You are saying it hasn't taken off already? 3 videos in, already 1k followers, an accent intriguing to most Americans, a mode of speech that is fast paced yet pleasant to listen to, a channel which promises something different than the constant swashbuckling, High Fantasy-esc, adventure of other channels, or even the Low Fantasy, Blood and Blade, style promised by most of the OSR TH-cam crowd? And behind the scenes, a definite understanding of SEO and obvious experience with TTRPGs, Scene Crafting, and Storytelling? Oh... and that mood lighting is bomb. They are already set with a TH-cam winning combination.
I love the idea of these organic puzzles like the kids, where it's not a whole magical passphrace thing but literally just a situation that demands creativity.
Ooh, these puzzles are EXCELLENT, I really love the idea of having them be less of a standard video game puzzle and more like what a protagonist in a book might find. Great framing, I’ll be using this for sure in my games!
This is exactly the stuff Ive been looking for. As a player I love puzzles and riddles but as a DM i always had trouble running them, they felt boring, my players were uninterested etc. But basically everything you brought up in this video addresses what they disliked about them! I cant wait to incorporate this into my home game.
I've said that when designing TTRPG puzzles, you should take inspiration from things like the backs of cereal boxes, or issues of highlights. Ive seen and been in plenty of parties that got stuck on litteral popsicle-stick riddles. In the moment it can be really hard to get Puzzle Brain going, and so even these little kiddie puzzles will be a lot harder than you expect once you add the fantastical coat of paint to it.
Thank you, these are wonderful ideas that are most definitely going to inspire me! Instant subscription! One thing I'd like to add to the conversation is that progressing doesn't have to mean succeeding: it's ok to have a real chance that your players won't "succeed" in the puzzle, so long as the story still progresses: they aren't just stuck in the same situation but something changes that furthers the plot: maybe they fail the magical test to enter the temple and they are dragged away to a prison cell but now in prison they encounter a character who they had helped in the past. The story of why this charter was taken to prison reveals a clue that takes them in a different direction: the head priest keeps the secret writings of the cult in his own home. Perhaps reading those secret writings would be more valuable than spying on their rituals. That might be easier, if only they can escape this prison cell...
Absolutely agreed, always fail forward. And a lot of the clues we tend to come up with are not really location dependent and can be moved around or added to fit the path that the character actually forge for themselves. *dons tricorne hat* the pre-session notes is more what you'd call "guidelines" than actual rules..
Incredible video and great insights. The more I've run games, the more I've come to similar conclusions. The immersion is paramount to everything else that follows in the session, and most often the simple - yet immersive - problem to solve, runs so much better than the clever - yet superficial - puzzle to solve. And your advice to start from the perspective of the players is particularly powerful. After all how can we expect them to suspend their disbelief of the scenario, if we have not walked through it ourselves to test the illusion? Apologies for the rant. Again, great work.
I'm *absolutely* stealing the vibe of your Sleeping Room in the campaign I'm running. I'll likely swap out the fleshy bits for tendrils of moving shadows to more accurately fit the theme, but everything else you've said is spot-on fantastic advice!
This is my first video I’ve seen of you, and it won’t be my last. This is amazing as a DM and Keeper, your advice on puzzles and riddles. Was spot on. Thank you for this 😊
Thinking about puzzles in the context of there role in the narrative rather than just a challenge for the players is actually a really grate idea. I am a little annoyed such a thing never occurred to me. Grate video. I will definitely be keeping this in mind going forward.
Thanks for the great video and tips! The sleeping flesh room sounds so nice as a way to prop up the atmosphere of the game. It's really inspiring The potion puzzle is also a nice twist on the "hidden rules" kind of puzzles
About tip 4, sometimes when my players feel stuck in a puzzle for long enough, and one of them comes up with a creative solution, even if is not the solution I intended I let it pass and count it as a success
I like the interaction with a prop idea; rewarded with a show of manners, certainly will try this one..... Its like passing round a pair of scissors and asking crossed or uncrossed.....
@@corkboardsandcuriosities please do! your about section says you have an interest in mystery and horror, and both of those to my mind are things that are really lacking in D&D 5e. videos on how to incorporate these elements, or games that already do it well, would go down really well i think. good luck with it all
@@leem2155 oooh yeah that's something that i'm planning to play with too. Though it's definitely very possible to play horror and mystery in 5e, there's so many lovely games that are dear to my heart and that are specifically intended for it, i wanna give em some love
I am practically salivating at the creative puzzles in this video. It’s a great way of reframing critical thinking dilemmas (which can be daunting to some players) seamlessly into a lens of continued role playing. More examples! More puzzles! More content! Bravo! 🎉
Certainly makes my approach seem rubbish. I wanted more puzzles, so I sent my players off to the tomb of an ancient king, where finding the McGuffin required avoiding/solving a series of puzzle traps. Don't get me wrong, it was a great session. It started at the entrance to the tomb and ended with them emerging into the sunlight, victorious, so the pacing was perfect... But they were just puzzles. Video game "solve this with that" puzzles. This video is just gold. :D
These are great tips, it's always intimidating starting to writing a puzzle but I will try more. The idea of mixing social encounters with puzzles it's terrific, I love it. Side note: omg the background is gorgeous, so atmospheric. I'd want to sit there and read a book. Also the lighting *chef kiss*
(my living room humbly thanks you for the compliment on its decor) Yess! I do feel like social encounters are good opportunities for puzzles, gotta be honest I think I just saw a bit too many door puzzles, when there's so many things that can technically qualify as a puzzle hahah
I think another example of what makes your puzzle examples work really well as opposed to some others (that I have been guilty of as well) is the immediate feedback. There's no "nothing happens" when you do it wrong, leaving you to wonder if you should even expect to have the puzzle finished at that point, but both the room and the children give direct response to all of your decisions, which lets players test their ideas and judge their plans based on the newly acquired information.
Oh I... absolutely hadn't thought about that hahaha, but it's very very true, immediate feedback is super important to keep the puzzle moving forward. Glad these two puzzles worked out for it haha
These are great tips, seriously ! I GMed my first game last summers for my nephews and I didn't like most of the tips I found back then on puzzles. So I tried finding out an alternative, and that's when it ticked. Taking inspiration from escape rooms and minigames, and in particular, their interactivity. I ended up looking at Anglo Saxon runes and grabbing parts of these. Printed them on paper and cut them. Then I came up with a few symbols by combining them and rotating them around a decided pivot point (indicated by a circle on the rune pieces). In-game players could interact with it, but once combat started, they had to use an action to try and figure out within some limited IRL time the symbol magically represented/glowing... and there were a few in a sequence. What's great is you can actually easily change the difficulty by making harder symbols or even harder base "shapes" to combine for your runes, and making an explanation for it is fairly easy. It can be an uncompleted ritual or deactivated device. Doing it mid combat ? Change the amount of IRL time players get to interact with it based on the character's intelligence/your system equivalent to INT. Maybe have it make the fight easier somehow. In my case it was getting an easier fight and getting the "good" ending (saving a kingdom prisoner of a timestopped bubble universe they'd have had no idea was a thing without completing the puzzle). I ended up making it a bit too easy (first GMing I was scared of scarring my young players, should have planned a back up in case they were flying through the puzzle :P ). I would love to revisit it and get some hard transparent sheets to print/draw on, cut a hole in the pivot point and have the runes on those plastic sheets stack over on some stick to rotate them around easier (kinda like the cypher in the video) but I know for sure that interactivity is how I'll handle puzzles going forward. Though narratively engaging puzzles is another way I'll consider creating those too now !
I've been DMing for 17 years, weekly or often daily games; as well as screenwriting for about 5. It's rare that a DMing channel teaches me much any more. You saying that a horror monster should be more of a vibe than a creature was so, like... bwaaah, that's dead one the mark. You and I would get along fuckin' FAMOUSLY dude. As far as rolling INT goes in the puzzle solving capacity, I do allow them to roll an increasingly difficult (DC 10, 15, 20) check for clues, but not the answer. Also, I LOVE making painted parchments and malleable objects. Another strategy I employ is to have a nearly impossible fight break out, with the solving the puzzle being the only way out. Some characters have to hold the line while others solve the riddle. I once had a player die and then instantly figure out the answer, so I let his character shout the answer as he was being killed, allowing everyone else to open the portal and escape. You shoulda seen their faces - pure panic
Fantastic video and tips, I loved the examples! I like cyphers and word puzzles a lot, too, but like you said they can get stale and they don't fit in every context. I've shied away from more complex puzzles after a few bad DMs left a bad taste for me, with several occasions of all the players sitting around for an hour on individual puzzles; I'm excited to try more with your tips in mind and a few good backup plans! Might also try a soft timer with punishments (that also reveal hints/clues) at regular intervals.
oh yeah, definitely haha, even though i love word puzzles and all, i'm still trying to figure out a way to make them more entertaining. The way I see it, what makes a good puzzle in rpg is more about "how fun is the process of discovering it" rather than thinking of the actual solution. one way of thinking of it is it's gotta be something that's easy to figure out, but fun to execute.
