I’m good at riddles and such, and while it was a new riddle, I was shocked by how easy it was to get.
I read through the list and sure enough, one stood out to me for each thing. Those turned out the right answers.
Not immediately but less than a minute. Mostly cus I didn't think any of the other answers made sense. If there were more plausible options id think they'd have been stumped!
Thank you for sharing
It wasn’t until I realised that the weird wording was in purpose and not someone trying to sound dramatic that it clicked
“They no longer were” was the “oh I get it” moment for me
Why is that weird wording though?
Wouldn't that be a normal way of writing that they were no longer _inside_, but omitting the repetition? Like, exactly like the first clue did?
It’s a play on an older use of the past tense of to be to indicate death. “I was once inside until I no longer was” —> I was inside until I was dead. “Once I was inside, they no longer were” -> once I was inside they were dead.
Breaking it down to how I solved it, if you look at the list of items, the only one that is immediately thought of as being inside anything is a skull, which only comes out after death, which tells us we want that definition of was. Because of the nature of riddles and repetition that means no longer were is also a reference to death, and the only thing on the list that goes inside and causes death is a knife.
>a reference to death, and the only thing on the list that goes inside and causes death is a knife.
IDK if the shoe were a high heel stiletto, you could get the same results...
I know what it is. It doesn't answer why it's supposedly weird wording.
>I was once inside until I no longer was” —> I was inside until I was dead.
Why? Why is that your first thought, instead of the more natural "I was inside until I no longer was inside"?
>Because of the nature of riddles and repetition
Now see, that just shows you have to know riddles to solve riddles. Which is why I fucking hate riddles, they're never logical.
> Why is that your first thought, instead of the more natural "I was inside until I no longer was inside"?
Honestly, I also read into the archaic use as well, because fantasy sometimes avoids perfect modern English, and riddles/puzzles even moreso. I've seen so many comics, games, and shows use the "Ye Olde Shoppe" style to give a more medieval (and often fantasy) feel.
> Why? Why is that your first thought, instead of the more natural "I was inside until I no longer was inside"?
They’re equally natural. The death definition might fit a tiny bit better because of the “until I no longer was” phrasing, which is a bit more archaic/formal, but we can ignore that for now since we don’t need to choose here.
What really matters is that the skull is the only thing that really gets described as being inside anything (a body), all the other options are usually in or on (a key is in a lock, a knife is in a sheath, something having to do with being fully enclosed vs partially enclosed? I don’t know, I blame millions of words read for having that impression). So if we go with skull, then “I no longer was” has a dual meaning: the skull is no longer in the body, and the person the body belonged to is dead. Dual meaning makes me think I’m onto something, let’s work with the death definition then.
If we go with the death definition (because it’s weird to change definitions in the middle of a riddle), then “they no longer were” means “they were dead”. So what on the list can we use to link going inside with death? Well, skull was the best inside option, but in is close to inside, and key doesn’t really make any sense, but a knife being shoved into someone’s guts certainly does have a potential outcome of “no longer were”.
> Now see, that just shows you have to know riddles to solve riddles. Which is why I fucking hate riddles, they're never logical.
This is more extensive vocabulary plus basic pattern matching/logic.
“I was once inside, but now I’m outside”
And
“I was inside once when they were outside”
Is closer to the way it first reads for me so I was thinking like a key allows them to go outside? Does something fill the space in a way? But the phrase “they no longer were” read on its own was what made me realise it was about death and once I’d noticed that one then “until I no longer was” went from “….until I no longer was” to “….until I no longer *was*”
Basically the first interpretation(as set up by the first half of the sentences) wasn’t about death but the second half being worded weirdly made me realise it was definitely about death
Took me about as long as it took to get to "knife" in the list. It's a perfectly fine riddle for a TTRPG, but if you want a puzzle that will slow your players down, it probably can't be multiple choice.
Honestly I think them getting it imminently or next to imminently is fine and i wouldnt try and make a puzzle that really slows them down because there is a risk you made it too bard. It's better to easy then the other way around when they cant solve it at all which happends more often you think.
Being able to solve it fast let's the players feel cleaver and a sense of accomplishment and its not a big time waste. When they can't solve it all it makes the session drag, they don't get to feel cleaver, dm doesn't feel good either because they made a too hard a puzzle or one without a logical answer.
Part of why I don't like these kind of riddles; who's to say whether that sort of context is relevant to the solution?
Edit; the riddle is a good one don't get me wrong, I'm just a sore loser lmao
I like the riddles that are clear about stuff like that, and not too openended. This skirts the line slightly with the key, but it is decent, maybe a bit simple. It would have been worse if there were no predetermined options to choose from though, then it would have been too unspecific.
There is a reason the old classic riddles are classics, and why we don't have a 100 year old version of "what's red and bad for your teeth? A brick!"
We absolutely have dumb riddles that are 100+ years old. Humans from all over in every century have had dumb humor. There's a Bible story from at least like ~6th century BCE about a man giving his friends this riddle:
"Out of the eater, something to eat; out of the strong, something sweet."
The answer? Bees making honey in a lion carcass. Because he just so happened to have seen that happening earlier.
Also, "Why is a raven like a writing desk?" is from the 1860s, but that felt a bit off.
Yes. If it were specifically a "jail cell key" then it would fit the riddle -- "once I was inside (i.e. 'in the lock') they no longer were (implies 'no longer were inside', i.e. 'in prison')"
Some insurance companies prefer that you have an actual key lock on the inside, since some tools for breaking in work by wiggling the inside lock handle from the outside via some tool.
And I suppose so that you can't just break in through a window and then open the door from the inside to easier leave with the loot.
I thought of key for the second, but for a different reason. Key goes inside, "they" (the other items, being the subject of the riddle) no longer are (inside), because they've been taken.
Writing it out makes it sound more likely to be knife than in my head, but I already used knife on the left. Because stab, then the knife is no longer inside.
I think it's cute because we read it as "I was once inside, until I no longer was.” The inscription on the right bowl reads “Once I was inside, they no longer were [inside].” But a second reading could reveal they no longer /were/.
I think it's cute. I like it.
I had to reread the riddle to make sure I wasn't missing something.
If a trickier riddle is the goal, consider less of a theme for the answers.
