Fiddly puzzles

I was playing a little bit of Pathfinder: Kingmaker earlier, and I hit a snag in one area - a puzzle I can't solve. I mean, I know the solution, but I didn't have the magical effect needed to solve the puzzle. I was able to figure out what it was but not do anything about it.

I just said out loud, sarcastically annoyed, "Yeah, I'm sure people sit around and say, I sure wish games had more fiddly puzzles that depend on having the right spell memorized."

I do my flat-out best to avoid those kinds of puzzles. I don't really mind actual puzzles. I don't enjoy them in video games, where I tend to enjoy accomplishment more than the tasks needed to accomplish the goal. Quite the opposite of tabletop, where I enjoy the path and the solution even if I seem rushed to find the solution.

That probably seems a bit of a contradiction given the puzzles I've used in Felltower. I don't really see it that way, though. I've had some puzzles that require the players to figure out what to do, and then do it. I don't assure them they can do the thing. But I don't require a certain spell, or skill roll, or whatever, to solve a puzzle. I don't really plan on a specific solution. I do admit some of my puzzles have and will frustrate the living hell out of my players. So much so they spent character points to find out the solution to one, and then still couldn't solve it. Although I maintain it's not a puzzle.*

Whenever I get annoyed in a video game, I take a mental note of what I dislike.

- am I stuck because I can't make a certain roll? Not fun.

- am I stuck because I can't figure something out? Not fun, but not automatically bad.

- am I stuck because I don't have some item that I was supposed to keep or get? Bad, even if sometimes the getting can be fun.

I try to avoid all three of those in my face to face game, with the "key" exception to the last one. Sometimes, you do need a key. But you won't need to make a particular roll, or have a specific spell handy, or otherwise need to jump through hoops in some special way in chargen in order to win the day. It might be a player facing problem, it might be character facing, it might be both, but it won't be "guess the right spell" or "roll the right skill roll." I don't find those to have entertainment value that outweights the frustation.



* Although, as Joe Walsh says, it's hard to leave when you can't find the door. Sometimes you can find the door but step two isn't really leaping out to the players.