Free puzzle: The room of runes

[OnlineDM]

I built this puzzle for a 4e adventure, but since it's system-agnostic I figured I'd share it in General.

The full write-up is over on my blog, but in a nutshell the party enters this room from the left and is trying to cross it to the right. The tiles of the floor have runes on them, and it's clear that some tiles are safe to step on while others are not. The runes equate to numbers (number of lines in the rune = its number), and they hold the information needed to figure out the safe spots to stand.

What do you think? Too simple? Too opaque? There are some hints on the blog if you need them.

So far I've only run this puzzle once (the second try will be tomorrow) and the group in question didn't get it (though the one puzzle-loving player enjoyed it once I revealed the answer).

 

[Corathon]

Too opaque.

The only solution that suggest itself is that odd numbered tiles are the safe ones.

(I used white text on white background to avoid spoiling the puzzle if I'm right.)

 

[OnlineDM]

Thanks for the feedback. The solution you proposed isn't it, but I can see why you might guess it.

I'll repost the hints from my blog here in a set of spoiler blocks:

Hint 1: [sblock]The rune for the number 1 is carved on the east wall, above the exit.[/sblock]
Hint 2: [sblock]The rune for the number 3 is carved on the south wall.[/sblock]
Hint 3: [sblock]The rune for the number 7 is carved on the north wall.[/sblock]

By the way, it looks like one of my blog readers did get the solution, although I don't yet know if he/she needed the hints or not.

 

[howandwhy99]

Without knowing the results about stepping on any of the squares I don't think we can figure this out. Knowing the number of lines represent an ordinal system helps, but it still isn't immediately obvious. We could try and step only on the recurved lines or single curved lines too. Or perhaps the single line rune occurring more often means it is the safe route. Without trial and error it isn't apparent.

 

[OnlineDM]

Stepping on a false floor tile results in falling in a pit and taking some damage. Not instant death, but it hurts.

I don't know if that helps or not.

 

[howandwhy99]

Stepping on a false floor tile results in falling in a pit and taking some damage. Not instant death, but it hurts.

I don't know if that helps or not.

I don't know why some tiles being safe and others not being so is apparent from the character perspective. The results of unsafeness might have helped, but doesn't appear to relate. Maybe low damage means pick low number lined runes?

I mean we can't really figure this out except through trial and error. Most players will probably assume a pattern exists though and look for certain runes on tiles to be safe and others not. Which ones do however means testing some tiles by rune inscription.

But maybe I'm missing something.

 

[OnlineDM]

Sorry, I was trying to keep the original presentation simple.

The way the PCs know about tiles being unsafe could be handled in different ways. In this particular adventure, I tell the PCs that their training in certain skills (dungeoneering, theivery) lets them recognize this as a trap, and that some tiles will crumble if they step on them. They know that other creatures (drow, in this case) have passed through this chamber, but they can intuit that the creatures know the safe spots to stand. Further, they can intuit that the runes are a reminder to the creatures that pass through here of which spots are safe and which aren't.

I presented it a little more abstractly in the original post; perhaps that was a mistake. I wanted to keep the presentation short.

And the intention is for this to be a puzzle that could be solved without trial and error. "Given that certain tiles are safe and certain tiles are unsafe, and given that there is a safe path from the entrance to the exit, and given that the runes contain information in a systematic way to indicate to certain intelligent creatures which tiles are safe, can you figure out which tiles you can safely step on to get to the other side?" That's the presentation as I intend it (abstracting from the flavor).

And the answer may well be, "No, we can't figure that out. Let's go with trial and error." Which is fine.

If the group I run through this puzzle doesn't like the puzzle or can't figure it out, I run it instead as a mini skill challenge (perception/dungeoneering/thievery to figure out which tiles are safe, athletics/acrobatics to jump or tiptoe among the safe tiles).

 

[Patryn of Elvenshae]

My thought process was:

1. I can start by stepping on a 1 tile and then move to a 1 tile - Fibonnaci! No, wait, 1-1-2 works, but there's no 3.
2. Okay, I can start on an odd-numbered tile or an even-numbered tile. Is there a path from the left to the right that passes over only such tiles:
   1. Even-numbered tiles: Yep - it goes 8-2-2-4-2-4-4-off. Even-numbered's a possibility.
   2. Odd-numbered tiles: Yep - it goes 1-1-1-3-5-5-1-off. Odd-numbered's a possibility.
   So, that doesn't really tell me anything.

Then I read the first hint, which was an odd-number. I'll assume odd numbers are safe, then, and take that path.

How'd I do?

 

[OnlineDM]

How'd I do?

You did great at showing me how people are likely to approach this puzzle! This is a big part of what I was hoping to get by posting it here.

However, you did not find the correct solution. I understand where your logic was coming from, though, and I could totally see a party following the odd number sequence until it failed, then rescuing the PC who fell and trying again.

 

[Patryn of Elvenshae]

In a more general sense, these are stones that crumble when the wrong person steps on them, right? And when you fall, you take a little bit of damage (so the pit can't be that deep), and can pretty easily be rescued to try again. So ...

1) Why aren't there any precrumbled stones? People pass through here pretty routinely, I guess, and none of them have ever managed to put a foot wrong? If they magically regenerate, how long does it take for that to happen, and can I use Detect Magic to find the (normal?) stones resting on the pillars, and just step on those?

2) If falling doesn't do much damage, why can't I just fall through the first hole I find, map out the supporting pillars on the bottom of the shallow pit, and work my way across that way? If need be, my party can just intentionally crumble a stone on the other side to pull me up.