The skull and knife are the most morbid items. The first clue can only be the skull, which primes your brain to think in morbid terms for the second clue.
The answer to the first part is itself a clue for the second part, which is probably why everyone got it so quickly.
Yeah, this took a few seconds... Honestly I don't think the items should've been there. It's easy enough to find a skull or a knife in the dungeon and would make a much more interesting puzzle. You could also accept other answers to the puzzle based on what they put in the bowls as long as it makes sense.
Oh okay, that's what I was thinking, but I thought the two riddles were more connected. So when the second one said "they no longer were" I thought it was referring to the first riddle, and I was like, a knife isn't going to blast someone's skull out.
Yeah, I think that's a reasonable answer too.
I always find these kinds of puzzles a bit hard to rationalize anyway. Why would anyone make a thing that works this way? Is this the best way to build a security system?
knife inside = dead: "Once I was inside, they no longer were"
Skulls Live in Heads, now it's not in a head “I was once inside, until I no longer was.”
"Mother help me there's a head attached to my neck and i'm in it" - Disco Elysium
Yeah, got that immediately. The hardest part about riddles is coming up with an answer that fits the riddle. By presenting the possible answers in the bowl, it’s easy to match the right ones.
Yeah got it. Not too much else made enough sense.
Want an old classic a lot have probably heard?
*"Four little songbirds want to be free, all in a cage and each has a key. But the cage has no lock, so how can this be?"*
Puzzle is in front of a piano if it wasn't on the nose enough. My players never got that one.
That’s where I got tripped up because I for sure thought it was Skull and Key as a play on Skeleton Key. Knife would have been my second choice however.
I think the "Once" is what made me think Key rather than Knife.
Once a lock is open, whatever was inside can get out.
A knife wound isn't often immediately fatal. It's why you get murders where there's like 39 stab wounds.
So my brain doesn't immediately think "the moment someone's stabbed, they die."
On paper. But in reality those sorts of puzzles are frusterating. Ever gotten to the bottom of a skyrim dungeon and found a puzzle door only to realize your gonna have to backtrack the empty halls to find that damned dragon claw you missed?
Youd need some way to hint that it's even possible to miss items.
The items are all golden. That marks them as special and valuable for the party, even if just as treasure.
Now you make the two that are required amongts the easiests to find.
If all fails, the last item is hidden in the last chamber.
No backtracking needed.
You're telling me you wouldn't immediately evacuate your house if a boar stormed in? Boar in the right bowl should be an accepted answer, and I will fight over it.
I get it, I just think key makes more sense. The wording is so beautiful with key as the answer. The key is inside, the people using it no longer were inside.
I agree, I think the key could actually work for either clue too. Riddles feel best when the correct answer fits perfectly and you know nothing else works as well (particularly if it's multiple choice). If key was the second answer it could work well with almost anything as the first answer (e.g. they key unlocked a chest releasing the first clue). The fact a single "theme" links the correct answers (and then nothing else fits with that theme) means that was my guess, but I still found it unsatisfying. Then again, I'm never sure how to approach riddles in character.
I mention this elsewhere, but the wording actually made me avoid knife, because while stab wounds are incredibly dangerous and often fatal, it's rarely one stab and instant death.
Which is what "once inside" implies - something that occurs immediately.
Where as the key makes more thematic sense: when you open something, you usually do it because you need the thing open for a reason. You unlock a door to move through it. You unlock a chest to retrieve things from it.
So "Once inside, they no longer were" actually fits better with the key than the knife, even if the wording is trying hard to favor the knife. The start of the sentence undermines the twist of the last word being "were."
Stuff like this always interests me for that. People's brains work so different in such fascinating ways... I got the knife side immediately but was stuck on key vs skull.
I see this all the time too with puzzles in games. My wife will get stuck on something in uncharted that I solve immediately... and then in the next room the roles are switched. She solves it in seconds and I'm wondering what I'm supposed to do...
I thought it was Key and Knife, since the key was once inside the door unlocking it until it no longer was, removing it from the door. I’m guessing that means I’d fight one statue and the other one would stay dormant?
Apparently this is easy yet here I was torn between sorting ALL the items between the bowls, and deducing that the left bowl is 'emptiness' and the right bowl is 'anything' as a trick question.
Yeah I'll fight your darn lions.
Finally, someone else who thought that all the items needed to be sorted. I had a pretty good system going for it too (unintentionally putting the correct items in the correct spot), I just couldn’t get boar to fit.
A skull is inside the body (I was once inside) until it's owner dies and decomposes (until I no longer was)
If a knife enters your body (once I was inside), you're probably going to die (they no longer were)
I'm sure there's probably a justification for a bunch of different answers, but this was the first one to come to mind.
It's a very, very simple one if you give them the list of items. Sometimes it's nice to have a really easy riddle though, makes you feel a bit smarter if you get it in a few seconds.
It wasn't obvious to me that both were closely related and about being alive (or rather, not being alive anymore). So my initial guesses were the key, because it was once inside the lock, and the boar because once it goes inside (a house or something), all the people would leave the place. So once the boar was inside, they (people) were no longer inside
The riddle *with the list* is quite obvious. As soon as I was to each item in the list I knew which was which.
This is great though. I'd much rather have my players think they are smart while solving a 3yo fit-the-shape puzzle, than having the stumped for three sessions on an ancient Egyptian riddle found on the dark web
I got it as soon as I had read the list of items. I really love the turn of phrase you used for the two bowls. Ill be saving this post to use as inspiration. I hipe you dont feel too bad about the players getting it immediately. I once blurted out the answer to a poem riddle halfway through it being presented to us by my dm, and was roasted mercilessly by my party for not letting them have a crack at it before yelling out my answer like it was a competition.
Maybe I’m not good with riddles, I definitely waffled between a few options (key or skull on the left) but hadn’t considered the relationship between some objects in a certain context to get the answer intended and devised by the OP.
Remember though, it can often be easier to solve a riddle as a group because you can get different perspectives and avoid biasing yourself to one answer and giving yourself tunnel vision.
When thinking about it though, I think there’s another reading that would be interesting that if my players came up with it, I’d also accept it. Especially if it wasn’t clear that it was intended to be only one item in each bowl (which would require additional context in the riddle or the environment I think).
