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<blockquote data-quote="Jedi_Solo" data-source="post: 3657041" data-attributes="member: 40245">Not arguing - just using this a jumping off point.&nbsp; I have not read the module myself but it strikes me that the information given would be relavent which is a big plus in having players pay attention.Similar to someone earlier in the thread I've played the Baulder's Gate and Icewind Dale games.&nbsp; When I was playing the first Baulder's Gate I read the full item history for the first few magic items.&nbsp; When I realised that these would not give me more information that was relavent to the adventure I stopped reading them.In the games Morrowind and Oblivion there are books/journals/messages all over the place and some can be quite long and richly detailed.&nbsp; I don't read the non-relavent ones but I do read through the ones that are at least seemingly relavent to the quest I am workig on.I am not a &quot;Fight More Orcs Now!!!!&quot; player though I do like the good fight scene.&nbsp; All of those Robin's Laws on line test place me as Story Teller style.&nbsp; I paid attention when our DM was doing a &quot;Infiltrated Government&quot; type storyline and even pieced everything together faster than the DM expected.&nbsp; Why?&nbsp; There are many reasons but part of it was that everything (even the red herrings he dropped in) were relavent to the story so I paid attention and picked up enough to figure out what was relvant, what was not relavent and what evidence there was to prove who was lying and why.The trick to me seems to be balance the &quot;extra&quot; information.&nbsp; Go ahead and name the magic item when it gets identified.&nbsp; If the players bite they bite.&nbsp; If they don't you can hope someone remembers the name when a patron at the tavern mentions &quot;the barabarians looking for some sword named X&quot;.&nbsp; The players will definately perk up when a barabrian shows up and recognises the sword.I think a mystery or a noir is quite possable in the &quot;relavant only&quot; style of play.&nbsp; For every one or two relavent pieces of information give one or two pieces that are not.&nbsp; Just be sure to have the payoff of a piece of info occurs with some regularity.If you have the story advance on a &quot;regular basis&quot; (however long that is with your particular group) the players will likely eat up everything you throw at them because it is relavent and pay off quickly.&nbsp; Once they know this is the case they (hopefully) will pay attention even with the details that aren't relavent and the feeling of the mystery will come together and the players will start putting things together for you.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Jedi_Solo, post: 3657041, member: 40245"] Not arguing - just using this a jumping off point. I have not read the module myself but it strikes me that the information given would be relavent which is a big plus in having players pay attention. Similar to someone earlier in the thread I've played the Baulder's Gate and Icewind Dale games. When I was playing the first Baulder's Gate I read the full item history for the first few magic items. When I realised that these would not give me more information that was relavent to the adventure I stopped reading them. In the games Morrowind and Oblivion there are books/journals/messages all over the place and some can be quite long and richly detailed. I don't read the non-relavent ones but I do read through the ones that are at least seemingly relavent to the quest I am workig on. I am not a "Fight More Orcs Now!!!!" player though I do like the good fight scene. All of those Robin's Laws on line test place me as Story Teller style. I paid attention when our DM was doing a "Infiltrated Government" type storyline and even pieced everything together faster than the DM expected. Why? There are many reasons but part of it was that everything (even the red herrings he dropped in) were relavent to the story so I paid attention and picked up enough to figure out what was relvant, what was not relavent and what evidence there was to prove who was lying and why. The trick to me seems to be balance the "extra" information. Go ahead and name the magic item when it gets identified. If the players bite they bite. If they don't you can hope someone remembers the name when a patron at the tavern mentions "the barabarians looking for some sword named X". The players will definately perk up when a barabrian shows up and recognises the sword. I think a mystery or a noir is quite possable in the "relavant only" style of play. For every one or two relavent pieces of information give one or two pieces that are not. Just be sure to have the payoff of a piece of info occurs with some regularity. If you have the story advance on a "regular basis" (however long that is with your particular group) the players will likely eat up everything you throw at them because it is relavent and pay off quickly. Once they know this is the case they (hopefully) will pay attention even with the details that aren't relavent and the feeling of the mystery will come together and the players will start putting things together for you. [/QUOTE]

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