Riddle Me This

 

Riddles are a mainstay of dungeon crawls & RPGs as much as traps, treasures, maidens and monsters. They've been a part of the fantasy genre since the Oedipus trumped the sphynx and even after Bilbo stumped Golem. Have you ever come upon a really great riddle during a gaming session? Whether it was from the jaws of an odius fiend who'd kill a wrong answerer, a magic mouth who would not let anyone by without the password, or what have you, please share your interesting riddles!

Here is one that I am particularly proud of:

What is invisible, but you can see it, and when you put it in a barrel, it makes the barrel lighter?

(A hole)

{pedantry}

That's 'Gollum' I think you'll find.

{/pedantry}

Here's one I used once in a scenario. This isn't my own invention, I'll hasten to add.

Riddle me this:

"I never was, am always to be,
No one ever saw me, nor ever will
And yet I am the confidence of all
To live and breathe on this terrestrial ball"

Ack! My bad!

It's the future, right?

Near enough. The official response is 'tomorrow' but I'll take the future.

I thought it was easy too, but it's amazing how hard people seem to find it to answer a simple riddle when they've got a two-headed dragon staring them in the eye....

Anyone else have a good riddle for a party of adventurers?

The only good riddles I know are the ones in The Hobbit, which I assume you all know already.

You mean "What's in my pocket?"

Okay...I'll shoot...

...string...or nothing!

Stephen King's book "Crystal and Glass", book 4 of his Dark Tower series has a whole bunch of them, all right in the beginning of the book. The characters are trying to outriddle a computer-driven train named Blaine (Blaine's a pain and that's the TRUTH!). If you want some riddles, I'd check it out. Besides it's a great book in an above average series...

"Why did the baby cross the road? Because he was stapled to the chicken! Hyuck, hyuck, hyuck..."

Well, it beats the trite "I am lying" paradox which people usually use to kill malevolent AI.

I'm not sure how the exact quote goes, so bear with me.

"'What have I got in me pocket?' he said, as his hand closed around the Snubnose .38....
He would have kept on firing, but pity stayed his hand. 'It's a pity I don't have any more bullets,' he said."

"Every society needs a cry like that, but only in a very few do they come out with the complete, unvarnished version, which is "Remember-The-Atrocity-Committed-Against-Us-Last-Time-That-Will-Excuse-The-Atrocity-That-We're-About-To-Commit-Today! And So On!"
-Terry Pratchett, in his novel "Thief of Time"

At night they come without being fetched, And by day they are lost without being stolen.

Answer: Stars

Mountains will crumble and temples will fall, and no man can survive its endless call. What is it?

Answer: Time