Great stuff. In a similar vein I picked up a bunch of 2 (or 1 or 5) minute mystery books. That style of logic puzzle where the players ask questions (ie investigate) works great. And with a few books you don’t have to do the work of thinking of good ones). These also work for environmental narrative. The puzzle doesn’t have to be a blocking thing or directly related to why the players are there, it can just be the story of what happened there before you arrived. Even if the players don’t try to solve the puzzle it can make the space feel like it has a life outside of the players plot.
Immaculate vibe and aesthetic ! And cool ideas, the sleeping room is definitely a great encounter. One thing I'd add on the backup plan part is that it's also a good idea to let your players come up with their own solution, even if it doesn't fit the actual solution or any of your backup plans. If their plan makes sense, make it happen, even if you didn't think about it before. I'd even argue that you could have a puzzle without any solution, and the players will probably find a way to solve it anyway (because players always have crazy ideas). Regardless, great work, I hope your channel takes off as much as you like !
oh yeah agreed, i think it goes along with the mentality of "if my players have a theory for the adventure other than what I had planned, then that's the new truth", which is something I really dig. The "truth" behind the screen always can be flexible and can change to better serve the story.
Let them Kobiashi Maru it! Either change the rules of the game, or come up with a solution so beautiful and creative that of course it works. I am so often comforted by the knowledge that my players outnumber me! And some of them are brilliant teens, unhindered by the limitations of experience
This is absolutely genius thank you so much. I really want to try the sleeping room and have my players close their eyes before using a wireless speaker and my phone hidden around the room so that they actually hear crying, mumbling, singing from different spots around them
5:33 I feel called out. Well played. This advice aligns with how I like to approach gameplay. Not just with roleplay OR combat OR exploration, but usually a combination of two aspects (rarely all three, that might be a bit overboard) to grant more dynamism to encounters.
if you feel called out, you're one of the cool kids oh yeah, i'm not yet at the level to have all these aspects balanced out perfectly for each session, but hey, it's a hobby we never really stop learning about
I'm running an adventure, where the party has to do something with a sleeping godess. Immediately switched out the ritual for waking her up to... ...guess what! Really great inspiration and also the general tips. Liked and subbed! Keep more of this stuff coming, please!
Please let me know how it goes! Someone in the comments came back to say how it went and I absolutely love reading those and how people are using these in games. the idea of using this for a sleeping goddess sounds awesome ngl hahaha
What a great set of ideas! I GMed a game where people were transported into a "dream world" and they could ignore anything that could only happen in a dream but the stuff that might be real they had to watch out for. Many years later, I read "Only Forward" by M M Smith, which is a wonderful story including something vaguely similar. As for the "here's a puzzle with the answer written down right next to it", I think the Myst 3 (aka "Exile") adventure game was the best example of plot for this. I strongly suggest looking at excellent adventure games (the Myst series, the Zork series, etc) for ideas.
ooooh i sadly don't really have a setup that's very good for video games, but that sounds intriguing, do you have specific moments in mind so I can maybe find playthrough on youtube ?
I'm gonna hop on the bandwagon and say this video's absolutely fantastic! You definitely know what you're doing both with the content itself and how you present it. Like other people have said, I'm a big fan of the creepy vibe you've got going on! I've always struggled with running puzzles -- my players never get the answer, and they always feel like a huge waste of time. BUT I really like your idea of designing the puzzles from the players point of view, and making them make sense within the context of the world. You're absolutely right when you say it makes no sense for the riddle that opens the door to be on the door to the cultists lair. Looking forward to what you make next!
aaah thank you so much! so happy you liked it! puzzles are a tough one for sure haha, I had plenty of meh puzzle experiences before I eventually stopped trying to run them altogether, until rather recently. I think exactly what you pointed out is what clicked, trying to think of what kind of situation I would love my character to go through, so building the situation before building the puzzle kinda?
if you play this i'd love to hear back how it went!! Please keep me updated! I keep kinda imagining the tune to sound like the main melody of Toutouig va mabig (a lullaby from Brittany), it's soft but can easily feel melancholic and i like that vibe for the sleeping room.
My personal favorite for the 'Clues all around' puzzle is that after the way is opened, passing through it makes you forget the password. It's a precaution to make sure the password isn't pulled out easily by divination/mind-reading magic, since, except during the short time between figuring the puzzle out and entering the door, no-one knows the password.
@@tomroberts1105 haha yeah, i think i was just curious about how you run it with players, but then i'm thinking, probably with secret notes passed around ??
If I was to do it in person, I'd probably say "When you think you have the answer, write it on a piece of paper and hand it to me." The party could interact with the process of solving the riddle, but once they got the answer they were plane-shifted to the demi-plane instantly, so the others could help, up to a point, but get an outright answer. I also used some graphics from an escape room type game, cause a picture is worth a thousand words, that might be a bit tougher IRL.
This is one of the best puzzle videos I've watched and one of the best puzzle ideas I've heard of, and I started playing D&D some 21 years ago! Thanks for the delightful video. I seldom include puzzles in my campaigns because they don't usually make sense (if the deceased queen's family didn't want people to access the royal tomb with the door puzzle, why even put a door in it in the first place?), but this room-monster idea of yours is just what I needed to start considering including some organic (in both senses of the word, haha!) puzzles! Thank you!
I am borrowing this ideas and using this tips to make my own, Thank you very much, this is amazingly helpful (and i love both of the examples provided). Also for what's worth, i have done some simpler puzzles before, I usually run games on maps (both irl and online) so I like doing visual puzzles my players can understand more easily and riddles. Ex:An abandoned mansion which was meant to be a trial for the owner descendants, after unlocking the passage to the next floor they see a snake head on drawin on the floor, but beyond that it is dark. Should the players shed light on it, they will notice that the floor beyond that is of 2 colors, revealing the snake body, but if they try to progress using dark vision, the 2 colors are purposely chosen so that when seen through dark vision, they look as the same tone of grey. There is a small text written on the side using the same trick: "for tricks and and lies i shall be your guide for following my trail you shall abide wether you follor or not is up to yourself for in the end, i may be a trick myself" should the party walk only stepping on the snake's body, they will be safe from harm, but if they don't there will be traps and obstacles that will activate, making it harder to progress. The trick being that the tip of the tail of the snake will also be a trap, for it was a trick in the end.
If anyone is stuck on needing a trap, use a hole. No I am not kidding. A hole that is too big to jump and seemingly endlessly deep. I have seen this simple environmental “trap” stump low level adventures. It’s not like you can’t modify it for higher level adventurers too. You can have a key on the other side which is a heavy object that needs to be brought back so those players who can fly do not have a simple answer. If you are looking for something that has your players involved use this. There has not been a single time where I have used it and not had my players start planning. Which I think is what most DMs want when we plan for traps.
@@corkboardsandcuriosities It went really well and flummoxed them for atleast 15mins. After the second torch lit and extinguished, they focused on the lullaby and eventually I had a bunch of 50yr old blokes singing ‘ring-a-ring of rosies’ as they squelched forward in the darkness. Funny and memorable.
Cool channel! Puzzles are one of the hardest things to get right in gaming. They're also one of the few things that are hard to both CREATE and EXECUTE even if you have a good one written by someone else.
I am so glad that youtube decided to recommend this banger of a video to me! you're approach to puzzles is so fresh and invegorating, honestly as a DM I was starting to feel a little bit of burn out cause things were starting to feel stale, but after watching this video my mind is buzzing with ideas!!! You're approach to puzzles as 'story first' and the quality of your writing and ideas reminds me a lot of Dael Kingsmill over at Monarch Factory (which is a great channel if you haven't seen it) you got yourself a new subscriber I cannot wait for the next video!
aaaah this makes me so happy! I'm so glad this gave you some fun ideas! And yes, I do know of her channel and absolutely love her content!!! and thank you for the encouraging words
This is so so so good!! Thank you for the great advice♡♡ I was grappling with how to engage my player's more! I've written them a poem with clues in metaphors and little drawings in the letters and they're doing great, but those are such fun ideas to get them to think outside the box even more than a 'traditional' riddle would!! You're super creative and have amazing ideas, I'm off to watch your other videos now! :D
Wow such a good concept, ive tried puzzles before but always ended up planning it poorly and losing their interest. Will have to try some of these. In this vein, I might also look at some drinking games, and how they could be adapted in the same way the potion one is. Cant wait to see the channel grow!
