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<blockquote data-quote="talien" data-source="post: 3544538" data-attributes="member: 3285">I'm amazed by the number of adventures that are supposed to be &quot;mysteries&quot;&nbsp; and, in having the PCs try to solve crimes, end up having them witness all the exciting stuff after the fact.Two examples:&nbsp; 1) If a bad guy is going to hold a city hostage by setting off bombs, those bombs had better go off in a way that affects the PCs -- either they actually get caught in the blast or someone they know is affected by it.&nbsp; Not, &quot;a bomb just went off!&nbsp; You should care about that, right?&quot;2) An invasion of mysterious extraplanar bad guys.&nbsp; PCs don't want to have a conversation with a guard after the fact about the bad guys. Too many investigation-type games struggle for slow dread and end up with the Boring, Boring, Boring, OOGABOOGAH! approach.&nbsp; In movies, the audience doesn't get bored because we get to witness the attacks and thereby viscerally experience it.&nbsp; So that keeps us interested, because for a brief moment we're in the victim's shoes.&nbsp; In RPGs, the audience and the actors are one and the same.&nbsp; So letting things play out in the background just bores the heck out of the audience.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="talien, post: 3544538, member: 3285"] I'm amazed by the number of adventures that are supposed to be "mysteries" and, in having the PCs try to solve crimes, end up having them witness all the exciting stuff after the fact. Two examples: 1) If a bad guy is going to hold a city hostage by setting off bombs, those bombs had better go off in a way that affects the PCs -- either they actually get caught in the blast or someone they know is affected by it. Not, "a bomb just went off! You should care about that, right?" 2) An invasion of mysterious extraplanar bad guys. PCs don't want to have a conversation with a guard after the fact about the bad guys. Too many investigation-type games struggle for slow dread and end up with the Boring, Boring, Boring, OOGABOOGAH! approach. In movies, the audience doesn't get bored because we get to witness the attacks and thereby viscerally experience it. So that keeps us interested, because for a brief moment we're in the victim's shoes. In RPGs, the audience and the actors are one and the same. So letting things play out in the background just bores the heck out of the audience. [/QUOTE]

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