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<blockquote data-quote="FormerlyHemlock" data-source="post: 6607200" data-attributes="member: 6787650">What if the expectation is that the player spend a reasonable amount of time trying to figure it out, and then recognize when he's not getting anywhere and put a pin in it? I.e. what if the expectation is that problems come in parallel, instead of serial episodes? What if some problems are presented more for foreshadowing than for immediate resolution? (Although if you resolve them immediately, hey, bonus, that disaster never happens.)Personally, if I'm going to tangle with a succubus, I'd prefer to find out that &quot;Oh, that's why Jim Begoni killed himself! His girlfriend was a succubus all along, and if we'd thought to have the paladin Detect Evil on every NPC we encounter we would have picked up on it sooner&quot; instead of &quot;A succubus lunges at you from the open crypt. Roll for initiative.&quot; I likewise plant high-level threats for my PCs in the story long before I activate them. They still don't know about the Rakshasa in the palace...Edit: however, the one thing I would do for a threat that isn't intended to be engaged directly is prevent the players from spending too much time on it. Tell them about the murder, let them interview the girlfriend and the girl who is jealous of the girlfriend (paladin can come into play here), but after ten or twenty minutes just say, &quot;Over the course of the afternoon, you wrack your brains to come up with a new lead or a new angle on the problem, but nothing comes to mind and you're afraid you might have to file this under Unsolved Mysteries for now. As the shadows grow dark, you're about to head home for the night when suddenly a messenger bursts into your office, shouting, 'An army of giants is approaching the city!'&quot; in order to signal to the players (not the PCs) that the &quot;murder scene&quot; is closed.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="FormerlyHemlock, post: 6607200, member: 6787650"] What if the expectation is that the player spend a reasonable amount of time trying to figure it out, and then recognize when he's not getting anywhere and put a pin in it? I.e. what if the expectation is that problems come in parallel, instead of serial episodes? What if some problems are presented more for foreshadowing than for immediate resolution? (Although if you resolve them immediately, hey, bonus, that disaster never happens.) Personally, if I'm going to tangle with a succubus, I'd prefer to find out that "Oh, that's why Jim Begoni killed himself! His girlfriend was a succubus all along, and if we'd thought to have the paladin Detect Evil on every NPC we encounter we would have picked up on it sooner" instead of "A succubus lunges at you from the open crypt. Roll for initiative." I likewise plant high-level threats for my PCs in the story long before I activate them. They still don't know about the Rakshasa in the palace... Edit: however, the one thing I would do for a threat that isn't intended to be engaged directly is prevent the players from spending too much time on it. Tell them about the murder, let them interview the girlfriend and the girl who is jealous of the girlfriend (paladin can come into play here), but after ten or twenty minutes just say, "Over the course of the afternoon, you wrack your brains to come up with a new lead or a new angle on the problem, but nothing comes to mind and you're afraid you might have to file this under Unsolved Mysteries for now. As the shadows grow dark, you're about to head home for the night when suddenly a messenger bursts into your office, shouting, 'An army of giants is approaching the city!'" in order to signal to the players (not the PCs) that the "murder scene" is closed. [/QUOTE]

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