@@corkboardsandcuriosities Think I have the start of something maybe? Based on the 'One up one down' drinking game (Google it). One downside is it only really works in person/when you can see the players well. The premise is to present it as some kind of riddle, maybe written on a wall or something, and giving the "correct" answer is needed a few times. Imagine you have a doorway that magically teleports a PC through once that person correctly answers. It is important that each player has to answer as this allows the variation to show and potentially confuse players. Allow players to go back through the door to the rest of the party without a riddle, but to return through it they must correctly answer again. It might be a good idea to have an NPC take part too as an example? The question is posed as 3 options (written or presented somehow otherwise): "One up one down/two down/two up" The correct answer is based on the answer given by a PC that corresponds to that players behaviour IRL. If the player has both hands above the table/belt line: two up; both hands below: two down; otherwise: one up one down. It has no bearing on what the PC is doing. If they are having real trouble and can't figure it out, a way to hint is by posing the question again, but following along with your arms as you say each option. A variation of this could be based on how they keep their dice in front of them. The riddle could become "roll of law/roll of chaos/roll of neutral". Then if they have a large messy pile: chaos; neat, well sorted sets: law; use only one or 2 sets: neutral. Or some other set of rules based on their dice. This has the bonus of misdirection towards alignment too. Might need a bit more tweaking, not completely sure if the hint makes it too obvious? And I don't love the variation.
@@dtebbs ooooooooooooh i love the version with dice a lottttt! i didn't know that game at all this is super fun! but it remind me of a similar little riddle, I wasn't sure it if it existed in english but I just found it on reddit: www.reddit.com/r/riddles/comments/3nch6y/does_it_touch/
Just came across your channel and was shocked to see how new it was. You have some amazing ideas and I've subscribed as I can't wait to see what else you share with us.
This is awesome! Seriously, really well done. One piece of constructive criticism: See if you can reduce the room echo. The echo makes it difficult (for me at least) to make out some individual words occasionally.
I'm happy you like it!!! and for the echos, absolutely noted, haha i'm kinda recording audio from my laptop rn, getting myself a mic is on the to do list for sure!
Lovely take on the topic! I've been considering and postponing the use of puzzles in my campaigns for a long while, as I really want to do them justice, have them support the narrative, and not make them feel like a chore or pointless speedbump. Scary challenge, but always love hearing thoughtful and creative people talk about it. Hope you have fun with running the channel!
Honestly, I felt the same for a real real long time with puzzles, but I thing coming at it with pacing and narrative as the main goal makes it a lot easier, now I just think "oooh what's a cool scene or a cool challenge I'd like my own character to be presented with", and then it comes a lot easier. Although it always ends up coming out as rp prompts more than anything haha, maybe I need more variety on that front
I play a lot of narrative-focused TTRPGs (but not D&D), with some occasional others. Puzzles are a big part of narrative games, just not in the way they are for a video game or even some board games. The puzzles are story-based. They're about social connections, a mystery that doesn't make it obvious it is a mystery, what a character says versus what the player characters see/notice, and trying to address a problem when it seems like you just don't have the resources you need. But mostly, some sort of mystery generally delivered to the players in a way that _doesn't_ shout "this is a mystery, you should try to solve it!" In fact, I will often try to introduce the elements of the mystery (or conundrum or problem) in pieces where it feels like a very natural development in the story. This doesn't always work, sometimes players are far more clever than you expect, and sometimes you (I) fumble it a bit. But mostly it works. I just prefer to have a world that _feels_ real. And it includes things not working as intended. In fact, that's my favorite thing. I'll think up of a situation, perhaps someone with malicious intent dabbling in things they shouldn't... they _think_ they know all they need to, might even by over confident. But something goes wrong. That thing has a ripple of repercussions. Those repercussions touch the player characters in some way, bringing them into the story/mystery and wanting to solve it to get rid of whatever problem dragged them into things. While I don't always use the same pattern, it is the one I use most often because I just really like the idea of unintended consequences -- if there is a big-bad this shows that they can screw up and maybe what makes them "bad" is that they don't particularly care about who gets hurt by the repercussions of their actions OR they are too cavalier and didn't consider that they were leaving a trail of bad outcomes. But it lends itself to a fairly tidy cause-and-effect mystery to suss out. It may involve magic or the supernatural or it might not -- just depends on the sort of game I'm running. But I also like any puzzles in my games to stem from the narrative rather than be a sort of bespoke one-off that could be completely divorced from the story / setting / characters. And for it to at least touch on the bigger picture. If it's a story about someone gone missing amid a city that features vampires preying on people who _know_ vampires don't exist, then a puzzle/mystery may revolve around a lost and found or the items left behind from a person or people who have gone missing... or maybe it's buried in investigator reports concerning various instances of assault/harassment at a local club (all with the implication of a third party not detailed in the reports) or it's tied to a brownstone apartment building that may or may not be home to some sort of predator. While my focus is more on theme and of course not to stray far from the core story, I think that ties into momentum. As everything feels connected but maybe not in a way that is immediately obvious to the players, it builds tension and _hopefully_ builds interest for my players.
oh i'd be interested to know what systems you play! I started with DnD and will always have a fondness for it because it was the beginning of the story, but now find myself preferring other systems. I like the way you describe it a lot, what's the system you like most for mystery?
My character-Intelligence: 18 Presented with locked door, needed to solve a math puzzle to unlock it. I eventually solved it, but the fine line is the difference between, me, the dumb player and my highly intelligent character. My character should be able to solve puzzles I could never hope to conquer. Trying not break immersion with this type of puzzle is quite a challenge. Thanks for the great video!!!!
ooooh I like the point that this raises, someone else brought it up in the comments earlier and it's a very fair point, like what if your character is supposed to be super smart but the puzzles are based on the player's intelligence. Which I get, I'm an absolute dumbass and yet I keep playing high int wizards hahaha I think the way I'd run this is I'd never give the player the answer right away, but them having high attributes in the relevant skills should give them extra hints. I say relevant skills because to me, not all puzzles are INT based. Actually, both the sleeping room and the dragon potion are rather based on wisdom and insight more than anything. It's less about being smart enough for calculations and mind gymnastics, and more about understanding that the sleeping room seems scared, but not inherently hostile, or noticing how these kids are really REALLY polite!!! So instead of delivering the answer right away, I'd just give extra clues to the player. One of my favourite RPG blogs is the Alexandrian, and this kind of reminds me of something he calls the "Matryoshka search technique". With his example, instead of searching the room, succeeding on the check and finding a hidden trapdoor, the player succeeds on their check and notices the floor scuff marks on the floor around the legs of the bed. Leading the player to believe the bed has been moved, leading them to move the bed themselves, and eventually find the trapdoor. I think it would be nice for puzzles to work the same, so the players can reach that conclusion themselves, but the skills of their characters are still rewarded and giving them an advantage. I'll link the article if that's something you're interested in! thealexandrian.net/wordpress/38104/roleplaying-games/random-gm-tip-matryoshka-search-technique
1. This video is great and you are awesome for making it! Also, I love the set dressing :D 2. I work in a primary school, so we have loads of "smart games" I figured they work great as puzzles and are often usable as props or easy to remake and theme. 3. There wasn't really a third point, but a list of two points seemed rather redundant and I didn't want to rewrite this... 4. Awesome channel! (Oh this should have been point three!)
aaaah thank you so much! and oooh would you be down to share a few of these games? I think they make lovely inspiration for RPG bits, i'm always looking for more haha
thank you. I might very well use the Dragon Potion puzzle (or a variation of it, of course) that sounds like a fantastic low stakes puzzle to get people thinking with more than their fists and the dice rolls
I've run 46 one shots in Toronto over the past year, and have added puzzles to about 10 of them. They've (kinda) worked because they've been sown into some other mechanic (low level party chased by skeletal minotaur intent on burning them alive, they come upon a door with a riddle element, must remember something they heard earlier to speak the password to get through the door, or whatever). So based on my experiences, I thought puzzles interesting only if you used them as a way to slow the characters down just when they really, really needed to hurry up. This video presents a much more interesting, immersive approach to puzzles. This is ridiculously deep content. Love the living room ideas, and everything else. Great job! PS Maybe you could let us know where to get that cypher wheel, or how to make it?
omg that's a lot of one shots!!! you're productive!!! love the time pressure, it's for sure making puzzles feel a lot more dynamic. oh yeah! I made that one, haven't really looked into where you can get one that's already made, but I might make a little thing showing how to make one, it's really easy to do and easily customisable! thanks a bunch, and super happy you like this!
@@corkboardsandcuriosities It is a great deal of one shots, that's true. I think it's improved my DMing a great deal. Additionally, I'm an artist (Patrick Doyle Toronto on 1nsta) and DMing this much gives me an excuse to draw fantastical scenes. I'm not "wasting time while ignoring landscapes and still life commissions", I'm "adding visual interest for my players!" Anyway, great content, and I would love it if you could so a video about how to make that little cypher wheel. Take care.
