I have a bad habit of blabbing to my players. Stuff like, "Lucky you didn't pick a fight with that guy, he'd have broken you into pieces and mailed the bits to the city jail." or "Are you suuure you don't want to investigate that dead shark in the captain's cabin?" Or backstory bits on NPCs.

Do you have that urge, too?

My players are kind of...uh...peace hobos who won't fight something until it has ignored all their friendly overtures and is actively chewing on their legs, and sensibly won't go into or investigate places that look like they might be dangerous. So, when they skip or don't find the encounters and dungeons I've set up and spent hours working on, it's really tempting to tell them what they've missed.  Yesterday I was all prepped for a long session with a smuggler's cave, a tunnel to a goblin city, a pirate village, a giant crocodile in their path, a cliff full of aggressive harpies, sharks offshore, and they just decided to keep strolling along the beach until they got to the boring farm village I hadn't worked on yet, and decided that was a good stopping point. (They built a raft to get past the croc, and never so much as investigated the waterfalls with the hidden caves, just hunted for stuff that had washed up from their shipwreck, chatted to a couple of NPCs, and had one random pirate encounter who they talked down until he gave up the idea of fighting them.)

I feel your pain. When you've spent so much time painstakingly crafting an elaborate encounter, you're proud and excited about what you've created. And when it doesn't have the grand reveal that you were hoping for, it's a bit like....... I HAVE TO TELL SOMEONE. Sometimes this is ok to tell your players. Particularly when they're learning, and they may not realise they could have/should have. Sometimes you just have to stash it away for a later time, maybe finesse it a little, and then use it again.

At times like that, forums are my salvation, or a network of other DM's I have, where you can let all this stuff come out without it damaging your game or having unintended consequences. Like.... DM: "Shame you didn't investigate that stuffed shark." Player: "We go back an investigate the stuffed shark." Sometimes you just have to let your players miss out on things if they're experienced enough to know better.

The main point: Just because your PC's bypassed something doesn't mean you can't reuse it. Reuse. Recycle. Never throw out anything.

Quote from MajorPuddles >>

I feel your pain. When you've spent so much time painstakingly crafting an elaborate encounter, you're proud and excited about what you've created. And when it doesn't have the grand reveal that you were hoping for, it's a bit like....... I HAVE TO TELL SOMEONE. Sometimes this is ok to tell your players. Particularly when they're learning, and they may not realise they could have/should have. Sometimes you just have to stash it away for a later time, maybe finesse it a little, and then use it again.

At times like that, forums are my salvation, or a network of other DM's I have, where you can let all this stuff come out without it damaging your game or having unintended consequences. Like.... DM: "Shame you didn't investigate that stuffed shark." Player: "We go back an investigate the stuffed shark." Sometimes you just have to let your players miss out on things if they're experienced enough to know better.

The main point: Just because your PC's bypassed something doesn't mean you can't reuse it. Reuse. Recycle. Never throw out anything.

 Heh, yeah, thanks.  I imagine they will eventually check out the pirate village because they were excited when they first heard there was one. (The player who had found a pirate captain's outfit wasn't there yesterday, he might have urged the others to infiltrate with him.) I'm disappointed about the goblins particularly, because knowing they would have tried to befriend them, I had set up several ways they could make allies of the goblins...and later, when they eventually get to the dwarf mining village and the dwarves want to hire them to wipe out the goblins, it would have made an interesting conflict. Now it will just be another hired killer scenario.

It doesn't have to be. Think about this: Clan Ironbeard offers them a contract to wipe out the Goblins. They accept. That night, an outcast Dwarven Druid approaches them, wanting them to change their mind. The goblins aren't inherently evil, they say. We should live in harmony, not just kill anyone different, they say. If your players are peace hobo's, this would appeal to them. But how do they resolve it? Just return the money and say they won't take the job? Clearly you must already have an idea of a way they could resolve the situation without violence. Just because your players miss a plot option doesn't mean you can't find new ways to insert it.

I think every DM suffers this at some point or another. For me I had this situation and it was morbidly amusing from my side of the screen.

I started a game knowing that players, normally, will explore anything odd that comes their way. They may not go too deep into it, but they'll at least give it a cursory once over. So, I built the beginning of my game to accommodate that. When the players left on their journey to the capital I had an encounter with an NPC that they could have befriended, however when the players saw him take down a deer bare handed, they decided against it. I then had them come across an abandoned wagon which showed signs of distress, they sent a messenger bird to their home town to check it out since they had to get to the capital and were still only a days journey from home. I had them run into a group of Hobgoblins and Bugbears in combat, both sides had suffered grievous injuries, the party went around the combat stealthily avoiding it completely. They came into view of a strange tower that reached to the sky and hadn't been there the day before. Then they met the king's army which was on their way to investigate the tower. The party talked to the Sargent, got some information about the capital and the reason for the army's presence, gave thanks, and headed to the capital.  In the capital they were ambushed by some cut purses and rather than fighting, they charged out of the alley, using their horses to force the enemy aside, and told the city guards. 

