For my new module I’ve just began working on, it is set in space and we’re in a spaceship. Something has gone wrong and you need to fix the engines. I thought it would be cool if I could have some sort of, not too hard, puzzle quest involving that. Now, I suck at puzzles and even more at creating them. So, I just thought I would throw out the question here: Does anyone know of a puzzle idea suitable for this kind of scene? Does anyone know of a puzzle you could download and use for this (maybe if there’s a script or picture or something, I don’t know). I’m totally stuck right now… I actually thought of buing this here:
and then put it in my module, but I’m not sure I’m allowed to do that (put it in my module once I’ve bought it), and I don’t know how it all looks once I’ve bought it, if it could even fit in the game since it’s made for tabletop, and if I could implement it…so it would be easier if I could find something simple to use instead…I don’t know…anyone have any ideas? I’ve searched around but found very little. I think it should be quite an easy puzzle since it’s early on in the module.
My module, The Scroll comes with a number of puzzle types (around 5 or 6 I believe) with some new ones coming in module 2. They can be quite involved to do well, including introducing/writing new GUIs. If you want some background reading, see my blog … http://worldofalthea.blogspot.com/ Go to the search bar at the top and type “puzzle” to see pertinent blog entries.
My premise is that I build a module like a D&D adventure, which normally had puzzles in a table-top game. Therefore, I wanted to include puzzles in my modules. NB: They obviously have to be designed slightly differently due to the medium we now use, but can add a bit of a diversion/fun if done well.
Eg: My wife loves to do the puzzles in my module, even when she can “bypass” them using special items. i.e. Some people may appreciate a bypass option, so keep that in mind.
Other than that, I really cannot offer too much more advise, as (a) They are quite difficult to explain how to setup (especially as I cater for a MP approach too), and (b) I don’t want to “spoil” duplication of design between us, although the ideas are common.
A brief idea of shared concept ideas include: (i) Logic, (ii) Memory, and (iii) Cypher. My own puzzles are variations on these types of themes, but I also include non-standard approach such as “sound”.
I normally try to think of ways to test the character’s skills with puzzles - so that it is the character, not the player, who has to solve the puzzle. Often, this involves what seems like a simple puzzle concept to the player, but then the character has to pass skill checks to get the components solved.
For example, you can have three buttons that the player must press. Using some method, the PC can discover clues to which button does what. There may be a display in a nearby room with a hint in it’s description using a lore check. There could be an NPC droid who will explain why the middle button should never be pressed after a successful bluff check. And there can be a trigger nearby where the contraption the third button trigger could be figured out using a search or spot check.
Thanks for trying to help. I’d very much have liked to use the laser puzzles, but as I am unsure if that would work to implement in NWN2, and don’t want to pay money if I can’t use it. Therefore I think I’ll do the scene in a simple way through dialogue instead. I’m not sure I will use any skill checks in this particular scene. It’s…well, I don’t think it quite fits the scene, and I don’t want to go into details so as to spoil the module.