So last weekend we´ve played "Eye for an Eye", that was the first "professional" Adventure in years, and again the player tried to rush though it, as it was a race. So as I introduced the NPCs, the players were asking questions, as they were some Inquisitors. Obviously the Players did not get the first answer they wanted, so they just searched the next NPC and "harassed" him. After a while they got some clues, some hints and they were scared badly by the progression Tracker. At the beginning of chapter 3, they searched the Master Bedroom for the hidden Staircase, but they failed. After that the dwarf hammered in every Wall with his Hammer and the others demolished the Bedroom. They even sliced the Matress in hope to find a secret Passage. Noone seemed to head over to the described Bookshelf. After demolishing the Room, I had a attack of loughter and mentioned, that they also can light the Mansion on fire whilst they were at it, to be done with it.

I am not an unexperienced Gamemaster, I play since 1985, lately only Gear Krieg, wich is more straightforward. So how the hell do you get your players back on the tracks, when they stray away or are held up in some minor Problem?

If it's any consolation, I had trouble in exactly the same room when I ran that adventure last year. If I recall, the bookshelf has some kind of soak value; my players wanted to tear it up, but rolled TERRIBLY and kept doing less damage than the soak. The funnier it became to me, the more convinced they became that the bookshelf was magic. It took us forty-five minutes to get out of that room and get going again.

There are a few ways you can handle a dead end. One is to have a particular character who might have a relevant background make a skill check to notice something important. (This is the DnD equivalent of "make a perception check.") It's not elegant, but it's quick. Another way is to remind the players that they can use their fortune points to get a push in the right direction. Also inelegant, but can work if you're backed into a corner. I tend to fall back on these if I sense that the players are really frustrated.

I don't remember the EfoE storyline, exactly--was the noble out cold after dinner at that point? If he wasn't, you might have him come up and screech at them about ruining his crap; if they said something about thinking there was a secret passage, he might suddenly look at the bookshelf and tell them that he'd weird noises from behind there at one point. Alternately, you could let someone notice a draft of air that "shouldn't be there" coming from behind the shelf.

IMHO, though, I have a tendency to just move them along and to move the encounter somewhere else. Let them find a different room or discover a different feature hiding the passageway. Or let them suffer the consequences; they can always hear the risen monster on the rooftop after awhile. For me, it's all about whether the PCs are having fun rummaging around in the wrong place or not. If they're having fun, let them rummage. If not, catch their attention with a noise or event from another room.

As far as careful, conservative PCs, I can't help you there. Mine have come through more fights unscathed than I would care to admit because they're just so damned careful. Sometimes I feel badly about that, but they have so much fun planning how they won't get hurt with these elaborate battle plans that I ultimately don't feel that badly.

Whew! Rambling. I hope that helped some....

Great rambling ;-)! Yeah it helped alot. I am going to discuss these topics with my player to encourage them to slow down sometimes an think some stuff through. But I am going to get them in the right place....

Thanks alot

You're welcome! And sometimes just telling the players what you expect of them is the best way to go!