PCs and clues... help

[Vlad]

Hi, I have been DMing for the last 15 years, with 2 players from the original 'line up' and two newer ones (allthough also 8 years in the group). I really enjoy playing, my group is not hack-n-slash minded, but likes the riddles and mysteries of Ravenloft. However, I notice that they have the continuing tendency of not picking up clues. Not once, but all the time. We had some discussions about it and they say 'yeah in your mind it's all clear and simple, in our minds it isn't'. I do understand that, ofcourse. However, we played the Seawolf, the Smedman adventure available as download. I rated this module as 'fairly easy'. They knew from the start (well, the first body) that is was a murder mystery. But they made really horrible mistakes:
- not searching a body
- after having the 'accomplice' not asking about the motives.

*Spoiler aler*
- not linking the argument of the purser with someone (of whom they deduced who it was!) with his murder the same day. By the way, they never even bothered asking (themselves or others) what a purser does on a ship..
- Knowing that a lycanthrope was involved (I changed it to wererat by the way), knowing the dietary requirements of some passengers and NOT considering those passengers subject to a further research.

However: when they found out about the locket they deduced out of thin air that it should be a twin! There was one quite inexplainable encounter with one person being in two spot at (almost) the same time, so they did take that clue. I gave them that one on purpose (but made it a little hard) but hate having to do that. If it is a hard puzzle, yes I will give further clues, but not when people forget the basics about solving crimes.

Sometimes I think it's the composition of my playgroup, with some people always wanting to do (and think) their own thing and not really working together. If I say "check that hypnosis again' (like in House on G. Hill) I get a crumpy 'mwoa' with a look like ''we did that at the beginning of the game, and later another time'. That they would have new information by this time, doesn't matter apparently.. I really wish they would work more systematically. (I do have one player who types down everything that happens on a laptop, you would think that would help.. no..)

Do you have the same problem? How did you solve it?

[Ivana_Boritsi]

I've found that clues need to be real obvious to the PCs in order for a mystery to work. Because, like you said, what may seem real clear to you, may not seem clear to someone else.

It's easy, I've found, for players not to do something "obvious" because in a game, especially a murder mystery, there is always a lot of information floating around. There are people who are upset. Did the killer just now get away? Is someone going to get killed again? And everyone probably focuses on different things.

In the movies, the characters always have a "clue magnet" that always leads them to a special area of a room where they find that one hair or something that leads them to the answer.

As a DM, I usually act as the party's clue magnet. If they are getting lost, I make everyone do a Search check. The highest roller usually gets a nudge from me. "You realize you haven't checked the body." or "You haven't looked under the bed yet."

Also, alot of times, I take one PC aside and give them all of the information. Then, I let them roleplay that information out to the rest of the party. That way, there's still that sense of revelation that comes from people discovering things. Better yet, the focus of the game is still on the PCs, not me.