@@patrickdoyle2510 oh yeah! You’re not the first person to ask for showing how to make the cypher wheel, I’m gonna get on that! Also went to check out your art, omg this is awesome stuff!!!!!!!
@@corkboardsandcuriosities Thanks very much! I'm trying to learn how to be a better painter, and a better DM, and your channel is definitely very helpful for the latter. I'm looking forward to your next piece. Take care.
oh wow, fun timing, just last night i was jotting down some notes for a heist video haha, i'm going to take this as a sign to keep going! and thank you so much for the encouraging words! i'm happy that you like these ideas!
Using the calendar from Super Mario Deluxe (gbc), I have a date system in place for my DnD I'm planning (still the sword coast region), along with lunar cycles for any werewolves or newly turned werewolves in the party too lol 🤣 It also helps to create seasons, and when crops are on demand and such too, plus specific events may accrue too, or creating old journals and diaries from back then, or on remains, and how early so and so happened too 🤔
Excellent video, learned a lot of stuff I never thought about. Good production quality and script as well. If i had to make a criticism i would say microphone quality needsd improvement, i'm sure this will be taken care of with time.
I just found your channel, and it's so refreshing and wonderful to discover another unique RPG content creator! I love the atmosphere and creepy vibe of your videos, and I think the topics you've posted about so far are very unique. I will definitely be subscribing, and I look forward to seeing your channel take off!
loved this video, really good advice and cool examples of physical props. but also just the room/your outfit/the visuals as a whole are really cool, love your vibe.
can I print this comment for when I have guests over, to prove to them that "no, having a detective corkboard in your living room is NOT weird" ? Jokes aside, thank you
@@corkboardsandcuriosities haha feel free to print it, but i can't promise they'll agree just because some random person online also has slightly eclectic tastes in interior design.
Absolutely excited to see where this channel goes! I loved everything in this video and enjoyed watching it. Looking forward to the next upload! Subscribing now so I can be along for the journey!
Absolutely riveting! I just love your ideas! The context you gave to the Dragon Potion game is simply stunning. The fleshy room is just great and I will use it in Vampire game, because it is so creepy and Tzimisce-like! Finally, I love your energy and the way you embrace your inner child, as we all should. Please, keep doing more videos like this one! 😁 Also, someone mentioned the room echo and adding to that, plus it would be pretty inclusive, it would be awesome if you had non-automatically-generated subtitles. Although, I guess it does add time to the video-making process.
these are really heartwarming words, thank you :) Absolutely agreed on the room echo haha, it's at the top of the list, I just... don't know how to fix that just yet, and it might take me a little bit of time until i'm able to invest in a proper mic (as opposed to currently using my laptop to record sound haha). But I'll get it done as soon as I can! As for the captions, i did plan on doing it, i want this to be as hassle free as possible for people, especially as i'm not a native speaker and it can sometimes be a little tough to understand me. I haven't yet gotten around to it, but this is a good reminder to do so, i'll try to get it done asap!
@@corkboardsandcuriosities, Thanks for you reply. Regarding you not being a native speaker, I did not hear it at all. As for the echo, equipment is a limitation; you just need to kill one or two bosses and get better gear. Have a wonderful day! P.S. If, and only if you don not mind at all, where are you from? I truly would not have pegged you as a non-native English speaker.
@@corkboardsandcuriosities, Alors, c'est probablement celui-ci qui sera le meilleur compliment quant à ton niveau d'anglais : je suis français aussi et je n'ai détecté aucun accent Frenchy 😁
@@BenjaminSquillari hahaha incroyable, oui là en effet c'est un niveau au dessus en compliment, je suis flattée. Donnons lui un peu de temps, l'accent frenchy pointe le bout de son nez de temps en temps haha, en attendant, les sous titres ont été ajoutés sur cette vidéo! pour les autres, heuuu, j'y viens!
This is really really great. It has always been hard to place puzzles in RPGs, more so in DnD where you regularly have characters who are supposed to be absolute genius commanded by players who are... well, like me. Still, my biggest fear has always been driving the party to a point of stagnation, having alternative ways to go around the puzzle helps but sometimes players can become hyper focused on the problem to the point where they won't even try to find an alternative. When dealing with this I've come to resort a lot in using time as pressure, maybe they are found out if they take too much time, or something happens that disarms or trivializes the puzzle at the expend of another complication.
Aaaah yes I love that, they are quickly distracted by something of greater urgency and the plot progresses. but yeah, puzzles are really tough hahaha, too many unknowns
It's also one of those tools I'd rather keep in the toolbox until I get to know the players and understand their style. And then for some groups it just stays there. BTW, there is a lot of rpg discussion around how to GM, but few about playing outside of the usual minmaxing calculus style analysis.
@@elmarcezen Ha yeah, i'm not sure i'll get into the calculus stuff haha, i've never really been a very math oriented player, tropes and narrative tend to be what i'm most interested in :)
Predicting this channel absolutely takes off in the next month or so.
I don't know if this was the intention, but I'm for sure feeling this as bardic inspiration
I'm doing my part
You are saying it hasn't taken off already? 3 videos in, already 1k followers, an accent intriguing to most Americans, a mode of speech that is fast paced yet pleasant to listen to, a channel which promises something different than the constant swashbuckling, High Fantasy-esc, adventure of other channels, or even the Low Fantasy, Blood and Blade, style promised by most of the OSR TH-cam crowd?
And behind the scenes, a definite understanding of SEO and obvious experience with TTRPGs, Scene Crafting, and Storytelling?
Oh... and that mood lighting is bomb.
They are already set with a TH-cam winning combination.
@@zomara0292 Lol I made this comment two weeks ago when she had 9 subscribers.
She needs a better mic set up.
“Snitch”
Just impeccable showmanship from this person. Got me feelin some type of way.
snitches get stitches but also _experience points_ 👌
Working at an escape room is an epic GM backstory
you haven't heard the best part: in my job i was referred to as "timekeeper", we had a whole time travelling theme going on
Really liked your point that went along the lines of "If we can spend hours playing pretend, its ok to also be interested in playing with toys"
yessss, gotta treasure the child in us!
I love the idea of these organic puzzles like the kids, where it's not a whole magical passphrace thing but literally just a situation that demands creativity.
Ooh, these puzzles are EXCELLENT, I really love the idea of having them be less of a standard video game puzzle and more like what a protagonist in a book might find. Great framing, I’ll be using this for sure in my games!
This is exactly the stuff Ive been looking for. As a player I love puzzles and riddles but as a DM i always had trouble running them, they felt boring, my players were uninterested etc. But basically everything you brought up in this video addresses what they disliked about them! I cant wait to incorporate this into my home game.
I've said that when designing TTRPG puzzles, you should take inspiration from things like the backs of cereal boxes, or issues of highlights. Ive seen and been in plenty of parties that got stuck on litteral popsicle-stick riddles. In the moment it can be really hard to get Puzzle Brain going, and so even these little kiddie puzzles will be a lot harder than you expect once you add the fantastical coat of paint to it.
Thank you, these are wonderful ideas that are most definitely going to inspire me! Instant subscription!
One thing I'd like to add to the conversation is that progressing doesn't have to mean succeeding: it's ok to have a real chance that your players won't "succeed" in the puzzle, so long as the story still progresses: they aren't just stuck in the same situation but something changes that furthers the plot: maybe they fail the magical test to enter the temple and they are dragged away to a prison cell but now in prison they encounter a character who they had helped in the past. The story of why this charter was taken to prison reveals a clue that takes them in a different direction: the head priest keeps the secret writings of the cult in his own home. Perhaps reading those secret writings would be more valuable than spying on their rituals. That might be easier, if only they can escape this prison cell...
Absolutely agreed, always fail forward. And a lot of the clues we tend to come up with are not really location dependent and can be moved around or added to fit the path that the character actually forge for themselves. *dons tricorne hat* the pre-session notes is more what you'd call "guidelines" than actual rules..
I just realised that the dragon potion game is totally one that fairies would love to play.
Incredible video and great insights.
The more I've run games, the more I've come to similar conclusions. The immersion is paramount to everything else that follows in the session, and most often the simple - yet immersive - problem to solve, runs so much better than the clever - yet superficial - puzzle to solve.
And your advice to start from the perspective of the players is particularly powerful.
After all how can we expect them to suspend their disbelief of the scenario, if we have not walked through it ourselves to test the illusion?
Apologies for the rant.
Again, great work.
