Keeping Secrets Doesn't Build Tension

One of the D&D campaigns I'm running is a called Skyfell. We meet once a month and this past weekend was the big day! 

I enjoy being a dungeon master. It's not just because it's an outlet for my tendency to indulge in world building. I enjoy developing a challenge and partaking in the cooperative storytelling that emerges as a group of people work together to overcome that challenge. When everything works out, it feels as though all is right in the universe.

A blind spot of mine as a DM, however, is not giving enough clues regarding the mysteries the PCs must solve. I provide plenty of NPCs to interact with but when the players start interrogating them I usually fail to disclose the important bits even if the players are asking the right questions. I think part of it is that I forget to drop the info; I'm caught up in the moment. Part of it is lack of prep; I have failed to work out exactly what each of the NPCs knows. Part of it is that I have a tendency to feel that keeping information away from the players is more interesting; intellectually I understand that it is not. 

I was guilty of that last mistake during last month's session of Skyfell. This did not harm the PCs but it did make them scratch their heads more than they should have had to do. I didn't want to make that same mistake again. When we met again over the week end I forced myself to slow down the interactions and contemplate the dialog before delivering it. This worked well. The stream of clues itself actually built the tension I was hoping for. I didn't execute as well as I had hoped but I did at least convey most of what I wanted to.
I now know that when I'm developing an arc I need to include the information each of the NPCs knows, how much of that information they are willing to give away, and what they are willing to part with for the right price. Doing so will definitely generate role playing opportunities and enrich the overall story. It'll make the arc more fun too.

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