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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Dog Moon" data-source="post: 6883528" data-attributes="member: 23023">Yeah, one of the things I've learned is that by forcing a plot or an answer to your mystery, things can actually go worse.  What happens if the PCs miss a clue or something or go off on some random tangent?Perhaps my best campaign is one where I set up some basic information, including a mystery, and basically let the PCs decide on things.  In a couple of cases this ended up causing the PCs to go places completely unexpected, but by having a more open ended "ending" I was able to turn what they did into actually being helpful and driving the plot rather than going in the opposite direction and ruining everything.  Granted, I did have to have a few things prepared, but seeing an expression on the players' faces when they guess something so outrageous that it couldn't be true and then actually having that be true is amazing.  <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />And on topic, in my current campaign I've had a couple of cut scenes and I've done them briefly in the past, but they have to be select and limited.  They can be great to show what's going on, but can't be used in too great of detail, in that they should never assume the PCs are going to act or not act or even where they are at.  Some of the box text in adventures is terrible at this [Actually, this happens ALL the time.  STOP ASSUMING THINGS!!!!]  "Entering the room from the north, the boss stands waiting for you."  Well, what happens if the PCs enter from the south?  Or they teleport in using surprise?  Or they sneak in?  There are too many variables.  However, if you use a cut scene to show the PCs some flavor in the world, that is fine, as it helps set up the mood.I used a couple of cut scenes to show things off in the distance to throw in a little bit of "Huh, what is going on in the world?"  Like the triad of Dragons flying high above the two, a gold, a black and a green.  Immediately the PCs sense that something HUGE is going on in the world if such Dragons are flying together and not fighting.  But one adventure had a Gnome and a Halfling like bickering or something and the guards watch.  The Halfling then starts beating the Gnome or something [I can't remember all the details].  It was supposed to be a flavor piece, something to show the PCs that this city is rough and the guard are bastards, but then the PCs decide to step in.  This flavor piece suddenly is no longer just flavor but there was no information given explaining what might happen.  I was caught off guard and that "Flavor Scene" ended up hurting in the end rather than helping.So like almost everything, done in the right way and not overdone, they can be useful and interesting.  Otherwise, it's better not to have them.</blockquote>

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