unforum

[TheDom]

Can we trust Charlie?

[HaxanMike]

TD, we always knew the answer as we were responsible for integrating it into the narrative. What we (still) don't know is who won, how many entries, when the winning entry may have been submitted, etc.

Charlie never gave out any hints or clues -- he has always been the moderator of the forums but as a character he did not know the solution.

After the contest was over, I broke character with Charlie, first here and then in a limited way on the forums.

[TheDom]

[RobDixon]

TheDom,

I know you and a few of us others speculated about Charlie's motives during the puzzle.

I thought it was interesting that the webmaster of the official puzzle forum was an in-story character. As I mentioned in one post:

[HaxanMike]

[rose]

I'm glad

[TheDom]

[HaxanMike]

TD,

Nothing was written under direct supervision of Paul Hoffman. Paul was given everything to read but never made any changes. Once he gave us the clues to stick into the story it was pretty much up to us to integrate them.

All of the copy of steinitzpuzzlers was written by Jim Gunshanan -- it was not divided up amongst multiple writers. Jim wrote everything except PMN journals, which were all written by Mary Johnson.

Jim played NDN and Charlie Tan through November and maybe even into December (can't recall offhand) and then I took over Charlie Tan.

I played MTSM.

The overall story was hammered out in a room over a couple of days by myself, Gregg Hale, Andy Carrigan, Brian Clark, and Paul Hoffman, and then I essentially produced it with Darren Himebrook and attempted to direct it when I had time.

It was a busy time, to say the least!

There are many inconsistencies, mainly due to the rushed production time. Frankly, it's a miracle it even makes sense at all considering how quickly it was all put together!

[rose]

[TheDom]

[HaxanMike]

TD,

The memorial site at Leeds was ALWAYS the solution. The rlebron site was put up because after the puzzle was developed, the lawyers said it had to be an entirely online treasure hunt, meaning the solution had to be something that someone could find sitting at home in front of their computer.

The solution was NEVER changed -- the only thing that changed was now you could find it online instead of having to physically go there.

I do not think there is a larger puzzle. I KNOW that there is no larger puzzle in the story/mythology/steinitz sites because we developed all of that. Whether Paul hid other puzzles in his puzzles and didn't tell us I cannot say, but if that is the case then all you have to do is look at the solution as I posted it in the steinitzpuzzlers forum, as that was almost entirely taken from the document Paul supplied us with, word for word.

Those things you mention ARE coincidences, as Darren went to Leeds to take the photos, but Jimmy G actually wrote the captions and he has never been to Leeds. He had no idea of the spatial relationships of anything in the picture.

Even putting "Urn is here" was Paul's idea. We thought it was better to hide it in the caption rather than come right out and say it.

I think you're barking up the wrong tree looking for a bigger puzzle, unfortunately.

[TheDom]

[TheDom]

[TheDom]