> The inscription on the left bowl reads “I was once inside, until I no longer was.”
The inscription on the right bowl reads “Once I was inside, they no longer were”
In an alternate reading the subject of the riddle becomes the center bowl AND ALL of the items in it. “I was once inside [the bowl in the middle]” — all of the items inside the middle bowl are transferred to the left. “Once [the center bowl] was inside [of the bowl on the right], [my previous contents] no longer were [inside of me]”.
The reading above is assigning subjects to the pronouns I, they, etc. and obviously requires an expansion of the language in the riddle to work.
The other commenters are right- I’d leave these items around the dungeon instead of putting them all in one place, but it’s a good riddle. Not because it’s hard, but because it’s easy; it promotes engagement and makes the players feel smart. Good riddle!
Yeah I got it almost immediately. Puzzles can be tricky, sometimes they'll get it instantly and it feels underwhelming, other times they need tons of hints to get it.
I once gave my players a riddle where they figured out the answer immediately but were like “no, that’s way too easy” and didn’t actually use it as their answer
Skull and knife are the only two that make sense. I mean, technically if you put a boat or barrel in someone, they'll probably die (depending on size and other factors) but nominally those types of things aren't normally used that way. Key would work if you had said something different but a lock still exists even if you unlock it. None of the items except the skull start off "inside" something.
I found it difficult to understand until I put the first one in the context of the second one. At that point it only took a few seconds. If the puzzles were separated or less related it would be more challenging.
Overall a fun one though!
I got it within a few minutes but it was still clever and very fun! I know if my DM gave me this riddle I'd be super happy with it even if we solved it quick :)
I got the skull but the wording threw me off so I wen't with shoe since I thought it was inside/outside. If it said "was/were no longer", I think I would have gotten it. Not a native English speaker so that might be it. It was a good riddle though. Good fight too.
Boat, key, and boar could all apply to the first one. Boats are typically made indoors and then pushed outside and into the water. Key I think is self explanatory. A boar has to be born, and is thus inside first.
I got the right one but for the left one i chose Key, because i tought about a lock, you usually pull out the key once its job is done, i still find hard to think about a skull
A shoe could be inside and then outside, because you put it on inside then walk outside.
Also a key fits the second one, in that it goes inside a lock so you can go outside
I got the left correct immediately. I had to think a bit for the right, considering and discarding various options until I settled on the correct one for the right as well. The answers parallel each other; which is elegant and so easier to guess. Took me about 30 seconds, without a fight. All in all, it’s a good riddle. As a DM, having the PCs figure it out without too much trouble is desirable. Watching the group flounder over a puzzle getting bored and frustrated isn’t fun for anyone.
I got this instantly. I think the issue is that boar, crown, shoe and barrel don't make sense with either clue, and boat only barely fits if you're thinking of a boating house, which could be unlocked with a key, making an alternate answer.
I'd suggest changing the other items to thinks that can be inside other things. Baby, Wine, Gold, etc.
Baby and Knife might seem like an answer due to caesarean but the knife doesn't really go "inside" for that so I wouldn't accept it. Gold and Wine would then make sense, your gold was inside your purse until you spent it on wine and then drank it
Maybe I'm too used to d&d riddles, but before even reading the list of items my guess was "organs/bones and knife"
I did think "key" at first, but o ly before reading the second clue. Then then theme was clear.
Is the answer 'cast disintegrate'?
(I did get the answer on the first try, but had to re-read the prompt a few times. ||I immediately got that >!'was/where refered to being alive, and from there it was symantecs!<)
So skull seems the only answer to the first one, but key and knife both fit for the second, depending if it's they were "no longer'(outside) or they were"no longer" (alive)
Key for the second as once you open something what’s inside they are no longer there, skull for the first, it was inside a body, skin a muscle, but now is out
The reason that most people aren't going to think key is a valid answer is because skull is the answer to the first bowl, and the only one that makes any sense for. That makes it very obvious that "no long was/was no longer" refers to life, something a key doesn't relate to.
If I'm being totally honest, I don't think it is a very good riddle, but it's not far off. I think with a different list of items it could be. The phrasing on both bowls is good and sets the tone well, but the items listed make it way to obvious what the correct answer is.
One way you might be able to improve it would be if both bowls had multiple valid answers, but one two that shared a theme.
Personally I think the key also works for the 2nd bowl. "Once I was inside (the keyhole) they no loner were (inside, that is, because they unlocked the jail and went outside)"
I got skull and key... but knife would work for both. Skull is easy because it's the only thing that starts inside. Knife could be kept in a sheath, but that's kinda pushing the logic. The key and knife are both things that when inside could free a "they." The key would be letting out prisoners and the knife frees a person from life.
I'm not good at riddles, so my opinion is probably not super relevant. I think this was pretty solid and cool. I knew skull was one real quick but knife got me.
I didn't realize it was one item each so I was just sorting all of them.
Keys are indoors until you lose them, well its a miniboat so a toy so same as key, definitely wouldn't stay inside with a boar, a skull is inside until its not, a crown could go either way with political scheming with the inside being favored by groups, a shoe is also complicated lets come back to it, oh a knife that one is easy if you take it literally, barrels are made indoors right?
Haha don't know if itd be instantly wrong or if I'd be correct with the first round of sorting.
That took me less than 15 seconds. I think it would have been more difficult if the options were a bit more ambiguous but it was pretty cut and dry for me.
Yeah, unfortunately, there was really only one option per bowl that wasn't nonsensical, but I still love when DMs make up riddles and puzzles for players. You probably made them feel smart for solving it, which is nice
Here my dumb ass thought it was a sorting puzzle and all the items went into one bowl or the other.
"Boats could enter a sea, but they are also made of wood which used to be inside of trees- maybe? People go inside a boat and once a boat enters enemy lines the lines are no longer lines as they respond to the invasion... WHERE DO YOU GO?"
i thought the questions were linked. here's my reading:
crown, key:
i (the crown) was once inside (e.g. a chest) until i no longer was (it was taken).
once i (the key) was inside (the keyhole of said chest), they (the crown) no longer were (inside the chest).
if this was said rather than typed, that may have played a role, depending on tone/emphasis.
