Edit: Spleling
If you think they'll be too simple then it should only take your players about 20-30 minutes to solve.
Wow. If those PCs could read, they'd be very upset.
this post was submitted on 02 Dec 2023
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If you think they’ll be too simple then it should only take your players about 20-30 minutes to solve.
That being 15 minutes to tell stupid jokes, and 15 more to burn down the building and leave.
Almost happened in the last Warhammer session I was in. DM made a door that had three locks depending on knowing alchemical symbols, formulae, and the geocentric model. Because the GM forgot that Warhammer doesn't have a flat "magic knowledge" roll like Arcana in D&D 5e, the party mage doesn't know anything, the rest of the party was illiterate, and everyone got so frustrated that everyone except my character tried either breaking the door or entering through the window while the wizard was still home and foiling their attempts. To our credit, we were able to figure out the first two locks with trial and error, with the first being a very simple balancing of the four elemental triangles around a plus sign in a plus shape, and the other being three symbols in a vertical line, the problem was seven symbols to be arranged in a circle. After my party face character shook herself from her puzzle frustration and realized that the wizard is actually home, she just asked him for what we came here for, he was cordial about it, and we left when we got it. During that time, the GM gave the solution (because Wizards are assholes that love to brag about their genius to the stupids) which taught us that in geocentricity, neither Venus nor Mars are closer to Earth than Mercury is, and the sun is between Venus and Mars because of course it is.
What's funny is that no one's mentioned Ironsworn's slew of random tables that are completely free online, much less the wealth of similar on Perchance. 🤓
This is good advice except for the bit about Dora the Explorer. That would require watching Dora the Explorer.
Sub in any genre movie or TV show you know well. If you players catch on and recognize it, that's even better, because then they think they know what to expect, and that's when you zag on 'em.
There's plenty of episode synapses available everywhere for every show. You don't have to watch them, just have to read them
I've stolen places from different shows and plot beats from other shows quite a bit since I started DMing about a decade ago
Only recently did someone catch on that the location (the dungeon they delved into) was stolen from a show (well, more "heavily influenced" by a show (think someone gave a elevator pitch for a location and I built from that)) though no one has caught on yet that they've been exploring Idaho now for 2 years. I've even laid maps down on the table for people to look over and no one's caught on yet.
Farscape is my go-to. It's niche sci fi that I've watched, but none of my players has...
Farscape is so good, I loved watching it back in the day
I should really give it a watch again
I should rewatch that. And actually finish it this time.
First I watched it on TV and you know how that is for continuity.
Then I watched it downloaded and got distracted.
That would require watching Dora the Explorer.
what if you smoke the weed
Can you say MOTA?
If you don't identify at least 10 pop culture references every session in my games, you're either not paying attention to the game or have no culture.
Dang thinking back, Dora quest would be so dope. I want to save the Ice princess!!
The dungeon layouts from malls and subways is just stupid. Just placing rooms is not a meaningful portion of the work in designing a dungeon. If you want to steal one, there are so, so many already designed for TTRPGs already and available freely.
Personally I find the room layout the hardest part so stealing a layout helps me jump off
Laying out traps, secrets, monsters, etc is the easy part
Now area maps are a whole other ball game though, my players have been exploring Idaho now for 2 years and no one has caught on yet.
I had a pair of DMPCs for the party to fight in a tournament arc: Saul Carolina Jack and Sir David Pent. The first is a Barbarogue build, the other a ranged Monk that is also speced towards close-combat grappling.
spoiler
They're Snake and Raiden from MGS. Their names are wordplay on David + Serpent/Snake and Saul C. "Saucy" Jack.
I feel that with the puzzles.
I'm not very good at them, but every time I design one players spend so long on it!