Riddles in the Dark...

Jimsolo · Post by **Jimsolo** » Mon Oct 01, 2012 2:47 pm

Aside from being the best chapter in the Hobbit, it's also a fun past time.

Am I the only one who likes dropping riddles on my players? I sure hope not. I've always tried to make them thematic, and I would love to hear some good Ravenloft-y ones.

The last time I broke them out in a game was against my wife. (This is an account of her first game, so please forgive any technical mistakes she made in her record-keeping. Part 22 is the game with the riddles.) I've included a couple of my favorites from that one, particularly the ones that are my original works.

1. A beating drum useless bereft
of a twisting river mired in flesh.
The two note song its beating sounds,
leads an endless dance around and around.

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2. I have six sisters, don’t doubt that I do.
The oldest named so for all the books she perused.
The next in line was given the name of a fruit.
The third is easily frightened, a cowardly lass.
After her, the next loves to lay about in the grass.
The fifth suffers sadness that never shall pass.
The only sister younger than me,
Is frequently found with royal company.
Sometimes we all meet, after it’s rained.
So tell me my friend, can you guess my name?

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3. Three of one and one of another,
four from a sister and one from a mother.
Take away two when you visit the Hells,
and tell me out loud what your plundering spells.

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4. Heatless fireball.
Explosion frozen in time,
with rapier concealed.

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5. I have a golden spear.
It flies to there from here.
I give a great shout
before laying you out
and you'll die of shock, not fear.

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I didn't write these, but I like them anyway:

6. The man who made me will not use me.
The man who bought me doesn't want me.
The man to use me never saw me.
What am I?"

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7. What is harder than diamonds,
higher than the sky,
eaten by the dead,
but if you eat it, you die?

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Does anyone else have any good, Ravenloft appropriate riddles? I've got a couple of others, but I am at work right now and don't remember them verbatim. I'll post them later.

Hazgarn · Post by **Hazgarn** » Tue Oct 02, 2012 11:54 am

I love riddles. I haven't had the chance to use them, but since I'm kind of fey-obsessed, I imagine I'll be pulling them out at some point.

I used to participate in a thread on another forum that was specifically for originally written riddles. I wrote some good ones that I wish I still remembered. I'll have to see if I can find them somewhere...

(Still working on #2 and #4, btw, but I got the rest.

)

HuManBing · Post by **HuManBing** » Tue Oct 02, 2012 12:38 pm

A meta-riddle that I used in a few different campaigns (including the Alkris doppelganger NPC):

Beggars gather outside the Final Imperative brothel - the most magnificent structure in the Zover ("Green Zone"), anomalous among the rubble and collapsed masonry of the devastated warzone. The brothel is renowned and attracts some of the most influential and discerning clientele, from warlords to diplomats to information brokers - but the brothel also has a strict code of generosity and alms-giving, resulting in a "motley court" of beggars outside at all hours. The most vocal among these ragamuffins is a withered crone who takes the cast-off food and wine from the brothel and apportions it to the beggars at the brothel square.

Over the Final Imperative's doorway, is a prominently-displayed legend: "What is the keenest pleasure known to the mind?" It is chiselled into the archway in seven different languages, and legend states that whoever solves the riddle with the correct answer will know new vistas of knowledge and power.

Inside the Final Imperative, the legendary courtesans each have their own take on the riddle, but the PCs have a challenging time getting to them in the first place. Each courtesan has a trial that the PCs must pass in order to "engage" them for a brief time. The intention is the PCs use their "engagement" to ask them the riddle and request their response.

Responses can be extremely varied: a courtesan who challenges the PCs to defeat her champion in combat may answer something like "the sight of the world's bravest vying, and dying, for your evening's company". Another courtesan who challenges the PCs to bring the rarest gem south of the Equator may answer something like "holding in your two hands, that which thousands of dead hands have blindly sought". Another courtesan who challenges the PCs to dubious feats of bodily endurance may answer something like "knowing that nobody is taller than the last woman standing".