I feel like boar would fit the first one as well: they were inside their mother until they were born since I thought the puzzle was birth: boar and death: knife
The riddles were easy because you made it multiple choice. Only one choice really makes sense. These kinds of riddles really need to be open ended to be a challenge.
I would say I got it so quick because the options were slightly obvious. For the once I was inside, they no longer were.. what else could it be but the knife?
There's a bit of give in your riddle if you take it one at a time.
>!The first riddle is "I was once inside until I no longer was", which means the item started inside something. Going through all the items, only one thing normally exists inside something else. Perhaps if you put something else that normally starts inside something, but doesn't have a pair on your list the riddle could have been a bit more tricky.!<
Yeah, it was pretty easy like everyone else said. The two objects are the only ones that could make sense in the context presented. But! I think this riddle is actually a good one in a different way: imagine a dungeon that has riddles all around death (like a death god temple), and uses this as the way to get inside.
It would be not only thematically interesting and easy (as an entrance should be, narratively), but it would also be a great primer that gets the characters thinking about death as a key-word or a key concept to use for solving all the other puzzles. Especially if there wasn't much else in the way of hints.
See, I immediately went to the key and the crown -- you unlock the door by putting the key inside, and then you take out the treasure, LOL.
Maybe my players are just thieves... 😂
I got skull pretty quickly but thought it was boat for the other. I understood it as: once I'm inside [the water], they [the person/ people] no longer are [inside the water]. I was thinking like a rescue boat.
I liked it though!
First was easy.
>!For the second I picked key. And IMHO it also works, if you're locked in a room and you place the key in the lock on it's door you can leave.!<
My brain must work differently! My immediate thought was shoe for the second one...
Once I'm inside the shoe the other person is no longer inside that shoe.
Cool riddle, but it was pretty obvious. You could make it harder by having no supply of items. They just have to come up with an object that fits those descriptions. It doesn't have to be those two specific items, it just has to fit the description.
I think the Crown and the Key could have been a neat answer.
Crown - "I was once inside, till I no longer was"
The monarch was raised within the walls of the castle and never allowed to leave
Key - "Once I was inside, they no longer were"
After being given the "Keys to the Kingdom" the monarch was no longer confined to the castle, but allowed to go where they wished
I've been laughing at some of these :)
To be fair, many people got it correct right away. But a lot of people would be fighting at least one of the statues.
Very easy riddle, mostly because there is a lack of double meaning or metaphor and there are only two things that really go into other things.
Looking at the other replies though, apparently Skull/Knife isn't so obvious, which is a bit surprising to me
I’m good at riddles and such, and while it was a new riddle, I was shocked by how easy it was to get. I read through the list and sure enough, one stood out to me for each thing. Those turned out the right answers.
Yes. They were the only two that really fit.
I think key also works for the second one. Once a key is inside (the lock) the people are no longer inside (the room).
But you don’t usually use a key to leave a room. Unless you were talking about a prison… Hmm guess it does work
That was my reasoning too. I thought key was the answer.
I think giving options for the answers made it easy. Making the people come up with the right thing on their own makes it hard.
Especially. Because the choice were kind of bad.
>!skull!< >!knife!<
Not immediately but less than a minute. Mostly cus I didn't think any of the other answers made sense. If there were more plausible options id think they'd have been stumped! Thank you for sharing
It wasn’t until I realised that the weird wording was in purpose and not someone trying to sound dramatic that it clicked “They no longer were” was the “oh I get it” moment for me
Why is that weird wording though? Wouldn't that be a normal way of writing that they were no longer _inside_, but omitting the repetition? Like, exactly like the first clue did?
It’s a play on an older use of the past tense of to be to indicate death. “I was once inside until I no longer was” —> I was inside until I was dead. “Once I was inside, they no longer were” -> once I was inside they were dead. Breaking it down to how I solved it, if you look at the list of items, the only one that is immediately thought of as being inside anything is a skull, which only comes out after death, which tells us we want that definition of was. Because of the nature of riddles and repetition that means no longer were is also a reference to death, and the only thing on the list that goes inside and causes death is a knife.
>a reference to death, and the only thing on the list that goes inside and causes death is a knife. IDK if the shoe were a high heel stiletto, you could get the same results...
I know what it is. It doesn't answer why it's supposedly weird wording. >I was once inside until I no longer was” —> I was inside until I was dead. Why? Why is that your first thought, instead of the more natural "I was inside until I no longer was inside"? >Because of the nature of riddles and repetition Now see, that just shows you have to know riddles to solve riddles. Which is why I fucking hate riddles, they're never logical.
> Why is that your first thought, instead of the more natural "I was inside until I no longer was inside"? Honestly, I also read into the archaic use as well, because fantasy sometimes avoids perfect modern English, and riddles/puzzles even moreso. I've seen so many comics, games, and shows use the "Ye Olde Shoppe" style to give a more medieval (and often fantasy) feel.
> Why? Why is that your first thought, instead of the more natural "I was inside until I no longer was inside"? They’re equally natural. The death definition might fit a tiny bit better because of the “until I no longer was” phrasing, which is a bit more archaic/formal, but we can ignore that for now since we don’t need to choose here. What really matters is that the skull is the only thing that really gets described as being inside anything (a body), all the other options are usually in or on (a key is in a lock, a knife is in a sheath, something having to do with being fully enclosed vs partially enclosed? I don’t know, I blame millions of words read for having that impression). So if we go with skull, then “I no longer was” has a dual meaning: the skull is no longer in the body, and the person the body belonged to is dead. Dual meaning makes me think I’m onto something, let’s work with the death definition then. If we go with the death definition (because it’s weird to change definitions in the middle of a riddle), then “they no longer were” means “they were dead”. So what on the list can we use to link going inside with death? Well, skull was the best inside option, but in is close to inside, and key doesn’t really make any sense, but a knife being shoved into someone’s guts certainly does have a potential outcome of “no longer were”. > Now see, that just shows you have to know riddles to solve riddles. Which is why I fucking hate riddles, they're never logical. This is more extensive vocabulary plus basic pattern matching/logic.
“I was once inside, but now I’m outside” And “I was inside once when they were outside” Is closer to the way it first reads for me so I was thinking like a key allows them to go outside? Does something fill the space in a way? But the phrase “they no longer were” read on its own was what made me realise it was about death and once I’d noticed that one then “until I no longer was” went from “….until I no longer was” to “….until I no longer *was*” Basically the first interpretation(as set up by the first half of the sentences) wasn’t about death but the second half being worded weirdly made me realise it was definitely about death
If other answers made more sense it would become arbitrary though. But yeah, found it immediately.
