Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
White Dwarf Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Nest
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
EN Publishing
Twitter
BlueSky
Facebook
Instagram
EN World
BlueSky
YouTube
Facebook
Twitter
Twitch
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
Advice Sought: Running an NPC prisoner interrogation
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="Hussar" data-source="post: 6823181" data-attributes="member: 22779"><p>To expand on what [MENTION=6776133]Bawylie[/MENTION] said, my advice is to simply gloss over it and give the PC's more information than they actually ask for. The dwarf sings like a canary. </p><p></p><p>Think about it this way. One of the biggest challenges for a DM is to get information into the hands of the players. Either setting information or plot information, doesn't really matter. How do you get the information from your head into their hands? Well, they just handed you a gift wrapped golden opportunity. All those cool ideas that your have for your setting? Well, hand them over now. </p><p></p><p>I suggest that you take a few minutes and type up (or write up) a page of information in bullet form. Twenty things you learn from the dwarf or something like that. Depending on where you want to nudge your players, tailor the information in such a way that it allows them to make informed choices. If they are interrogating the dwarf about some stronghold or camp or something like that, give the players lots of information about that - total numbers of people living there, what are they armed with, maybe a tidbit or two about different NPC's (Toegrap likes sweets, offer him some candy and he'll be your friend) things like that.</p><p></p><p>Now, for a twist, add in maybe two or three items that are deliberately misleading or outright lies. Maybe Toegrap hates sweets in fact. Maybe there are more (or less) defenders in the stronghold - the number the players get is off by 10-20%. Don't do this with every piece of information. Make most of it true, which makes the false stuff stand out nicely. Note, if the players go the magic route (Zone of Truth or something like that) then don't negate that - they know that X is a lie and maybe they can get the truth out of the dwarf.</p><p></p><p>DO NOT STONEWALL. This is the biggest mistake I see DM's make in these situations. They don't want to give out too much information for fear of making things "too easy". It's never "too easy". Having information lets the players make informed choices which makes them actually think (and get more immersed) in the scenario. Coming to a T intersection in the dungeon is not a real choice - it's a coin flip. Coming to a T intersection where you know left leads you to the the armoury and right leads you to the Captain's chambers is an interesting choice.</p><p></p><p>This is not a challenge, it's an opportunity. You can expostulate to your heart's content. Do so. Your players are telling you that they want more information. Give it to them.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Hussar, post: 6823181, member: 22779"] To expand on what [MENTION=6776133]Bawylie[/MENTION] said, my advice is to simply gloss over it and give the PC's more information than they actually ask for. The dwarf sings like a canary. Think about it this way. One of the biggest challenges for a DM is to get information into the hands of the players. Either setting information or plot information, doesn't really matter. How do you get the information from your head into their hands? Well, they just handed you a gift wrapped golden opportunity. All those cool ideas that your have for your setting? Well, hand them over now. I suggest that you take a few minutes and type up (or write up) a page of information in bullet form. Twenty things you learn from the dwarf or something like that. Depending on where you want to nudge your players, tailor the information in such a way that it allows them to make informed choices. If they are interrogating the dwarf about some stronghold or camp or something like that, give the players lots of information about that - total numbers of people living there, what are they armed with, maybe a tidbit or two about different NPC's (Toegrap likes sweets, offer him some candy and he'll be your friend) things like that. Now, for a twist, add in maybe two or three items that are deliberately misleading or outright lies. Maybe Toegrap hates sweets in fact. Maybe there are more (or less) defenders in the stronghold - the number the players get is off by 10-20%. Don't do this with every piece of information. Make most of it true, which makes the false stuff stand out nicely. Note, if the players go the magic route (Zone of Truth or something like that) then don't negate that - they know that X is a lie and maybe they can get the truth out of the dwarf. DO NOT STONEWALL. This is the biggest mistake I see DM's make in these situations. They don't want to give out too much information for fear of making things "too easy". It's never "too easy". Having information lets the players make informed choices which makes them actually think (and get more immersed) in the scenario. Coming to a T intersection in the dungeon is not a real choice - it's a coin flip. Coming to a T intersection where you know left leads you to the the armoury and right leads you to the Captain's chambers is an interesting choice. This is not a challenge, it's an opportunity. You can expostulate to your heart's content. Do so. Your players are telling you that they want more information. Give it to them. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
Advice Sought: Running an NPC prisoner interrogation
Top