Anyone here good at designing puzzles?

[CofS 129]

I'm creating an RPG set in a tavern. It starts off slow, and while the character is waiting around I want to add a couple of mini games or hidden things in the environment to give them something to do. I was thinking something like puzzles maybe. I'm not great at the design / art stuff, so need an ideas person! Anyone interested?

Edited October 9, 2022 by CofS (see edit history)

[CofS 129]

To give you an idea, we have one so far that involves searching for pieces of a torn up poster and reconnecting them to get a clue. The idea is that it can be done in short stages between other tasks.
 

Edited October 12, 2022 by CofS (see edit history)

[Zayralius 86]

I don't know if it helps, but i stumbled upon the site https://www.jigsawexplorer.com . There are puzzle pictures of all kind (normally no 18+) and you can choose your own pictures as a puzzle. So you could take a nice picture of a wetting perhaps and then choose between a few choices of how much pieces your puzzle should have.

[CofS 129]

That's useful. Although it doesn't have to be a jigsaw puzzle exactly. That was just an example of the one we've added already. I probably should have said ‘mini quest’ instead of ‘puzzle’.

Edited October 13, 2022 by CofS (see edit history)

[TheLoneRanger 313]

What about a classic one arm bandit or slot machine.

This way your mini game fits in with the bar theme. You often find slot machines in pubs in the UK.

[CofS 129]

It's set in the world of Alice in Wonderland, so a slot machine would be a bit too modern. But you've given me another idea for a card game that the player could join at will. That could work.

[Stanley79 615]

How about something from the book:  Carroll, Lewis, Game of Logic, Macmillan, London, 1887?

https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/4763

You could retain some whimsical blathering from the book (which is to say Lewis Carroll's humor).  Instead of many rules pages, give enough to get started.  After that the player discovers disallowed moves via a message like, "The Red Princess forbids that move." 

 

[TheLoneRanger 313]

For Alice in Wonderland you must have a chess game to join, in the pub.

[CofS 129]

I haven't seen that before, looks interesting. I'll check it out, thank you! 🙂

Edited October 17, 2022 by CofS (see edit history)

[TheLoneRanger 313]

This might help.

It's a list of historical pub games.

You might not be able to have a slot machine, but there are plenty of other options.

[CofS 129]

We were discussing multiplayer options yesterday. We don't have the technical skills to do actual multiplayer, but can definitely add multiplayer elements such as a games in the tavern/s that other players can join if they are playing online. Something like a card game or chess (both omorashi themed) would work with that. Now I just need to learn how to play chess so I can programme it!

Edited November 7, 2022 by CofS (see edit history)