#Code Breaking

[fehck]

[petkittymeowmeow]

Halloween Spooktober Monster Month Season of the Witch

Must Be. The Season of the Witch

MUST BE THE SEASON OF THE WITCH

MUST

MUST

MUST

Must Be. The Season of the Witch

Must Be. The Season of the Witch

Must Be. The Season of the Witch

Must Be. The Season of the Witch

Must Be. The Season of the Witch

Must Be. The Season of the Witch

TONIGHT WE RIDE!!!

Izz sleep on tings. I’m freeky af right now for you macADaddy I fucken sense you with me. All the feelers! You. Are. All. Up. On. Me! Like a virus a cold bug no fighting it both are in it for de long hall ol towing the line Toeing the line

Trawling for trouble on the dubble

toil and trouble

boil and bubble

Yes Dorothy, generally freeking

Halloween is Double speaking

drop the mic

[personwithatophat]

law of the virtues -Gaslight district

writing was flipped but can be seen around 12:21 on the gaslight district pilot vv dum bird block screen >:/

-Tophat

[dansemacabre]

are you stuck trying to decode the book of bill but you don’t want the keys handed to you? i was in your shoes literally three days ago! i failed and looked up codes on reddit (because a good grade in book of bill is a normal thing to want and a possible thing to get) but now you don’t have to!! here are some BOOK OF BILL CODEBREAKING HINTS designed to kindly shove you in the right direction!

my credentials are: one summer cryptography class i took in high school, autism, weirdly good pattern recognition (probably because of the autism), and a desperate need to make things make sense. sorry in advance if any of this seems patronizing. hints below the page break!!

general tips:

- A and I will become your bestest friends. like 99 times out of 100 any single letter is a or i. try those out first

- the apostrophe will also become your bestest friend- especially x’x, which will almost always be i’m (except there’s one place in the book where it is not. don’t make my mistakes.)

- themysteryofgravityfalls.com is SO so helpful. for non-symbolic ciphers u can lowkey put in codes and button mash caesar and atbash. godsend. devilsend? idk someone sent it and it’s wonderful

- call every phone number, visit every website. they bought those domains for a reason! i think!

- any list of numbers 1-26 is a1z26. like that’s simply a truth

cipher specific hints now !!!

RUNES (characters taken from norse runes)

- there is a key for this one in the book! maybe u spotted it right away but i did not lol, so look for an instance of 26 rune-y characters!

- the rune code on the inside cover is a graffiti joke- translates to a common thing people write on walls or carve into books made out of brain matter ig

THERAPESE (found in the last few pages during bills court-ordered therapy)

- bill’s picture is labeled in this section, so those characters translate directly to “bill cipher” ! once you have those, you can apply them to other instances of the code and go from there

- the rest of the names of the… things around him on the inpatients page are puns, titles, and/or weird words. they might look wrong until you have Every Character- trust ur key! use the rest of the instances of this code to find the missing letters first, make sense of it and laugh at the clever little joke later

BROSCODE (only two instances, found in journal 3 lost pages)

- the name is a hint by itself- this is stanley and stanford related! both stans use it once somewhere in the book!

NEWBILL (the most common symbolic cipher in the book)

- if you have journal three, the characters are VERY similar to a code there- not the same though, so don’t try and use that key. but like journal three, this code will (almost) always be bill speaking.

- ok lowkey i think the best way to explain this is just to give you one answer. i cracked this by randomly guessing that the small writing by the galaxy drawing on the journal three page “a voice form the past” translates to “forget the past”. go from there my loves

- that being said. everything else from journal three uses the same characters, but a different code. haven’t cracked it yet. looking for advice tee bee haych. i’ll edit this once i find it out

- also: dipper uses this code in his section. that’s pretty helpful to get most of the rest of the characters!

now some page specific hints!:

silly straw page. Oh god

- damn that themysteryofgravityfallsdotcom sure is helpful! Anyway,

- the numbers code is Weird. but the number don’t equal letters. notice the spaces between number groups- pair the groups, try and add a dash somewhere within the first group and a colon somewhere within the second group. you’ll have to use your resources a little

- if that made zero sense: “uhvrxufhv” phdqv brxu idyrulwh ghhsob ohjdo wy vkrz ylhzlqj zhevlwh. ru brxu kxox dffrxqw

- sorry for the vagueness but i really don’t want to spoil this one- i got it spoiled but i think figuring it out on your own would be really rewarding and worth your Time

messages on your tv

- there are strange boxes on the bottom of the page. gonna be so honest don’t know how they mean anything at all to anyone but allegedly it’s a code! i’ll look into it. idk man

okay. i think that’s all i’ve got? please comment if u have questions for me or other folks on here or suggestions on how to sound less like a fucking nerd talking abt this shit. idk i love that people are set on cracking this book asap but i hope this helps ppl who prefer The Thrill Of The Chase and also like to feel smart and important and so very talented

[northern-pirate]

Okay, codebreakers of tumblr! *rubs hands* Any suggestions on what this might mean?