Finally, if the PCs piece together enough clues, they may find the identity of the one who carved the riddle - and the evidence strongly suggests an ancient and possibly alien shapechanging entity, who resided at the Final Imperative decades ago but has now departed. If they put two and two together, they eventually deduce that it's the old woman who ministers to the beggars outside.

And her answer to the question "What is the keenest pleasure known to the mind?" is "The moment when the mind finds the answer to a vexing question."

Zilfer · Post by **Zilfer** » Tue Oct 02, 2012 12:49 pm

I actually got the answer to that riddle more out of a sarcasistic reply in my head than actually an earnest answer. So unforunately it didn't have quite the impact it should have.

I however do not use riddles partly because I myself am bad at them. I'm pretty good at academics but could never get any riddles that were asked. xD Might be smart just not clever or clever in the way of thinking of riddles. xD

Hazgarn · Post by **Hazgarn** » Tue Oct 02, 2012 4:09 pm

Found them. Here are some that work for Ravenloft:

A lonely tower,
windowless and dark.
In a city of same,
cold giants stare;
their eyes full of pity.

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Joy and sorrow soar above
Dressed in white and brown.
One for mourning, one for love,
One for veils, one for gowns.

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Twin birds red, to heavy to fly;
Have cut another's wings
and will never see the sky.
At the pool they lap and drink.
Their meal sets them up to sink.

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With shining wings and poisoned spear,
she hums a song of crimson tears.

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Boneless bite,
Eyes of night.

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It can be bent but not destroyed.
It can be disguised or hidden, but not changed.

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Time is writ upon my face
My heart ticks in its weary pace.
Though wind and rain do leave their trace,
I watch them in their endless race.

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Pain, death, and rebirth.
The worms hungry in the earth,
Yet the heart is still.

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Is it a flower with so many petals?
Is it a butterfly with fluttering wings?
Is it a leopard with such markings?
Their about if you wish.

So small to encompass the world.
So shy to hold such glory.
So many to be so precious.
Inert it is alive.

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A surgery with no hope,
The patient left to stare.
To remove the darkness in his mind
And fix a star in there.

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In a city dark and deep,
Their queen in her court to keep:
A thousand workers without souls,
Toiling in their hidden holes.

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Sharp or flat, high or low,
It's found wherever you may go.
Fine or crude, harsh or soft,
It will bear your soul aloft.

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It flickers and then goes away
but what it left is here to stay.
Like tree roots carved from crystal glass
an image of what cannot last.

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It's voice is ringing in the halls
But still you know not where it falls.

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And here are some of the others, just for fun:

Out of twenty, three remain.
End was to their maker's reign:
A bearer, a liar, a friend, a Fire.

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A special treat:
something sweet.
Rubies wrapped in gold
A pleasure to behold.

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Red rimmed eye, half lidded
tells you what is forbidded.

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Picture of vigilance, obsession,
Hateful to a cackling mind.
Fire with fire: Lunacy.
Divided friends, split enemies
and a coin toss your fate.
Watching, above and below,
On rooftop and in darkness.
Terrible paladin of trembling heart,
That life was taken not in vain.

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Punches without impact draw the blood of men and women,
Screams without sound are deafening,
Fires with no heat raze a town, a country, a planet.

The world spins like a shuffling of pages,
Dots whirl before you eyes.
Colors to blind, shadows to enlighten.

Legends, monsters, laughs.
But it's not just funny.
Stories made precious by war and worthless by greed.

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If I eat I grow,
If I drink I die,
Find a leaf and make me fly.
We journey far, my brother and I,
Underground and in the sky.

Jaunty little men you've seen,
Dressed in red, dressed in green.
Our reknown is quite obscene.
We seek the princess in between.

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The music soars.
I chill to the sound of silent screams.
Black blood courses.
Faces white with make up stare,
Fear shrieking in their dark ringed eyes.

The vision clicks and flickers.
The lights so bright, the shadows palpable.
The curtain does not fall.
Fade to black.

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Jimsolo · Post by **Jimsolo** » Tue Oct 02, 2012 5:34 pm

If you haven't looked at the answers to Hazgarn's riddles, then the following message discusses the answers.

