 April 17, 2009 - 6:52am | Does anyone have some ideas or experience writing articles where readers are set in a situation. They then have to figure out a Situational Clue or How to Get Out of a Trap or Solve the Puzzle. Slylock Fox is an example of a picture based Problem Solver Puzzle. http://www.kidcartoonists.com/ Can someone write about (or PM me) about how they put players in these types of situations? |
 April 17, 2009 - 10:07am | You come up with a wierd fact and work it into your plot as a hurdle for them to figure out. To use that cartoon as an example, the concept was a male moquito with the solution that males only suck the juices of fruits and vegetables. The plot device to introduce this interesting fact to figure out was a protagonist who genetically mutated the mosquito into a seeming threat. Essentially, you view the solution to the puzzle as an obsticle and then provide a protagonist to introduce the puzzle as a threat, or make the puzzle itself your protagonist. You could also take the Myst way, and make the puzzle something physical that the players have to figure out in order to get past a door or operate a device. If a player has a technical skill, but the puzzle has to be resolved in a non-technical way, then he will be challenged to resolve the puzzle without his character's skill, thus challenging the player, instead of the character. View my profile for a list of articles I have written, am writing, will write. "It's yo' mama!" —Wicket W. Warrick, Star Wars Ep. VI: Return of the Jedi "That guy's wise." —Logray, Star Wars Ep.VI: Return of the Jedi Do You Wanna Date My Avatar? - Felicia Day (The Guild) |
 April 19, 2009 - 6:25am | 5 minute mysteries- I remember reading this book back in 198ish and basically its a 1-2 page mystery and you figured it out from the information presented. it was stuff like a guy on a tour of a famous site in the west is told by the tour guide that a famous bank robber died here and nobody knows how or where the money went. the robber came to the home of a Dr. who hid him in the stream with a 3 foot hollow reed to breathe. When the posse came the robber was dead and the money gone. the Guy on tour say I know how and why he was killed. Seeing as how there are no other character its fairly obvious that it must be the Dr. the thing is the killing was done with the hollow reed- it was too long for human lungs to suck in fresh air and presumably a Dr. would know this. hence the Dr. did it. Like ascent said they usually started with a unique fact and you had to puzzle it out from there but if you could locate a copy at a used book store or amazon I guess you'd find hours of inspiration, 5 minutes at a time though!  EDIT:I dont remember the exact length of the hollow reed but it was whatever length was neccessary to do the job. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
April 19, 2009 - 6:46am | another resource: The Treasure Tables RPG article archive: http://www.treasuretables.org/archives OR the associated forum: http://www.youmeetinatavern.com/ I remember some thing from one of the above sources (I just looked but couldn't find the exact ref. but there is plenty of stuff there for you to pick through) where the GM had put the players in a sewer under the city and they came to doors that had some symbol/ diagram/ mark on they and the players had a folding ruler like this: http://www.amazon.com/Rhino-Rulers-55140-Carpenters-Ruler/dp/B000065CE8?tag=dogpile-20 if the players could match the symbol with the ruler the door would open. its kind of a straight forward puzzle and the GM who used it said the players enjoyed it. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
