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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Redthistle" data-source="post: 7083176" data-attributes="member: 6778305">I really like [MENTION=3586]MerricB[/MENTION]'s idea of the side-quests (see comment #8 in this thread). It keeps the game moving forward without letting it drop into a TPK, and may also be utilized to provide foreshadowing for when the party is ready for the more dangerous scenarios.Here's a notion that can be used on a limited basis, but that you wouldn't want to overuse: Passive Insight check, aka the "hunch." Pass information to the player(s) with high enough Insight, saying something to the effect that the hairs on the back of their necks are rising; their guts feel like they're turning to ice water; there's a mounting sense that there is something here that is just not right; or the like. By experiencing this hint every once in awhile it will hopefully provide your players with the knowledge (it might be for replacement PCs, mind you) that although there might be something very interesting behind that door, now might not be the best time to go knocking on it.It depends, of course, on how far into the location they've proceeded and what subliminal clues they may have been able to pick up on. If there haven't been any relevant clues, the Perception skill, active or passive, is not going to of use. Situations like this are akin to the horror movie trope where the audience (at the game table, the DM is an audience of one) knows a character shouldn't open that door, but the character doesn't have enough information yet to know that.The difference between a movie and a table top RPG is the interactivity of the game table. A movie audience cannot warn the character in the movie. A DM can warn the players in the group, but it's a balancing act to do so in a way that doesn't reveal too much information that would undo future surprises.This is where, it seems to me, that Insight can be useful. Insight is informed by the subconscious, and in a game that includes magic and psionics, this is where otherwise non-evident clues can be provided to the PCs: give them a hunch.</blockquote>

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