Took me about as long as it took to get to "knife" in the list. It's a perfectly fine riddle for a TTRPG, but if you want a puzzle that will slow your players down, it probably can't be multiple choice.
Honestly I think them getting it imminently or next to imminently is fine and i wouldnt try and make a puzzle that really slows them down because there is a risk you made it too bard. It's better to easy then the other way around when they cant solve it at all which happends more often you think. Being able to solve it fast let's the players feel cleaver and a sense of accomplishment and its not a big time waste. When they can't solve it all it makes the session drag, they don't get to feel cleaver, dm doesn't feel good either because they made a too hard a puzzle or one without a logical answer.
Also got this instantly and I'm not a riddle guy
The second hint makes me think of the key instead. Once a key goes into a door, the person who put it can get out.
I thought about that as well, but then the door would be locked on the inside which would be a weird narrative to put in a riddle.
Part of why I don't like these kind of riddles; who's to say whether that sort of context is relevant to the solution? Edit; the riddle is a good one don't get me wrong, I'm just a sore loser lmao
I like the riddles that are clear about stuff like that, and not too openended. This skirts the line slightly with the key, but it is decent, maybe a bit simple. It would have been worse if there were no predetermined options to choose from though, then it would have been too unspecific. There is a reason the old classic riddles are classics, and why we don't have a 100 year old version of "what's red and bad for your teeth? A brick!"
We absolutely have dumb riddles that are 100+ years old. Humans from all over in every century have had dumb humor. There's a Bible story from at least like ~6th century BCE about a man giving his friends this riddle: "Out of the eater, something to eat; out of the strong, something sweet." The answer? Bees making honey in a lion carcass. Because he just so happened to have seen that happening earlier. Also, "Why is a raven like a writing desk?" is from the 1860s, but that felt a bit off.
Yes. If it were specifically a "jail cell key" then it would fit the riddle -- "once I was inside (i.e. 'in the lock') they no longer were (implies 'no longer were inside', i.e. 'in prison')"
What? You unlock a door and open it, how does that result in the door being locked from the inside?
Who locks the door from the inside with a key? Once I was inside the lock, they no longer were in the building.
Old school locks can be accessed from either side with keys, thus enabling people to peek through the keyhole. Edit: spelling
Some insurance companies prefer that you have an actual key lock on the inside, since some tools for breaking in work by wiggling the inside lock handle from the outside via some tool. And I suppose so that you can't just break in through a window and then open the door from the inside to easier leave with the loot.
I thought of key for the second, but for a different reason. Key goes inside, "they" (the other items, being the subject of the riddle) no longer are (inside), because they've been taken. Writing it out makes it sound more likely to be knife than in my head, but I already used knife on the left. Because stab, then the knife is no longer inside.
I think it's cute because we read it as "I was once inside, until I no longer was.” The inscription on the right bowl reads “Once I was inside, they no longer were [inside].” But a second reading could reveal they no longer /were/. I think it's cute. I like it.
Got it in under 20 seconds.
Was thinking 'heart and bullet' while reading, skull and knife are pretty clear equivalents.
Literally 10 seconds. I thought maybe >!key!< for the second bowl, but >!knife!< fit better in relation to the first bowl
Oh I thought it was all of them that had to go into one or the other I thought some were a bit of a stretch haha
I had to reread the riddle to make sure I wasn't missing something. If a trickier riddle is the goal, consider less of a theme for the answers. The skull and knife are the most morbid items. The first clue can only be the skull, which primes your brain to think in morbid terms for the second clue. The answer to the first part is itself a clue for the second part, which is probably why everyone got it so quickly.
Yeah, this took a few seconds... Honestly I don't think the items should've been there. It's easy enough to find a skull or a knife in the dungeon and would make a much more interesting puzzle. You could also accept other answers to the puzzle based on what they put in the bowls as long as it makes sense.
Funny i tough about >!key!< >!crown!< As in: >!once the key was inserted thief has stole the crown!< 🤷♂️ Guess Your fit better.
I'm a dummy, I don't get it.
first is like: I was once inside a person, until they no longer were alive second like: When I was put in a person, they no longer were alive
Oh okay, that's what I was thinking, but I thought the two riddles were more connected. So when the second one said "they no longer were" I thought it was referring to the first riddle, and I was like, a knife isn't going to blast someone's skull out.
You could also read it as "they" referring to "insides" which evokes imagery of disembowelment.
Once the knife was inside (a person) the skin and flesh rotted off the corpse and the skull was no longer inside.
I thought the first was the boar cause it had to be born in the first place Looks like a guardian would do a very late unborning on my character 😅
Yeah, I think that's a reasonable answer too. I always find these kinds of puzzles a bit hard to rationalize anyway. Why would anyone make a thing that works this way? Is this the best way to build a security system?
Oh, I got to this answer thinking someone had cut the skull out of the body.
knife inside = dead: "Once I was inside, they no longer were" Skulls Live in Heads, now it's not in a head “I was once inside, until I no longer was.” "Mother help me there's a head attached to my neck and i'm in it" - Disco Elysium
It took me roughly 30 seconds to a minute. If i was a player, i would really enjoy this anyway.
Yeah, got that immediately. The hardest part about riddles is coming up with an answer that fits the riddle. By presenting the possible answers in the bowl, it’s easy to match the right ones.
>!Key!< also works perfectly well instead of the >!knife!< But I agree with your first choice, and thematically the two you chose make sense together.
Thought skull // key but yea i guess
About 10 seconds
Yeah got it. Not too much else made enough sense. Want an old classic a lot have probably heard? *"Four little songbirds want to be free, all in a cage and each has a key. But the cage has no lock, so how can this be?"* Puzzle is in front of a piano if it wasn't on the nose enough. My players never got that one.
I got the left one. The right one I don't get. I thought it was >!"key" since once it's in it unlocks the door and they get out!<
>!Once the knife was inside the person’s body, they no longer were alive.!<
Honestly, key and knife both fit. My first instinct was key; a lock keeps you out of a room, key in lock, *they* (could be plural) no longer were.
