Rambling About Game Mastering - Presenting Information

Right.

This is my first post in this series where I will write down random reflections and ideas about things that I have learnt while playing and game mastering for more than 30 years. To be fair, most of this I've learnt recently, or at least I have only begun to think about it consciously in the last year or so. Fourteen year old me just wasn't that interested in actually analyzing what he was doing.

This post probably seems like GM:ing 101 for most of you, and not something you should discover after playing for more than 30 years. But hey, shit happens!

When you run any game, short or long, you need to think carefully about when and how you present information and clues to your players. This could be the single most important, and hardest, thing to do as a GM.

Some of us GMs are good at roleplaying our NPCs, some of us describe the settings and set the mood wonderfully and some of us are just great at coming up with interesting story lines and plot twists, but not all of us consider how and when we present our clues to the players.

Here are some thoughts I have on the subject.

TIMING

First, lets talk about timing. When do you present a certain clue to your players? This requires knowing your group and how they react to information. Are they likely to jump on any new piece of information as the most important thing in the world, or are they more likely going to put it at the end of the list and get to it when they can?

Presenting a clue too early can be detrimental to your game since it may lead your players down a rabbit-hole chasing down something that is not yet vital to the game. Presenting a clue just when it's needed is good in most cases, but it can get too obvious to the players that whatever they find out they need to act on straight away. As a GM I do like it when my players agonize a little bit over where to go next. If this becomes a source of frustration and they spend too much time doing so it's of course no good, but I prefer to leave the choice up to them rather than presenting them with one piece of information at a time, like a trail of breadcrumbs leading to the final encounter.

Try to think of when each piece of information becomes vital and usable to the players and present the clue as early as possible, but not before.

Another way to present a clue is at a time when the player characters can't possibly investigate it straight away. Maybe they are in the middle of another part of the investigation, maybe the clue is on the other side of the world or maybe they have been captured by some bad-guys and they can't do anything until they resolve the current situation.

CONCRETENESS

How concrete is the information? Players are much more likely to act on something like an address and a name than a vague reference to something or incomplete information.

Example of concrete, vague or incomplete information for finding a nightclub named "The Spider"
- You find a note in his pocket, it says "17 Lake Drive"
- On the back of his hand is scribbled in marker pen something that looks like part of a license plate number
- You reach him as he takes his final breath. Into your ear he exhales "the spider, the spider, the spider..."

The first one give the players a direction to go to and they can investigate this straight away. The second gives them part of a clue that means they can narrow down their search somewhat, but they can't act on it straight away. The third one is a cryptic reference to some "spider" and clearly doesn't hold enough information for the player characters to act in straight away. It could lead your player characters down a wild goose chase through every pet store in the area, but this is feels unlikely.

CLOSENESS

How close is the clue to what they are investigating? If the player characters are trying to find a serial killer they will likely start with the clues that are directly related him whether it be people or locations. His brother, a warehouse rented under his name, his old workplace or a surviving victim will be the first to get the attention of the player characters.

CONCLUSION

Players being players, the only way to be certain that they won't follow a lead is to never present it to them in the first place. Regardless of how vague or distant the clue is they may still decide to chase it down. Your job is to let them, but make sure they don't spend too much time on it unless it is truly important.

If you do want to present the players with clues at an earlier stage to give them the choice but still be able to guess where they will go. Present clues that you want them to investigate straight away with more concrete information and with closer relation to the item under investigation. If it's a letter, have it be written by the mother of the killer, if it's a location, make it an apartment he rented.

Other clues can be given in stages. First, present them as vague (the spider...) then through chance or otherwise, make the players know that The Spider is actually a night club.

More concrete information can be more distant, like an author writing a book about serial killers mentioning murders that are similar to the ones that have been happening. In the book is a name of one killer who had the same modus operandi as the current killer. If the player characters investigate this, only give them access to the serial killer once it makes sense. Maybe he has been influenced by the same thing the current killer has.

If you have any thoughts and ideas on this subject. Please let me know in the comments section.