This is a collection of 101 riddles for use in a fantasy environment like D&D. Some of them are easier than others, so it’s up to your DM to determine which riddles are appropriate for your players and where-ever they are in the game. It makes a powerful addition to any game since variety in the riddles make a game more interesting.

Embark on a journey of wit, imagination, and riddles with Riddles of the Realm. As every seasoned adventurer knows, nothing captures the essence of adventure in a role-playing game quite like a good riddle. From J.R.R. Tolkien's timeless tales to the whimsical riddles of "The Princess Bride" and the delightful spoofs of Monty Python's "Quest for the Holy Grail," riddles have long held a special place in the realm of fantasy.

This captivating book presents over one hundred fantasy-style riddles, carefully compiled to ignite the minds of players and immerse them in the wonders of your tabletop world. Drawing inspiration from classical riddles and blending them with the author's own original creations, Riddles of the Realm offers a diverse collection that ranges in difficulty from charmingly easy to delightfully challenging.

Each riddle unfolds in singsong rhyme, reminiscent of the style employed by Tolkien himself in "The Hobbit." As you delve into the pages of this book, you'll encounter an array of subjects found in typical medieval and fantasy realms, ensuring a seamless integration into your gaming experience. These riddles are suitable for thinkers of all ages, providing an opportunity for shared amusement and camaraderie among players. One of the many features that sets this ebook apart is its thoughtfully designed bookmark system, allowing you to engage with the riddles in a manner that suits your preference. Whether you wish to read the riddle and immediately unveil the answer or challenge yourself by pondering the riddle without a glimpse of the solution, the choice is yours. Additionally, the riddles are thoughtfully arranged alphabetically by topic, enabling quick reference and easy navigation.

Within the pages of Riddles of the Realm, you'll encounter a tapestry of mind-bending enigmas. Each riddle offers a delightful puzzle for adventurers to unravel, be it in encounters with riddle-loving monsters, tests of worthiness posed by NPCs, or the unlocking of magical doors and chests. The possibilities are boundless, limited only by the imagination of the game master and the quick thinking of the players. As you embark on your gaming sessions, the riddles will serve as a source of intrigue, inspiration, and laughter. They add depth and complexity to your storytelling, encouraging critical thinking and fostering an engaging atmosphere for all participants.

Riddles of the Realm will be an indispensable addition to your arsenal. Its compilation of meticulously crafted riddles, offers a treasure trove of amusement and intellectual stimulation. Delve into the realms of wit and riddles, and let your imagination soar as you unlock the secrets hidden within these pages. Challenge your players, ignite their imaginations, and weave a tapestry of unforgettable adventures with these captivating riddles.

I bought both 1 and 2, they werent expensive so im not going to complain, but ive also gotten the netbook of riddles which are free, i didnt see anything new or relavent in these, i know the author took time to organize them, but most werent worth it, just browse the free netbooks.

Riddle me this: have you ever been in a situation where you want to test your PCs with a brain-teaser, only to find that you can’t think of a good one? Ideally, this is a problem you’d run into when designing your adventure, rather than panicking right at the game table as you realize you’re stumped to come up with a stumper. Still, it’s a bit worrisome to think that – notwithstanding the old classics – you can’t think of a riddle.

That’s where Stainless Steel Dragon comes in, with 101 Fantasy Riddles. The title alone should tell you exactly what to expect, as it contains exactly the listed number of fantasy-based riddles. Of course, by “fantasy riddles” it means that it doesn’t have anything dealing with modern objects or ideas – these are all things that people in a medieval world (whether fantasy or not) would likely have come up with.

The book’s format is fairly standard. After the cover, there’s no other artwork to be found here, save for the company logo on the credits page. The table of contents lists the various riddles found per page, though it lists them by their subject, which usually gives away the answer as well – be sure not to let players peruse the book.

You’ll actually find all of the riddles here listed twice. The book first prints them all with their answers listed immediately afterwards, and then reprints them all again without the answer, instead having an answer key at the back of the book. This struck me as somewhat unnecessary, since it probably would have made more sense just to list them all without an answer and then refer to the key at the end, but I suppose there’s no harm in doing it both ways here.

Presumably many of these riddles are original; I say presumably because a significant number of them are tagged with the notation “Classic Riddle of unknown origin,” though I’d only ever heard of a few of these previously. Still, it underlines a certain aspect of the book: these all deal with fairly mundane concepts. By that I mean, don’t expect anything particularly dealing with dragons or orcs or anything particular to fantasy – these are “one size fits all” for any sort of rustic campaign, and don’t get into particulars. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, but if you want a riddle based around the lunar cycles of your campaign world’s three moons, you’re out of luck here.

