So this topic could really relate to any role play game, but seeing as it happened in DH, i will start here.

Recently in a mission I was GMing, I introdcued a plot point, a data cogitator (Like a USB drive thingy) which contained information the party would later need. The problem is that the party forgot about it, which resulted in some issues.

The party in question was sent to a warzone planet, following a member inquisition they were working under for the time being. The inquisitor went on ahead, and the party was sent by ground to retrieve a data cogitator for her, and then bring it to her. The party got ambushed, and had to sneak into a captured facility to get it. On the cogitator was a list of imports and exports to and from an ecclesiarchy stronghold. Once they retrieved it, they handed it over to the inquisition, and were sent to investigate an archaeological dig sit being overseen by the ecclesiarchy and a group of archaeologists, all under the protection of the sisters of battle. Much talking, sneaking, bribing, and falling to their death later. They were looking for some stolen heretical books.

This is where my issue came up. They had followed all the clues (Far better and cleaner then I had expected them to), and had come to the end of the line. They had a good idea where the books had gone, how they had been stolen, and possibly why. All they needed was the information on the cogitator, which would point them at who did it. But the party had completely forgotten that the information even existed in the first place.

I tried hinting at it in game, even had one NPC describe it to them, as what they would need. Eventually I helped them figure it out out of game, but it was a while later. To the more experienced GMs, what are some ways to have small plot details that might not come into play right away be remembered? In the end we figured it out, but it was a bit of a frustrating buzz kill. Any help is greatly appreciated.

They turned it over to the inquisition right? Well some adept likely would've been told by their inquisitor a script of the information on the drive. The inquisitor could have had a standing order to turn any pertinent facts over to the cell.

Sometimes acolytes forget, or may not even realize the importance of things. One of my writes notes down in a pad, because his character would do that. Others don't care. There are times too when I've just had to spell things out to move things along. Can't be helped.

My group plays roughly once every other weekend, so it's fairly common for enough time to have passed between sessions for my players to forget key details, even though it my only have happened a few hours ago relative to their characters. When this happens, and it's obvious that remembering a key detail can have a significant impact on the situation at hand, I ask my players to make generic Intelligence checks for their characters; whoever passes gets a note reminding them of the detail in question.

I used to do this, but then you're putting the fate of the plot in the hands of the fickle dicegods. I've stopped doing this the second time all of my players rolled nicely above the 80 mark & I had to tell them OOC what they were missing.

They turned it over to the inquisition right? Well some adept likely would've been told by their inquisitor a script of the information on the drive. The inquisitor could have had a standing order to turn any pertinent facts over to the cell.

Sometimes acolytes forget, or may not even realize the importance of things. One of my writes notes down in a pad, because his character would do that. Others don't care. There are times too when I've just had to spell things out to move things along. Can't be helped.

Although I strive to create a complete immersion in the setting, I have to agree with the doc that sometimes you just don't have any options any more. You should be happy with your players. Mine sometimes don't even follow the clues (justified) and get angry afterwards that they can't seem to figure out what's happening (unjustified )

In fairness, when you've made the plot yourself it's easy to see the dots and the lines connecting them. And you sit there and wonder why the players can't see it too, when it's so OBVIOUS.

Of course, it's NOT so obvious to those poor players, and I've been a player feeling stumped on many occasions. And I ain't THAT stupid

[How to avoid the 1-plot-point-fail?]
Well, besides having more then ONE plot Point containing the clue... REPEAT the plot Point in your descriptions over and over again in different Scenes. About 5 times each session (means. five mentioning that do NOT happen in the same Scene) might do the trick. While this sounds like the "hammer-over-the-head" Approach, it can be quiet subtle.

I once played a Computer game called "FallOut 3". In the end of the game, a code was needed for a number based pad. In fact, the reference to that one plot Point (the number) had been weaven into the Story over and over again WITHOUT writing it up against every wall that it came to my mind RIGHT out of the blue.

[How to make sure tha tplayers don´t forget?]
My current Player Group has a ritual of repitition. At the beginning of the session, we repeat what happened up to now. And that means, the PLAYERS repeat it and me (as the GM) fills in Details I feel like reminding them. It helps them keeping stuff vivid..so, not necessarily with names. ..sadly, the make NICKNAMES for most of my characters and they remember THOSE...which actualyl helps to ruin the mood *sighs*

I once had a certain Topic in privat Forum my Group & I used where I simply LISTED the Events of the last session so everyone could "read up" Prior to our next session..since this could be up to three our five weeks, this helped a lot!...bt was a lot of afford, too!

The best method I've seen for keeping an investigation rolling is the Rule of Three: If a clue is vital to the investigation, it should come up three times, and every scene should have at least three clues to follow. The odds your players will miss all three are pretty slim.

And now even if the mods delete the actual spam post, your post will still contain the complete text including links, so the spammer gets what they want. Unless they delete your post, too, but either way you're just creating more hassle for the mods by quoting spam posts instead of just reporting them.

Exactly. Why did you point it out? Just report and move on...

Sorry- I was having a bad day at work, and wanted to yell about something ...