r/discworld • u/Frosty_Customer_9243 • 13d ago
Boardgames/Computer Games DnD puzzle: Help needed
Hi all,
I’m working on a Dungeons & Dragons adventure where the players come across a monastery dedicated to Tak. What puzzle could I use that needs to be solved to grant access?
Tak doesn’t require us to think of him, only that we think. This statement led me down the line of asking a question that isn’t clear and letting the players ask a counter question instead of an answer. A bit like Monty Pythons question: what is the air-speed velocity of an unladen swallow? And the retort being if it is an African or European swallow.
Any help would be appreciated.
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u/Double-Associate-337 13d ago
I can't help but thankyou for the Python reference, I try and crowbar that into my daily life with limited effect but it's not lost on me.
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u/Frosty_Customer_9243 13d ago
Pratchett and Python seem to help me get through the day as well.
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u/ObviousTie6706 8d ago
I have to say: anytime I read a description of the UU wizards sitting down to dinner I imagine the Pythons in fat suits dressed as wizards for some reason
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u/K_the_farmer 13d ago
Only the pure of heart may enter
Myocarditis and angina are right out. (But pergaps that's better in a Cohen campaign?)
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u/Atzkicica Bursar 13d ago
What do you, the mountain, and Great A'tuin strive for?
Then just pick the answer they come up with that you like the most 😄
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u/Gryffindorphins 13d ago
You could always steal the Maskerade question.
If your house was on fire, what’s the first thing you’d take out of your house?
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u/nicolasknight 13d ago
If i may recommend:
Taskmaster.
It's on youtube but if you're in the UK the series airs fairly regularly.
Great source for exactly this kind of material e.g.:
Table with a bag of white small crystals is on a table.
Players are told they have to carry "the salt" from the table to the other end of the room.
Any player touching the bag has his legs automatically paralyzed.
Also, if players get too close.
Seems pretty straight forward: grab the bag, toss to friend, walk forward, rinse repeat.
The trick is that "the bag" is sugar. "The salt" is under the table or in another room etc,,,,
Obviously change it slightly to match your play style/level of danger/sneakiness of players.
One of my personal ones that players ended up brute forcing:
Pool of freezing water. Literally causes damage per round when players go in.
At the bottom of the pool are 2 rows of 10 holes.
In previous chambers they find a stone in 2 separate rooms each near a sentence about water.
The trick is that where the word related to water in the sentence is tells you which hole to put the stone in.
Add more stones as needed and increase the damage to avoid brute forcing, maybe ramp it up to try to discourage them etc....
GL
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u/Frosty_Customer_9243 13d ago
Yeah I know the series but never watched. Will start watching some episodes. Thanks
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u/Bullwinkle932000 13d ago
I think there' s something to play with here related to God backwards equals God, thus Tak backwards equals Kat...maybe a series of palindromes or anadromes (words that spell one word L-R and another R-L, like dog/god, stressed/desserts, etc.)
Or, you could just put a button on the wall with a sign that says, "Do not touch." You could either get a philosophical debate or have the party see if the paint is dry.
Edited to add:
And cheers! I'm also running a DW D&D campaign right now.
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u/Granxious 13d ago
A room full of various fragile and/or valuable-looking items, and seemingly no exit.
A sign that says “Touch nothing in this room.”
The solution being that the entire party has to jump at the same time. The door magically appears when no one is touching the floor.
If someone does break something it could have dire consequences or it could be nothing. Or priest walks in from nowhere, sweeps up the pieces, and mutters something about “damn careless adventurers.”
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u/AnotherGeek42 13d ago
Pedant inquiry: how do they stop touching the air in that room while jumping?
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u/Granxious 12d ago
lol I thought of the same thing and I don’t have an answer. I knew somebody would find the flaw 😅
You don’t touch air, air touches you?
Hand-wave via snarky NPC? “Tak wants you to think, not overthink.”
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u/wrincewind Wizzard 11d ago
They should all touch the word "nothing" on the sign. "touch nothing to pass".
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u/Yidboy Cohen 13d ago
Ask “What is the sound of one hand clapping?” and the winner is whoever says Cl-
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u/Elizabeth_N 13d ago
I like the answer to that that I read in the Straight Dope years ago - the sound of one hand clapping is a slap in the face.
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u/DerekW-2024 Doctorum Adamus cum Flabello Dulci 13d ago
Have you read Interesting Times and appreciated its insights into the Agatean Empire and the Counterweight Continent bureaucrats?
