Message no. 1

From:	Richard M Conroy <Richard_M_Conroy@***.ir.intel.com>
Subject:	Re: Clueless in Seattle (was: Get a clue)
Date:	Tue, 24 Sep 96 13:32:00 PDT

David wrote:

>I and one of the guys a game with were talking about giving clues to
>PCs. We've both run across the problem of how much to give out. What
>seems to be an obvious clue to the GM leaves the players clueless. The
>PCs founder and the players get bored and start playing Magic. But if
>you bash 'em in the head with a clue they give you that "What do you
>think I am, stupid?" look. How do other GMs on this list deal with
>this? And to be all inclusive, what do the players think would work
>best?

Bear in mind that their only source of information is YOU. How you
disseminate this information is critical. If you're actually describing
it to them, say vocally, it's very hard to be impartial. You either
subconsciously suppress certain facts, be deliberatley vague, or throw
the whole game completely.
Understand that you have the complete picture, and are far more
devious than they can ever be (you understand the intracacies of your
world fully, they don't).

One of the best solutions I've found, bar none really, are distributing
hardcopy clues. You can guage how much information you can give, you can
distribute red herrings, and you can design the information to work hand
in hand. You can also use it to create atmosphere:
Case in Point: when my players were on a run to recover an
unspecified Biodesign, stolen by a former employee, I was leaving around
a lot of clues. Two of the team arrived late at her appartment (she was
gone) and started going through her trash. You should have seen the guys
faces when they discovered that she was buying diapers and baby food
when they knew that she had no kids....
They would also discover documents in briefcases, phone numbers
on calling cards, files on laptops etc. My players quickly realised that
a dead body could reveal a wealth of information. All of it in hardcopy,
which generally meant a lot of prep time per session. Access to a
computer helps.

I ensure that some of my players have special skills like forensics etc.
for proper analysis of clues.

Richard.
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