What's your favorite riddle for a RPG?

riddles are fucking dumb as shit and they challenge the player not the character so it defeats the purpose of RP

/thread

>>50421773
You're not allowed to /thread yourself

But you're absolutely right, they went the way of competitive dungeon crawling for a reason. Puzzles are almost always in the same camp as well

>>50421113
>riddles
I'm shit at writing riddles, and there are very few scenarios where they don't feel pretty forced.

>puzzles
I prefer a sort of Zelda approach. Either there's a gimmick to the dungeon that can be manipulated to do stuff (most of it optional) or there's a big dumb obstacle that the party needs to find and apply a solution to.

I might go for a logic puzzle for a big dumb obstacle, with clues distributed around the dungeon. But I'm not sure how to write a logic puzzle, and I'm worried I'd either have to railroad the party into getting all the clues or leave too many redundant clues for it to work as a puzzle if they found them all. That and the party might not even pick up on the puzzle being a puzzle, might assume the puzzle has to be solved immediately... there's just so much that can go wrong.

I hate riddles, they're either super easy and boring or nigh impossible because they use shitty logic, also this >>50421773

>>50421113
From what I've seen, there's either 2 ways they play out

A. One person with the right knowledge class skills and/or known languages saves the day

B. It's an interactive mechanical puzzle, where try and adjust can be fun. Hopefully goofing up doesn't cause a TPK

What sees without eyes, eats without teeth, and sneezes without a nose?

>>50422762
Cannibal potatoes.

>>50422762
Bats have both teeth and noses, right?

>>50422762
A dolphin? An old dolphin, that's lost all its teeth ?

>>50423768
Closer!

>>50421113
As >>50421773 , >>50421847 , and >>50421994 say, an RPG isn't the best place for arbitrary riddles.
What one could do, however, have the riddle tie into the rest of the world, to reward players who pay attention.

Say you're clearing a Noble's family catacombs of undead when you discover an archway with the inscription to the tune of "When times are bad, look to a miser's hand"
In the room beyond there would be statues of various members of the family, including one of a great-uncle who was famed for being a greedy bastard. Turning the hand on this statue reveals a chamber with treasure hidden as a rainy-day fund.

Ran one yesterday that worked out really well. My players found the plans for a hidden trapdoor on the dwarf that had built it. The plans suggested that it could only be opened with the correct weight of 6 units of liquids. Supplied were only containers for measuring 5 and 7 units so they had to try things out and pour it back and forth. They got it after they had the first two steps hinted and about 5-10 min

>>50424355
I think it's an issue of pacing. That sort of mystery is fun because each new part of it they figure out moves them forward. Even if they're on the total wrong path, there's still a feeling of progression. Riddles of the "answer my riddle and I'll let you pass" bring everything to grinding halt until they're solved

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>>50424464
Did you give them actual physical props for this? :D
Please say yes.

>>50424464
Fill 7.
Pour 7 into 5.
Pour remainder into receptacle.
Dump 5.
Repeat 3 times.

My GM once included riddles in a campaign.

It was online so I just googled them. I had a high WIS character alright they should have been able to solve it even if I couldn't.

Threw one puzzle at my players while going through a Paladin tomb, and a number of puzzles and combats that were there were focused towards Paladins(of which no in the group was, but the place itself was designed with Paladins in mind) as a sort of "only a real Paladin could reach the inner tomb" thing.

I can't remember the riddle itself since it was just some nonsense shit I made up on the way there and this was almost 7 years ago, but the basic gist of it was the statue would ask the riddle, await the answer, ask if they were sure while reminding them the trap triggered by a wrong answer could be terrible, even fatal.

The trick being there was no answer, and the statue would have accepted whatever answer so long as the one answering it had the conviction to stand by his choice, even if they had negative consequences. It was supposed to be a test of a Paladin's faith and ability to stand by the choices he makes when faced with a difficult situation with no easy answer, knowing that the choice could have negative repercussions that he's willing to work through. Or something.

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>>50421773
I'm glad I'm not the only one here who hates riddles.
Fuck you Bilbo, teeth are not horses!

>>50422762
Jellyfish, final answer.