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<blockquote data-quote="Reynard" data-source="post: 8689652" data-attributes="member: 467">Last night while unable to sleep, I started to think about the best method for adventures that revolve around specific or particular &quot;answers&quot; to situations in play. In this case it relates to a &quot;The Boys&quot; style game I am putting together, where the PCs aren't powerful enough to defeat the super bad guys, and will need some McGuffin or trick to get it done. But this could also be about murder mysteries or other &quot;key information&quot; based adventure design.Here's the primary question I keep coming back to: is it better to a) define the McGuffin and all the associated details, including the clues that will lead the PCs to the answer, or b) simply know there IS a McGuffin but let the players tell you what it is by their actions. In the former case, a few failed skill rolls or the PCs running off on a tangent could really bog the game game down. The GM has to work extra hard to make sure they are communicating things to the players in ways that lead them to the conclusions the GM intends, and has to be able to redirect or adapt if the PCs run after a red herring. In the latter case, the GM is free from those constraints but must focus on pacing and coherence without making the entire exercise seem artificial and essentially running down the clock until the timer goes off for the big showdown.Note: I am coming at this from a largely trad RPG standpoint for the purposes of this discussion. That isn't to say we can't talk about more narrative game tools to incorporate, but I want to avoid the largely unhelpful (in this context) &quot;Just use Pbta/FitD/Storygame1171&quot; line of argument.So, if you have a murder mystery or a McGuffin hunt or some other highly specific information or action key adventure, what do you do to guide play to the goal? What methods do you use to support the PCs getting where they need to go? Do you ever let them decide, and if so do you explicitly do so or do you pick a thread they were pulling on?</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Reynard, post: 8689652, member: 467"] Last night while unable to sleep, I started to think about the best method for adventures that revolve around specific or particular "answers" to situations in play. In this case it relates to a "The Boys" style game I am putting together, where the PCs aren't powerful enough to defeat the super bad guys, and will need some McGuffin or trick to get it done. But this could also be about murder mysteries or other "key information" based adventure design. Here's the primary question I keep coming back to: is it better to a) define the McGuffin and all the associated details, including the clues that will lead the PCs to the answer, or b) simply know there IS a McGuffin but let the players tell you what it is by their actions. In the former case, a few failed skill rolls or the PCs running off on a tangent could really bog the game game down. The GM has to work extra hard to make sure they are communicating things to the players in ways that lead them to the conclusions the GM intends, and has to be able to redirect or adapt if the PCs run after a red herring. In the latter case, the GM is free from those constraints but must focus on pacing and coherence without making the entire exercise seem artificial and essentially running down the clock until the timer goes off for the big showdown. Note: I am coming at this from a largely trad RPG standpoint for the purposes of this discussion. That isn't to say we can't talk about more narrative game tools to incorporate, but I want to avoid the largely unhelpful (in this context) "Just use Pbta/FitD/Storygame1171" line of argument. So, if you have a murder mystery or a McGuffin hunt or some other highly specific information or action key adventure, what do you do to guide play to the goal? What methods do you use to support the PCs getting where they need to go? Do you ever let them decide, and if so do you explicitly do so or do you pick a thread they were pulling on? [/QUOTE]

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