How Visible To players Should The Rules Be?

[Bagpuss]

And attacking trolls with fire… this is entirely the GM’s fault. Everyone knows that trolls are vulnerable to fire. If you’re the kind of GM who doesn’t want players to act on that knowledge, then don’t use trolls. Problem solved, simple as that.

Yeah if a significant number of people in this world where trolls are only folklore and not real, know that trolls need to be killed with fire, can you imagine how many would know in a world where trolls are a real risk if you travel too far from civilization. This is the sort of stuff most villagers would know, so of course adventurers would have picked up.

 

[Thomas Shey]

I'm not necessarily arguing against that generally, but constantly reference to the character sheet is definitely immersion breaking.

The answer to that from my one really immersive friend is to know the sheet and what's on it well enough you only intermittently need to.

 

[Reynard]

But how do they have that foundational information? What tells them that in a way that relates to the situation at hand, and actually tells them anything without knowing they and the GM are on the same page? If the answer doesn't come do to numbers, my experience doesn't tell me it means anything. Because what does "heroic adventurer" mean in terms of climbing capability? I promise you, there's vast differences here.

Qualitative values are just as good as quantitative values when pretending to be an elf.

 

[Thomas Shey]

A door in which it must be passed to continue the adventure is just bad GMing.

Engineering calls it "a single point of failure" and considers it a pretty big design sin. I learned that one really the hard way years ago when setting up a TORG scenario, and will never, ever forget it.

 

[Thomas Shey]

Qualitative values are just as good as quantitative values when pretending to be an elf.

No, I don't believe they really are, because they're far more subjective. A GM telling me something is "easy" only is useful if I understand his idea of easy. I don't need to know his perceptions to understand what "75%" means.

 

[Reynard]

No, I don't believe they really are, because they're far more subjective. A GM telling me something is "easy" only is useful if I understand his idea of easy. I don't need to know his perceptions to understand what "75%" means.

Out of curiosity, do you demand to know the DC of skill checks before you make them in play? Do you need to know the AC and hit points and saving throw values of the monsters and enemies? Do dice rolls "in the tower" bother you?

 

[Corinnguard]

Out of curiosity, do you demand to know the DC of skill checks before you make them in play? Do you need to know the AC and hit points and saving throw values of the monsters and enemies? Do dice rolls "in the tower" bother you?

" Roll for a Precognitive check. If you succeed, you will know what I am about to say next before I say it." While it might be nice to learn all of this beforehand, you still have to roll the dice and hope that it is a good roll.

 

[Micah Sweet]

But how do they have that foundational information? What tells them that in a way that relates to the situation at hand, and actually tells them anything without knowing they and the GM are on the same page? If the answer doesn't come do to numbers, my experience doesn't tell me it means anything. Because what does "heroic adventurer" mean in terms of climbing capability? I promise you, there's vast differences here.

I assume that foundational information is based on the real world whenever possible and until shown otherwise, to the point where I'm willing to change the rules if they are proven to be inaccurate in this way.

 

[Reynard]

I assume that foundational information is based on the real world whenever possible and until shown otherwise, to the point where I'm willing to change the rules if they are proven to be inaccurate in this way.

Or built upon the agreed source material. If we are playing a Hogwarts game, we all know what that means.

 

[Micah Sweet]

Or built upon the agreed source material. If we are playing a Hogwarts game, we all know what that means.

That would be "until I am shown otherwise", but yes.