alt.universes

Another form of encounter that plays out well is the Puzzle Encounter.  The encounter challenges the players directly, and relies little on either skills or combat.  The ever popular "what do we need to do to move on?" gag is pretty standard fare, as is the "gotta figure it out before we die" method, but more basic encounters can include figuring out a map, piecing together clues, or actually solving a simple physical puzzle in a dungeon.

Active puzzles are presented in the "this is a puzzle and you must solve it" format.  It is immediately obvious that there is an obstruction to the player’s progression, and it is alluded to that there is some way to remove the obstruction and continue.  Or, the DM hints at the existence of something "more" about an object or person, purposely piquing the interest of the party to investigate.  The Dungeon Master’s Guide gives plenty of examples for active puzzles: Word searches, logic puzzles, and mazes for the players to navigate are a few that it suggests. 

Active puzzles have an immediate solution available, meaning they are meant to solve it in the duration of the session.  There is usually a risk or hardship involved should they fail to solve the puzzle, such as imminent danger of attack, or having to take the long way around, or failing to complete their objective.  The story will bend around the players’ ability to solve the puzzle.

For example, the DM describes a room where the only exit has been sealed shut behind the players.  The only thing in this room is a single statue, a woman pointing to the sky above.  As the players puzzle out how to find their way out, they ask questions and attempt to understand the meaning behind the room.  There may be a skill check now and again to see if they notice something in particular about the statue, and maybe receive a clue for it, but in the end, it will be on the players’ own wit to ask the appropriate questions and put the clues together.  (By the way, the party in the example followed the line pointed out by the woman and found a phrase written on the wall: "Out of sight, walk away."  They eventually found a hidden door in the wall opposite the way the woman was pointing.)

Rewards for active puzzles are two-fold: the goal, and the encounter reward.  The goal is what the party was working for solving the puzzle, such as the way out of a sealed room, or the treasure in a treasure box.  The encounter reward is the experience and loot the DM deems equivalent for the difficulty level of the encounter.  Together, they represent the total reward for the Puzzle Encounter.  Experience is appropriate for all puzzles, and should be given to the players.  If the goal includes treasure in the story, then that is part of the reward.  If it does not, and the DM deems it appropriate, treasure can be found incidentally along with the successful solving of the puzzle. 

Passive puzzles are puzzles that are solved over the course of a long time and do not require immediate thought or response from players to continue with the story, with clues from different sources that gradually paint a picture or nudge players towards an answer.  By the definitions given in the rules of Dungeons and Dragons, they are not technically encounters, but they contribute well to keeping player interest high and enforcing character balance. 

For example, one of my favorite passive puzzles involve putting a very powerful artifact in the hands of a not-so-powerful party.  I give full details on what it does, but unfortunately, it requires something very specific to trigger it.  (I also purposely never decide what that is until I decide it is time to activate it, so I can honestly say they will never "accidentally" trigger it.  Don’t tell my players that.)  As the story evolves, perhaps over several weeks of gameplay sessions, I let the players guide themselves.  If they ask pertinent questions of people who might know what their artifact does, and try to research their item at given opportunities, I begin to shed light on it.  Eventually, someone might persevere and solve the mystery.

Different skills will come in handy on passive puzzles.  Since they are pieced together over time, Knowledge skills are at the forefront as players try to decide if newly found information relates to their clues.  Bluff and Diplomacy assist in drawing information from NPCs.  And, basic skills such as Perception become important as high enough checks may allow the DM to point out clues to previous passive puzzles on new artifacts.

Passive puzzles still rely on the players themselves to piece the clues together, but since it is over a long period of time, it also relies on the players’ ability to keep their information organized and learn to pursue what is important.  Although they are not encounters, per se, rewards for passive puzzles should be considered by the DM.  Passive puzzles add a certain spice to a campaign, and glues the sessions together when someone has an unsolved mystery at the forefront of their notes that they continue to hack away at every week.  It also makes the DM look rather crafty when a passive puzzle presented at the beginning of the game that apparently looks optional and unrelated to the current quest ends up being key in the story.

Tags: D&D, DM, Encounters, Puzzles

This entry was posted on Saturday, May 2nd, 2009 at 07:30 and is filed under Behind the Screen. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.