How to use a Caesar Cipher
ALL ABOUT CAESAR CIPHERS
A Cesar Cipher is a fantastic, easy way for you to encode a piece of information to challenge your player. Decoding can be simple or difficult depending on a few factors mentioned in this blog. The simplicity and versatility makes this extremely useful!
How does a Caesar Cipher work?
Write down a message and then shift the alphabet over a certain number of spaces.
For instance, you could shift the alphabet over to the right one spot. A would equal B.
“Find the red door” would become “Gjoe uif sfe epps.”
Depending on how much of a timeline you’re working with, I usually recommend giving instructions alongside the code. Like this:
“This is a Caesar Cipher. You can decode this by shifting the alphabet over seven spaces. D = K.”
Encoding a Caesar Cipher
You can encode by hand, but that takes a long time and leaves you open for mistakes (one hiccup with encryption can train wreck everything). There are some wonderful websites out there that will do the encoding for you. I strongly recommend using them. It’s extremely tedious to encode yourself. Check out this quick one-minute video if you’d like! I walk through Caesar Ciphers and the encoding process.
Best Practices with the Caesar Cipher
The great thing about a Caesar Cipher is that it’s pretty easy to crack. If you’re building an adventure for someone a bit more versed in escape rooms, puzzles, or encryptions, you can simply give them an encoded message and let them crack it with nothing but their wits. Keep in mind that the longer the message, the easier it is to crack (you can start to see patterns and duplicate words). Check out my discussion video for a more in-depth dive.
The other use for Cesar Ciphers (or any encryption) is to keep people from brute forcing an answer. See below.
Let’s say you want your player to find a five-letter password to a word lock or cryptex. You plan five stops where they collect a letter at each stop. Most competent people will be able to figure it out by the 3rd or 4th letter. If you encode your password with a Caesar Cipher, they’ll collect all five letters without beating the game too early! Once they have the five letters, you can give them the key to decrypting. This ensures that your player stays on pace.
Final Recommendation
The difference between “very easy” and “wildly difficult” lies in:
How descriptive you are with the instructions.
How long you make your message.
A happy medium in difficulty might be to tell your player how to decode, but not let them know what the shift is.
Final Word: I personally recommend just shifting the alphabet over a few spaces. Shifting it over 15 spots in the alphabet doesn’t make it any more challenging, but it does make the decode that much more tedious.
Cheers!