Posts Tagged by mysteries
| March 13, 2012 | Posted by Kurt "Telas" Schneider |
In many legal systems (particularly Anglo-American ones), a jury’s job is to answer questions of fact, while a judge’s job is to answer questions of law. This distinction is important, especially when a case is vague, convoluted, or has conflicting testimony and evidence. The lawyers build their cases (and tear down each other’s), and the jury uses the evidence to determine the facts of the case. (If you’ve had some experience with the legal system, you already know this. Oh, and my apologies for your…
| February 17, 2012 | Posted by Phil Vecchione |
Connecting the dots. Mysteries are always about connecting the dots. In novels and books, the author is in complete control of the pacing of the clues (read: information) and how they are presented to the reader. In an RPG, disseminating information to the players can be a bit more haphazard which can often foil the unveiling of a mystery in a graceful manner. I started to think about how I could control the flow of information to make the mystery more enjoyable. A few weeks…
| May 11, 2010 | Posted by Phil Vecchione |
You have spent weeks crafting an incredible web of intrigue. It is a like an onion, with layer after layer of clues and red herrings. You have guided your players into this web and watched them pickup clues, trying to put the pieces together to discover what amazing twist lies in the center of the web. Then at the moment where they are on the verge of the big discovery, they come to a grinding halt. How they come to the halt is a topic…
| November 19, 2009 | Posted by Kurt "Telas" Schneider |
Do your adventures read like a published module? Do they have the precise mix of clues, red herrings, and challenges to keep the players interested enough to work hard for the final reveal? When you’re writing your adventures, do you agonize over maintaining the perfect balance between challenge and reward? Then you’re doing it wrong. Wait, what? Bear with me for a bit here. Let’s simplify the situation by looking at mysteries, and the placement of clues when planning an adventure. Some folks say that…