All of those situations were avoided, they met with the king and learned of the plot for the game proper. They headed to the first location they needed to visit and it was very difficult for them. All the while they were complaining "Why is this so hard? You should have given us experience so that we would be able to do this without as much trouble!" I had given them partial XP for some of the scenarios they'd run across, but most of them were simply avoided and gave no reward.

---

That taught me a few things that have been invaluable for the games I run now.

First, these forums, the local game shop, and other DMs that aren't part of your game are important to keep in your pocket so that you can discuss your ideas. We all need an outlet for the ideas we have that do, or don't, see the light of day, a little validation and pat on the back is always nice. 

Second, no idea is dead if the players miss it, but if you tell them about it, then you've lost your chance. Dropping a hint, preferably using something in game, can still lead to a great reveal. The shark: "You have made your way into the next town, sitting at the inn grabbing your food when you hear a strange conversation. There are a couple fishmongers having a heated conversation, one of them saying that it was a shark that he saw, the other saying it was just shoals that caused the damage".

Lastly, if there's a plot relevant reason for the party seeing what you've created, just change where, when, and how, the situation is initiated. The party needed to explore the Goblin cave to learn about the BBEG's attempts to use them as minions for a massive undertaking. The party would have a chance to make friends with the Goblins, making them allies for the fight against the BBEG. The Dwarves hire the party to kill the Goblins, this is good use of the previous point, so now the players are pointed back toward the plot relevant location. They can still make friends with the Goblins and, if they do it right, convince the Dwarves that the Goblins aren't a threat.

No reason to tell the players anything, it's all tied to in game events so it feels natural, and you get to show off some/all of the work you've done. However, if the players do something completely different with the plan you made, and have come to a resolution for that scenario, then it's fun to tell them what you had planned. Just wait til after you wrap up the game for the day.

Quote from Astalda >>

My players are kind of...uh...peace hobos who won't fight something until it has ignored all their friendly overtures and is actively chewing on their legs, and sensibly won't go into or investigate places that look like they might be dangerous. So, when they skip or don't find the encounters and dungeons I've set up and spent hours working on, it's really tempting to tell them what they've missed.  Yesterday I was all prepped for a long session with a smuggler's cave, a tunnel to a goblin city, a pirate village, a giant crocodile in their path, a cliff full of aggressive harpies, sharks offshore, and they just decided to keep strolling along the beach until they got to the boring farm village I hadn't worked on yet, and decided that was a good stopping point. (They built a raft to get past the croc, and never so much as investigated the waterfalls with the hidden caves, just hunted for stuff that had washed up from their shipwreck, chatted to a couple of NPCs, and had one random pirate encounter who they talked down until he gave up the idea of fighting them.)

Just thought it would be kind of fun to post an update.  I prepped an attack of giant locusts on the boring farm village, and planned that the players would guard the farmers on their journey to take their harvest to the capital city, fending off bandits, wolves after the sheep, and killer rabbits after the carrot wagon.

My players only stayed in the town long enough to buy some gear and question a few locals, then took their shiny new weapons back to the beach where they fought the crocodile, immediately decided to investigate the waterfall for hidden tunnels, found the back door to the goblin city and went in.  My 'peace hobos' found a group of goblin engineers working on a crane to raise water from the underground lake below (who would have happily traded for any of the ropes, sailcloth, or the block-and-tackle the party had salvaged from the shipwreck) and slaughtered them without mercy.  They proceeded to kill some guards and free some gnome slaves, and set fire to the device the gnomes had been building for the goblins.  Then they looked out the next tunnel, saw the main, highly-populated part of the goblin city, said nope, found another exit, and trekked cross-country to the capital, leaving the farmers to make their own way unguarded.

Now they are at the city, and the festival is about to start which should set them on the main quest (if they do not thwart my plans again! XD ) They have discussed an intention to join up again with some of the NPC shipwreck survivors who were evacuated to the city by the local navy earlier, and go back to take out the entire Goblin city, and see what the fallout has been from their arson and attacks. 

I am, of course, planning some unexpected twists and fallout for them. ^^ Not posting them here because I almost suspect one of them read the original post...