Oooh, I know. You could always give them a nice little Trigonometry problem to solve or some Calculus. If the Players don't figure it out, they all get to die.
An objects acceleration is given by
. The objects initial velocity is
and the objects initial position is
. Determine the objects velocity and position functions.
Sorry, but there is a clear distinction...I'm sorry...there should be a clear distinction between the Player and the Character. So going with Alekzanter, the character sheets don't matter, it's the Players knowledge that matters? Then why are we even be playing characters then?
I have ran groups who did enjoy having real world puzzles put into the game, and those weren't designed to challenge the Characters, but the Players, so their characters could progress in the story. One of our favorites was a tile game that these weird shaped tiles of all kinds, I would show them a card that a little picture on it, and they had to arrange the tiles to match the picture. One Player was especially great at it. For the group, it worked, and it was something enjoyed by them.
I have had other groups who felt that all the checks should be about the Characters skills and knowledge. That is fine too.
But to have a riddle or something in a game, then just have some other "easy" way out for the PCs is not really good either. "Well, if they can't figure it out, I'll have a Sage tell them." is a horrible idea in my opinion. That just under rates your PCs and your encounter.
It all really boils down to your group. If you know your group well, you can build the encounters THEY like. Do they like riddles? Puzzles? Brain Teasers? Here, solve this Rubik's cube in under 4 minutes, or it's a Thermal Detonator, and you get blown up! If your group enjoys riddles, great, if not...well, I doubt they will enjoy this encounter. I don't like riddles, so this would be wasted on me, and I would fall quickly back to my character sheet to get me through the encounter, as I think it really should be for the most part.