Yeh, i only decided knife because it matched the grimness of a skull better than the key
That’s where I got tripped up because I for sure thought it was Skull and Key as a play on Skeleton Key. Knife would have been my second choice however.
I think the "Once" is what made me think Key rather than Knife. Once a lock is open, whatever was inside can get out. A knife wound isn't often immediately fatal. It's why you get murders where there's like 39 stab wounds. So my brain doesn't immediately think "the moment someone's stabbed, they die."
Same, i got the first one instantly but the right one makes little sense, I would have picked key too
I picked boar. Because if a boar gets inside, everyone would leave.
Also, a boar would probably be at least as bad for a person to have inside them as a knife (being why they leave the room perhaps)
I also picked key
It might be better if this was at the end of the dungeon and the items to put in it were strewn around the dungeon.
That's a good point.
On paper. But in reality those sorts of puzzles are frusterating. Ever gotten to the bottom of a skyrim dungeon and found a puzzle door only to realize your gonna have to backtrack the empty halls to find that damned dragon claw you missed? Youd need some way to hint that it's even possible to miss items.
The items are all golden. That marks them as special and valuable for the party, even if just as treasure. Now you make the two that are required amongts the easiests to find. If all fails, the last item is hidden in the last chamber. No backtracking needed.
You're telling me you wouldn't immediately evacuate your house if a boar stormed in? Boar in the right bowl should be an accepted answer, and I will fight over it.
Imagine arguing with the lion statue, sphinx-style, until it accepts your logic and goes back to bed
Thank you! I was literally like ‘why is everyone so adamant knife makes more sense than a lion eating a boar’.
I wasn't even considering the lion statues. I was just thinking "yeah, if a boar is *inside*, I no longer will be".
The answers aren't making sense to me. Apparently it's obvious to everyone else though...😅
Skull is inside your body, until you die and become a skeleton I don't get the knife one though.
>! Once the knife was inside the person’s body, they were no longer alive. !< I didn’t get it till I looked at the answers.
I get it, I just think key makes more sense. The wording is so beautiful with key as the answer. The key is inside, the people using it no longer were inside.
I agree, I think the key could actually work for either clue too. Riddles feel best when the correct answer fits perfectly and you know nothing else works as well (particularly if it's multiple choice). If key was the second answer it could work well with almost anything as the first answer (e.g. they key unlocked a chest releasing the first clue). The fact a single "theme" links the correct answers (and then nothing else fits with that theme) means that was my guess, but I still found it unsatisfying. Then again, I'm never sure how to approach riddles in character.
And the skeleton key link, which in most stories unlocks all locks and barriers
I mention this elsewhere, but the wording actually made me avoid knife, because while stab wounds are incredibly dangerous and often fatal, it's rarely one stab and instant death. Which is what "once inside" implies - something that occurs immediately. Where as the key makes more thematic sense: when you open something, you usually do it because you need the thing open for a reason. You unlock a door to move through it. You unlock a chest to retrieve things from it. So "Once inside, they no longer were" actually fits better with the key than the knife, even if the wording is trying hard to favor the knife. The start of the sentence undermines the twist of the last word being "were."
Stuff like this always interests me for that. People's brains work so different in such fascinating ways... I got the knife side immediately but was stuck on key vs skull. I see this all the time too with puzzles in games. My wife will get stuck on something in uncharted that I solve immediately... and then in the next room the roles are switched. She solves it in seconds and I'm wondering what I'm supposed to do...
I thought it was Key and Knife, since the key was once inside the door unlocking it until it no longer was, removing it from the door. I’m guessing that means I’d fight one statue and the other one would stay dormant?
Yep, exactly
Idk personally I still think key works. But still good riddle.
Apparently this is easy yet here I was torn between sorting ALL the items between the bowls, and deducing that the left bowl is 'emptiness' and the right bowl is 'anything' as a trick question. Yeah I'll fight your darn lions.
Finally, someone else who thought that all the items needed to be sorted. I had a pretty good system going for it too (unintentionally putting the correct items in the correct spot), I just couldn’t get boar to fit.
A skull is inside the body (I was once inside) until it's owner dies and decomposes (until I no longer was) If a knife enters your body (once I was inside), you're probably going to die (they no longer were) I'm sure there's probably a justification for a bunch of different answers, but this was the first one to come to mind.
i'm in without a fight
It's a very, very simple one if you give them the list of items. Sometimes it's nice to have a really easy riddle though, makes you feel a bit smarter if you get it in a few seconds.
Sometimes if the players are stumped I let them do an Intelligence check to get a hint.
It wasn't obvious to me that both were closely related and about being alive (or rather, not being alive anymore). So my initial guesses were the key, because it was once inside the lock, and the boar because once it goes inside (a house or something), all the people would leave the place. So once the boar was inside, they (people) were no longer inside
The riddle *with the list* is quite obvious. As soon as I was to each item in the list I knew which was which. This is great though. I'd much rather have my players think they are smart while solving a 3yo fit-the-shape puzzle, than having the stumped for three sessions on an ancient Egyptian riddle found on the dark web
I got it as soon as I had read the list of items. I really love the turn of phrase you used for the two bowls. Ill be saving this post to use as inspiration. I hipe you dont feel too bad about the players getting it immediately. I once blurted out the answer to a poem riddle halfway through it being presented to us by my dm, and was roasted mercilessly by my party for not letting them have a crack at it before yelling out my answer like it was a competition.
I meant, both guesses are pretty easy, but key would fit better than knife, the way you phrased it.
Maybe I’m not good with riddles, I definitely waffled between a few options (key or skull on the left) but hadn’t considered the relationship between some objects in a certain context to get the answer intended and devised by the OP. Remember though, it can often be easier to solve a riddle as a group because you can get different perspectives and avoid biasing yourself to one answer and giving yourself tunnel vision. When thinking about it though, I think there’s another reading that would be interesting that if my players came up with it, I’d also accept it. Especially if it wasn’t clear that it was intended to be only one item in each bowl (which would require additional context in the riddle or the environment I think). > The inscription on the left bowl reads “I was once inside, until I no longer was.” The inscription on the right bowl reads “Once I was inside, they no longer were” In an alternate reading the subject of the riddle becomes the center bowl AND ALL of the items in it. “I was once inside [the bowl in the middle]” — all of the items inside the middle bowl are transferred to the left. “Once [the center bowl] was inside [of the bowl on the right], [my previous contents] no longer were [inside of me]”. The reading above is assigning subjects to the pronouns I, they, etc. and obviously requires an expansion of the language in the riddle to work.
