>Group talks about the campaign I'm running >Make

Adapt to make sure they were in fact right all along. This ensures they'll feel smart and that everyone's having fun.

>>53744112
Let them follow those hunches to their relevant conclusions and realise they were wrong naturally.

>>53744288
Yeah, this.

>>53744112
There are two ways to run a mystery
>One about the players trying to solve a mystery
>One about the characters trying to solve a mystery

If you're running the first kind then let them be wrong, the PCs aren't always going to win, nor should they, let the mystery to unsolved or have it be solved too late. If you're running the second kind and care more about the process of getting there than the mystery itself then just do what >>53744288 suggested.

>>53744288
This. Also, make sure you are playing in a designated safe space. Don't forget to include all necessary trigger warnings in your campaign and remember to give hugs to your players as frequently as necessary.

Under no circumstances are you to challenge your players at all.

>>53745152
autisticscreeching.exe.pdf.bat

>>53744112
>>53745152
>players think this is completely banana and it can't happen
>that means they are "challenged"
Or that means the GM completely failed his job.
If only you can understand and solve your riddle or mystery, it's not a good one by a long shot.

>>53745388
That's why you use the three clue rule. If you do that and the players still fail then they lost.

>>53745388
>player jumps to insane conclusion and will never ever consider anything else
>this should be rewarded

I get it; no wants like a game that screeches to a halt. The correct answer to this, though, is to task PCs with solving a mystery *in process*. That way, when they are wrong, the game continues rather than ending; if the party goes full retard and sticks with accusing the butler because "lol it's always the butler lol," the murder spree continues and the PCs get new, fresh clues.

A mystery the players can't get wrong is like a fight the players can't get hit in.

>>53744964
>There are two ways to run a mystery
I like this approach.

>>53745998
>A mystery the players can't get wrong is like a fight the players can't get hit in.
But this.
Just like if there is no way to lose on a roll, the roll is unneeded, if there is no way to lose a challenge, the challenge is unnecessary.

>>53747319
Another important factor - do you actually think the players' idea would make for cooler gameplay?
If so, you can shift to the new version, but keep the big figures from the old version around as interlopers - if they show up, you can point at the evidence and say 'see? there all along!"

>>53744288
No.

>>53744112
It's time to start leaving less subtle hints in-game. If they can't figure it out then, just have it appear right in their face.

>>53744112
Follow the three clue rule.

For any conclusion you want players to reach, include three clues they can find. They'll usually miss or misinterpret it if you only have one.

Also, never include red herrings. They work in books, they don't work in tabletop. Players will latch onto the damn thing and never let it go, even in the face of overwhelming evidence.

>>53747319
>if there is no way to lose a challenge, the challenge is unnecessary.
well, that depends on what you mean with "lose"
you can have a challenge that can't be lost, but where your actions determine resource loss, or where you can't lose, but your result affects later stuff (think torture game in MGS1)

>>53745152
Edgy/10

>>53744112
Are you really sure you are being subtle but not cryptic? You might just think differently and something you find extremelly important.
For instance, I once had a rune system to identify spells and would have it show up in my drawings, players could know any traps or similar just by reading it and knowing what symbols they had seen before meant and what would be its effect. I soon noticed no one cared about that shit so I simply kept them but never made it important for the players.
So do you feel the guy you keep hinting to be a traitor actually looks like one? Or that a seemly irrelevant location once had great importance and still does?

You should give some examples if you think they don't browse the board.