[DF] Appropriate Riddles

Fred Brackin · 09-19-2016, 01:05 PM

....and now I remember why I always hate it when the DM does this. Any time it's been done in the past it brings the game to a standstill for at least one session.

I remember an entire "puzzle" dungeon that collapsed under its' own weight before it could be solved (i.e. why do all the names of the monsters encountered start with "G"?). It's 36 years alter and I still don't know the answer to that one.

Of course a smaller riddle/puzzle dungeon from the same guy had the answer "13" and the big clue was that the stairs leading into it had 139 steps. Because that's 13 squared, isn't it?

As to today's offering's #1 is not a good one to ask over the Internet because I think the answer should be "an egg" but in my locality white eggs heavily dominate. Also, even when I see brown eggs they aren't the color of the local sand which is quite pale from being sun-bleached.

#2 is a game-stopper. I got nothing.

#3 should be some kind of stringed instrument, most likely a violin but there might be quite a few others.

So my advice is probably that you should not do this. I've never seen it end well. If you really are going to do it you need a tested riddle which is both solvable in a reasonable amount of time yet looks clever even when figured out.

The closest I've seen is a visual puzzle from a 3.5 module called ..... I think it's "Barrow of the Forgotten King". It's very D&D-ish with a picture of Beholder and icons/tiles that you have to re-arrange to match eye-stalk powers with couplets describing them.

It's always gotten solved in the 3 times I've run it but usually only by one person in the group who remembered that sort of stuff. The rest of the group was always baffled and if membership of any group had been a little different they'd have been reduced to trial and error. The sort of thing sometimes referred to as "Artifact Roulette".

....and that was as close as I can remember coming to a "good" one. I think that a real DF riddle would probably come closer to "What's Purple and dangerous?" but anyone who does remember an actual good riddle should post it to prove me wrong.

09-19-2016, 01:05 PM	#5
Fred Brackin Join Date: Aug 2007	Re: [DF] Appropriate Riddles ....and now I remember why I always hate it when the DM does this. Any time it's been done in the past it brings the game to a standstill for at least one session. I remember an entire "puzzle" dungeon that collapsed under its' own weight before it could be solved (i.e. why do all the names of the monsters encountered start with "G"?). It's 36 years alter and I still don't know the answer to that one. Of course a smaller riddle/puzzle dungeon from the same guy had the answer "13" and the big clue was that the stairs leading into it had 139 steps. Because that's 13 squared, isn't it? As to today's offering's #1 is not a good one to ask over the Internet because I think the answer should be "an egg" but in my locality white eggs heavily dominate. Also, even when I see brown eggs they aren't the color of the local sand which is quite pale from being sun-bleached. #2 is a game-stopper. I got nothing. #3 should be some kind of stringed instrument, most likely a violin but there might be quite a few others. So my advice is probably that you should not do this. I've never seen it end well. If you really are going to do it you need a tested riddle which is both solvable in a reasonable amount of time yet looks clever even when figured out. The closest I've seen is a visual puzzle from a 3.5 module called ..... I think it's "Barrow of the Forgotten King". It's very D&D-ish with a picture of Beholder and icons/tiles that you have to re-arrange to match eye-stalk powers with couplets describing them. It's always gotten solved in the 3 times I've run it but usually only by one person in the group who remembered that sort of stuff. The rest of the group was always baffled and if membership of any group had been a little different they'd have been reduced to trial and error. The sort of thing sometimes referred to as "Artifact Roulette". ....and that was as close as I can remember coming to a "good" one. I think that a real DF riddle would probably come closer to "What's Purple and dangerous?" but anyone who does remember an actual good riddle should post it to prove me wrong. __________________ Fred Brackin