@annericeamc over at Instagram just dropped this story, and.

DO YOU SEE THE BOOK COVER IN THE BACKGROUND, FOLKS.

That's a VERY familiar "INTER". (Which I completely missed at first, distracted by the numbers. 🤣)

Also, the annericeamc account is going nuts in the comments now, replying cryptically to comments on their latest post, including requests for IwtV s3 news, where they replied

"Patience is a virtue",

and someone wondering about Akasha casting news got the comment

"We speak for the damned".

Well.

They're having fun teasing us alright. 🤣

Not sure if it's actually IwtV related or Talamasca related though.

Either way, check it out:

The IG story with the mysterious numbers:

https://www.instagram.com/stories/annericeamc/3601323321960199602?utm_source=ig_story_item_share&igsh=Ym9kdmgxYm10ZHE=

(Also. It says "We watch, and we are here." Wasn't it "always here" before...? 🧐 Interesting...)

[my-deer-friend]

Play along: Amrev codebreaker!

While browsing through some primary materials reading up about John Laurens’ mission to France as special minister to the court of Versailles, I came across a letter that he wrote to the president of the Continental Congress on 9 April 1781 that included a coded message using a numerical cipher. 

I took a shot at deciphering it – here’s the process I followed, and you can play along too!

1. The first step, of course, was to determine which specific encryption was being used. After a bit of digging, I came across the immensely useful United States diplomatic codes and ciphers, 1775-1938 by Ralph E Weber. He explains that the cipher in question was “prepared on separate encode and decode sheets, the latter contained 660 printed numbers, with usually 600 words, syllables, and letters of the alphabet scattered randomly throughout the sheet.” So, for example, the word “congress” is “143”, the syllable “el” is “593” and the letter “r” is “215”. This cipher was an updated and improved version of the one used by Benjamin Tallmadge, and Weber explains that Laurens was the first one to use it. Weber also handily provides the decode table in an appendix. 

2. The second step was to design an efficient way to decode the hundreds of numbers Laurens used in his letter, and the obvious answer was my good friend the spreadsheet. I transferred the table from the book to Google Sheets, which was mildly tedious but hugely time-saving later on.

3. Now the fun part! I typed out the numbers from Laurens’ letter, and then used a simple LOOKUP formula to match the number to the decoded text.

The cipher also includes two nuances - an underscore beneath the word means a plural, and an overscore denotes adding an “e” - so I marked these in the cells with pink and green highlights respectively.

4. The final step was correcting a few errors in my table, refining the decoding (some numbers have various iterations to save space, such as 103 which can be any one of “ec/eck/ek” depending on which syllable is needed), and extracting the final text. 

It all reads very smoothly, with the singular exception of “ght-f-t”, which is the way Laurens rendered the word “gift”. The obvious explanation for this mangle is that he mis-wrote 340 (ght) instead of 170 (gi).

That’s definitely 340, 304, 196 which decodes as “ght-f-t”.

While it seems like a strange error to make, bear in mind that the encoding sheet (the one Laurens was using to change plaintext into numbers) would have been listed in alphabetical order to make finding the numbers easier (while the person at the other end has the sheet in numerical order, to reverse the process just as easily). And when we sort alphabetically, we can see that 340 and 170 are right next to each other:

A simple slip to make for someone writing coded letters late at night in low candlelight.

If you want to play along:

Here’s the code/decode spreadsheet. 

And here is the transcribed text (underlines for plurals, asterisk for added “e”). I've given the solution under the cut!