Ultimately, this book does exactly what it promises, and nothing more: it delivers 101 riddles that would conceivably be found in a fantasy world. Not difficult, none of them are exactly easy either, which will probably make them exactly what you need them to be, though any tweaking for specificity will have to be done on your own. Still, it fulfills the niche it sets out to.

I received the revised edition of the book. I read it in one afternoon, it takes about an hour to go through it if you read them with their answers and don’t stop to figure them out. I found no distracting typos or problems with classic poems.

I did think the book had some interesting cover art, obviously an edited photo, perhaps a riddle? (I usually print these things out and put them in three-ring-binder so cover art matters to me.)

I found the book had some well placed bookmarks. They are placed so users can either call up the riddles with the answers, or without the answers. (In case they are buying this book for themselves.) The bookmarks also allow users to call up riddles by numbers or by topics. So the DM can randomly generate a riddle or look one up for a special purpose. (I plan to do it both ways in my own games.)

Personally, I don’t believe players should be given hints. I can’t think of a single case in any literally work where the villain or hero offered hints. (Except perhaps a comedy.) If DMs have a ready list of hints at their finger-tips they tend to use them too soon, which may rob their players/characters of the challenge of solving things on their own. If a riddle turns out to be too tough for their players the DM can always have their characters make intelligence rolls to solve the riddle. (Perhaps dock them some XP for it.) I mentioned the above – because this book does not give hints and I for one am totally good with that.

As the other reviewers of this book have mentioned, the riddles in the book are pretty good. A most excellent mixture of classic riddles many done with Tolkien-like poetry all relative to a fantasy role-playing environment. Riddles range from moderately simple to moderately complex. (Of course, difficulty is in the mind of the beholder.) The author includes a lot of all new riddles with interesting fantasy subjects like drawbridges, castle walls, moats, seven virtues/vices, love and even one unusually poetic one about wine.

I can find no major fault in this book, except I would like to see a lot more riddle/poems by this author. (For the price, I think the book has nice value.) Some of the classic riddles in this book may be found in other books or on the web, but most of the riddles in this book are the original work of this author which makes this book a unique collection of riddles found nowhere else. (Which is really good if you have players who read and know a lot of the classic previously published riddles as I do.) I believe this book is a must-have-reference for any DM who wants to test the minds as well of as the swords of their players. I think it will add hours of wonder and entertainment to my games, and therefore I must give it my highest recommendation.

I love a good riddle of the classic type. This book is chock full of riddles from classic sources, Tolkien re-treads, and originals. Collections such as this are not easy to find.

What keeps me from rating this higher is the lack of editing. There are numerous grammar errors (such as 'to' instead of 'too' - "My face is often to high to see"), wrong words ("I walk all day on are head"), and places where things just got messed up, such as this botched classic: "What walks on four legs, then two legs, then three on three legs?".

Overall, good content, but feels like a rush job which detracts from the overall enjoyment. Looking forward to a cleaned up second edition.

If you want to get a good argument started, put a couple of hack and slash DMs in the same room with a couple of role-playing DMs and ask them what do they think of riddles in D&D. The Iron DM opinion is that riddles are great when put into the context of the adventure. Just as there is no single roll to win a combat, (which tests the combat tactics of a player), there should not be a single roll to win a mind test of the players (which tests the adventuring tactics of a player).

101 Riddles, published by Stainless Steel Dragon and written by Jon Volden is written for the Dungeon Master that relishes in sending his players through a challenging ringer. The PDF contains 101 riddles for words and phrases typically encountered in an adventure.

The 46 page book is well bookmarked, though the layout could have used some work to save white space. The riddles themselves are not too difficult, nor too easy. They are also quite unique. The book’s biggest problem is that it itself is too simple. It is a simple book of adventuring riddles. The hope would be that it would have added 1 or 2 implementation ways as previous similar supplements have done. Providing things like recommended hints for the riddles would have helped evolve the book to the hack and slash crowd.

For the Iron DM This is one of the best collections of riddles you will find. They deal specifically with things you will find in a typical campaign world. I was particularly impressed with the seven sin riddles.

The Iron Word 101 Riddles is a great value, providing 101 mind puzzles for your players, though be warned that there is nothing included in the book to help facilitate them in your campaign.