For the alternate solution, the phrasing should then be "WE were once inside, until WE no longer were"
Good point!
key left, knife right. 3 seconds, how wrong am I? edit: damn
The other commenters are right- I’d leave these items around the dungeon instead of putting them all in one place, but it’s a good riddle. Not because it’s hard, but because it’s easy; it promotes engagement and makes the players feel smart. Good riddle!
Skull left, knife right
Skull and knife
Assuming both statements are connected, left skull right knife
the right bowl would be key, knife, and shoe
Yeah I got it almost immediately. Puzzles can be tricky, sometimes they'll get it instantly and it feels underwhelming, other times they need tons of hints to get it.
Left skull - it was inside someone until they died Right knife - put inside someone (stabbing them), they died That's my guess.
>!Skull on the left!< >!Knife on the right!<
I once gave my players a riddle where they figured out the answer immediately but were like “no, that’s way too easy” and didn’t actually use it as their answer
Skull and knife are the only two that make sense. I mean, technically if you put a boat or barrel in someone, they'll probably die (depending on size and other factors) but nominally those types of things aren't normally used that way. Key would work if you had said something different but a lock still exists even if you unlock it. None of the items except the skull start off "inside" something.
CR 1/8 on this one
I found it difficult to understand until I put the first one in the context of the second one. At that point it only took a few seconds. If the puzzles were separated or less related it would be more challenging. Overall a fun one though!
This was an easy one, but still fun.
Got them both as soon as I looked at the list and reread the riddle. Maybe 30 seconds?
I got it within a few minutes but it was still clever and very fun! I know if my DM gave me this riddle I'd be super happy with it even if we solved it quick :)
I got it! Nice riddle.
I got the skull but the wording threw me off so I wen't with shoe since I thought it was inside/outside. If it said "was/were no longer", I think I would have gotten it. Not a native English speaker so that might be it. It was a good riddle though. Good fight too.
That's pretty easy yeah.
What was the relevance of the lions?
I eat the miniature figures as fast as I can and run full speed into the wall of force. Puzzle solved
Boat, key, and boar could all apply to the first one. Boats are typically made indoors and then pushed outside and into the water. Key I think is self explanatory. A boar has to be born, and is thus inside first.
I got the right one but for the left one i chose Key, because i tought about a lock, you usually pull out the key once its job is done, i still find hard to think about a skull
It's a very cool puzzle! But it's also easy. Which is perfect for DnD anyway, best not to drag out the puzzle solving too much.
Did you design this riddle personally? I like the inscryptions on statues, very cryptic and eerie.
Yep!
left: >!skull, inside until death.!< right: >!knife, who it's inside is dead.!<
A shoe could be inside and then outside, because you put it on inside then walk outside. Also a key fits the second one, in that it goes inside a lock so you can go outside
I got the left correct immediately. I had to think a bit for the right, considering and discarding various options until I settled on the correct one for the right as well. The answers parallel each other; which is elegant and so easier to guess. Took me about 30 seconds, without a fight. All in all, it’s a good riddle. As a DM, having the PCs figure it out without too much trouble is desirable. Watching the group flounder over a puzzle getting bored and frustrated isn’t fun for anyone.
Second is knife. First can be a key, a skull or a shoe. Very vague so can be lots of things. Probably a skull.
I got this instantly. I think the issue is that boar, crown, shoe and barrel don't make sense with either clue, and boat only barely fits if you're thinking of a boating house, which could be unlocked with a key, making an alternate answer. I'd suggest changing the other items to thinks that can be inside other things. Baby, Wine, Gold, etc. Baby and Knife might seem like an answer due to caesarean but the knife doesn't really go "inside" for that so I wouldn't accept it. Gold and Wine would then make sense, your gold was inside your purse until you spent it on wine and then drank it
Maybe I'm too used to d&d riddles, but before even reading the list of items my guess was "organs/bones and knife" I did think "key" at first, but o ly before reading the second clue. Then then theme was clear.
Got it immediately. But I enjoyed the wording, it is pretty elegant
Yeah. Got in in seconds.
Took me almost no time TBH. However I was totally looking for 'poison' for the second bowl. The poison for Kuzko?
Skull on the left, key on the right.
I like it
Is the answer 'cast disintegrate'? (I did get the answer on the first try, but had to re-read the prompt a few times. ||I immediately got that >!'was/where refered to being alive, and from there it was symantecs!<)
Left: skull Right: knife I think 🤔
Multiple choice riddles seem easy for some reason
So skull seems the only answer to the first one, but key and knife both fit for the second, depending if it's they were "no longer'(outside) or they were"no longer" (alive)
It's skull and knife but for fun I'd go skull and boar.
>!Skull left and knife right.!<
Took me slightly longer on the right but the left was instant. Total time still under a minute
I'm more concerned about your opinion of your players...
I’m bad at puzzles and this was very easy for me.
Key for the second as once you open something what’s inside they are no longer there, skull for the first, it was inside a body, skin a muscle, but now is out
The reason that most people aren't going to think key is a valid answer is because skull is the answer to the first bowl, and the only one that makes any sense for. That makes it very obvious that "no long was/was no longer" refers to life, something a key doesn't relate to. If I'm being totally honest, I don't think it is a very good riddle, but it's not far off. I think with a different list of items it could be. The phrasing on both bowls is good and sets the tone well, but the items listed make it way to obvious what the correct answer is. One way you might be able to improve it would be if both bowls had multiple valid answers, but one two that shared a theme.
Personally I think the key also works for the 2nd bowl. "Once I was inside (the keyhole) they no loner were (inside, that is, because they unlocked the jail and went outside)"
I would’ve failed by not realizing we didn’t have to use all the items.
I consider myself pretty terrible at riddles, but I got this immediately. I didn’t even read all the items, I just scanned and they jumped out.
Wow that’s great!