I'm *absolutely* stealing the vibe of your Sleeping Room in the campaign I'm running. I'll likely swap out the fleshy bits for tendrils of moving shadows to more accurately fit the theme, but everything else you've said is spot-on fantastic advice!
ooooh I love that! And yeah it would totally work reflavouring it that way too! might use that for some call of cthulhu someday haha
This is my first video I’ve seen of you, and it won’t be my last. This is amazing as a DM and Keeper, your advice on puzzles and riddles. Was spot on. Thank you for this 😊
Thinking about puzzles in the context of there role in the narrative rather than just a challenge for the players is actually a really grate idea. I am a little annoyed such a thing never occurred to me. Grate video. I will definitely be keeping this in mind going forward.
I have always struggled with puzzles and riddles in my game. I absolutely love this take.
Thanks for the great video and tips! The sleeping flesh room sounds so nice as a way to prop up the atmosphere of the game. It's really inspiring
The potion puzzle is also a nice twist on the "hidden rules" kind of puzzles
So happy you like them! I’m hoping I can come up with more because I kinda live for that eureka moment haha
I’m writing a Christmas mystery one shot for my younger cousins (10,13) and have been getting a lot of helpful tips from this channel. Cool stuff 🤙🏼
Happy to be part of this story from almost the start.
These lovely comments are too much for my lil heart
Fantastic video! I love the way your mind works the settings and puzzles.
Awesome content! Glad to see the start of a nice, quality DnD channel. Keep it up!
Thank you so so much! This is definitely encouraging me to keep going further down the rabbit hole 😄
Glad I could help you keep up the awesome work! It's really good production quality.
About tip 4, sometimes when my players feel stuck in a puzzle for long enough, and one of them comes up with a creative solution, even if is not the solution I intended I let it pass and count it as a success
oh absolutely! I love doing that too, if the players are creative, it's gotta be rewarded
You are a genius and this is what I've been searching for. Thank you! I'll try and share you around to boost those numbers a bit
this is too nice and now i can't stop smiling
I like the interaction with a prop idea; rewarded with a show of manners, certainly will try this one..... Its like passing round a pair of scissors and asking crossed or uncrossed.....
here from Taron’s community post. this video is gold! subscribing like my life depends on it.
thank you so much! i'm so glad you enjoyed it and the lovely feedback is so motivating to make more haha
@@corkboardsandcuriosities please do! your about section says you have an interest in mystery and horror, and both of those to my mind are things that are really lacking in D&D 5e. videos on how to incorporate these elements, or games that already do it well, would go down really well i think. good luck with it all
@@leem2155 oooh yeah that's something that i'm planning to play with too. Though it's definitely very possible to play horror and mystery in 5e, there's so many lovely games that are dear to my heart and that are specifically intended for it, i wanna give em some love
I am practically salivating at the creative puzzles in this video. It’s a great way of reframing critical thinking dilemmas (which can be daunting to some players) seamlessly into a lens of continued role playing. More examples! More puzzles! More content! Bravo! 🎉
haaaa this response makes me so happy! well, i've been considering it but... that's the incentive, time to create more puzzles!
This makes so much more sense to my brain! My improv group will love this. Tysm!
Certainly makes my approach seem rubbish. I wanted more puzzles, so I sent my players off to the tomb of an ancient king, where finding the McGuffin required avoiding/solving a series of puzzle traps. Don't get me wrong, it was a great session. It started at the entrance to the tomb and ended with them emerging into the sunlight, victorious, so the pacing was perfect...
But they were just puzzles. Video game "solve this with that" puzzles. This video is just gold. :D
These are great tips, it's always intimidating starting to writing a puzzle but I will try more. The idea of mixing social encounters with puzzles it's terrific, I love it.
Side note: omg the background is gorgeous, so atmospheric. I'd want to sit there and read a book. Also the lighting *chef kiss*
(my living room humbly thanks you for the compliment on its decor)
Yess! I do feel like social encounters are good opportunities for puzzles, gotta be honest I think I just saw a bit too many door puzzles, when there's so many things that can technically qualify as a puzzle hahah
How is this channel not a massive success yet?? Fantastic work!
I think another example of what makes your puzzle examples work really well as opposed to some others (that I have been guilty of as well) is the immediate feedback. There's no "nothing happens" when you do it wrong, leaving you to wonder if you should even expect to have the puzzle finished at that point, but both the room and the children give direct response to all of your decisions, which lets players test their ideas and judge their plans based on the newly acquired information.
Oh I... absolutely hadn't thought about that hahaha, but it's very very true, immediate feedback is super important to keep the puzzle moving forward. Glad these two puzzles worked out for it haha
These are great tips, seriously ! I GMed my first game last summers for my nephews and I didn't like most of the tips I found back then on puzzles. So I tried finding out an alternative, and that's when it ticked. Taking inspiration from escape rooms and minigames, and in particular, their interactivity.
I ended up looking at Anglo Saxon runes and grabbing parts of these. Printed them on paper and cut them. Then I came up with a few symbols by combining them and rotating them around a decided pivot point (indicated by a circle on the rune pieces). In-game players could interact with it, but once combat started, they had to use an action to try and figure out within some limited IRL time the symbol magically represented/glowing... and there were a few in a sequence. What's great is you can actually easily change the difficulty by making harder symbols or even harder base "shapes" to combine for your runes, and making an explanation for it is fairly easy. It can be an uncompleted ritual or deactivated device. Doing it mid combat ? Change the amount of IRL time players get to interact with it based on the character's intelligence/your system equivalent to INT. Maybe have it make the fight easier somehow. In my case it was getting an easier fight and getting the "good" ending (saving a kingdom prisoner of a timestopped bubble universe they'd have had no idea was a thing without completing the puzzle).
I ended up making it a bit too easy (first GMing I was scared of scarring my young players, should have planned a back up in case they were flying through the puzzle :P ). I would love to revisit it and get some hard transparent sheets to print/draw on, cut a hole in the pivot point and have the runes on those plastic sheets stack over on some stick to rotate them around easier (kinda like the cypher in the video) but I know for sure that interactivity is how I'll handle puzzles going forward. Though narratively engaging puzzles is another way I'll consider creating those too now !
I've been DMing for 17 years, weekly or often daily games; as well as screenwriting for about 5. It's rare that a DMing channel teaches me much any more. You saying that a horror monster should be more of a vibe than a creature was so, like... bwaaah, that's dead one the mark. You and I would get along fuckin' FAMOUSLY dude. As far as rolling INT goes in the puzzle solving capacity, I do allow them to roll an increasingly difficult (DC 10, 15, 20) check for clues, but not the answer. Also, I LOVE making painted parchments and malleable objects. Another strategy I employ is to have a nearly impossible fight break out, with the solving the puzzle being the only way out. Some characters have to hold the line while others solve the riddle. I once had a player die and then instantly figure out the answer, so I let his character shout the answer as he was being killed, allowing everyone else to open the portal and escape. You shoulda seen their faces - pure panic
Fantastic video and tips, I loved the examples! I like cyphers and word puzzles a lot, too, but like you said they can get stale and they don't fit in every context. I've shied away from more complex puzzles after a few bad DMs left a bad taste for me, with several occasions of all the players sitting around for an hour on individual puzzles; I'm excited to try more with your tips in mind and a few good backup plans! Might also try a soft timer with punishments (that also reveal hints/clues) at regular intervals.
oh yeah, definitely haha, even though i love word puzzles and all, i'm still trying to figure out a way to make them more entertaining. The way I see it, what makes a good puzzle in rpg is more about "how fun is the process of discovering it" rather than thinking of the actual solution. one way of thinking of it is it's gotta be something that's easy to figure out, but fun to execute.
Great stuff. In a similar vein I picked up a bunch of 2 (or 1 or 5) minute mystery books. That style of logic puzzle where the players ask questions (ie investigate) works great. And with a few books you don’t have to do the work of thinking of good ones). These also work for environmental narrative. The puzzle doesn’t have to be a blocking thing or directly related to why the players are there, it can just be the story of what happened there before you arrived. Even if the players don’t try to solve the puzzle it can make the space feel like it has a life outside of the players plot.
Immaculate vibe and aesthetic ! And cool ideas, the sleeping room is definitely a great encounter.
One thing I'd add on the backup plan part is that it's also a good idea to let your players come up with their own solution, even if it doesn't fit the actual solution or any of your backup plans. If their plan makes sense, make it happen, even if you didn't think about it before. I'd even argue that you could have a puzzle without any solution, and the players will probably find a way to solve it anyway (because players always have crazy ideas).
Regardless, great work, I hope your channel takes off as much as you like !
oh yeah agreed, i think it goes along with the mentality of "if my players have a theory for the adventure other than what I had planned, then that's the new truth", which is something I really dig. The "truth" behind the screen always can be flexible and can change to better serve the story.