I have employed the most unremitting efforts to obtain a prompt and favorable decision relative to the object of my mission_ 381, 304, 543, 437, 366, 377, 276, 75, 75, 226, 269, 385, 426, 377, 17, 465, 197, 481, 428, 593, 381, 355, 153, 278*, 428, 333, 70, 18, 405, 184, 226, 291, 197, 376, 524, 330, 446, 362, 449, 143 The Count de Vergennes communicated to me yesterday his most Christian Majesty's determination to guarantee 381, 59, 594, 18, 9, 205, 330, 497, 254, 401, 376, 503, 306, 503, 467, 428, 226, 236, 330, 278*, 245, 205, 506, 99, 376, 381, 381, 256, 184, 90, 340, 304, 196 ...and the value of the military effects which may be furnished from the Royal Arsenal, 418, 330, 497, 428, 197, 380, 377, 196, 376, 45, 278, 245, 205 I shall use my utmost endeavours to procure an immediate 467, 208, 491, 18, 278*, 9, 205, 45, 278, 42, 381, 230, 215, 355, 18, 237, 330, 497*, 215, 167, 290, 377, 376, 341, 278, 182, 302, 75, 376, 59, 594, and shall renew my solicitations for the 357, 34, 197, 18, 203, 291, 491, 481, 484, 34, 325, 89, 113, 392, 197, 269, 336, 458, 278*, 97, 18, 245, 205 may not be 126, 21, 215, 497, 376, 341, 296, 75, 477, 226, 103, 196, 481, 278*, 483, 215, 553, 75*, 18, 238, 377, 59, 374, 478, the providing this article I fear will be attended with great difficulties and delays as all the 476, 490, 481, 36, 228, 351, 392, 226, 197, 18, 237, are remote from the sea, and there are no 441, 420, 50, 563, 503, 197, 18, 377, 59, 278, suitable to our purposes. The cargo of the Marquis de la Fayette will I hope arrive safe under the convoy of the Alliance_ 481, 341, 78, 465, 75, 426, 408, 596, 115, 76, 376, 174, 196*, 291, 103, 197, 75, 75, 184, 226, 197, 281, 5, 171, 278*, 428, 593, 381, 355, 492, 194, 236, 376, 45, 574, 408, 504, 366, 381, 506, 197, 197, 193, 213, 75, 197, 199, 291, 377, 197 The Marquis de Castries has engaged to make immediate arrangements for the safe transportation of the pecuniary and the other succours destined for the United States_ 481, 350, 215, 167, 450, 196, 376, 34, 381, 75, 473, 376, 76*, 458, 278*, 72, 208, 449, 577, 114, 89, 405, 486, 497, 197, 113, 126, 34, 361, 376, 269, 278*, 277, 291, 104, 381, 113, 278*, 401, 230, 408, 550, 552, 342, 291

Have fun!

I have employed the most unremitting efforts to obtain a prompt and favorable decision relative to the object of my mission_ after many discussions, difficulties and delays with the details of which it is needless to trouble congress.

The Count de Vergennes communicated to me yesterday his most Christian Majesty's determination to guarantee a loan of ten millions to be opened in Holland in addition to the six millions granted as a gracious gift.

...and the value of the military effects which may be furnished from the Royal Arsenal are to be deducted from the six million.

I shall use my utmost endeavours to procure an immediate advance of the ten millions from the treasury of France to be replaced by the proposed loan,

and shall renew my solicitations for the supplies of the ordinance and military stores on credit that the present of six millions may not be absorbed by thousands objects and the purchase of necessary clothing

the providing this article I fear will be attended with great difficulties and delays as all the wool and manufactories of France are remote from the sea, and there are no

public magazines of cloth suitable to our purposes.

The cargo of the Marquis de la Fayette will I hope arrive safe under the convoy of the Alliance_ and by satisfying our immediate necessities prevent the delays above-mentioned from having any disagreeable consequences

The Marquis de Castries has engaged to make immediate arrangements for the safe transportation of the pecuniary and the other succours destined for the United States_ and has repeatedly assured me that the naval superiority which will be established on the American coast the ensuing campaign

[justbusterkeaton]

So me and my colleague @keatonkeatonkeaton decided to send Buster’s teenage datebook/pocketbook to r/codes on Reddit and request their expert assistance to try and decipher this code that young Buster wrote in it in 1914. u/codewarrior0 came back quickly with this solution. Got to say it seems pretty convincing.

[tim-dennis]

Bletchley Park, black and white

[pyrotoons]

On this day in … 1941, during World War 2, the British ship Bulldog captured the German submarine U-110, and found a trove of information needed to crack the coded communication from the Germans.

