Author Topic: Help me write a puzzle.  (Read 588 times)

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Offline MetalJunkie

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Help me write a puzzle.
« on: January 25, 2018, 10:39:54 PM »
I'm writing a puzzle that my friends will end up solving. Basically I'm using symbol-based letter substitution, and I want them to decode the following phrase. Most of you are probably familiar with it:

IN HIS HOUSE AT R'LYEH
DEAD CTHULHU WAITS DREAMING

I plan to use another set of words as the cipher to decode this, so I've isolated all the letters in those two lines and come up with a few options. My favorite one so far is that they find the words in their (D&D) adventure: "witches", "hour", and "mangled," with the corresponding symbols above each word. With the exception of "Y," those three words contain all the letters of the Cthulhu saying, so they will easily be able to determine which symbol goes to what letter.

I feel like it's incomplete, or lacking something. Anyone have any ideas to tweak it? Or any combination of words other than the three I provided. Really anything - just looking for creative input here.
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Online Evermind

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Re: Help me write a puzzle.
« Reply #1 on: January 26, 2018, 06:55:55 AM »
I'll think of this for a bit, but I would say maybe separate the keywords into different dungeon rooms or make them be not near the actual puzzle someway—which might be obvious, but still—otherwise it would be too easy; but then again, make sure the players will actually find the keywords. Maybe place one in some easily found spot, so that it would be obvious to them other words with the cypher key exist in the dungeon, but now they need to find them to decipher the phrase completely. Maybe let them find the first one before they encounter the actual puzzle (so they would go "oh, that's what it was for!")

Also maybe consider changing one keyword or two so that even with full set of three words, there would be a few letters missing (H, A and E would be my picks). Or just make finding the last word a difficult task. Think Heavy Rain where even if you didn't do all things, you can still find out what you need to find out (if you played it, you know what I'm talking about, and if not, that wasn't much of a spoiler). I mean, the only words that could be trouble are R'lyeh and Cthulhu, and if your players know about Cthulhu setting, these will be moderately easy to guess too.

If you both separate the words and leave out a few letters, this will also allow uncertainty for the players. Should they search for more words? Are there more words or should they try to figure it out on their own now? This ambiguity always went down well with the group I played with, but your group may be different.

I guess what I'm saying is, don't just give them the cypher key and the cypher in full in the same place, because everyone can do 2+2=4. The players will probably feel much more satisfaction in solving something that isn't obvious. But then again, don't make it too difficult because the players' train of thought may differ from yours. :lol

I'll add something if I think of it.
« Last Edit: January 26, 2018, 07:01:21 AM by Evermind »
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