Puzzle and riddle goodness

I've been interested lately in incorporating some puzzles in my game. I know they can give the game a "funhouse" feel. But when I played I always enjoyed having at least one puzzle or riddle challenge in it (I guess they'd be seen as cliche now). I've been searching for some, and found I neat one derived from the Davinci Code on this site. I like the idea of using the Fibonacci sequence  (0,1,1,2,3,5,8,13,etc) but I worry because one of the players is also a math teacher and may pick up on it realy fast. My idea is to use pressure plates with stones on them where the adventures have to put the proper amount of stones on the last plate.
   I also have one which would be alot more challenging involving a geometric riddle which I'll paraphrase:

         A King wants his gardener to make plant 5 rows of 4 roses, only problem is he only has 10 roses to do it
    How what does he do?  I usually put a lot more flourish in the presentation when giving this one, but you get the idea.


Answer:  a star shape.

I also love old fashioned riddles too, but I find that sometimes they can slow things to a halt because if people can't get the answer, they can't progress any farther. So I like my riddles to be for non essentials (chests, scroll cases etc.). I also like how they were done in the old video game Betrayal at Krondor; where each riddle was given a dial lock mechanisms. (again Davinci Code did something similar for a scroll type case) I find they can make them a little too easy at times though, giving not only the possible letters but how many of them there are as well. Still, the right riddle can keep them challenging anyway, and we all know there are enough of them out there.

I also really like this idea from Die Hard 3 

That's all Ive got for now, I hope some of these are useful to you, and If you have some to you want to share please feel free.

See ya.
  

The Summer is Over!!

So the summer is done, and we spent it working on the new house.  We decided not to head back home for this year, which means I missed all this:




I also didn't play either; summer is not the best time to get a group of teachers together, as they tend to go on family vacations at different times. But we have started back since then, with one session two weeks ago, and another set for this Sunday.
   I decided to combine the keep on the borderlands with 0one's blueprint for the Caves of Chaos. I found that they gave a more exploratory feel, and allowed me to place some more traps and mysterious hooks for the players. (Not that they found any......oh well maybe on the next game).
     I've also had a few inspirations for puzzles which I'll share later, as well as had the pleasure of reading through Grimtooth's traps (again I think I'll share more about it also).
   I've found since starting to game again, I've also  found since gaming again, I've blogged less; which in all honesty is fine by me, because if I had to choose between the two, I'd take gaming over blogging anyday  :p

Borderlands Session 4

Like I said, I was behind on my session wrap-ups, so that's why these are coming at you fast and furious style.
   By the end of the last Session, the PC's had found a map which supposedly would lead to a treasure hoard found in Quasqueton, and had managed to discover a secret passage between Melissa's and Rohgan's rooms.

                       This session saw the party going through Rohgan's private quaters, only to interrupted by a group of Northmen, who have also been exploring Quasqueton's halls. While they first decided to try diplomacy with the barbarians; suspicion soon turned to open hostility, as Dale the Killing Machine quickly attacked the tattooed warriors.
 A long battle then ensued, as for the first time, the party seemed to face an even match in their foes. After beating back the Northmen, the PC's blockaded a door and took a prisoner. again the questioning seemed to get very little and the frustrated party left the prisoner tied to the bed as they fled the fortress.
 They headed back to the Keep, to regroup and report on what they had found with Balin, the wizard who had hired them.
  Once there they deciphered  Zelligar's coded diary, and the PC's learned of his suspicions of the true instigators of the Northern attacks 20 years ago; a group by the name of the Red Hand. ( An organization composed of wizards, clerics and nobles who have revived the worship of some sort of Elder God which is yet to be revealed to the players).  Balin was concerned about the nature of such a secret society, and asked the PC's to further investigate the halls of Quaqueton for more clues.
 The party though decided to take some down time to enjoy the amenities of the Keep, While MoonBeam and Theodore the cleric took the time to study and pray; Stickles and Dale the Killing Machine had come up with a ploy, where Dale would distract a local patron with small talk, and Stickles would use the moment of distraction to pick their pockets for cash.
        Unfortunately the plan backfired; the first person Stickles attempted to rob caught on to what was happening. He and his friend confronted the duo, only to be attacked by Dale, who nearly killed one of them men with a single blow of his axe.
Shocked by the wanton display of violence, the remaining patrons and the barkeep held Dale until the authorities arrived. Stickles, seeing the sticky situation that was about to occur, slipped out during the commotion, and was able to avoid arrest.
   To make up for their crime Dale (and by default the rest of the party) were charged with the rescue of a local merchant from a group of Bandits which had been attacking lately from the woods.  The characters then readied themselves to face the bandits of the woods, in what they considered their first rescue mission.

