Puzzle Canal, Nysalor riddles

From: Andrew Barton <AndrewBarton_at_compuserve.com>
Date: Sun, 14 Jul 2002 13:39:14 -0400


>> What really is the Nysalor
>> riddle of the Puzzle Canal, and what's it's answer?

> As for the actual words of the question and its answer - there isn't
> any AFAIK. It's just a strange thought that one can't explain yet
> niggles at the back of one's mind.

That's the way all Nysalor riddles (and other mystic insights) work IMG. =

When a character 'solves a riddle' I don't usually tell the player any detail of what has happened - the players know that I sometimes put stran= ge
squiggles on their character sheets but they don't know why, although som= e
can guess.

I'm being influenced by Zen koans. Koans can (usually?) be stated in wor= ds
and some are very well-known (like the famous 'What is the sound of one hand clapping?') but you cannot be told 'the' answer - the answer is different for every student and cannot necessarily be stated in words.

I once wanted to have the players witness an NPC solve a riddle while travelling through Tarsh, so used a western riddle based on a logical paradox ...

Q. In an obscure Lunar village named Span, by decree the barber must sha= ve
all those men of the village and only those men who do not shave themselves. Who shaves the barber?

A (1) the villagers conscript passing travellers to do temporary barber duty

A (2) that's up to her.

Andrew

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