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<blockquote data-quote="Herobizkit" data-source="post: 6074909" data-attributes="member: 36150">One of the biggest difficulties you can put yourself in as a DM is to hinge the progress of a &quot;plot&quot; on your players.&nbsp; By extension, you've seen what happens when you try and dictate results before they happen; the players don't follow your plan, and the whole adventure gets derailed.Here's what I'd do.Later in the day, wherever the PC's happen to be, have some excitable youth or halfling go running by and approach the guards who also happen to be nearby.&nbsp; Have the kid explain that xyz house's door has been broken/torn off and it looks like the people inside are knocked out/dead. A few intelligence/lore checks reveal it to be the same house they were at earlier that day. Then the players get to decide if they're going to try and beat the guards there, or investigate after the fact, or still ignore it.&nbsp; If they still ignore it... well...My favorite tactic is to create a NPC &quot;copy&quot; of the player characters.&nbsp; Doesn't have to be exact, but basically another group of intrepid whoevers who act when the PC's fail to act.&nbsp; The joy of this comes when, later, the PC's are chilling out at wherever and said NPC group shows up with treasure and riches and explains just how they got them -- and maybe soon the players will clue in that ACTION, not inaction, gets rewarded.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Herobizkit, post: 6074909, member: 36150"] One of the biggest difficulties you can put yourself in as a DM is to hinge the progress of a "plot" on your players. By extension, you've seen what happens when you try and dictate results before they happen; the players don't follow your plan, and the whole adventure gets derailed. Here's what I'd do. Later in the day, wherever the PC's happen to be, have some excitable youth or halfling go running by and approach the guards who also happen to be nearby. Have the kid explain that xyz house's door has been broken/torn off and it looks like the people inside are knocked out/dead. A few intelligence/lore checks reveal it to be the same house they were at earlier that day. Then the players get to decide if they're going to try and beat the guards there, or investigate after the fact, or still ignore it. If they still ignore it... well... My favorite tactic is to create a NPC "copy" of the player characters. Doesn't have to be exact, but basically another group of intrepid whoevers who act when the PC's fail to act. The joy of this comes when, later, the PC's are chilling out at wherever and said NPC group shows up with treasure and riches and explains just how they got them -- and maybe soon the players will clue in that ACTION, not inaction, gets rewarded. [/QUOTE]

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