Thursday, April 11, 2019

D6x7 Saucy Sphinxes

Hieracosphinx: sphinx with bird head. Criosphinx: sphinx with ram head. Sphinxter: ???.




Generator generator: http://meanderingbanter.blogspot.com/2018/10/automatic-list-to-html-translator-v2.html

D6This sphinx’s cat-parts look like
1a tiger.
2a caracal.
3a cheetah.
4a a cougar.
5a jaguar.
6a leopard.
D6This sphinx’s wings look like
1a vulture’s.
2a raven’s.
3a condor’s.
4an albatross’.
5a peacock’s.
6an owl’s.
D6This sphinx’s head looks like
1a toothless crone.
2a kindly matron.
3a rosy-cheeked maiden.
4a stern, bearded patriarch.
5a milky-eyed androgyne.
6a scarred brute.
D6This sphinx’s riddle is:
1”The more you take, the more you leave behind. What am I?” (Answer: Footsteps)
2”What belongs to you, but other people use it more than you?” (Answer: Your name)
3”Tall I am young, Short I am old, While with life I glow, Wind is my foe. What am I?” (Answer: A candle)
4”Weight in my belly, trees on my back, nails in my ribs, feet I do lack. What am I?” (Answer: A ship)
5”What is more useful when it is broken?” (Answer: An egg)
6”Poor people have it. Rich people need it. If you eat it you die. What is it?” (Answer: Nothing)
D6If you answer its riddle correctly, this sphinx will
1hurl itself off the nearest fatal ledge.
2bite its own head off.
3be driven mad.
4swear to serve you for a day and a night.
5spontaneously combust.
6split apart into a feline, a bird, and a person.
D6If you answer its riddle incorrectly, this sphinx will
1hold you prisoner until you can come up with a better riddle.
2attempt to eat your eyes and tongue.
3pick you up and drop you from a great height.
4follow you around, piss on your head from above your reach, and mock your every failure.
5curse you to take its place until someone comes along who can’t answer your riddle right.
6be overcome with murderous rage.
D6This sphinx guards
1the way along a major trading route.
2a royal sepulchre.
3a key mountain pass.
4an otherwise impassable gatehouse.
5the tower of the wizard who created it.
6a sanctuary for mythical hybrids.

2 comments:

  1. It's interesting how it's just a minor change of the Sphinx formula (cat-type + wings-type) with some personal details (face, responses, what they guard), but it works really well and adds a bit of flavor to the trope.

    I also always like riddles in games, but I'm a) terrible at making them b) terrible at solving them and c) always nervous that adding them will stall a game if the players are bad at them or be anticlimactic if they're too good at them haha. I like these riddles though, did you make them, find them, or already know them?

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    1. I just googled "riddles" for the riddles.

      I think the key to not having riddles stall a session is to have them be one option among several, or only gating off bonus content. For example, a magic door that only opens when its riddle is solved might open to a side-path that lets you bypass the main path which is guarded by a monster, or it's mounted on a frame that the players could chisel out if they're willing to take the time and wandering monster checks.

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