Some Original Puzzles and Riddles for Your Game

There are as many methods as there are game masters when it comes to implementing riddles and puzzles. I will try to keep my opinion on this short and sweet. The good stuff is always at the bottom.

Here's some facts:

They are mind boggling, their obvious nature only made obvious after the answer is given, (hand smacks forehead). When you're looking for riddles and puzzles, read it first and see if you can solve it yourself. Don't skip straight to the answer. This will give you an idea what your players are going through.

Players will feel very accomplished if they feel they solved a true dilemma with only whit and mind. There are methods to give clues, hints, etc... but defeating a riddle with with a knowledge check is lackluster.

Players will NOT feel stupid if they can't solve it. Rather, they will feel the riddle or puzzle was too obscure, poorly written, unfairly dropped on them, etc. Will they curse the Gods for their cruel, fickle ways? No - they will curse you, the GM. Your ears will itch and you will suck.


My rant, (or, 'what works best for me'):

Since the Hobbit, riddles and puzzles are classic tropes in high fantasy. They should rhyme, or at least contain a meter that provides an air of mystery when spoken. Tolkien never listed a sequence of prime numbers, expecting poor Frodo to remember 4th grade math with Ms. Barreltoes. They were well-crafted poems. Riddles that begin with "I start with an E and end with a..." ...are not worthy for a fantasy setting - but admittedly, I get snobbish about riddles.

Riddles and puzzles are for 'extras'. They are rewards, not plot contingent obstacles that must be solved. If being able to solve a riddle is essential to the completion of your story arc, then they will need to earn enough clues in future sessions so that they eventually get it.

Players need time to solve riddles and puzzles, but this stops the train of progress and kills all forward momentum. Time your riddles to appear at or very near the end of your session. This gives them a whole week (or more) to contemplate the answer, leaving them with a 'cliff-hanger'. If the riddle comes mid-session, I only let them spend ten minutes on it and then the train is moving on. They will have to come back to it. Spending hours on a riddle, even if solved, will leave people feeling that time could have been better spent (despite what they politely tell you).

Players may not be able to solve a riddle or puzzle. Fine. Leave it and don't tell them the answer because it destroys the mystery. It is part of human nature to want to tell the secret. Please resist. I have also seen GMs help the players brainstorm, working it out by dropping unearned clues. This also kills the moment and blemishes the craft.

Better to use a riddle or puzzle that was too easy, than one that is too hard.


An Original Puzzle for Your Game:

I had a player come to me seeking Celestial Armor for his Gold Dragon Disciple. He wanted to know if he saved the money, could the PC buy it. (Not possible in our low-magic world.) After considering it, I hinted, "You should ask an oracle." A session or two later, he did:

Oracle: “Though mystery abides in future bleak, In Kindness lies the thing you seek.”

He started being extra kind to everyone and everything. He tended to sick animals and looked for people needing healing everywhere he went. He was more merciful, and looked for ways to be 'more kind'. Frankly, he became the gold dragon in practice he had been striving to become stat-wise all along. A really nice touch to our story. Oh those oracles! So wise!

Five or six sessions later, he was pouring over one of the maps of our home-brew world, the 13 Kingdoms. The party had been chasing a loose Glabrezu and a necromancer with a wight army.  Suddenly, he saw it: a village named "Kindness" just off of southeastern shore of Lake Azure. It had been sitting there all along! Ages ago, an Archon disobeyed his Goddess when she commanded him to protect her followers rather than defend her. While penitently kneeling, she turned him into a statue to await his day of redemption. As the years went by and the story forgotten, a temple was built up around him, and a small town, named Kindness, slowly grew. Now, the Archon was just 'a very realistic statue' in the local temple. The player found the statue, and recognized the armor, but couldn't figure out how to get it. As enemies closed, he was freed by the Goddess for the final battle, only to fall to the demon. In the end, the character got to avenge him, and keep the celestial armor he wore. A prize earned.

This idea can be worked into any game, as long as the oracle (or Goddess, or magical being, etc.) can speak from a place of absolute authority. Another example of this type of puzzle:

"Though mystery abides,
The secret hides,
Though not alone,
Beneath King's Throne."

The secret which is not alone, is of course guarded beneath the King's Throne, (a cheap inn run by a ex-adventuring halfling curmudgeon named Vann. Perhaps there is a sarcophagus there from an ancient pyramid, magically sealed. He could never get it opened... nor was he willing to part with it). Once the riddle has gone on long enough, (perhaps after they realize that breaking into the actual King's royal throne-room lands you in prison,) you can stick the damn inn wherever you want for them to bumble into. If they realize it may be the name of an establishment ahead of time, I'd consider that a nat 20 on the knowledge check once they start asking around.


Here's an old riddle that I've made rhyme:


Sometimes white,
Above the trees,
Sometimes gray,
Moved by breeze.
Sometimes black,
When they are wetting,
Sometimes red,
When Sun is setting.


This is another that fits perfectly in fantasy settings.

This thing has forests,
But it has no trees.
It has no water,
In its rivers and seas.
Its cities and towns,
Have no abodes.
Not a single horse,
Treads its bridges and roads.


This is one of my original works, it is difficult but with some contemplation, they'll get it:

White all over,
Without feeling,
Void inside,
Lifeless being.
Rows of pearl,
Breathless maw,
Twins in shadow,
Once they saw.

Another original with a more 'bardic' feel:

Have you ever seen a bird so swift and fleet?
Fingers guide the string to its seat.
Then pulled to ear with one eye squinting,
Its metal beak in sunlight glinting.

The Demon's Dream Door:

The party enters a 15' x 15' room with a pedestal in the middle, and a magically sealed door on the far wall with an iron demonic face encircling the keyhole. A small fire pit lay to the left and there are some indications a party may have slept on the right side, (food scraps, a wine cork and a stone scratched with dwarven runes, "Grongnir High-Axe used this as a pillow.") If someone casts detect magic, the keyhole faintly shines with an aura and there is illusion magic coming from the top of the pedestal. Creative characters can be rewarded by a semi-translucent key appearing on the pedestal, but no matter what they do, it can't be picked up or moved... the pedestal also bears this inscription:

Heroes must make a fire bright,
Then hold the key against the light.
A twin then made within the hall,
But dark it hangs upon the wall.
Now move it towards the demon's face,
And gently turn once put in place.
Little is what you think it seams.
For all must happen within your dreams.

The answer: The party must fall asleep and dream within the room. In the dream, they can light the fire and the key in the above description appears in its solid form. The key's shadow upon the wall is what unlocks the door. The party must manipulate the solid key in such a manner as to make the shadow enter the demon-faced keyhole, then 'gently turn'. They will all awaken then to the sound of grating stone as the door magically opens.

I will include the answers to the other riddles in a comment below. I hope you can use some of these and I would like to hear about your original ideas as well. If you disagreed with any of my rant at the beginning of this article, or if there is something I left out... say so in the comments below! Need an original piece for your dungeon or campaign? Send me your dark, twisted ideas and I will make it rhyme and blog about it.

High axe friends!

I go.