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Joël of the FoS · Post by **Joël of the FoS** » Tue Oct 02, 2012 5:42 pm

Great thread! I'll collect these and add them into a special section of Evil DM tricks.

Hazgarn · Post by **Hazgarn** » Tue Oct 02, 2012 5:49 pm

Jimsolo wrote:If you haven't looked at the answers to Hazgarn's riddles, then the following message discusses the answers.

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That Mario and Luigi one had me in stitches...

A couple of them (the doves one and the fulgarite one) I was unable to get because I didn't know that A) doves came in brown, or B) what a fulgarite was.

Those were really hard Hazgarn! But thanks, because your ones about truth, ants, and especially the jack-o-lantern one will be making it into my game. (Assuming its okay with you for me to use them.)

Yeah, you can definitely use them.

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Hazgarn · Post by **Hazgarn** » Tue Oct 02, 2012 6:12 pm

Hazgarn wrote:
A lonely tower,
windowless and dark.
In a city of same,
cold giants stare;
their eyes full of pity.

VIEW CONTENT:
A tombstone

I think this one could be altered as follows for a better rhyme:

"A lonely tower, windowless and dark.
A city of the same.
Cold giants stare, with eyes full of pity,
waiting for your name."

With the altered answer being:

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Jimsolo · Post by **Jimsolo** » Tue Oct 02, 2012 6:38 pm

I like the revised version much better! Not only does it rhyme now (making it easier to remember) but I think the added bit gives it the needed boost to solveability.

Manofevil · Post by **Manofevil** » Tue Oct 02, 2012 11:01 pm

That Jack-o-lantern one actually made me think of a lobotomy.

Jimsolo · Post by **Jimsolo** » Sun May 19, 2013 7:17 pm

So, I'm resurrecting my own thread. I've a game coming up with a story I rather like. The PCs have heard of a valuable relic they are seeking (a holy greatsword, enchanted with the soul of an archon, who gave herself to be bound into the sword and cast into Ravenloft to help the downtrodden) in the hands of a madman. They are going to seek out this madman to try and liberate the blade.

The 'madman' is actually a brass dragon who has indeed gone mad. Caught in the Mists decades ago, he believes that the Demiplane of Dread is nothing more than a dream. He also believes that the real horror of it is that it isn't his dream. He seeks the dreamer, intending to kill them. He honestly believes that this dream has spun out of control, and that all the citizens of Ravenloft are souls that have either been caught in this dream on their way to the afterlife, or, like him, are dreamers caught up in someone else's dream, unable to wake up. He belives that if he kills the dreamer, he will destroy this hell and return them all to their rightful place.

His cunning plan revolves around his belief that the dreamer who has ensorcelled everyone must be of a greater intellect than those it has ensnared. So the dragon seeks to find those smarter than he is (who are, let's face it, few and far between) and destroy them. His home, a series of catacombs he has turned into a maze, is designed to split the party and test their intellect with a series of bizarre games and riddles. Each riddle is connected to a trap.

The twist is that when a correct answer is given for a riddle, it doesn't bypass the trap, it activates it! Anyone who isn't able to best the dragon mentally is obviously an innocent bystander accidentally caught up in his trap. Only those who might be the dreamer can he risk killing.

What do you guys think? I love the idea of insane dragons...

In any event, the reason I resurrected this thread is to discuss more riddles! I've been seeking out some additional ones, and I've got these. What do you guys think?

This garden is a lonely place
where many came, and yet remain
the plants grow strong on fertile ground
watered by legacies of pain
and should I plow, my plow would break
on cast-off husks of iron grain
now buried where they fell like wheat.
What am I? Speak! Or face the bane.

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Always smiles or maybe frowns
Sinks in water, never drowns.
Catches prey on its barbed teeth.
Hunts all day but never eats.

