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<blockquote data-quote="Kinematics" data-source="post: 8317499" data-attributes="member: 6932123">It's not just IC knowledge (ie: the GM knows where and what all the clues are), it's OOC knowledge — things the GM knows a lot about IRL, but the players do not.I have a friend who's massively well-versed in Victorian-era culture. He could make up riddles that are super obvious if you have that type of knowledge, but are utterly opaque if all you know is modern culture.&nbsp; Likewise, I'm really good at math. Math-based riddles that are incredibly obvious to me are completely unrecognizable to most others at the table.&nbsp; I know people who are obsessive about military hardware, able to tell that a WW2 ship is &quot;wrong&quot; because one of the guns is in the wrong place.&nbsp; If you don't have that degree of knowledge, even explaining it after the fact isn't going to make it something you could figure out on your own.And then there's the split between what you know and what your character knows.&nbsp; Maybe your wizard is a mathematical savant, but you don't even remember high school algebra. Things your character should be able to recognize and puzzle out fairly easily, you would miss entirely.If you want to leave clues, you have to make sure that:<ul>
<li data-xf-list-type="ul">Understanding the clues doesn't depend on the fact that you already know everything behind the screen</li>
<li data-xf-list-type="ul">Understanding the clues doesn't depend on your exceptional knowledge of a subject</li>
<li data-xf-list-type="ul">Understanding the clues doesn't depend on the player being as well-versed in a topic as his character</li>
</ul>And of course, as in the OP's example, don't forget that what you see in your mind's eye is not the same as what everyone else sees. It's very easy for a player to see the &quot;world&quot; in front of him in a way completely different than what the GM, or even the other players, sees. I've seen this happen at least once in pretty much every game I've ever played or run.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Kinematics, post: 8317499, member: 6932123"] It's not just IC knowledge (ie: the GM knows where and what all the clues are), it's OOC knowledge — things the GM knows a lot about IRL, but the players do not. I have a friend who's massively well-versed in Victorian-era culture. He could make up riddles that are super obvious if you have that type of knowledge, but are utterly opaque if all you know is modern culture. Likewise, I'm really good at math. Math-based riddles that are incredibly obvious to me are completely unrecognizable to most others at the table. I know people who are obsessive about military hardware, able to tell that a WW2 ship is "wrong" because one of the guns is in the wrong place. If you don't have that degree of knowledge, even explaining it after the fact isn't going to make it something you could figure out on your own. And then there's the split between what you know and what your character knows. Maybe your wizard is a mathematical savant, but you don't even remember high school algebra. Things your character should be able to recognize and puzzle out fairly easily, you would miss entirely. If you want to leave clues, you have to make sure that: [LIST] [*]Understanding the clues doesn't depend on the fact that you already know everything behind the screen [*]Understanding the clues doesn't depend on your exceptional knowledge of a subject [*]Understanding the clues doesn't depend on the player being as well-versed in a topic as his character [/LIST] And of course, as in the OP's example, don't forget that what you see in your mind's eye is not the same as what everyone else sees. It's very easy for a player to see the "world" in front of him in a way completely different than what the GM, or even the other players, sees. I've seen this happen at least once in pretty much every game I've ever played or run. [/QUOTE]

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