Riddles

[Omegaz]

I remember playing a scenario for Tunnels & Trolls many years ago (I think it was Catacombs of the Bear Cult) that required the players to either fight a Sphinx or to answer his riddle to pass. Riddles also feature prominently in the Hobbit.

How many of you have used riddles in your campaign, and what are the best ones you know?

Here's an easy one I vaguely recall from the Catocombs scenario.

Eyes I have, yet I cannot see,
I live in the ground,
Can you name me?

 

[Ion]

potato?

The best riddle / puzzle thing I've ever seen was actual this thread. Blew me away.

 

[Omegaz]

Yes a potato. Too easy I guess.

Great riddle thread. Thanks for the link.

Here's another one for all you hobbits out there.

I begin with an e and end with an e,
I contain only one letter,
Yet I'm not the letter e.

 

[shilsen]

I begin with an e and end with an e,
I contain only one letter,
Yet I'm not the letter e.

Envelope?

 

[Balgus]

To keep the spirit going:

1. Have a glass (or any container) on a pedastol. In order to trigger the mechanism, the players have to fill it exactly half way (weighted pedastol) using a nearby pool of water. Too much or too little, and the trigger does not activate. How do they do this?

2. What stinks in life, but smells sweet in death?

3. Three brothers
One sits and never gets up
One eats and is never full
Last will leave to never return.

4. What must you give in order to keep?

5. At a tender age, I am sweet in the sun.
Mature, I engage in social gaiety
In old age, I am valued more than ever.

 

[Richards]

Here's my shot at three of Balgus' ridlles:

1.

Spoiler

One possible solution is to slowly pour water from the pool (carrying it over in a different container, or else cupped hands if nothing better is available) and fill the glass while it's sitting on the pedestal. When you hit the halfway point, it should trigger the mechanism.

4.

Spoiler

A promise.

5.

Spoiler

Grapes (becoming wine, and then aged wine).

Johnathan

 

[Omegaz]

Here's a shot at 2 of Balgus' riddles

2. [sblock] Your enemies?[/sblock]
4. [sblock] Sounds like the elements Earth, Fire, and the last could either be Water or Wind.[/sblock]

And here is a really old riddle,

I'm a great help to women, and the hope of something to come.
I harm none except for my slayer, and stand rooted in a high bed, shaggy below.
Sometimes the beautiful peasant's daughter, an eager-armed, proud woman grabs my body, rushes my red skin, holds me hard, and claims my head.
The curly-haired woman who catches me fast will feel our meeting, and her eyes will be wet.

 

[the Jester]

2. What stinks in life, but smells sweet in death?

Hey, I used this one on my halfling party!

I actually ran a game a while back where the pcs found a lost temple of the god of riddles, and there were about five or six puzzles and riddles they had to answer in order to get through it...

 

[Balgus]

Here's my shot at three of Balgus' ridlles:

4. A promise.

5. Grapes (becoming wine, and then aged wine).

Johnathan

These two are correct. #1... eh- there is a more scientific ay of doing it without a measure cup or scale or what not.

OmegaZ- your answer to #2 is pretty cool. But I was thinking of something simpler.
I think your #4 answer is actually to #3. Cause earth, wind, and fire is a cool band...

Jester- could you share some with us?


Have fun guys

 

[Hypersmurf]

1. Have a glass (or any container) on a pedastol. In order to trigger the mechanism, the players have to fill it exactly half way (weighted pedastol) using a nearby pool of water. Too much or too little, and the trigger does not activate. How do they do this?

[sblock]We need a second container - a helmet, perhaps.

One character picks up the glass. Reduce Person is cast on him. His size in every dimension is halved, decreasing volume by a factor of eight; the same change affects any equipment he wears or carries, including the glass.

He fills the glass four times, pouring it into the helmet. The helmet now contains four-eighths the volume of the glass at its regular size - one half.

The Reduced PC passes the empty glass to someone else, whereupon it reverts to its original size, and the water from the helmet is poured back into it - filling it exactly halfway.[/sblock]

2. What stinks in life, but smells sweet in death?

[sblock]A civet? It stinks while alive, but its musk is used in perfume?[/sblock]
-Hyp.