Help with a riddle?

[AliceTheOwl]

For my campaign world, I have invented a MacGuffin, and a rather powerful one, at that. Thing is, nobody's seen the thing in 4000 years. That's because there's only one person with a clue as to its whereabouts (other than the dragon guarding it), having been passed down from one generation to the next.

That clue, however, is in the form of a riddle, adding another layer of difficulty to an already difficult task. The other layers involve finding that person, then convincing that person to speak the riddle. And then getting to the other side of the continent and getting past the dragon.

The problem is, well, coming up with a riddle. If I use one that's relatively common, my players will guess it in no time, or they'll google it between sessions. I've been trying to come up with something original, but riddles have never been my forte.

So, does anyone on the board have any luck with creating riddles? I'm not that concerned with the answer, because I haven't built the entire world, and can easily insert a town or name with the answer to the riddle.

If you post any ideas, please PM me the answer, rather than posting it here, so the players can't google the answer. I'd greatly appreciate any and all help you're willing to lend, and of course I'll give credit during the game.

[Supreme Serpent]

Well...I would think making a riddle for it would be easier if we knew what the answer was supposed to be, and what clues should be dropped in the course of solving it, like "passing above Neptune's throne" might mean "Oh, it's across the ocean".

[Supreme Serpent]

I'm not that concerned with the answer, because I haven't built the entire world, and can easily insert a town or name with the answer to the riddle.


Not concerned with the answer at all? Don't care what the macguffin is, what it's supposed to do, where it's supposed to be? :confused:


If you post any ideas, please PM me the answer, rather than posting it here, so the players can't google the answer. I'd greatly appreciate any and all help you're willing to lend, and of course I'll give credit during the game.

We could always just edit the posts with completed riddles before you run the game. Maybe even replace them with innaccurate answers. :eg:

[AliceTheOwl]

Hmm.

Crossing the ocean won't be a part of it, but it's unlikely that the person inventing the riddle would've had the journey be part of it, because, for all she knew, the person carrying the riddle could move to the town right next door to the mountain.

I'll ponder a potential answer, but I was thinking it would be easier for people to come up with a riddle by thinking up something adequately mysterious, then coming up with the answer.

[AliceTheOwl]

Not concerned with the answer at all? Don't care what the macguffin is, what it's supposed to do, where it's supposed to be? :confused:
I know what the MacGuffin IS, but I'm not sure of the name of the location where it's hiding. I even know how it got there, why, and how the party is going to find out the first step in all this (that is, finding the person who knows the riddle). I just haven't named the place where it's hiding yet, because that place's name will be the answer to my riddle.

We could always just edit the posts with completed riddles before you run the game. Maybe even replace them with innaccurate answers. :eg:
True. I think that would amuse me. ^ v ^

But really, it's to shield Josh from major plot spoilers. Riddles and puzzles are exactly what he likes in a game, and it would spoil his fun entirely to stumble across the answer on the forums. So we could also put the answer in spoiler-text. (Just don't ask me how to do that.)

[AliceTheOwl]

Well...I would think making a riddle for it would be easier if we knew what the answer was supposed to be, and what clues should be dropped in the course of solving it, like "passing above Neptune's throne" might mean "Oh, it's across the ocean".
Your PM definitely has me on the right track; thanks, and repped! ^ v ^

[Zeropoint]

Q: What's purple and dangerous?

A: A bellfruit with a crossbow. (obscure reference--can anyone recongnize it?)


Q: What's green, wet, hangs on the wall, and whistles?

A: . . . I give up.

Q: A dried herring.

A: What? But a dried herring doesn't hang on the wall!

Q: So hang it there.

A: But a dried herring isn't green!

Q: So paint it.

A: Wait, a DRIED herring isn't wet!

Q: It is if you just painted it.

A: But . . . but . . . a dried herring doesn't whistle!!

Q: Right. I just threw that in to make it hard.

[Manic Typist]

Q: What's purple and dangerous?

A: A bellfruit with a crossbow. (obscure reference--can anyone recongnize it?)




"Golly geewillikers Batman! And I thought a bird with a machine gun in a tree was dangerous!"

So, the only thing he wants is a riddle that leads to a location.

[Thia Halmades]

I'm confused. And I suck at riddles. I could probably think of something (wouldn't be the first time) but I need SS or AtO to PM me whatever SS did in the first place (twitch) so I have some sort of lead as to where all of this is supposed to be going.

[Erkenfresh]

After 4000 years, the name of the place is likely to change. You might want to throw that into the equation.

[AliceTheOwl]

After 4000 years, the name of the place is likely to change. You might want to throw that into the equation.
Oooooh . . . There's a good thought . . .

With Supreme Serpent's help, here's the riddle I've come up with:
In the fur of the gryphon
where God's thunder splits
doth the way to power lie
when peace is brought to the beast

The first hint is that the riddle is meant to be spoken, not written.

[Basil]

After 4000 years, the name of the place is likely to change. You might want to throw that into the equation.
Actually, I'd say not. It is one of the tropes of fantasy that, though kings and countries may come and go, the people, the places, and the language remains.

Town names stay pretty much unchanged in fantasy.

[Thia Halmades]

I made with the PMing of the privateness. It's okay, I won't tell anyone you read my... private messages.

What? It's what it says. "Private message." Why is everyone looking at me like that?

[Thia Halmades]

I read the highlighted text - and was promptly confounded. I suck at this worse than I suck at the New Super Mario Bros. But hey, I'm helping. Dammit.

[AliceTheOwl]

I read the highlighted text - and was promptly confounded. I suck at this worse than I suck at the New Super Mario Bros. But hey, I'm helping. Dammit.
Well, knowing the world and its locations would be helpful. ;)

Way off in the southwest of the continent is a smallish mountain called Griffin Mountain, which is covered by a forest of fir trees. There's a waterfall there (Griffin Falls), with a cave underneath the rock where the waterfall splits off into two distinct streams. When they get there, the dragon guarding the treasure will want a password - the password is "peace".)

[Thia Halmades]

BAH! Reading. HUH. Good God, y'all, what is it good for? (you tell me!)

[AliceTheOwl]

^ v ^

Since I started this thread, I've gotten a number of good PMs with good potential usefulness. So what I'm going to do is integrate more riddles into the game world. Not constantly, of course, but this stuff is too good NOT to use! ^ v ^

Let me know if you've contributed and I've failed to rep you.

[Captain Obvious]

http://www.thievesguild.cc/riddles/

Hmm...I guess what you were after is more specific than these. Ah well, still a good generic riddle resource.