Some times, no matter how much you hold your players hands, they still manage to find a way to mess things up. This is not news to anyone who has ran more than a couple of games, the best laid plans and all that jazz. But sometimes... sometimes even I have to marvel at the stupidity of players...
Picture the scene. For 5 weeks you have been laying the hints for a story of corruption at the highest levels of government. Your players have seen the pieces but so far not been able to put them together, they suspect that the women they are working for is the bad guy, they suspect the truth!You sit behind your GM's screen rubbing your hands with glee, your players have got the point, your story is unfolding the way you pictured it and everything is going according to plan. You are worried your players might not put the final pieces together in time for the conclusion so you hand your players what they need, a lead they can't pass up, the bad guys spymaster on a platter...
They then spend a whole session following up a bunch of dead leads...
Ok try again, carefully lead the players back to the spymaster's lair. You don't want to make it too tough on them, so you just throw some dogs at them, a quick fight while the spymaster makes ready her escape...
The players spend an hour hiding up a wall, scared of the dogs....
Ok... OK lets try something else, the dogs all leave, your way is clear, just follow the spymaster down to her escape tunnel let them get the information they need...
They decide to spend an hour searching every room in the house for the smallest clues...
Right! Look a badly hidden secret passage, she is gathering supplies, you have time, give chase!
The party spends 20 minutes searching everything in the room EXCEPT the entrance to the secret passage...
OK, I can do this! Have the dwarf stumbles onto the answer, you might still catch her if you hurry!
The party spend an hour on the first trap...
Right, forget it, she got away, tell you what, she “drops” her note book, its written in code you could probably get the information you need given enough time.
The players have the evidence they need, they know who the bad guy is, they just can't prove it yet, the stage is set for the climax...
So they go to the person they know is the bad guy. I think they are ready to confront her. Then the strangest thing happens... the players decide that they trust her... they tell her everything they know... they give her all the evidence, accept a death sentence disguised as a fools errand and trot away happily only to die on the road...
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