In my game I’m making, there’s an area that’s a like a trash heap in space for fake versions of earth monuments. They’re all floating out there like asteroids.
One of them is a version of Stonehenge. The whole place is covered in graffiti, empty bottles, etc. and is basically like a public park.
I’d like to have a cache of supplies for urban exploration hidden (like a rope ladder or headlamp, etc.), with some signs pointing to it for ‘people in the know’. I’m thinking of rock cairns hikers use, geocache puzzles, graffiti tags, etc. but I’ve never been connected to any of those cultures (except maybe hiking). What kind of code might people use to direct someone to a cache while keeping outsiders out of the loop?
Urban geocaches are often hidden in everyday street objects that have unexpected cavities. Though, most often the clues are given on a geocache’s webpage and not at the location itself. Geocaching is an active experience with the geocache as the target; where it sounds like you’re designing for a cache that would be discovered more passively.
On-site clues I’ve seen, however, usually involved hidden messages revealed with UV light, reflectors that you wouldn’t notice unless a flashlight is pointed at them, multi-stage containers like fake rocks that contain more-specific instructions for finding the cache, and environment “pointers” like tree and statue limbs which point out host objects.
Wow, all of these would be great, actually! I can have the clues given in a map from a different location and mix that with these things. I might actually get multiple puzzles out of this, thanks for your detailed answer.