A common criticism of puzzles is that they don't feel natural or realistic for the situation. For example, why would a wealthy noble protect their vaults with simple math or tile puzzles that anyone could solve? Surely they would have access to more secure methods of safeguarding their treasures.
To address these issues, we should lean on the location’s flavor– inhabitants, history, environmental factors, etc. These elements can be used as hooks that allow us to creatively integrate puzzles into the location. By doing so, our puzzles feel much more natural and realistic for the situation.
For example, imagine the party is exploring an old magic workshop and they find a deactivated construct that shows signs of malevolent tampering. There are hints (perhaps the original creator’s notes) explaining that the construct could be willing to fight alongside the party if they were able to restore it to its original configuration.
In this situation, a math or tile puzzle doesn’t feel so far-fetched. The puzzle can abstractly represent the construct’s configuration, which is scrambled due to tampering. Notes from the creator act as a realistic way to convey hints or other useful information.
Integrating puzzles in this fashion takes some time and creativity, but I believe the results are well worth it. By using this technique, our puzzles feel like they have a good reason for being there, leading to a much more engaging and immersive encounter.
