[SPOILERS] What the heck with the tile puzzle in DCC #46??

[Tropico]

I just got DCC#46, The Book of Treasure Maps. My players are level 4 by now so Im reading through Secrets of the Blue Moon in case they're encouraged by the thought of following a treasure map.

So I'm reading the adventure and I get to the Tile Puzzle. And I can't figure it out. For the life of me, I cannot make head or tail of it. There doesn't seem to be any explanation of it anywhere, and what little description of it there is I've read many times over and I just can't understand it.

Let's see. The module says that in the player's handout 'each line describes the line before it.' Ok, I get how that works. Cool. Then it goes on to say 'This describes the proper choice of tiles in Area 7-4'.

Right.. except that.. it.. doesn't. At all.

Let's see. First line is 'one'. So I step on the 1. Great. Second line is 'one one'. Well, I guess 'one asterisk' can be interpreted as a 1, so if I step on the asterisk, I'll have stepped on 'one-one'. Next line is 'two ones'. Next tile I'm supposed to step on is a one. I can't see this one. But say that I did. I step on the 1. Next line is 'one two, one one'. Im supposed to step on the tile with the three asterisks. ??? No idea. Say I'm on the wrong line then, for some reason, and I'm supposed to look at the next line instead: 'one one, one two, two ones'. ... I'm lost. Line before it instead of line after it? Same thing.

The more I look at it and try to think about it, the more frustrated I get and the more dumb I feel. I've begun to think I'm just overlooking something really simple, like a hidden line where it says 'if you push the lever none of the tiles are dangerous' or something. So, as a last resort could someone please explain this to me like I'm a a five-year old.

I'm not blaming the puzzle... It's got to be me being dense, I am aware of that Thanks for any help.

[Harley Stroh]

Tropico,

I think you may be coming at it wrong. At the end of the clue it reads "The Next Row of Number is Your Wisest Choice." So none of the previous numbers are the right path. The series of the previous numbers tell you what the next one is, and that last number (and only that last number) is the right path. The previous numbers in the series are important only so far as they inform the last in the series --- you aren't supposed move according to them.

Let me know if this still doesn't make sense.

//H

[Harley Stroh]

Let's see. The module says that in the player's handout 'each line describes the line before it.' Ok, I get how that works. Cool. Then it goes on to say 'This describes the proper choice of tiles in Area 7-4'.

This part is unclear. It should read something more along the lines of: "The next entry in the series describes the proper choice of tiles..."

So it's not you being dense.

//H

[Tropico]

oooooooooooooooooohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh I get it now

Geez, I thought it meant the next row to the one I'm currently on. Like if I'm on the first step, the second row would tell me the second step.

Makes a lot more sense now! Wooh, thanks Harley!

[Harley Stroh]

No sweat. I have vivid memories of being frustrated by the prime number puzzle in White Plume Mountain. The Blue Moon puzzle is MUCH harder.

//H

[Mike_Ferguson]

Puzzle writing is always a challenge. I tend to include them in the DCCs I've written, because I consider them part of the old-school dungeon crawl experience.

However ... conveying everything that's in your head to a DM - and what a DM needs to explain to his/her players - is often difficult. I've found that these are the parts of a DCC that usually require the most playtesting, just to make sure everyone understands how the puzzles work. People simply read things in very different ways.

(Playtesting puzzles can also be difficult if there's a 'puzzle-breaker' in your group. One of my players ripped through most of the puzzles in 'Curse of the Emerald Cobra' in seconds ... and another figured out the trapped doors in 'Chronicle of the Fiend' in under a minute. When you've got players like those, sometimes it's hard to figure out whether or not a puzzle is 'tough' or not. )

I'm glad Harley was able to help you out with this, Tropico. Let us know how the rest of the adventure turns out!