Puzzles are somehow part of many campaigns in Dungeons & Dragons. Some Dungeon Masters invest a lot of time and effort into it. However, for one group, it seems to have taken on a different dimension.
What has the Dungeon Master (DM) done for their group? User synkpix starts their thread on Reddit with the words: “My DM is losing his mind.” This refers to a 6-page document filled with puzzles and riddles that their DM had prepared for the group. As they further explain in the comments of the thread, this only includes the first 4 riddles out of a total of 14.
These are not only passionately and elaborately prepared but are also extremely difficult to solve. So difficult, that even the community has been struggling with it in the roughly 300 comments. You can even check out the document with the puzzles on Google Docs.
The first riddle, which is two pages long, is solved by the group together with the community using a so-called Caesar cypher (see caesar-cipher.com), but does not clarify much (see Reddit). Nevertheless, they continue trying and come up with further theories about the Asian characters, which might relate to alignment or even a sex pact (see Reddit).
However, the community also does not come up with a general solution regarding what it all means. synkpix emphasizes that the puzzles do not necessarily need to be solved to continue the story and that their resolution is supposed to take place over a longer period, meaning they are intentionally very cryptic so that players might still come across hints along the way that could help them if they get stuck.
Regardless, the collection of riddles also sparks a fundamental discussion in the community about whether puzzles in Dungeons & Dragons are cool or not and whether the DM of the group is a complete genius or has lost his mind.
“I understand that this is too much for some, but I would kill for a DM who has enough time and passion for it.”
What does the community say about it? The community is very divided in the comments of the thread regarding the difficulty and quantity of the puzzles.
On one hand, many users celebrate the ambition and passion that the DM has invested in creating the puzzles and express envy, wishing they could have something like that for their own group. No matter how hard it ultimately is to solve them. Just the idea is well received by many, and they are eagerly waiting to see how it all might unfold.
On the other hand, some are rather annoyed by it and find the DM’s work exaggerated. They think it is ridiculous that so few hints are given and have no desire to deal with it in such a frustrating way.
Others again find the concept of the riddles very admirable but also daunting, since the DM theoretically must be capable of understanding and solving them themselves.
- smbryant369 comments: “I understand that this is too much for some, but I would kill for a DM who has enough time and passion for it.”
- NordicWolf7 cheers: “It would make me very happy as a player to receive that.”
- Professional-Face202 notes: “If my DM showed me that, I would think he is a damn serial killer, holy shit.”
- Zulbo notes: “You always have the option to rely on D&D rolls. Let the character solve it with Int rolls…”
- Smittumi counters: “I would hate this D&D game, lol.”
- kidshit drops out: “I thought, oh, this is just a cipher, quite easy, and then I got to the first image with all the triangles and just closed the window. What the hell is this…”
In general, however, most agree that it takes a lot of time and passion to set something like this up for their players. The discussion also shows how important it is for DMs to have a sense of their groups and know what would be fun for them and what would not. Because this kind of puzzles are not for everyone, as the discussion on Reddit once again shows.
However, some DMs not only provide puzzles for their groups and enjoy it. Another DM used a riddle to ask their crush out on a date. However, he received as a response another riddle that initially seemed unsolvable to him: Dungeon Master of Dungeons & Dragons asks his crush out on a date with a riddle, receives one back, and cannot solve it
