me.
They come to witness the night without being called, Stars a sailor's guide and a poet's tears. They are lost to sight each day without the hand of a thief.
They follow and lead, but only as you pass. Dress Shadows yourself in darkest black, and they are darker still. Always they flee the light, though without the sun there would be none.
I have holes throughout, from back to front and top A Sponge to bottom to core. More nothing than something within, and yet I still hold water.
I am free for the taking through all of your life, Breath though given but once at birth. I am less than nothing in weight, but will fell the strongest of you if held.
Alive as you but without breath, as cold in my life as Fish in my death; never a thirst though I always drink, dressed in a mail but never a clink.
Of all your possessions, I am the hardest to guard. If A Secret you have me, you will want to share me. If you share me, you no longer have me.
I can have no color, though there may be darkness A Hole within. I have no weight and hold nothing, and if placed in a container it becomes all the lighter.
None taken. You were civil about it.
The crossroad riddle may be too annoying also, so I won't post it.
also mathematical game-theory offers a large numbers of "riddles".
However most need a very close defined set of rules, if you have a boat that can transport only 2 people at a time, Pathfinder easily lets you find another route to bring people to the side.
You alone are transporting things through a dead magic zone, for obvious reasons. You have a kitsune, a cockatrice, and a bag of grain. You come to a river with one rowboat. There is only room in the boat for you and 2 other things...
