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Re: Puzzles and traps
Posted: Sat Feb 26, 2011 8:23 pm
by JuliusCreed
Revan wrote:I was wondering if anyone out there had ideas for unique puzzles and traps. I'm writing an adventure out for the rifter and i need some creative traps and puzzles for my dungeons. Any one who can give me some ideas or perhapps point me to a site that could give me some ideas would be helpfull. thank you
The only answer I can give you... Find Grimm's series of books on traps. AWESOME stuff!
Re: Puzzles and traps
Posted: Sun Feb 27, 2011 3:41 am
by The Dark Elf
I'd want a bit more info.
Is it for a dungeon? What type, who created it? If it was created by a maths genius the puzzles may be mathematical.....
Are you after traps for passageways, doors, chests etc.? All can be very different.
What's the purpose of the traps? To kill, to capture, to only allow the worthy etc.?
My initial advice would be don't ever put in anything random (unless it is supposed to be random) as it won't flow or make sense to the players.
Re: Puzzles and traps
Posted: Sun Feb 27, 2011 12:59 pm
by Eryk Stormbright
JuliusCreed wrote:Revan wrote:I was wondering if anyone out there had ideas for unique puzzles and traps. I'm writing an adventure out for the rifter and i need some creative traps and puzzles for my dungeons. Any one who can give me some ideas or perhapps point me to a site that could give me some ideas would be helpfull. thank you
The only answer I can give you... Find Grimm's series of books on traps. AWESOME stuff!
Yes, Grimtooth's Traps are some Very good books, i've been known to use them more than once.they can be used for pretty much any system.
Re: Puzzles and traps
Posted: Sun Feb 27, 2011 2:00 pm
by Prysus
Revan wrote:I was wondering if anyone out there had ideas for unique puzzles and traps. I'm writing an adventure out for the rifter and i need some creative traps and puzzles for my dungeons. Any one who can give me some ideas or perhapps point me to a site that could give me some ideas would be helpfull. thank you
Greetings and Salutations. I'm afraid I don't have any traps/puzzles to offer off the top of my head, but my main reason for posting was just to comment on the bold part in the quote (highlighted by me). Because this is to be a Rifter submission, be careful when asking for other people to give you ideas. I say this because I've heard Kevin talk about in the Gateway to the Megaverse podcast (and maybe a few other places) that while people may start off being genuinely helpful, there's always the risk that if it gets published someone will complain about how that was their idea and that Palladium (who published it) is stealing their ideas. This seems something Palladium is a little gun shy about (and I guess something they actually had a problem with at least once, even though the content had been a totally unrelated coincidence) so I just wanted to give a warning so you don't walk into this trap and then run into problems later (or have work skipped over because Palladium wants to avoid the risk).
They're also fairly wary of conversions (don't know Grimtooth's Traps well enough to say if this would come up or not). I don't know how much any of this helped, but at the very least I wanted to provide some thoughts to consider. For note, this is just a general warning and not directed at anyone here. In general we have a pretty good group of people here, but I still wouldn't want to see someone get in trouble on accident is all. Thank you for your time and patience, please have a nice day. Farewell and safe journeys for now.
Re: Puzzles and traps
Posted: Sun Feb 27, 2011 7:57 pm
by The Beast
BirdyToe wrote:Eryk Stormbright wrote:JuliusCreed wrote:Revan wrote:I was wondering if anyone out there had ideas for unique puzzles and traps. I'm writing an adventure out for the rifter and i need some creative traps and puzzles for my dungeons. Any one who can give me some ideas or perhapps point me to a site that could give me some ideas would be helpfull. thank you
The only answer I can give you... Find Grimm's series of books on traps. AWESOME stuff!
Yes, Grimtooth's Traps are some Very good books, i've been known to use them more than once.they can be used for pretty much any system.
Yeah Grimtooth's book's house some of the most insidious traps I've seen. Get them you'll love them, your players not so much, but that's how you know there epic.
Just try to get the original books, and not the d20 reprint if you can.
Re: Puzzles and traps
Posted: Mon Feb 28, 2011 7:47 pm
by The Beast
Revan wrote:The Dark Elf wrote:I'd want a bit more info.
Is it for a dungeon? What type, who created it? If it was created by a maths genius the puzzles may be mathematical.....
Are you after traps for passageways, doors, chests etc.? All can be very different.
What's the purpose of the traps? To kill, to capture, to only allow the worthy etc.?
My initial advice would be don't ever put in anything random (unless it is supposed to be random) as it won't flow or make sense to the players.
I'm looking for traps like in The Goonies. Getting things right allows you to move on, getting them wrong leads to possibly getting killed.
The traps are meant to hinder progress and to allow only those worthy to enter.
Like we've been saying, get the
Grimtooth's Traps series.
Re: Puzzles and traps
Posted: Mon Feb 28, 2011 8:17 pm
by pblackcrow
Here's an ancient tree trap that NO ONE holds claim to: Take a low lying branch, sharpen the limb on it to a point, tie it back. If done correctly, you stand a chance of killing both horse rider, stopping coaches, etc!
Here is a puzzle for you...take 6 coins and tell them to make 2 roes of 4 with only 6 coins. It can be done, but you have to think out side the box.
Re: Puzzles and traps
Posted: Tue Mar 01, 2011 2:18 pm
by The Dark Elf
pblackcrow wrote:take 6 coins and tell them to make 2 roes of 4 with only 6 coins.
I hate this riddle if its the one Im thinking of asking thinking outside the box is actually another word for saying disregard the word row and input row or column.
Not a hash at Pbc as you didnt make it btw (unless you did!)
Re: Puzzles and traps
Posted: Wed Mar 02, 2011 1:20 pm
by gaby
I like to see peoples ideas for traps.