Edit notes...Okay so this session had actually happened looong ago, and its hard to remember all the good bad and ugly, but here goes. I seem to remember the challenge in improvising all the events in town; especially the consequences of their robbery attempt. They were really keeping me on my toes. By the way if you didn't know it all ready, Dale is a bit of a sociopath; I tried to play some shock at his resorting to a weapon right away in the bar fight (an axe no less). The Keep as a meant to be a tough but law abiding area, a frontier area filled with puritan ( at least on the exterior) types. I haven't put a great deal of work into the personality of the Keep yet. Its pretty small after all, and I see it more as a focal point for small villages in the area as opposed to a sprawling city which can hide thieve guilds, etc. I don't even think the Keep has a brothel....not that I've put a lot of thought into it, but one character did try to find one....maybe I'll have some sort of traveling "entertainment" group come in or something.

Well I have more to think on about this, plus two more sessions to summarize yeesshh.

x1 Isle of Dread

One of the few regrets I have about my early D&D experience, is the total lack of experience with modules; when I had bought my Metzner basic, it didn't come with an introductory module (except for the small sample dungeon in the books). My own experience was using that  small sample as my model of what an adventure should be, and then designing castle and dungeons on my own (with far too many encounters if I remember correctly)
   That's why X1 Isle of Dread is so important to me, it was the first and only module I had ever owned as a youth;  but what a module!  Now back then I had no idea who Moldvay was, or the extent of his design genius; all I knew was that this module rocked. It had it all: sea exploration, dark mysterious islands, pirates, and especially.......dinosaurs, forget the alien kopru....for me the highlight was definately the dinosaurs...well them and the feline warrior society (I remember one of my players took a real liking to owning a pair of the claw weapon they used.

  Unfortunately; in part due to my own young age or inexperience, I never took full advantage of Isle of Dread's possibilities as a module. I did treat it a little too much like an adventure that the player's had to solve; as opposed to a springboard for many adventuring ideas. However even then we were able to create some role play interactions, and side treks...I seem to remember something about the pirates conflicting with the natives on the island.
   I think at the time it disturbed me a little that there was no end goal to the module...I'm not sure if I realized at the time the purpose of, or even had an understanding of, a completly open ended adventure. Still, we loved that module, and played it for days on end.  From the time I had a sea hydra attack their vessel in the ocean, to the moment the PC's defeated the evil Kopru in those hot muddy geysers on the plateau this module proved to be a joy to play.
Isle of Dread stretched both our playing skills, and our understanding of what a great D&D adventure can be. Because of that I have to say that the module TSR actually provided for FREE with its Expert Set still remains,in my mind, one of the best adventures ever written.

Borderlands sessions 3

 The group were last left at the bottom of a pit trap and had fought off a group of bow wielding goblins. Fortunately Stickles the thief came back from the keep and followed their trail through the fort. He managed to get some rope down to the group, and help them out of the pit. After discovering that the trapped door was in fact a fake, the frustrated group doubled back down through the fortress to investigate a side of the building still left blank on their map.
 During their explorations, they met up with an adventuring elf by the name of Moonbeam (I know) who had been attracted to the rumours of the richess in Quasqueton. The group decided to allow her to join them as they continued on through the halls of the fortress..
Narrowly avoiding a confrontation with a group of dangerous looking blue tattooed Northmen, and getting lost in one of Zelligar's Mazes of Confusion, the PC's eventually came upon Zelligar's garden room, which had become overrun with all manner of strange plants and fungi. After going about halfway in, the PC's soon found themselves bombarded by a loud shrieking sound emanating from some large orange mushroom shaped plant. Just as the PC's were getting ready to destroy the screaming fungus, they were attacked by some creepy crawlies, and enraged orcs who attention had been attracted by the loud wails.
 Again it was Erin the farm-boy who proved himself in combat; severing the head of one of the orcs in a single blow, and fatally wounding another. No sooner had they finished off this first attack, when the still shrieking mushroom attracted even more creatures. This time the group found themselves surrounded by three large underground reptilian creatures (troglodytes). The PC's thinking they wouldn't be able handle this new threat, decided to try and bluff their way using intimidation. Opting for savage brutality, they stuck the severed orc heads on swords and spears and shook them violently in front of the troglodytes. Fearing for their lives in front of the this new powerful foe, the creatures bowed in deference to the PC's who seeing an opening fed the orc bodies to the reptiles, and made a quick getaway out of the garden. Using their map to back track, they soon found themselves in the eastern half of the fortress again, and made their way to what turned out to be a room belonging to Rogahn's mistress Melissa, while there they made two important discoveries; a supposed treasure map to the lower level, and a secret passage connecting Melissa's room directly to Roghan's.

