New GM running Burnt Offerings

[joed]

This is my first campaign in Pathfinders. We started Burnt Offerings a few weeks ago. One of the players is constantly wanting to interrogate or gain information from NPC's around town. It becomes difficult for me to know what each NPC would logically know at that point, however it does really add to the story and their knowledge as characters. Also allows a lot of the back story to be included.
But, it can actually get kind of frustrating sometimes because I want to give accurate information from what that NPC would logically know, but I don't always have that information on the tip of my tongue or foremost in my brain.
For example, he wants to talk to Father Tobyn to learn more about Lamashtu. I can't find much information on Lamashtu other than the bits that are revealed throughout the adventure. But it seems logical that Father Tobyn would likely know some about Lamashtu. How should I handle that conversation?
Any advice on how to handle these kinds of situations?

[Greycloak of Bowness]

This isn't a direct answer right away but I made a map key with the NPCs and named underlings and that helped me first and foremost keep track of who was who. I also printed out the pictures of the main NPCs on flash cards for me to hang on the far side of my screen so my PCs could keep track of who was who as well. I kept notes on the backs of my flash cards with personality, relationships, whether a PC was rude or friendly or whatever.

Any time my PCs asked questions, I would call for diplomacy checks on the part of the PCs (this rewards players who invested in soft skills like diplomacy, making them feel good about their choices) and then if successful, rolled knowledge checks if appropriate for the NPC in question. If Tobyn rolls poorly on his Lamashtu knowledge, he can't say much more than very basic things - she's a demon - mother of Monsters and child birth and all that crap. If Tobyn rolls well, you dip into the gazetteer in RotR 5 or wherever it is and start blabbing on in detail.

Depending on the NPC, they might not be able to know the answer but they might be able to direct the party to someone who does know.

[Kegluneq]

I made the Cult of Lamashtu a 'forbidden faith' among the civilized peoples of Lower Varisia. This meant that apart from the basics Greycloak mentions -- demon, mother of monsters, etc. -- even speaking the name of the goddess was the sort of thing that would draw wicked attention and bad luck.

Also, not sure about your game, but in mine Father Tobyn is dead and Father Zantus has taken over in his stead. If Tobyn is alive, then you might make him reticent to speak of Lamashtu depending on how much he knows of his foster-daughter Nualia's fate.

In situations like this, where the group of players includes highly inquisitive types, I have two solutions: one, I try to involve the players in generating a few setting NPCs for the town. This builds a sense of investment in the setting and leaves the players with the knowledge of who to talk to. If they invent an armorer, for example, then you can pull out Das Korvut and insert the new NPC. What does that NPC know? The players will already have a sense of how much that character might know, since they helped invent the character.

But with published modules that sort of improvisation is not always an option. The second solution is to have all roads lead to about four or five NPCs, the backups responsible for exposition. For my game: Father Zantus, Jubrayl Vhiski, Belor Hemlock, Hannah the Witch, or the guy in charge of the stables ... former ranger, hates goblins, can't remember his name off the top of my head. It's been awhile. This kept the cast of characters a little more narrow and let me focus on characterization. Mayor Deverin was always too busy with this or that (or unsettled by the armed people in her town) to do much with the PCs directly, and other NPCs either wouldn't talk to outsiders or just didn't know much.

Hope this helps.

[GRU]

Father Tobyn is dead - this is important.
He is the "Burnt Offering". and the attack on the town is a diversion, so no one will notice that his corpse is stolen from the churcyard.

GRU

[Haladir]

My party latched onto Sheriff Hemlock, Brother Zantus, Brodert Quink, and Ameiko pretty quickly, and these NPCs tended to be their main sources of information in town. They interacted with others, but if they had questions, they tended to go to one of these four.

[Haladir]

My party latched onto Sheriff Hemlock, Brother Zantus, Brodert Quink, and Ameiko pretty quickly, and these NPCs tended to be their main sources of information in town. They interacted with others, but if they had questions, they tended to go to one of these four.

I like Greycloak's idea of index cards. I do something similar with the PC I use to run my game.

[Sorry for the double-post: I thought I was editing my previous post!]

[Greycloak of Bowness]

I really wish there was a fair use policy here where pdf rights holders could exchange improvements/enhancements/maps etc. based on the artwork they own without going through the charade of privately exchanging emails.

On an unrelated note, one could look in my profile to find my email address.

[joed]

Kegluneq wrote:

Also, not sure about your game, but in mine Father Tobyn is dead and Father Zantus has taken over in his stead. If Tobyn is alive, then you might make him reticent to speak of Lamashtu depending on how much he knows of his foster-daughter Nualia's fate.

Sorry - meant Father Zantus.

[Miranda Silva]

With Father Zantus, I kept his info to the PCs vauge and disturbing. I don't think a cleric of desna really wants to talk about Lamashtu.

If you really want to learn more about Lamashtu there a few books you can look into: Gods & Magic, Pathfinder #5 and Faiths of Corruption. Also the Pathfinder wiki has some decent info.