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More powerful than all the gods
Worse than pure evil
Wetter than water
Poor people have it
Rich people need it
And if you eat it you’ll go hungry

ALTERNATIVE FORM:
What is it men love more than life,
Fear more than death or mortal strife?
The poor man has, the rich require,
What is the contented man's desire?
The miser spends, the spendthrift saves,
And all men carry to their graves.

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I have no fearsome claw or bite
Yet all flee from my black and white
To provoke me makes bad sense
To them that knows my best defense

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Born of Earth, strengthened in fire
I sit on high, master of water

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My first is a number
My second another
And each, I assure you
Will rhyme with the other
My first I can say
Is one-fifth of my second
And when both are together
A long period reckoned

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Hands I do not have, yet I grasp so tight.
I love darkness, my enemy is light.
Both the mighty and low know me well,
For in the hearts of men do I dwell!

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I wonder as I wander: where am I?
I shed tears, yet I cannot cry,
I trek, but cannot walk, swim or fly,
I am born to die. Say, what am I?

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I am, I'm not. I visit young and old,
Some I make timid and some I make bold,
Unwise is the one who pokes fun at me.
Beware, for I am a shadow of thee.

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The best king keeps it
after he gives it

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A G Thing · Post by **A G Thing** » Tue May 21, 2013 11:33 am

I got a few that might help... Also got one I wrote a while back that was for the QtR that I will post first.

***********************************

"We deal in selling our goods aplenty bought from foreign lands."
"Yet each time we meet the money we bring must certainly change hands"
"In the busy market You and I will meet four times."
"In four market spots and in four separate lines."

"I give you four You give me none."
"I take nine and You keep one."
"I eat three You make four."
"I sell eight and You sell one more,"
"I declare us done and You take score."

"Of that which was said and of those who sell and buy"
"Who has the highest total in end, that of You or I?"

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***********************************

I keep nothing for myself, but have everything to give.
I share the burden I give to others, yet carry all burdens.
My bounty seldom mine, is forfeit to both beast and man in time.
I reside within but am always exposed.
I stand tall, lie down, but never do I stay still.
I do not speak but to repeat, but often howl, whistle and babble.
I never wake completely yet I never truly sleep.
All my blankets are full of holes but one is finer than all others.
My two friends always visit each day but I seldom see them meet.

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***********************************

I know not the words I cannot speak.
I dance only as you move me.
Pushed or dragged I may leak.
Yet I lie if you behoove me.
I divide or bind all that you make.
I must bleed all that I drink.
When you tremble I doth shake.
Yet a slave to what you think.

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***********************************

Everyone begins and ends with me.
I am always in your eye.
I’m hidden in the mystery.
I am the last part to die.

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***********************************

And last but not least a puzzle more than a riddle but still it rhymes...

***********************************

I leave to save my dearest love,
who lay in the sainted dell.
With mule and coin I seek my dove,
so I must travel well.
Five roads lie in my destiny,
I choose the order I must take.
I must pick the path carefully,
for I can suffer no mistake.

The mountain path is rough and long,
the river cross, she doth swell.
The forest road has timber strong,
the plains road leads through hell.
The swamp doth carry evils song,
but after five all is good and well.
For at the end of that throng,
she truly lies in sainted dell.

The mountains road has boulders massive, with no heat I will die cold and blue,
the river is filled with fish aplenty, with broken dam that should I cross I drown.
The forest path a desperate brigand will take coin, but has lumber strong and true,
the plains are guarded by the burning devil, who for a coin doth take a soul down.
The swamp a blind old witch with death doth follow, and kills me when two days are through,
but these are just the trials I face, to see my lady in her gown.
I am not someone who excels beyond what a normal man can do,
I am clever and strong and can do what I must just as any man in town.

So now the test is set before me and each way to doom doth lead,
I must choose the one way that will spare me from fates vile knife.
To travel takes a day per road to do it if I travel with true speed,
I must eat one meal by the fifth sun set, to spare my retched life.
I must not travel without my mule or I will not succeed,
two coins to pay the toll on return, for both me and my wife.
So where to go and how to best start my heroic deed,
for the road doth lay in evils path and the trail is filled with strife.

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Hope you like them!

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