Have you ever had to reach in to your bag and pick up a wooden "Clue by 4" and hit your players over the head with it when then didn't notice the obvious plot hook?
Oh.
I thought this was about actually hitting them. Which I have to do regularly.
Sometimes I have to cut the subtlety a bit. Or more than a bit. But I seldomly - probably never - have to take them by the shirt and shout obvious stuff in their faces.
Not about the plots.
Basic rules, of course. Or general shutting the f!*! up. Or stopping weirding/freaking/grossing me out so much I wake up screaming every night for two weeks.
But not about the plots.
Hitting them with a clue by four does not mean a 'physical' hitting, despite the title of this post, but rather that you have to somehow knock it into their heads that they've missed something obvious.
Instead of a '2 x 4' plank , use a 'Clue By Four' :-D
Someone should ask the Paizo Pro's what they think.
I'm lucky I have very smart players. No plot is beyond them, and I make sure to reward them when they successfuly uncover them.
For example, in Burnt Offerings, they figured out who was the main villain way before they went to the Goblin's Lair. In Skinsaw Murder, they pieces together the story of the Foxglove Manor.
The only problem with my players is that they're so smart that I have to look up for plot holes in some adventures, just to make sure I have everything covered. It happened in Feast of Goblyns (good adventure, but so much stuff doesn't make sense...)
- Zorg