PnP RP puzzlesFollow

One of my players is a bit of a puzzle fanatic. Since he's built a severely sub-optimal character for combat, I'm thinking of throwing in the occasional puzzle so he can shine on those while the other player still gets to shine when they kill big things. Any suggestions for some simple to run puzzles to throw at them(I'm thinking no more than one a dungeon when it's appropriate)?

I've got one figured out for this week. It's a variation on one I saw in the NWN Kingmaker module. They get 6 different colored gems and there are six receptacles. They then get a small number of clues(I'm thinking 4-5) about the relative locations where the gems need to be placed(the module had things like "the red fires burned north of the green trees"). The variation is mostly in that I'm not going to make them find the gems elsewhere in the dungeon, just have them be in a box in the room.

So, any other suggestions I can throw into later dungeons?

I'm not entirely certain how well that'll work with two players. Something to consider for later on when I do my next campaign, where they'll each be running 2 characters.

Edit: Also, won't they need that one equation they developed for that episode of Futurama to make it work?

Edited, Jun 13th 2012 2:17pm by Poldaran

Honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if the people I heard that from had just cribbed it from Futurama.

Another puzzle you could try is giving a series of numbers, and then having them guess what the rule is that governs whether the set is valid or not. You give them the first set, and then they give example sets that you say "Yes" or "No" to them as appropriate. When they think they've figured out the rule, then they guess and you open an envelope containing the rule written down (so they can't accuse you of changing it, etc.). If they win, they get a prize/unlock door/whatever, if they lose, a trap activates or an enemy is released into the room.



There's also "Illumination and Light", but there's a decent chance they've heard this puzzle before:



Instead of having them give the rule, just have them give five valid examples in a row; once you get the rule it's easy. The rule is (if you hadn't guessed already, since it's much easier to get the pattern in print than verbally): Spoiler"I like things with double letters in them, and I don't like things that don't have double letters in them"..

Here's the Futurama math thing I was talking about. You might find it interesting.
http://gizmodo.com/5618502/futurama-writer-invented-a-new-math-theorem-just-to-use-in-the-show