5 tips to trigger the feeling of discovery though exploration
Sometimes giving your players a feeling of surprise can be a bit tricky and bringing that shiver down the spine before a battle can help with immersion, since the player will focus more and it will make players more engaged in the situation and therefore act better in the scenes.
This isn’t a quick task to do and the DM can be busy at times, thinking through the details of clues to lead something at the end of your campaign can be a bit of a chore and this process must be done continuously as the story progresses; After all, the master is never quite sure what his players will do, since more than one mind is involved in this process, so we decided to give some tips that can help in these moments, this is our 5 picks:
1: Planning Ahead!
To create a good discovery, we need to plan things out in advance and keep in mind what comes next. Thinking about details is not very necessary at the moment but thinking about the environment and the bigger picture can come in handy as we can plant the seeds of what will come later, tips and clues about the discoveries ahead, we can also use resources such as figures of speech or even the perception of characters using different points of view to deliver different information.
2: Misleading
It's not wrong to guide player to dead ends or make them lose the track with wrong clues but be careful as this can create false expectations for them. Facts that won't happen can be a way to mislead players this way but can also create a feeling of frustration in them.
3: Loose interpretations
They can be a good tool when creating this type of interaction since interpretation is something that the players will have to do themselves. delivering a prophecy to them in which the meanings are ambiguous and blur can be something interesting since they took their own opinions from the facts given in the “prophecy” and it may also not be perfectly correct or completely literal may it be a subjective things such as a symbology for the character, referring to it in a figurative way using this tricks, you will bring an air of mystery to them.
4: Foreshadowing
Foreshadowing is also a very important tool to give, false clues and mislead are just as important as clues that led them to the right conclusion and will make the discovery be based on something and not something out ouf nowhere. Foreshadowing should at first glance be something insignificant or unimportant something that can be ignored or go unnoticed. A good example of this is “A Song of Ice and Fire”, by George R.R. Martin, when a direwolf(Symbol of the house Stark) was killed by a Stag (Symbol of house Baratheon) and leaving their cubs alone in the world, and it happened in the history.
5: Plot Twists
Work with Plot Twist! Sometimes the villain of your campaign doesn't need to be the one in the prophecy, it can be the person that leads to the BBEG. Subverting the expectations of the players can be used in these moments players can pass the entire journey thinking and wonderig if that NPC can be the villain, while in fact they were being manipulated and being used by the so-called “good guys”. These devices are well known so pondering them must be something essential since the same plot Twist will not be so effective the second time you use it.
Remember not to do anything too complicated as your players should be able to figure out the things alone and it's ok if one or two theorize on the right thing, but if you are thinking that they know all of your plans, bringing elements that can get them confused or even wrong! After all, this kind of situation can guide them further away from the main situation! We hope that now you will be able to create your own discoveries and increase the feeling of exploration in your campaigns and this helps with the fun for everyone at your table!
Good rolls and see you all soon!
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