Re: Puzzles and traps
Posted: Wed Mar 02, 2011 3:44 pm
by pblackcrow
The Dark Elf wrote:pblackcrow wrote:take 6 coins and tell them to make 2 roes of 4 with only 6 coins.
I hate this riddle if its the one Im thinking of asking thinking outside the box is actually another word for saying disregard the word row and input row or column.
Not a hash at Pbc as you didnt make it btw (unless you did!)
No. I didn't make this one up. However, I solved it the first time I saw it.
*
***
* Stack the last coin in this row on top of the one where the next row is.
*
*
***
*
There honestly in 4 coins in 2 rows.
Re: Puzzles and traps
Posted: Wed Mar 02, 2011 5:09 pm
by Prysus
Greetings and Salutations. I'll say I do love puzzles, and I don't always come up with the answers. With that said, I have to agree with Dark Elf on the 6 coins, 2 rows of 4 puzzle. I like puzzles/riddles that are actually true and not just a lie.
First, a row is supposed to be side by side, next to each other, adjacent ... which this isn't. What you really have is 2 rows and 1 column, or at best 3 rows (2 rows of 3 and 1 row of 2).
Additionally, it should (in general) be a straight line and that's no more a single line than a "T" is. Sure, if you look at a "T" from above you can say it's a straight line, but that's a mere matter of perception and the truth is that it's 2 lines, not 1.
If we ignore the concept of a line needing to be straight and whatever form it takes as long as it's connecting is okay ... then you still don't have 2 lines of 4. You have 1 line of 6, the line just isn't straight (but all are still connected). Once we let the line turn and twist (as with the "solution") then there's nothing stopping that logic from connecting both (alleged) lines other than "because I said so."
Though, if you want follow the logic of the "solution" then why not make 3 rows of 4? Stack 3 coins on top of each other and then just surround the stack with the other coins in various angles. Or just make it 5 coins and still making 2 stacks of 4. Or heck, once we allow the line to make a 90 degree turn and end whenever we say, there are more than 2 lines! If you use the concept of turning, and you set the two lines up in a cross formation, then you have at least 6 lines of 4. (1, 2 on top of each other, 90 degree turn, 1 and that allows for a total of 4 more lines). I think it bothers me just as much that the logic of the puzzle is inefficient on top of being inaccurate.
This is why I wouldn't like puzzles like that one, because the answer is actually a lie. If the answer needs to break its own rules (by not using rows), and uses the broken rules poorly on top of that, I just have trouble thinking it's a good puzzle. I follow the attempt at logic and to think outside of the box, but the actual break down is just lacking. "Thinking outside the box" is great, but it shouldn't be a term for cheating. Anyways, that's all for now. Thank you for your time and patience, please have a nice day. Farewell and safe journeys for now.
Re: Puzzles and traps
Posted: Wed Mar 02, 2011 7:28 pm
by pblackcrow
It's not cheating. There is a trick to it, yes. But it's no more cheating than balancing 10 nails on 1 is.
Re: Puzzles and traps
Posted: Wed Mar 02, 2011 10:24 pm
by Prysus
pblackcrow wrote:It's not cheating. There is a trick to it, yes. But it's no more cheating than balancing 10 nails on 1 is.
Except that it's not actually a row. Only by ignoring what a row is can you succeed, but that means you're actually ignoring the challenge. Is a "T" a single line? A "T" is what is made in the "solution" and I have an issue someone calling it a single row (because it simply isn't, but that's what the objective is).
Revan wrote:I love how this is now more of an argument over the legality of a puzzle.
Well, it's a general thing for me. A puzzle shouldn't be a set up where the players need to break a rule of the puzzle to get your solution. It follows the logic others must follow the same inaccuracies that I decide are fitting to succeed. Saying a "T" is a single row isn't a trick, it's just inaccurate. And if a "T" is a row, then a "+" is also a row ... so the solution didn't actually solve anything because it's still just one row (and not two as per request). And I don't mind not getting puzzles (well, that's not true, I hate not being able to figure it out, but I accept that it happens), but a solution that isn't what was asked I have an issue with.
Though hmm ... that does remind me of something I created in one of my games. There's a door with a total of 10 locks (all start of locked). The trick was to unlock the door.
Key 1: Opens 3 / Locks 4 & 6
Key 2: Opens 5 / Locks 1 & 2
Key 3: Opens 6 / Locks 3 & 7
Key 4: Opens 3 & 4 / Locks 1
Key 5: Opens 1 & 7 / Locks 4
Key 6: Opens 2 & 5 / Locks 6
Key 7: Opens 2, 4, & 6 / Locks 1, 3, 5, & 7
Key 8: Opens 1, 3, 5, & 7 / Locks 2, 4, & 6
Key 9: Opens 4 ONLY
Key 10: Reset (Locks All)
Note: 10 was more of an option in case you got hopelessly lost and couldn't remember which ones were locked anymore.
Answer Key:
Granted, this one is a little more mathy. Though this conversation had just reminded me of it so I figured to mention it. Thank you for your time and patience, please have a nice day. Farewell and safe journeys to all.
Re: Puzzles and traps
Posted: Thu Mar 03, 2011 3:20 am
by ZorValachan
As a GM I always liked to do 'curiosity killed the cat' things.
Like put a button/panel on the wall with a sign above it 'Do not push while person stands on X' and down the hall a big X on the ground. When the party pushes it while someone is on the X (and they will), the ceiling drops down and squishes the person on the X. If they don't stand on the X, nothing happens as it is a pressure plate too. Both the button/panel on the wall and the pressure plate X need to be triggered. And when they complain, you can say 'Hey I put a sign on it telling you not to do it!'