Let them Kobiashi Maru it! Either change the rules of the game, or come up with a solution so beautiful and creative that of course it works. I am so often comforted by the knowledge that my players outnumber me! And some of them are brilliant teens, unhindered by the limitations of experience
This is absolutely genius thank you so much. I really want to try the sleeping room and have my players close their eyes before using a wireless speaker and my phone hidden around the room so that they actually hear crying, mumbling, singing from different spots around them
Omg I love that idea! If that's okay, I'm totally gonna steal it next time I run that puzzle haha
@@corkboardsandcuriosities ahahaha that's so flattering, of course you can use it! It's only fair, best of luck and let me know how it went ♥
5:33 I feel called out. Well played.
This advice aligns with how I like to approach gameplay. Not just with roleplay OR combat OR exploration, but usually a combination of two aspects (rarely all three, that might be a bit overboard) to grant more dynamism to encounters.
if you feel called out, you're one of the cool kids
oh yeah, i'm not yet at the level to have all these aspects balanced out perfectly for each session, but hey, it's a hobby we never really stop learning about
Just come across this channel in my recommended, and my GOSH it's so good. Love the useful tips, the creative ideas, and the fun loving attitude!
I'm running an adventure, where the party has to do something with a sleeping godess. Immediately switched out the ritual for waking her up to... ...guess what!
Really great inspiration and also the general tips. Liked and subbed! Keep more of this stuff coming, please!
Please let me know how it goes! Someone in the comments came back to say how it went and I absolutely love reading those and how people are using these in games. the idea of using this for a sleeping goddess sounds awesome ngl hahaha
Those puzzles are simply lovely. I had never heard of the moon game, thank you for sharing that one.
glad you like them! i might try to come up with more haha, this was fun
What a great set of ideas!
I GMed a game where people were transported into a "dream world" and they could ignore anything that could only happen in a dream but the stuff that might be real they had to watch out for. Many years later, I read "Only Forward" by M M Smith, which is a wonderful story including something vaguely similar.
As for the "here's a puzzle with the answer written down right next to it", I think the Myst 3 (aka "Exile") adventure game was the best example of plot for this. I strongly suggest looking at excellent adventure games (the Myst series, the Zork series, etc) for ideas.
ooooh i sadly don't really have a setup that's very good for video games, but that sounds intriguing, do you have specific moments in mind so I can maybe find playthrough on youtube ?
Thanks ! I've been a DM for 39 years, and I am still learning (and re-learnig). Love your perspective and ideas on this !
I'm gonna hop on the bandwagon and say this video's absolutely fantastic! You definitely know what you're doing both with the content itself and how you present it. Like other people have said, I'm a big fan of the creepy vibe you've got going on!
I've always struggled with running puzzles -- my players never get the answer, and they always feel like a huge waste of time. BUT I really like your idea of designing the puzzles from the players point of view, and making them make sense within the context of the world. You're absolutely right when you say it makes no sense for the riddle that opens the door to be on the door to the cultists lair.
Looking forward to what you make next!
aaah thank you so much! so happy you liked it! puzzles are a tough one for sure haha, I had plenty of meh puzzle experiences before I eventually stopped trying to run them altogether, until rather recently. I think exactly what you pointed out is what clicked, trying to think of what kind of situation I would love my character to go through, so building the situation before building the puzzle kinda?
Found you via Matt Colville's channel. Enjoying your work and look forward to more.
Love this, definitely using the flesh room
Instant subscribe
if you play this i'd love to hear back how it went!! Please keep me updated! I keep kinda imagining the tune to sound like the main melody of Toutouig va mabig (a lullaby from Brittany), it's soft but can easily feel melancholic and i like that vibe for the sleeping room.
My personal favorite for the 'Clues all around' puzzle is that after the way is opened, passing through it makes you forget the password. It's a precaution to make sure the password isn't pulled out easily by divination/mind-reading magic, since, except during the short time between figuring the puzzle out and entering the door, no-one knows the password.
ooooh do you mean like from the NPCs using the passage, or from the players as in each player has to find the answer ?
@@corkboardsandcuriosities why would those be mutually exclusive options?😈
@@tomroberts1105 haha yeah, i think i was just curious about how you run it with players, but then i'm thinking, probably with secret notes passed around ??
@@corkboardsandcuriosities Technically yes, but in the case I'm thinking of, it was online, so it was all whisper-chat messages.
If I was to do it in person, I'd probably say "When you think you have the answer, write it on a piece of paper and hand it to me." The party could interact with the process of solving the riddle, but once they got the answer they were plane-shifted to the demi-plane instantly, so the others could help, up to a point, but get an outright answer. I also used some graphics from an escape room type game, cause a picture is worth a thousand words, that might be a bit tougher IRL.
This is one of the best puzzle videos I've watched and one of the best puzzle ideas I've heard of, and I started playing D&D some 21 years ago! Thanks for the delightful video. I seldom include puzzles in my campaigns because they don't usually make sense (if the deceased queen's family didn't want people to access the royal tomb with the door puzzle, why even put a door in it in the first place?), but this room-monster idea of yours is just what I needed to start considering including some organic (in both senses of the word, haha!) puzzles! Thank you!
wow! thank you so much, this means a lot!
Oh My God, what a wonderfully, wonderfully twisted creative spark you have! Thank you for sharing it.
that is too good a compliment
I am borrowing this ideas and using this tips to make my own, Thank you very much, this is amazingly helpful (and i love both of the examples provided).
Also for what's worth, i have done some simpler puzzles before, I usually run games on maps (both irl and online) so I like doing visual puzzles my players can understand more easily and riddles. Ex:An abandoned mansion which was meant to be a trial for the owner descendants, after unlocking the passage to the next floor they see a snake head on drawin on the floor, but beyond that it is dark. Should the players shed light on it, they will notice that the floor beyond that is of 2 colors, revealing the snake body, but if they try to progress using dark vision, the 2 colors are purposely chosen so that when seen through dark vision, they look as the same tone of grey. There is a small text written on the side using the same trick:
"for tricks and and lies i shall be your guide
for following my trail you shall abide
wether you follor or not is up to yourself
for in the end, i may be a trick myself"
should the party walk only stepping on the snake's body, they will be safe from harm, but if they don't there will be traps and obstacles that will activate, making it harder to progress. The trick being that the tip of the tail of the snake will also be a trap, for it was a trick in the end.
ooooh I love this if that's okay i'm totally gonna use it in a game haha
@@corkboardsandcuriosities by all means, go ahead, all i ask in return is that you keep doing amazing vids :D
If anyone is stuck on needing a trap, use a hole. No I am not kidding.
A hole that is too big to jump and seemingly endlessly deep. I have seen this simple environmental “trap” stump low level adventures. It’s not like you can’t modify it for higher level adventurers too.
You can have a key on the other side which is a heavy object that needs to be brought back so those players who can fly do not have a simple answer.
If you are looking for something that has your players involved use this. There has not been a single time where I have used it and not had my players start planning. Which I think is what most DMs want when we plan for traps.
haha i'd be that one player who thinks the answer is a leap of faith and decides to throw themselves down the hole. I blame Indiana Jones
Let’s get this magnificent channel to blow up everyone!! 🎉🎉🎉
The sleeping room is brilliant! Using it tomorrow.
omg please let me know how it goes! i'd love to get some feedback on it on how it went in different games!
@@corkboardsandcuriosities It went really well and flummoxed them for atleast 15mins. After the second torch lit and extinguished, they focused on the lullaby and eventually I had a bunch of 50yr old blokes singing ‘ring-a-ring of rosies’ as they squelched forward in the darkness. Funny and memorable.
@@jimmybrook7119 hahahaha that's beautiful! thank you so much for checking back in haha, I was really itching to hear people's experiences with it
Cool channel! Puzzles are one of the hardest things to get right in gaming. They're also one of the few things that are hard to both CREATE and EXECUTE even if you have a good one written by someone else.
The pace of your video is well done. Lots of facts, ideas and info paced rapidly without a lot of "soap opera" that other DMs soemtimes have.
Just find out about this channel today and this video is such a well done and its a blast to watch, cant wait to see more
Very useful info/tips and great format, also love the setup. Looking forward to more videos
This is so cool and clever, and your voice really makes it enjoyable to listen to!!! I love this!
I like your channel ! You have interesting twist on traps etc. Please continue to do more.
This is absolute gold! I was trying to look for some puzzles for a cemetery dungeon crawl and these are perfect!!
Wow! This is FULL of good stuff! I will def use the sleeping room and the dragon potion in the next few weeks! Great video!
please let me know how it goes! i'd love to hear some feedback!
Incredible. I'm so glad I found your channel.
You are great! I love your point of view and style of delivery.
