I got involved in a war of succession, and when I came to the throne room, there was a portal to somewhere else. The DM was trying to get me to go in, but there’s no way I’m wandering into a portal that goes who knows where.

Turns out, the uncle made a portal to the niece’s hideout to kill her. So when he came back, I killed him and took the crown. What kind of idiot doesn’t ward their hideout?

Sometimes it’s absolutely valid to say “guys. This is a clue your +4 wis character would pick up on. You’re just stupid yourself”.

At least in our group it is

The worst is when they ignore your subtle clues so you slap them with a huge neon sign, and they decide it’s too obvious and start chasing down a dead end.

DM: “You enter a room. There are three dead bodies lined up along the wall, each with a mysterious sigal etched into their foreheads. Also, you see a clown.”

Player 1: “I sense motive on the clown.”

Player 2: “I talk to the clown.”

Player 3: “Omg, my parents were killed by clowns. I wrote the DM 300 pages of fiction about it. I draw my sword and prepare to fight!”

DM: “Damn, why aren’t these players interested in my clues?”

“Look, I’m fine with playing the societal collapse campaign. I have notes on mass embalming *smack* all laid out. Are you two?”

@The_Picard_Maneuver Well, yeah^^ I don’t even waste time constructing in-depth scenes with clues when I’m a GM/DM. I just give the players an “Education” or “Common Sense” skill and have them roll on that or Int or Wis. I also spend a good portion of game time making sure they haven’t attributed the points I gave them in their “Education” or “Common Sense” skill to a combat skill. The nearly always do & nearly always say “but I thought…”