A puzzle for my players


Advice


In short:
(Homebrew Campaign) My PC's are exploring a temple, they will find a door locked behind a strange mechanism.

Considering that:
- They will find a hoard with lots of very good stuff for their characters
- They will be able to try to solve the puzzle between 2 sessions (1 week)
- It is purely optional

https://layton.fandom.com/wiki/Puzzle:Royal_Escape

I thought about putting this one, but i don't know if they will be able to solve
it, i want the puzzle to be difficult but not impossible and i need it to be doable by everyone (by that i mean no hard mathematical solutions and such).

What i like about this sliding puzzle is that it can be "ported" on Roll20 by copying it and giving them control over "the blocks".

Obviously i will reskin the puzzle so they can't just look it up on google.

If you got any suggestion on what puzzle put on the door tell me, i prefer something like the one i proposed but feel free to ask me


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We had the topic of puzzles lately. Maybe you will find some inspiration there.

I checked out the Royal Escape puzzle, but honestly, that would be one of the many puzzles where I would lean back and let my fellow players cover it. Quick rant:

Spoiler:

1) The rules are not totally clear to me. Am I allowed to rotate the violet and teal ones, like in Tetris? Am I allowed to enter the target square with any stones, even if they are not the red one?

2) There are no intermediate goals respective no rewards for trying. You only get rewarded once you solved the entire thing.

3) There is no way to split the challenge among players. Yeah, in the best case multiple people tell their ideas and they get combined to a quick solution. But in my experience some players are simply quicker with puzzles than others, and then the puzzle is over. I belong to "others", so why should I bother?

IMO you need a different kind of puzzle for a cooperative RPG:

1) The puzzle should require all the PCs, so every player feels included. An example are distant trigger plates people must step on and from.

2) There should be at least some feedback. People usually prefer affirmative feedback over warnings or the notice of failure, so for example there could be some friendly sound or shiny light if one third of the puzzle is solved.

3) Including some dice rolls makes the puzzle more familiar and less separated from the rest of the game. They shouldn't be too hard, though.

4) Tailoring the puzzle towards the PCs' special abilities can make it more interesting. To stick with the trigger plates: One might need three times the weight, next one might be at the top of the room (which makes flying one solution), third one only triggers for a very short moment so the PC must be dextrous for proper timing etc..

5) Some hints could be scattered over the area. As 3), this brings puzzle and rest together, and it allows the players to adjust the difficulty somewhat. Finally, puzzle hints are yet another reward players can earn, and they love their rewards.


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The answer to most puzzles, I find, is an adamantine heavy pick


Always be sure to include a way to use dice rolls to solve the puzzle. in the same way you don't make the player of a Strength based character lift weights to open gates, you don't make the player of an Intelligence based character solve puzzles to open doors.


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how about instead of on the door, it's spread throughout the compound and only visible by a very precarious perch, meaning that the group needs to split up and coordinate to solve it. Make sure they can't see each others part of the puzzle and instead must communicate over distance with each other to solve it.


How about a car park puzzle, where different players control different cars. The cars could be substituted for anything setting appropriate and remotely controlled from different locations meaning all players have to be involved. Though TxSam88 is absolutely right, this is a puzzle for the players, not their characters.


How well do you know your players? Would they all want to spend RPG time doing this?

edit: And does this belong in a temple? Why?

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