What can I say, watched everything and loved it
I am so glad that youtube decided to recommend this banger of a video to me!
you're approach to puzzles is so fresh and invegorating, honestly as a DM I was starting to feel a little bit of burn out cause things were starting to feel stale, but after watching this video my mind is buzzing with ideas!!!
You're approach to puzzles as 'story first' and the quality of your writing and ideas reminds me a lot of Dael Kingsmill over at Monarch Factory (which is a great channel if you haven't seen it)
you got yourself a new subscriber
I cannot wait for the next video!
aaaah this makes me so happy! I'm so glad this gave you some fun ideas! And yes, I do know of her channel and absolutely love her content!!!
and thank you for the encouraging words
This is so so so good!! Thank you for the great advice♡♡ I was grappling with how to engage my player's more! I've written them a poem with clues in metaphors and little drawings in the letters and they're doing great, but those are such fun ideas to get them to think outside the box even more than a 'traditional' riddle would!! You're super creative and have amazing ideas, I'm off to watch your other videos now! :D
haaaa i'm so glad you liked it! I struggled with puzzles for so long, they're definitely not the easiest, but I'm so happy this resonates!
Wow such a good concept, ive tried puzzles before but always ended up planning it poorly and losing their interest. Will have to try some of these. In this vein, I might also look at some drinking games, and how they could be adapted in the same way the potion one is.
Cant wait to see the channel grow!
oh wow, I hadn't considered drinking games but that sounds just perfect! if you adapt one into a puzzle i'd love to hear about it
@@corkboardsandcuriosities Think I have the start of something maybe?
Based on the 'One up one down' drinking game (Google it). One downside is it only really works in person/when you can see the players well.
The premise is to present it as some kind of riddle, maybe written on a wall or something, and giving the "correct" answer is needed a few times.
Imagine you have a doorway that magically teleports a PC through once that person correctly answers. It is important that each player has to answer as this allows the variation to show and potentially confuse players. Allow players to go back through the door to the rest of the party without a riddle, but to return through it they must correctly answer again. It might be a good idea to have an NPC take part too as an example?
The question is posed as 3 options (written or presented somehow otherwise):
"One up one down/two down/two up"
The correct answer is based on the answer given by a PC that corresponds to that players behaviour IRL. If the player has both hands above the table/belt line: two up; both hands below: two down; otherwise: one up one down. It has no bearing on what the PC is doing.
If they are having real trouble and can't figure it out, a way to hint is by posing the question again, but following along with your arms as you say each option.
A variation of this could be based on how they keep their dice in front of them. The riddle could become "roll of law/roll of chaos/roll of neutral". Then if they have a large messy pile: chaos; neat, well sorted sets: law; use only one or 2 sets: neutral. Or some other set of rules based on their dice. This has the bonus of misdirection towards alignment too.
Might need a bit more tweaking, not completely sure if the hint makes it too obvious? And I don't love the variation.
@@dtebbs ooooooooooooh i love the version with dice a lottttt! i didn't know that game at all this is super fun! but it remind me of a similar little riddle, I wasn't sure it if it existed in english but I just found it on reddit: www.reddit.com/r/riddles/comments/3nch6y/does_it_touch/
Most excellent video. Looking forward to more.
You are Brilliant and Diabolical !!! Thank You!
Just came across your channel and was shocked to see how new it was. You have some amazing ideas and I've subscribed as I can't wait to see what else you share with us.
thank you so much 😄 yeah haha, still very new and figuring it out, but people have been so nice and i'm super happy
Lo e the content, great advice, and very well put together video. I would more of this and really hope.more people find your stuff. Kind regards
This is brilliant, got me thinking about puzzles in a lot of different ways now.
This is awesome! Seriously, really well done.
One piece of constructive criticism: See if you can reduce the room echo. The echo makes it difficult (for me at least) to make out some individual words occasionally.
I'm happy you like it!!! and for the echos, absolutely noted, haha i'm kinda recording audio from my laptop rn, getting myself a mic is on the to do list for sure!
@@corkboardsandcuriosities Cool! I'll definitely keep watching. Your content is on-point. Looking forward to seeing your channel grow.
@@Cryptic_Golem Haaaa thank you! I really appreciate the feedback and the lovely words of encouragement!
Extremely well put together video. You have gained a new subscriber
Hey these are incredibly good tips! Thanks for making this video! I'm making a cypher wheel for my table ASAP.
Lovely take on the topic! I've been considering and postponing the use of puzzles in my campaigns for a long while, as I really want to do them justice, have them support the narrative, and not make them feel like a chore or pointless speedbump. Scary challenge, but always love hearing thoughtful and creative people talk about it.
Hope you have fun with running the channel!
Honestly, I felt the same for a real real long time with puzzles, but I thing coming at it with pacing and narrative as the main goal makes it a lot easier, now I just think "oooh what's a cool scene or a cool challenge I'd like my own character to be presented with", and then it comes a lot easier. Although it always ends up coming out as rp prompts more than anything haha, maybe I need more variety on that front
I love it! Wish you luck ib your creative journey, you shine!
I play a lot of narrative-focused TTRPGs (but not D&D), with some occasional others.
Puzzles are a big part of narrative games, just not in the way they are for a video game or even some board games.
The puzzles are story-based. They're about social connections, a mystery that doesn't make it obvious it is a mystery, what a character says versus what the player characters see/notice, and trying to address a problem when it seems like you just don't have the resources you need.
But mostly, some sort of mystery generally delivered to the players in a way that _doesn't_ shout "this is a mystery, you should try to solve it!" In fact, I will often try to introduce the elements of the mystery (or conundrum or problem) in pieces where it feels like a very natural development in the story. This doesn't always work, sometimes players are far more clever than you expect, and sometimes you (I) fumble it a bit. But mostly it works.
I just prefer to have a world that _feels_ real. And it includes things not working as intended. In fact, that's my favorite thing. I'll think up of a situation, perhaps someone with malicious intent dabbling in things they shouldn't... they _think_ they know all they need to, might even by over confident. But something goes wrong. That thing has a ripple of repercussions. Those repercussions touch the player characters in some way, bringing them into the story/mystery and wanting to solve it to get rid of whatever problem dragged them into things. While I don't always use the same pattern, it is the one I use most often because I just really like the idea of unintended consequences -- if there is a big-bad this shows that they can screw up and maybe what makes them "bad" is that they don't particularly care about who gets hurt by the repercussions of their actions OR they are too cavalier and didn't consider that they were leaving a trail of bad outcomes. But it lends itself to a fairly tidy cause-and-effect mystery to suss out. It may involve magic or the supernatural or it might not -- just depends on the sort of game I'm running.
But I also like any puzzles in my games to stem from the narrative rather than be a sort of bespoke one-off that could be completely divorced from the story / setting / characters. And for it to at least touch on the bigger picture. If it's a story about someone gone missing amid a city that features vampires preying on people who _know_ vampires don't exist, then a puzzle/mystery may revolve around a lost and found or the items left behind from a person or people who have gone missing... or maybe it's buried in investigator reports concerning various instances of assault/harassment at a local club (all with the implication of a third party not detailed in the reports) or it's tied to a brownstone apartment building that may or may not be home to some sort of predator.
While my focus is more on theme and of course not to stray far from the core story, I think that ties into momentum. As everything feels connected but maybe not in a way that is immediately obvious to the players, it builds tension and _hopefully_ builds interest for my players.
oh i'd be interested to know what systems you play! I started with DnD and will always have a fondness for it because it was the beginning of the story, but now find myself preferring other systems. I like the way you describe it a lot, what's the system you like most for mystery?
Just became the 500th subscriber! This is an amazingly insightful video, thank you for the thought and care you poured into this video!
Aaaaah thank you!!! I'm honestly so happy at how lovely the response has been. People are wonderful, and i've been on a little cloud haha
Lovely video! Very helpful, can't wait to put some of these suggestions to use
My character-Intelligence: 18
Presented with locked door, needed to solve a math puzzle to unlock it.
I eventually solved it, but the fine line is the difference between, me, the dumb player and my highly intelligent character.
My character should be able to solve puzzles I could never hope to conquer.
Trying not break immersion with this type of puzzle is quite a challenge.
Thanks for the great video!!!!
ooooh I like the point that this raises, someone else brought it up in the comments earlier and it's a very fair point, like what if your character is supposed to be super smart but the puzzles are based on the player's intelligence. Which I get, I'm an absolute dumbass and yet I keep playing high int wizards hahaha
I think the way I'd run this is I'd never give the player the answer right away, but them having high attributes in the relevant skills should give them extra hints. I say relevant skills because to me, not all puzzles are INT based. Actually, both the sleeping room and the dragon potion are rather based on wisdom and insight more than anything. It's less about being smart enough for calculations and mind gymnastics, and more about understanding that the sleeping room seems scared, but not inherently hostile, or noticing how these kids are really REALLY polite!!! So instead of delivering the answer right away, I'd just give extra clues to the player.
