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<blockquote data-quote="jdrakeh" data-source="post: 4581896" data-attributes="member: 13892">Assuming that the casino in the game is similar to a real-world casino (i.e., an enclosed space packed with hundreds or thousands of people like sardines in a can) and that the only description of the contact the PCs have is the one given above, I have to wonder what 'correct' approach to the situation that you propose is. Armed with no lead other than the extremely vague &quot;There's a contact in this crowd of several hundred people!&quot; I'd argue that the PCs have no clear choice other than to randomly question strangers in an attempt to generate their own leads. That's not a player intellect issue — it's a great example of poor adventure design, though. Obviously, you also have one appropriate course of action in mind, seemingly one very specific path that the PCs must pursue in order to advance the story. Anchoring story advancement to one, single, clue or avenue of investigation will only ensure that the story never advances if that clue is never uncovered or if they PCs do something different (as you seem to have discovered). It's a tried and true way to bork a mystery adventure right up and, likewise, a big red flag indicating a poorly designed adventure (in fact, it's probably the single most cited complaint with regard to poor mystery adventure design). So, in the proposed scenario, the PCs aren't getting any useful leads and are expected to divine a single, acceptable, pre-determined course of investigation or clue in order to advance the story. I suspect that your players straying off to do unrelated things (like have drinks with people they meet at the casino) is more an indicator of boredom or frustration with a poorly designed adventure, than it is a sign of their low intellect or disinterest in mysteries. It's their way of saying &quot;This mystery sucks and we no longer care about it!&quot;</blockquote>

[QUOTE="jdrakeh, post: 4581896, member: 13892"] Assuming that the casino in the game is similar to a real-world casino (i.e., an enclosed space packed with hundreds or thousands of people like sardines in a can) and that the only description of the contact the PCs have is the one given above, I have to wonder what 'correct' approach to the situation that you propose is. Armed with no lead other than the extremely vague "There's a contact in this crowd of several hundred people!" I'd argue that the PCs have no clear choice [I]other[/I] than to randomly question strangers in an attempt to generate their own leads. That's not a player intellect issue — it's a great example of poor adventure design, though. Obviously, you also have one appropriate course of action in mind, seemingly one very specific path that the PCs must pursue in order to advance the story. Anchoring story advancement to one, single, clue or avenue of investigation will only ensure that the story [I]never[/I] advances if that clue is never uncovered or if they PCs do something different (as you seem to have discovered). It's a tried and true way to bork a mystery adventure right up and, likewise, a big red flag indicating a poorly designed adventure (in fact, it's probably the single most cited complaint with regard to poor mystery adventure design). So, in the proposed scenario, the PCs aren't getting any useful leads and are expected to divine a single, acceptable, pre-determined course of investigation or clue in order to advance the story. I suspect that your players straying off to do unrelated things (like have drinks with people they meet at the casino) is more an indicator of boredom or frustration with a poorly designed adventure, than it is a sign of their low intellect or disinterest in mysteries. It's their way of saying "This mystery sucks and we no longer care about it!" [/QUOTE]

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