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Message: <blockquote data-quote="billd91" data-source="post: 7449345" data-attributes="member: 3400">I agree. That's why just facing an obstacle or challenge or roll of the dice isn't really all that suspenseful - at least not in my experience. You need some other information. That's why I was referring before to knowing something about the antagonist in the situation. A baccarat scene between a PC and an antagonist is a lot more suspenseful if PC knows his antagonist has a hand of 7 when he, himself, has a 5. The hospital scene in The Godfather is suspenseful because we can see the rival gang members walking about the hospital as Michael is trying to hide his father from the ordered hit. And, of course, directors do this all the time in movies - they focus on or reveal the actions of the antagonists to us as observers and then draw out the protagonist's actions until we're on the edge of our seats concerned that they're too slow and will be caught out.I'm working on doing similar things in a Curse of the Crimson Throne AP for Pathfinder. For those of you who aren't familiar, the PCs ultimately end up on a collision course with an increasingly despotic monarch. At the stage I'm running now, I'm revealing insights into how the queen is building her power base and eroding the PCs' allies - they've witnessed the arrival of recruited troops, they've witnessed the slow gutting of the town guard, they're learning more about the disappearance of certain significant power brokers in the city, they've just had their first run-in with external allies of the queen - all of her pieces are falling into place and doing so fairly visibly. A little of this was part of the AP as written, I'm adding more to flesh things out for the group I'm running including giving them informants who know more about the behind-the-scenes activity. Ultimately, what's happening is they're being given reason to be more and more uneasy with the situation - not only do I expect it to drive their outrage, but also drive their feeling that the outcome is uncertain and perilous - a feeling sharpened by the fact that they are learning so much rather than have it all be hidden or revealed only at the last confrontation.</blockquote>

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