this post was submitted on 23 Oct 2025
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[–] loaExMachina@hexbear.net 1 points 2 days ago

This doesn't work. Knowing which guard is a liar doesn't tell you which door is the correct one (the actual answer has been given in this thread).

[–] Red_October@piefed.world 196 points 1 week ago (6 children)

I mean, the Barbarian asked the one question and didn't gain anything from it. Knowing which one is the liar doesn't... help anymore.

[–] ChicoSuave@lemmy.world 104 points 1 week ago

That's why this is a brilliantly played barbarian. They think they are clever but will still have to do things the hard way.

[–] FerretyFever0@fedia.io 47 points 1 week ago (3 children)

Ah. Normally I see this with no limit on questions. You're right. It'd only work with at least two questions.

[–] agamemnonymous@sh.itjust.works 89 points 1 week ago (5 children)

I've only heard it with one question, that's the whole point. Otherwise you just ask a guard some trivial question (e.g. What color is the sky?) to determine which is the liar, then just ask which is the safe door.

The whole point is to get the information you need from a single question.

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[–] JackbyDev@programming.dev 19 points 1 week ago

That's why it's funny.

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[–] CileTheSane@lemmy.ca 151 points 1 week ago (1 children)
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[–] Triumph@fedia.io 118 points 1 week ago (5 children)

Ask either guard: "If I asked the other guard which door led to the castle, what would they say?" The answer is always the door that leads to instant death; enter the other door.

[–] fartographer@lemmy.world 37 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Then, rip both of them in half and knock down the safe door so that everyone after you immediately knows the safe route

[–] Triumph@fedia.io 30 points 1 week ago (2 children)

If you rip them both in half, then two of your party are cursed to be the next two truth/lie guards. Roll for unintended consequences.

[–] fartographer@lemmy.world 16 points 1 week ago (2 children)

Time to rip the table, the DM, and everyone's minifigs in half. It's rippening time.

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[–] Bigfish@lemmynsfw.com 22 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

The guard replies "I don't know for sure".

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[–] cannedtuna@lemmy.world 106 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (3 children)
[–] lord_ryvan@ttrpg.network 1 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Is there more of this?

What's this from?

[–] cannedtuna@lemmy.world 1 points 1 day ago

Nhim is the artist. The character is Mimi. They’re all standalone comics, but there’s a bunch with Mimi. All have the same crazy goblin energy to them.

[–] Buddahriffic@lemmy.world 3 points 6 days ago

How can they both explain it when one only tells lies?

[–] AngryCommieKender@lemmy.world 39 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Is there an actual plot to Mimi, or is she just a complete chaos goblin?

[–] Derpenheim@lemmy.zip 28 points 1 week ago

Simply goblin

[–] svc@lemmy.frozeninferno.xyz 73 points 1 week ago (6 children)

But they gained no information on which door to choose ='(

[–] Buddahriffic@lemmy.world 1 points 6 days ago

Yes, but they did establish that one of the guards is no longer living and that giving barbarians riddles is dangerous for everyone involved.

[–] frezik@lemmy.blahaj.zone 30 points 1 week ago

The Barbarian got what they wanted, which is to have an excuse to rip another head off.

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[–] themeatbridge@lemmy.world 69 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

For years, I had my own headcanon for the Labyrinth movie. In the scene, the young Sarah correctly solves the riddle, passes through the correct door, says "This is a piece of cake!" and then she immediately falls down a pit of doom. This confused me, because she got the answer right. So I reasoned that the guards were both liars, and because they both participated in explaining the rules, they were lying about the rules.

It was only a few years ago that I read in an interview that the Labyrinth (or Jareth) dropped her down the hole because she said it was a piece of cake. It was her arrogance that set her back, not that she got the riddle wrong.

But now it still bothers me that the liar, whichever one he is, helps explain the rules of the scenario. If he always lies, then she can't trust that either of them ever tells the truth. The rules have to be described separately, like on a sign or by a disinterested third party. Or you could phrase it differently, like "One of us will answer your question truthfully, and one of us will answer your question dishonestly." That way you avoid saying that they always lie, and specify that the lie will only be in response to the one question.

Fuck, I've had too much coffee. How the fuck did I get up on this soapbox? Why are you still reading? Go do something productive.

[–] ShaggySnacks@lemmy.myserv.one 35 points 1 week ago

Go do something productive.

No.

[–] socsa@piefed.social 68 points 1 week ago (11 children)

This still doesn't accomplish the goal of knowing which door will kill you. All you've done is determine which guard is the liar.

[–] Speculater@lemmy.world 66 points 1 week ago (1 children)

I believe that's the joke. The barbarians intelligence isn't usually very high.

[–] mic_check_one_two@lemmy.dbzer0.com 24 points 1 week ago (3 children)

I love playing low Intelligence high Wisdom characters. Because Wisdom governs stats like Perception, Insight, and Animal Handling. So your character will notice things that the rest of the party misses, but often doesn’t have the intelligence to put the individual pieces together.

Once played a high wisdom barbarian. He would notice things like traps or clues, but I would RP it with things like “Hey, why’s that wire stretched across the path? Someone is going to trip over that…” The other players very quickly learned to pay attention whenever I asked stupid questions, because it was usually my way of announcing “I noticed something that the rest of you missed.”

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[–] ArmchairAce1944@discuss.online 53 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (4 children)

That's funny! but if you want to know how to solve this problem every time, even when asking one single question, just ask this question:

"If I ask the other guy which is the correct path, which path will he tell me?"

No matter who you ask, both of them will point to the WRONG path, meaning the correct one is the one they DIDN'T point to. Here is the logic.

For the sake of argument, let's assume the correct path is the right path. When you ask that question, if the person is the truthful one, he will be honest and say the left path. Because if you ask the liar what the correct path is, he will say it is the left path (which is false). Now if you ask the liar what the other guy will say the correct path is, he will lie to you and say it is the left path (which is also false, the truthful one will tell you it is the right path and not the left).

[–] Nalivai@lemmy.world 5 points 6 days ago

"I have no idea what the other guy would say, we're honest-lier pair of guards, not reading each other fucking thoughts pair of guards"

[–] lightsblinken@lemmy.world 29 points 1 week ago (4 children)

and also, using "correct path" instead of "right path" will be less confuzzling because english words can have multiple meanings and are the dumb.

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[–] tigeruppercut@lemmy.zip 41 points 1 week ago
[–] yermaw@sh.itjust.works 33 points 1 week ago (7 children)

I got an unexpected laugh from Rick and Mortys take on this. His answer was "you ever fuck this guys wife?" And watched them fight to the death.

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[–] humanspiral@lemmy.ca 31 points 1 week ago

And the surviving guard will most definitely answer a 2nd question despite the rules.

[–] TherapyGary@lemmy.blahaj.zone 27 points 1 week ago

This doesn't help the party decide which door to go through at all

[–] HexesofVexes@lemmy.world 20 points 1 week ago (11 children)

So the traditional answer here is to ask them to point at the door the other guard will say is safe.

However, I'm curious, does anyone know of any other valid solutions?

[–] EntirelyUnlovable@lemmy.world 33 points 1 week ago (5 children)

"Is the guard that tells the truth standing in front of the safe door?" If they say yes, you go through their door, if they say no then you go to the other one

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