Editorial:  Two more players joined in for this session but one of the other guys couldn't make it so that gave a total of three players. It made for more discussion as to plans on what to do, as well as a lot more out of game banter..but thats what its all about right. Moonbeam doesn't exactly get named until session 4, but I thought I'd break it too you now...so I've had a Moonbeam, Dale the killing machine, and from the first session and only session my wife participated in...Head Honcho....

             I found the mapping difficult in this one (actually I should say the player's did, b/c I don't do their mapping). It became an extra challenge during the maze part; however they get a kick out of when one hallway somehow intersects another. I'm thinking of using white board so i can make an outline first then let them do the mapping on their grid paper.
  
I also saw a lot of encounter avoidance this time. The party took great pains to try and find what was in a room before going there (even using mirrors under doors), and then leaving if it appeared anyone was inside; they seemed especially concerned over the northerners bearing blue tattoos. Still I liked where the group was headed, and how easily they fell into what we call old school adventuring. I'll post 4 and 5 soon. as some interesting town and wilderness events are starting to occur...as well as some....PLOT..oh no!!!!!!

Wilderness encounters

So the group is going to be searching through the forest for a group of bandits (I have yet to post sessions 3/4 to explain why). Now while I've created an encampment for the Bandits, I also decided to create a few encounters for the wilderness. I wanted to create a sense of supernatural strangeness to the forest, so I decided on some encounters that go beyond just regular wandering monsters (what a strange statement to make.......regular wandering monsters). Anyway, here it is I'd like to know what others think:
Roll a D8

1.....feel dripping from above and snapping branches.....find a frozen, partially eaten corpse in a tree that comes crashing to the ground.....

2.....See a run down abandoned cabin (chance 50% day/ 50% night)....if the party is in or near the cabin at night they will see a pale luminous women in a white night dress staring out the window with a gaping wound in her chest (only noticeable if she is somehow turned away from the window). She will not respond in any way unless touched, at which point she will turn and chant ---"come back to me my love" over and over. at this point all male characters from right to left must save vs spells, the first to fail will be drawn to the figure's embrace where they will age 10 +1d4 years per round until rescued.

3.....An Orgre and a ___(undetermined sorry)___are sharpening tools and preparing a fire next to them tied to a tree is an unarmed person (level 1 magic user) with an extremely despondent look on his face.

4.....The party comes across a petrified tree with a vaguely humanoid figure and what appears to be a face twisted in extreme agony...if the figure is touched, the mouth begins oozing a dark reddish viscous liquid.

5.....Hear a horrible buzzing which seems to be getting closer and closer.......suddenly the the buzzing stops only to have the party immediately become attacked by a swarm of flying insects.

6....Come across a clearing with a ring of 7 white roses with a stone in the center, bearing some sort of faded inscription.  If they decide to read try to read the inscription roll a dice to see who can make it out (1 in 6 chance) the first to succeed is handed a note saying " "Y'salgoth's roses bloom in the dusk of life".....if anyone else asks about this paper or the inscription you must read this quote out loud".Once read aloud 7 zombies will crawl out of the ground from under the roses.

7...The PC's come across a Cairn made of skulls each one with a single jagged hole in the forehead

8...Undetermined yet

so there's the list. Looking back i notice a few hings:
#1 not all have a supernatural or strange bent, which gives different possibilities a different feel.

#2 Not all would have any game effect  (many have no combat) and with the idea being locating a group of bandits, is creating a strange supernatural mood really necessary...I don't know...

Well there are the ideas so far let me know what you think....

Probability Madness

Did you know you have the same probability of rolling a 6,6,6 as you do of rolling eaxctly 4,5,2......(1/216)......I just blew your mind didn't I?