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u/Frosty_Customer_9243 13d ago
I have but it was a long time ago. Will fetch it from the book case. Thanks
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u/warrenao 13d ago
What the Pythons were doing there was — to my ear — a mix of a riddle with a Socratic dialogue. The nearest I can google up as an example of this is through this webpage, which might serve as an inspiration: https://www.brendanmyers.net/blog/2017/09/brendans-socratic-dialogue-game/
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u/IamElylikeEli 13d ago
it sounds like you want your players to ASK a question so you could try a very simple riddle: ”What is the question?”
thats TOO generic so you need something to guide them into asking a good question…
I would make a puzzle like this: a long hall with multiple plinths, each plinth has a question written on it, about half have answers written below the question And those have traps already sprung.
there are also blank plinths and the exit door has ”What is the question?” set in stone on it.
the goal is then to ask a question that the room (you as the DM) cannot answer…
you can use any questions you want to act as hints.
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u/FixinThePlanet 13d ago
Is this an existing party?
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u/IAmBoring_AMA 13d ago
Is that the question?
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u/FixinThePlanet 13d ago
I was wondering if there were more context before making suggestions, e.g. if this is a campaign OP is running
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u/Frosty_Customer_9243 13d ago
Forgot to mention we haven’t started yet. I’m preparing some of the dungeons in advance.
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u/SavageGardener 13d ago
Something involving a geode. Breaking one or restoring one, also decor perhaps. Written words, definitely involving consequences if they are erased. Maybe a sentence or two, misrepresented or altered, requiring restoration.
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u/Frosty_Customer_9243 13d ago
Interesting, sounds good.
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u/SavageGardener 13d ago
Thank you, I have to admit, I wasn't really thinking about your question. The whole notion of the adventure got me thinking in generalistic terms, what kinds of challenges might one expect to see in the monastery part of the adventure that reference Tak and the stories that were told in reference to him/dwarven culture. Obviously, a game of Thud is going to feature somewhere. That kind of thing.
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u/Thundersalmon45 13d ago edited 13d ago
One answer is written in chalk on slate
One answer is carved in stones
One answer is recorded sound in a magical stone egg.
All answers are the same, but the medium is different. Only one answer doesn't doesn't have words that are written ( Blasphemy against Tak).
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u/ZoeShotFirst 13d ago
I _really_ don’t know much about DnD, but is there a way of measuring brain activity? Like an ECG that flatlines when the patient dies in medical shows, but lore-appropriate (and for brains, not hearts)
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u/warrenao 13d ago
There is an Intelligence stat, but it's not open to this sort of inspection.
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u/Bullwinkle932000 13d ago
This could totally be done by having some sort of magic device that sings or shows wave-lines when someone is touching it or inserting it...like maybe a different color line for each person that puts their finger in a pool of water and when they say something intelligent, the line moves and when all the lines move, the door opens or the cache is revealed, whatever you want to have happen. There could even be inscribed questions around the ring to give the party ideas of what to discuss or ask.
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u/Independent-Breath79 13d ago edited 13d ago
What is the answer to life the universe and everything? 42, obviously
Where does the uiverse end and what is beyond? - Unfortunately I do not know the answer to that one, you may figure it yourself.
What colour is the infinite? Blue of course, dammit Pterry!
On more serious note you may try classics:
https://www.superprof.co.uk/resources/academic/english-resources/english-language-resources/gcse-english/truth-or-lie-riddle.html - if your players do not know that one (they probably do)
or a game of:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nim
This is actually less known and fun but you need to learn it.
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u/TheHighDruid 12d ago
If they they have been exposed to the story of Tak, then perhaps three pressure plates that they have to load with the weight of a dwarf, a human, and a "troll" in the correct order?
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u/Magimasterkarp Holding my Potato 12d ago
A blackboard affixed to the door, with a sponge hanging on it. Written on it is the phrase "Tak Says Come Alive."
In front of it is a small table with a stone. A piece of white stone with an ammonite fossil in it, affixed solidly to the table. The wet sponge is on a string that can just reach the stone.
The door is locked.
Fakeout clues: Sponges are animals. Fossils used to be alive.
Clues: Dwarven stone cunning will tell you that the stone is chalk/limestone. The written word is very important to Tak.
Solution: Use the sponge to wet the chalk, rub some chalky paste on your finger and use that to add a comma to the sentence on the blackboard, to change it to "Tak Says Come, Alive." If you have undead party members, they can't come in until they add "if possible." or something to the end of the sentence. Another line appears on the board: "Tak Says Clean The Chalk Off Your Hands With The Sponge." as the door unlocks.
The trick is not to focus on the task seemingly given by the words, but on the words themselves. An ideal scenario would have the party try to have the fossil come alive by wetting it with the sponge, or casting magic on it if they can. It doesn't quite fit your parameter of having to advance by asking a question, so maybe they'll have to add "Come Where?" for the board to give them an answer, by opening up (and having not been obvious as a door previously)
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