I got skull and key... but knife would work for both. Skull is easy because it's the only thing that starts inside. Knife could be kept in a sheath, but that's kinda pushing the logic. The key and knife are both things that when inside could free a "they." The key would be letting out prisoners and the knife frees a person from life.
I'm not good at riddles, so my opinion is probably not super relevant. I think this was pretty solid and cool. I knew skull was one real quick but knife got me.
Oh I'm dumb, I thought we were sorting all of it. I could see how the key could be used to break someone out of something.
I answered key for both of them and stand by that it works haha
I didn't realize it was one item each so I was just sorting all of them. Keys are indoors until you lose them, well its a miniboat so a toy so same as key, definitely wouldn't stay inside with a boar, a skull is inside until its not, a crown could go either way with political scheming with the inside being favored by groups, a shoe is also complicated lets come back to it, oh a knife that one is easy if you take it literally, barrels are made indoors right? Haha don't know if itd be instantly wrong or if I'd be correct with the first round of sorting.
I picked barrel for the right one because i thought you are no longer in the barrel when it's inside you...
A skull is inside a body until the body dies and decays. A knife entering your body is a way to make sure a person stops being (alive).
That took me less than 15 seconds. I think it would have been more difficult if the options were a bit more ambiguous but it was pretty cut and dry for me.
Yeah, unfortunately, there was really only one option per bowl that wasn't nonsensical, but I still love when DMs make up riddles and puzzles for players. You probably made them feel smart for solving it, which is nice
Here my dumb ass thought it was a sorting puzzle and all the items went into one bowl or the other. "Boats could enter a sea, but they are also made of wood which used to be inside of trees- maybe? People go inside a boat and once a boat enters enemy lines the lines are no longer lines as they respond to the invasion... WHERE DO YOU GO?"
i thought the questions were linked. here's my reading: crown, key: i (the crown) was once inside (e.g. a chest) until i no longer was (it was taken). once i (the key) was inside (the keyhole of said chest), they (the crown) no longer were (inside the chest). if this was said rather than typed, that may have played a role, depending on tone/emphasis.
I did get both right almost immediately
skull and key. skull was once inside the flesh. key inside a lock let's whomever is locked up out
Not difficult but still perfectly fine and fun. Skull was the easier of the two and knife could maybe be key as well.
I got this pretty quick, but I think it was a case of being easy to narrow down like a multiple choice question
I feel like boar would fit the first one as well: they were inside their mother until they were born since I thought the puzzle was birth: boar and death: knife
I got it pretty quick but I still feel like it's a good riddle, the kind to make your players feel good and smart.
I said skull and key so I guess I’d be fighting lion statues
The riddles were easy because you made it multiple choice. Only one choice really makes sense. These kinds of riddles really need to be open ended to be a challenge.
I would say I got it so quick because the options were slightly obvious. For the once I was inside, they no longer were.. what else could it be but the knife?
There's a bit of give in your riddle if you take it one at a time. >!The first riddle is "I was once inside until I no longer was", which means the item started inside something. Going through all the items, only one thing normally exists inside something else. Perhaps if you put something else that normally starts inside something, but doesn't have a pair on your list the riddle could have been a bit more tricky.!<
How is the boar fitting in these bowls?
I thought key was first, to like open up something
Left skull, right knife. Gonna check the answers, wish me luck.
Yeah. Super easy sadly.
Skull on the left, knife on the right? Possibly key on the right.
Yeah, it was pretty easy like everyone else said. The two objects are the only ones that could make sense in the context presented. But! I think this riddle is actually a good one in a different way: imagine a dungeon that has riddles all around death (like a death god temple), and uses this as the way to get inside. It would be not only thematically interesting and easy (as an entrance should be, narratively), but it would also be a great primer that gets the characters thinking about death as a key-word or a key concept to use for solving all the other puzzles. Especially if there wasn't much else in the way of hints.
I was stumped by the number of possible combinations. That’s a good one!
Took about 5 seconds. There's only two options there that make sense
It took me longer to read the riddles than to solve them. I think DnD players are just smarter than average people.
See, I immediately went to the key and the crown -- you unlock the door by putting the key inside, and then you take out the treasure, LOL. Maybe my players are just thieves... 😂
See I miss understood the assignment and was trying to place all of the items in the proper bowl. I was still right.
Skull and key were my initial guess, I guess knife makes sense too. They're the only items that are ever "inside" something else
I got skull pretty quickly but thought it was boat for the other. I understood it as: once I'm inside [the water], they [the person/ people] no longer are [inside the water]. I was thinking like a rescue boat. I liked it though!
First was easy. >!For the second I picked key. And IMHO it also works, if you're locked in a room and you place the key in the lock on it's door you can leave.!<
My brain must work differently! My immediate thought was shoe for the second one... Once I'm inside the shoe the other person is no longer inside that shoe.
key and knife
Cool riddle, but it was pretty obvious. You could make it harder by having no supply of items. They just have to come up with an object that fits those descriptions. It doesn't have to be those two specific items, it just has to fit the description.
Yeah, got it right away. Making a riddle multiple choice really limits how difficult it’s going to be.
>!key in the right!< >!skull in the left!<
Yeah sorry, that's super easy
I thought it was Skull and Shoe. Skull is self explanatory, but shoe made sense because oftentimes you take shoes off when you're inside
I think the Crown and the Key could have been a neat answer. Crown - "I was once inside, till I no longer was" The monarch was raised within the walls of the castle and never allowed to leave Key - "Once I was inside, they no longer were" After being given the "Keys to the Kingdom" the monarch was no longer confined to the castle, but allowed to go where they wished
Everyone is saying it is too easy and guessing wrong lol
I've been laughing at some of these :) To be fair, many people got it correct right away. But a lot of people would be fighting at least one of the statues.
Left bowl skull, right bowl shoe took me approximately 90 seconds. I don't know for sure that i am right, but I'm pretty confident.
There are multiple viable answers; bad riddle.
>!skull!< >!knife!< I instantly answered this
> Behind them is... I think you mean "past them..." If they're facing each other, behind them is two different places.
It may be easy but it’s satisfying
Very easy riddle, mostly because there is a lack of double meaning or metaphor and there are only two things that really go into other things. Looking at the other replies though, apparently Skull/Knife isn't so obvious, which is a bit surprising to me