Although Polish mathematicians had worked out how to read Enigma messages and had shared this information with the British in 1938, the Germans increased its security at the outbreak of war by changing the cipher system daily. This made the task of understanding the code even more difficult. Mathematician Alan Turing played a key role in this, inventing – along with fellow code-breaker Gordon Welchman – a machine known as the “Bombe.” This device helped to significantly reduce the work of the code-breakers, making it exponentially faster. From mid-1940, German Air Force signals were being read at Bletchley and the intelligence gained from them was helping the war effort. Adding the Enigma machine and code books from the U-110 was a huge step in helping to crack the coded German communications and start limiting Allied naval casualties.

digital art hand drawn by @pyrotoons

[openstorygames]

Get your spy game going with Encode!

Generate your unique cipher, write up a message, and pass it to your partner for some rapid codebreaking fun!

Originally designed for older kids who could use a little extra handwriting help, Encode was a hit with parents and teachers—who wanted to play with other grownups for a more competitive feel.

Whether you play to save the world together or to intercept enemy transmissions, puzzlers will love the high-stakes thrill of rapid decryption!

Add as a mini-game to your TTRPG campaigns, or play on its own. So many ways to play, but don't waste time. You've only got so long to save the world!

Message incoming at https://open-story-games.itch.io/encode

[grudnick]

DSCF8420 by Skatole Grudnick Via Flickr: Memory Unit ( interior ) from Storage Technology Corporation, part of Cray Super Computer, National Cryptologic Museum, Fort Meade, Maryland

[thoughts-and-gayers]

hey i think i might have found something new in journal 3

this is the image ford draws as an example of ancient fortune telling:

this is an image ford draws under bill's influence (and also the key for bill's cipher in the journal.):

this is the fortune telling wheel rotated and overlayed onto the key:

and just the rotated wheel:

pretty neat, huh?

but wait. heres an image drawn on the 'codes' page:

see any similarities to the other wheels?

i propose that this wheel is displaying alternate symbols for letters. we can see some of the symbols from this wheel are in some (as far as i can find) unsolved codes in the journal:

what if we can solve said codes by using these wheels to find correspondences? like this:

i dont have this idea fully formed yet but i think i might have started cracking something no one else has yet!

or im just going insane and seeing patterns that arent there lmao

[educationaldm]

Lovely little puzzle.

[dungeonmalcontent]

GM pro tip: give your players physical media containing hints about what they should do in game.

But then make those handouts letters from the bbeg in code.

To code the messages, pick a series of 5 random numbers to constitute a pattern for a Caeser cipher, (a zip code perhaps) but then make each set of four letters correspond to a call number for a book cipher using old print, middle grade adventure novels like goosebumps or animorphs. Pick your coded message and then write mundane messages around the coded information to make the letter you give your players.

[amusedreams]

As @theladyragnell pointed out, this can also be applied to running story based games. If you’re DMing it’s good to have a select group of folks to spit ball puzzles with!

Years and years ago, I read a book on cryptography that I picked up because it looked interesting--and it was!

But there was a side anecdote in there that stayed with me for more general purposes.

The author was describing a cryptography class that they had taken back in college where the professor was demonstrating the process of "reversibility", which is a principle that most codes depend on. Specifically, it should be easy to encode, and very hard to decode without the key--it is hard to reverse the process.

So he had an example code that he used for his class to demonstrate this, a variation on the Book Code, where the encoded text would be a series of phone numbers.

The key to the code was that phone books are sorted alphabetically, so you could encode the text easily--picking phone numbers from the appropriate alphabetical sections to use ahead of time would be easy. But since phone books were sorted alphabetically, not numerically, it would be nearly impossible to reverse the code without exhaustively searching the phone book for each string of numbers and seeing what name it was tied to.

Nowadays, defeating this would be child's play, given computerized databases, but back in the 80s and 90s, this would have been a good code... at least, until one of the students raised their hand and asked, "Why not just call the phone numbers and ask who lives there?"

The professor apparently was dumbfounded.

He had never considered that question. As a result, his cipher, which seemed to be nearly unbreakable to him, had such an obvious flaw, because he was the sort of person who could never coldcall someone to ask that sort of thing!

In the crypto book, the author went on to use this story as an example of why security systems should not be tested by the designer (because of course the security system is ready for everything they thought of, by definition), but for me, as a writer, it stuck with me for a different reason.

It's worth talking out your story plot with other people just to see if there's a "Why not just call the phone numbers?" obvious plot hole that you've missed, because of your singular perspective as a person. Especially if you're writing the sort of plot where you have people trying to outsmart each other.