Riddle Rooms 1: Dungeon Dilemmas

Rating:
Summary: Riddles, Puzzles and Politics for Role Playing Games
Review: Cloud Kingdom Games was first formed in 1989 (then as RiddleMaster Games) by a gaming group that role-played together in college at the University of California, San Diego. Like many gamers, we found the commercial games on the market unsatisfactory, and had created numerous games of our own. Over time we noticed that our games contained several elements that set them apart from other games. These were:

1. Politics. Our games were competitive, not cooperative. Each player had unique goals, and the games were designed such that conflict between players was inevitable. No monster created by a Game Master was ever as frightening as going up against another player.

2. Hidden Information. When our games began, no player had enough information to know who their friends and enemies were, or how to accomplish their goals. A major portion of the games was gathering enough information to figure out a strategy. Because of this, outright conflict was generally delayed until near the end of the game.

3. Riddles and Puzzles. Though our games contained fighting, there was always an element of puzzle solving. Many treasures were guarding by riddles or puzzles. Understanding the political situation was often a complex puzzle. We found this added great variety and made our games much more stimulating than standard "hack-and-slash" role playing.

When we decided to create our own company, we looked at ways of taking these concepts and turning them into products. Our first product was a board game, Castle of Magic. Our goal was to make a game based around politics and hidden information that was replayable, and the result has surprised and pleased many gamers. This was followed with a supplement, The Castle Cursed, which sold out its original print run.

We then looked at ways to provide the Riddle/Puzzle solving aspect of our games to other gamers. We devised the Riddle Rooms product line. Riddle Rooms #1 - Dungeon Dilemmas is a series of Riddles and Puzzles turned into complete rooms that can be used in any role playing game. This was followed by Riddle Rooms #2 - Wilderness Puzzles and Perils, with many more rooms created in outdoor settings. Then came Thieves' Island, a complete adventure with interlocking rooms. To solve certain rooms, items from other rooms were necessary.

From puzzle solving we returned to politics. Though we had created a political board game, it still did not capture the essence of the role-playing experience that had motivated the creation of Cloud Kingdom Games. And so we created Altered Images. This product has all the elements that inspire us - Politics, Hidden Information, and Riddles/Puzzles. It is a scaled-down version of the games that we continue to create for own gaming pleasure.

Through the Riddle Rooms products, we developed a fan base of people who enjoyed our riddles. They asked us to create a product that was simply a book of Cloud Kingdom Games riddles. And so we developed Lair of the Sphinx. This book contains many original riddles, some rather cleverly hidden.

Many of our fans let us know that they enjoy role-playing in modern day and futuristic settings. This motivated our latest release, Riddle Rooms #3 - Past, Present and Future. This book contains rooms that are applicable for modern day and science fiction settings as well as standard fantasy settings.

We take a lot of pride in our products here at Cloud Kingdom Games. Our games offer a unique experience to gamers, or to anyone who enjoys riddles and puzzles. We hope you enjoy them as much as we do.

Rating:
Summary: Plausible Mechanics - literally
Review: Riddle Rooms #1 accomplished something not often done - it provides traps that function by the laws of physics rather than those of magic. Finally your PCs have the option of tinkering with alien mechanisms instead of casting a read magic spell. The situations provided are very much plausible and I found myself using the presented materials more than once on numerous occasions.

Rating:
Summary: good ilustrustrations, semi-good logic
Review: The puzzles are nothing but riddles. Every single puzzles includes a riddle to solve in some way which makes it tiring after the first room. the logical Puzzles that players need to make are somewhat common sense that requires looking for an a specific object. ie, to cut the chain then you need to find the special axe. To get the axe then you got to first find the special key. the get that special key then you first have to break the Key casing around it with another particular item. It is full of puzzles like this and sometimes, pages seems to be wasted just to type out one large 4 line riddle to show to players when you can just say it.

Rating:
Summary: good ilustrustrations, semi-good logic
Review: The puzzles are nothing but riddles. Every single puzzles includes a riddle to solve in some way which makes it tiring after the first room. the logical Puzzles that players need to make are somewhat common sense that requires looking for an a specific object. ie, to cut the chain then you need to find the special axe. To get the axe then you got to first find the special key. the get that special key then you first have to break the Key casing around it with another particular item. It is full of puzzles like this and sometimes, pages seems to be wasted just to type out one large 4 line riddle to show to players when you can just say it.

Rating:
Summary: An excellent resource
Review: This fun little book is an excellent resource for anyone who runs a fantasy role playing game! It contains the information on twenty rooms, each of which has some sort of puzzle that must be solved not by brute force, but with intelligence. The information itself is not setout within the framework of any gaming system (Dungeons and Dragons, etc.), but is generalized enough so that it can be easily used within any campaign.

As an AD&D Dungeon Master, I have already used a number of these rooms, and have found them to be quite useful. They range from the relatively simple to the devilishly hard. My one complaint is the organization of the book, which places the room information up front, and the illustrations at the end of the book with no page numbers. This means that once you decide to use a certain room, you have to thumb through the second half of the book visually scanning for any illustrations. I have no idea why the pages for each room aren't kept all together.

That said, I did find this book to be an excellent resource, one that I have drawn on repeatedly. By the way, there are two bonuses: 1) a set of riddles giving the ingredients for making a set of potions (a good hook for later adventures), and 2) six bonus riddle that you can use anywhere you want. This is a great book, one that I highly recommend to anyone who plays fantasy role-playing games.