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Message: <blockquote data-quote="willpax" data-source="post: 158096" data-attributes="member: 1602">In addition...These are all good suggestions. Here's one more: I examine all the group's capabilities for investigation (possible contacts in the area, professional organizations, knowledge skills, libraries, diplomacy, gather info, sneaking and listening, or actually breaking in to various places). For each possible exercise of PC skill, I think of a potential clue that could be unearthed. For some skills (such as the uber-investigation skill of gather info) I will break it down into success levels: if they make a DC 15, they learn this; at DC 20, they learn this, and so on. I try to over-clue the area (all the while being faithful to my what-happens-if-the-group-doesn't-intervene timeline) so that failure to investigate along one line doesn't make it impossible to solve the mystery. Being explicit in this way allows you to dangle multiple carrots in front of the players, and allows them to feel they can accomplish something (always an enjoyable feeling). If possible within the mystery conception, try to make sure that even the non-optimized-for-investagtion characters can contribute something useful. There may be a sergeant of the guard who only bothers to open up to "real" people (i.e., people who are good at fighting). The bard could learn this detail through gather info, and then send the fighter to learn what the guard knows (for example). If you think these things out somewhat beforehand, you will be better able to deal with the sudden shifts in focus and direction that this type of adventure can lead to, which in turn can give you some confidence. As you get more experienced running things this way, you'll get better at doing a lot of this on the fly, but it is often good to spell these things out beforehand when you are in training. I hope it goes well!</blockquote>

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