One of my favourite RPG blogs is the Alexandrian, and this kind of reminds me of something he calls the "Matryoshka search technique". With his example, instead of searching the room, succeeding on the check and finding a hidden trapdoor, the player succeeds on their check and notices the floor scuff marks on the floor around the legs of the bed. Leading the player to believe the bed has been moved, leading them to move the bed themselves, and eventually find the trapdoor. I think it would be nice for puzzles to work the same, so the players can reach that conclusion themselves, but the skills of their characters are still rewarded and giving them an advantage.
I'll link the article if that's something you're interested in! thealexandrian.net/wordpress/38104/roleplaying-games/random-gm-tip-matryoshka-search-technique
Delighted I found this! Phenomenal video and really good tips :) thank you so much
I love this framing so much
Amazing video, 100% going to use some of these in my home game!
1. This video is great and you are awesome for making it! Also, I love the set dressing :D
2. I work in a primary school, so we have loads of "smart games" I figured they work great as puzzles and are often usable as props or easy to remake and theme.
3. There wasn't really a third point, but a list of two points seemed rather redundant and I didn't want to rewrite this...
4. Awesome channel! (Oh this should have been point three!)
aaaah thank you so much! and oooh would you be down to share a few of these games? I think they make lovely inspiration for RPG bits, i'm always looking for more haha
I get the feeling this channel is going to pop off.
thank you. I might very well use the Dragon Potion puzzle (or a variation of it, of course) that sounds like a fantastic low stakes puzzle to get people thinking with more than their fists and the dice rolls
oh if you run it i'd love to hear how it went!
This is REALLY well made
I've run 46 one shots in Toronto over the past year, and have added puzzles to about 10 of them. They've (kinda) worked because they've been sown into some other mechanic (low level party chased by skeletal minotaur intent on burning them alive, they come upon a door with a riddle element, must remember something they heard earlier to speak the password to get through the door, or whatever). So based on my experiences, I thought puzzles interesting only if you used them as a way to slow the characters down just when they really, really needed to hurry up.
This video presents a much more interesting, immersive approach to puzzles. This is ridiculously deep content. Love the living room ideas, and everything else. Great job!
PS Maybe you could let us know where to get that cypher wheel, or how to make it?
omg that's a lot of one shots!!! you're productive!!! love the time pressure, it's for sure making puzzles feel a lot more dynamic.
oh yeah! I made that one, haven't really looked into where you can get one that's already made, but I might make a little thing showing how to make one, it's really easy to do and easily customisable! thanks a bunch, and super happy you like this!
@@corkboardsandcuriosities It is a great deal of one shots, that's true. I think it's improved my DMing a great deal. Additionally, I'm an artist (Patrick Doyle Toronto on 1nsta) and DMing this much gives me an excuse to draw fantastical scenes. I'm not "wasting time while ignoring landscapes and still life commissions", I'm "adding visual interest for my players!" Anyway, great content, and I would love it if you could so a video about how to make that little cypher wheel. Take care.
@@patrickdoyle2510 oh yeah! You’re not the first person to ask for showing how to make the cypher wheel, I’m gonna get on that!
Also went to check out your art, omg this is awesome stuff!!!!!!!
@@corkboardsandcuriosities Thanks very much! I'm trying to learn how to be a better painter, and a better DM, and your channel is definitely very helpful for the latter. I'm looking forward to your next piece. Take care.
Excellent video! Very entertaining, and gave me some ideas for the heist mission I'm currently planing.
oh wow, fun timing, just last night i was jotting down some notes for a heist video haha, i'm going to take this as a sign to keep going!
and thank you so much for the encouraging words! i'm happy that you like these ideas!
Using the calendar from Super Mario Deluxe (gbc), I have a date system in place for my DnD I'm planning (still the sword coast region), along with lunar cycles for any werewolves or newly turned werewolves in the party too lol 🤣
It also helps to create seasons, and when crops are on demand and such too, plus specific events may accrue too, or creating old journals and diaries from back then, or on remains, and how early so and so happened too 🤔
Excellent video, learned a lot of stuff I never thought about. Good production quality and script as well. If i had to make a criticism i would say microphone quality needsd improvement, i'm sure this will be taken care of with time.
Thank youuuu!!
And haha yes indeed the microphone situation is now taken care of!! It’s hopefully a lot better now
This was great - really imaginative and interesting tips, definitely gonna be using some of this! Looking forwards to seeing more from this channel.
I just found your channel, and it's so refreshing and wonderful to discover another unique RPG content creator! I love the atmosphere and creepy vibe of your videos, and I think the topics you've posted about so far are very unique. I will definitely be subscribing, and I look forward to seeing your channel take off!
awww thank you so much! The response has been so wonderful, now i'm so pumped to make more hahahaha
Amazing tips and the video is put together really well. Hope your channel grows a lot
Love your content and your work as a game designer so far. Can't wait for more!
thank youuuuu, work got in the way haha but i'm writing the next one and super pumped that people are liking this so far
loved this video, really good advice and cool examples of physical props. but also just the room/your outfit/the visuals as a whole are really cool, love your vibe.
can I print this comment for when I have guests over, to prove to them that "no, having a detective corkboard in your living room is NOT weird" ? Jokes aside, thank you
@@corkboardsandcuriosities haha feel free to print it, but i can't promise they'll agree just because some random person online also has slightly eclectic tastes in interior design.
@@alicemursteinlesbefaen666 too late, that's all the validation i need
Absolutely excited to see where this channel goes! I loved everything in this video and enjoyed watching it. Looking forward to the next upload! Subscribing now so I can be along for the journey!
aaaaaaahhhfdjvsodufvjdkgbd thank you so much
This is so cool, much to learn from thank you
Absolutely riveting! I just love your ideas! The context you gave to the Dragon Potion game is simply stunning. The fleshy room is just great and I will use it in Vampire game, because it is so creepy and Tzimisce-like! Finally, I love your energy and the way you embrace your inner child, as we all should. Please, keep doing more videos like this one! 😁
Also, someone mentioned the room echo and adding to that, plus it would be pretty inclusive, it would be awesome if you had non-automatically-generated subtitles. Although, I guess it does add time to the video-making process.
these are really heartwarming words, thank you :)
Absolutely agreed on the room echo haha, it's at the top of the list, I just... don't know how to fix that just yet, and it might take me a little bit of time until i'm able to invest in a proper mic (as opposed to currently using my laptop to record sound haha). But I'll get it done as soon as I can! As for the captions, i did plan on doing it, i want this to be as hassle free as possible for people, especially as i'm not a native speaker and it can sometimes be a little tough to understand me. I haven't yet gotten around to it, but this is a good reminder to do so, i'll try to get it done asap!
@@corkboardsandcuriosities,
Thanks for you reply. Regarding you not being a native speaker, I did not hear it at all. As for the echo, equipment is a limitation; you just need to kill one or two bosses and get better gear.
Have a wonderful day!
P.S. If, and only if you don not mind at all, where are you from? I truly would not have pegged you as a non-native English speaker.
i take this as the best compliment I could receive on my english proficiency, thanks!! I'm from France!
@@corkboardsandcuriosities,
Alors, c'est probablement celui-ci qui sera le meilleur compliment quant à ton niveau d'anglais : je suis français aussi et je n'ai détecté aucun accent Frenchy 😁
@@BenjaminSquillari hahaha incroyable, oui là en effet c'est un niveau au dessus en compliment, je suis flattée. Donnons lui un peu de temps, l'accent frenchy pointe le bout de son nez de temps en temps haha, en attendant, les sous titres ont été ajoutés sur cette vidéo! pour les autres, heuuu, j'y viens!
This is really really great.
It has always been hard to place puzzles in RPGs, more so in DnD where you regularly have characters who are supposed to be absolute genius commanded by players who are... well, like me.
Still, my biggest fear has always been driving the party to a point of stagnation, having alternative ways to go around the puzzle helps but sometimes players can become hyper focused on the problem to the point where they won't even try to find an alternative. When dealing with this I've come to resort a lot in using time as pressure, maybe they are found out if they take too much time, or something happens that disarms or trivializes the puzzle at the expend of another complication.
Aaaah yes I love that, they are quickly distracted by something of greater urgency and the plot progresses. but yeah, puzzles are really tough hahaha, too many unknowns
It's also one of those tools I'd rather keep in the toolbox until I get to know the players and understand their style. And then for some groups it just stays there.
BTW, there is a lot of rpg discussion around how to GM, but few about playing outside of the usual minmaxing calculus style analysis.
@@elmarcezen Ha yeah, i'm not sure i'll get into the calculus stuff haha, i've never really been a very math oriented player, tropes and narrative tend to be what i'm most interested in :)