Wisdom from the Masters: Puzzling Issues
This article was first broadcast in Episode Sixty-One on 13th February 2019. Lennon: Ugh, Ostron! Oh where is he? Ryu: Something wrong? Lennon: The lock on the vault is messing me up again. Ryu: Oh, well, give me a few minutes with it…. Lennon: Wait, there he is! Ostron! Why does the lock on the vault look like an MC Escher painting!? Ostron: Well, parts of it are in another plane. Ryu: Oh, now that you mention it, that kind of makes sense! Lennon: Wait, how does that make sense? Most people are aware of the major “encounter” types in D&D: fighting monsters, chases, social encounters, and traps. But there’s another category of encounter that can make it’s way into your games: puzzles. Now, a brief terminology review. Puzzles are usually different from traps because they are designed to impede progress. Traps are usually one shot constructs that do damage to a player or players and are done. Puzzles,…