Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/18/84; site sdcc13.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!cbosgd!ihnp4!zehntel!hplabs!sdcrdcf!sdcsvax!sdcc3!sdcc13!ee163acp From: ee163acp@sdcc13.UUCP (DARIN JOHNSON) Newsgroups: net.games.frp Subject: Re: How do you write a dungeon? Message-ID: <132@sdcc13.UUCP> Date: Thu, 17-Jan-85 17:00:07 EST Article-I.D.: sdcc13.132 Posted: Thu Jan 17 17:00:07 1985 Date-Received: Tue, 22-Jan-85 04:37:27 EST References: <2173@nsc.UUCP> <190@dspo.UUCP><233@calmasd.UUCP> <273@daemon.UUCP> Distribution: net Organization: U.C. San Diego, Academic Computer Center Lines: 18 > I've found that the right mixture of puzzles and hacking can be the most > fun. The puzzles should not be so tough as to cause the party to come to > a standstill to figure it out before they proceed. They should be more > of the type where all of a sudden one character will go "HEY! I've seen > that symbol before!" I particularly like to throw out the puzzles that my party try to figure out and the put it off. Later they run across a situation that makes the solution obvious. The solution then would have made the trap or encounter avoidable. The party then spends lots of time on problems that are pointless. To be fair to the players, I try to let the solutions that reveal themselves also partly solve the rest of the puzzle. An example of this is a scroll containing a cryptic rhyme describing the major traps of the dungeon. Figuring out one verse (because the fell into the trap) gives clues to the rest of the rhyme. Darin Johnson avoidable