Mastering The Game: Are Your Players Mushrooms?

Welcome to Mastering The Game, where I try to shed some light on issues related to running RPGs.

Today, I want to ask you: Are your players mushrooms? As in, do you keep them in the dark and feed them shit? Because you might be doing it.

To put it another way, how much do your players know about the world in which their characters live in?

I was thinking about my old Deadlands posse, the Ferner Five, and then started watching something about metagaming. I'll talk more about metagaming in another post, but there's one part about it I got to thinking about.

You see, when I was running it, only one player was really into the lore. I did give everyone an overview of the setting and then let them make their characters. While we were making their characters, we would talk more about the lore and how they fit into it. For example, while we were making Deiter, he ended up with Ugly As Sin from his Veteran O' The Weird West card draw. So, we talked about it. I gave him some ideas, a few monsters, and we worked out that the reason why he was so ugly was because he pulled a Prairie Tick out of his throat. That gave us some history to the character (having him in Kansas), showed just how much of a tough hombre he was (technically, he shouldn't have been able to do this), and helped both of us know more about the character. I did this with every character and each got at least one moment like this in their backstory.

However, as the game progressed, I found that I had to fill the players in more and more about the background of the game. What the City O' Gloom was like. How the Maze worked. I also made sure to have any maps laid out for all to see. And so on. I'd always brought the main information book for people to read, as well as loaning out the setting books for the locations they were traveling to or from. But, people never really read them. And, I have to be honest, it was a little disappointing. That said, even though I had to stop and explain things, they were still very much in character and wouldn't need me to tell them background twice.

 

But, there's another side to this. Back in the day, I tried to play Paranoia. And had a clone die after asking a rules question. Which is why I never played that version again and didn't even try for many, many years. I get that was part of the “fun” of the game, but that's not my kind of fun.

However, there seems to be that sort of thinking running around out there. That players shouldn't need to know basic information about the setting. I remember listening to an RPG horror story about these weird infectious goblins that weren't really goblins, but the characters didn't know they were infectious, and... Well, let's just say it was messy. The point was, if I'm from this world, shouldn't I know the basics about it? Why should players and/or characters be kept in the dark?

I don't understand this way of thinking. That said, I do understand that DMs and GMs might want to keep some things secret. Not only did I keep a lot of critters and monsters under my hat in my Deadlands game, I also kept some very important secrets about the major players in the setting. And I feel that's fair. It was a great reveal (for the one player that way paying attention) when I dropped Reverend Grimme's “Dark Secret.”

But, I never tried to hide basic information about the world. I actively encouraged it and do in every game. Sadly, most people who play games with me don't seem to care as much I do about “fluff” or setting information. Which I feel is a shame and, to be blunt, I will punish players for not knowing it. I spent a lot of time to come up with it and then had to print it out. If you don't care about the time I spent, I'm not going to be happy. I do try to cut them as much slack as I can, give them plenty of time to read everything and I'm always available to answer questions or provide summaries of stuff. I just get ticked off when people don't even try.

But, one thing I don't do is intentionally keep the characters ignorant. If a characters should know something, I tell them. If they might know something, I let them roll. For example, if a character in D&D is level 10, they've probably fought a lot of different monsters, so I'll tell the players what it is. Now, if it's something unique, I'm going to let them roll for it. And to keep them guessing, I'll describe the creature rather than telling them what it is. I find this is much more fun for everyone involved. You get the fun of listening to them make guesses and they get the enjoyment of coming across something they've never seen before.

What I don't do is keep them in the dark or lie to them about things. Let's say you're doing a game of D&D that involves a lot of undead. A foul necromancer has been attacking the kingdom for months and unleashed all kinds of undead against the area. While characters might not have encountered every monster out there, they would be familiar with the lower level ones. Zombies, skeletons, and the like they're going to be able to recognize right off the bat. Something much more threatening and still not unheard of, they're going to get a description and a chance to roll. Something like a Devourer. It's possible that someone fought one and told tales of it in a tavern or something. Okay, I'll allow it. But, let's say something is so new, mean, and nasty, that it's been able to kill everyone that's ever faced it. It's reasonable that the characters are going to have no idea what this thing is. So, just a description, and a very hard roll. I think that's fair. Some people might argue that it's not fair, but my game, my rules.

 

What I don't think is fair is when you keep something hidden from the players that their characters would know. Let's take our undead example. The characters have been fighting these things for months. Suddenly, their in a fight and the zombie bites someone. In this world, the bite is infectious, like in our zombie films. But, since the players weren't told, they're probably not going to be worried about the bite. Until they have to make rolls or their friend turns. If the DM says something like “Well, I thought your characters wouldn't know because these are different zombies.” Unless this is the very first encounter with them, they would know. Don't do this. Seriously. This is bullshit. It's been months. They know.

This sort of thing is bad. Why? Because it breaks the trust between the GM and the players. And that trust is important. Mistakes happen and there's an easy way to deal with it: Apologize and make sure that if you make a mistake again, they can call you on it. We're only human and we'll never improve as people, much less GMs, without some help.

You don't want to punish players or make the game much harder than it should be just to get your rocks off. No one else is going to find that fun. If you're a player and you run across a GM like this, walk away. No D&D is better than bad D&D (or World of Darkness, FATE, or whatever you kids play these days). The game should be enjoyable for everyone at the table, GMs included. If this is your style of fun, it sounds like you might have some problems. If you want to run a game like this, be up front and don't piss and moan when no one wants to play with you.

Let's talk about what information you NEED to give out. You might be thinking “well, what do I do when a character fails a roll when they're looking for information?” That's a tough one. I usually try to make the roll for the character behind the screen, that way they don't know if they failed or not. And I don't lie about it. One thing I do for rolling for things like checking for traps is to have them make a series of rolls for each section of the corridor they're checking. That way they don't know if the area they're checking has a trap or not and they won't know until they hit that area. It can create a bit of tension as they're not sure what is going to happen. Maybe they got lucky and the natural 1 they rolled was for an area that has no traps. Or it might be a TPK trap that they just triggered. You roll the dice and take your chances...

But, what about information rolls? This is where you want to roll behind a screen, as that limits the chance for metagaming. They only know what the character knows, right or wrong. And this is where you need to make sure that you have a good poker face and can provide good descriptions. They need to believe what you're saying. You're not lying, you're telling them what their characters know. And that's not being unfair or deceitful. There's always a difference between character knowledge and player knowledge. Make sure the players remember that. Because, I don't know about you, but I'm not an expert martial artist. Doesn't mean I can't play one in a game.

That said, there's some other stuff you can tell players freely. I generally assume that if it's in the player's part of a book, or otherwise common knowledge for your setting, they don't have to roll for it. It's like things are today. You might not know a whole lot about the Electoral College in the USA but you know it exists and that it's part of our elections. If you want to know more, you can look it up. And so can characters. You should reserve rolls for things like detailed knowledge that they have to remember on the fly. Think about being on a trivia show and having to remember how many votes in the Electoral College are need to win the White House. I challenge you to do that right now without looking it up. That's what you save rolls for. Either trying to remember or looking it up or asking around for information. It's not for basic information that anyone would know, information that's old or lost or hidden. If there's any sort of disagreement about it, roll off.

As I mentioned above, I'm willing to answer questions about the world freely and I try to make sure my players know that. If it's going to slow down game play, I try to have everyone take a break (unless it's something everyone else needs to know RIGHT NOW) and I'll fill the player in.

(Note: As I was editing this, I watched a video from the DM of the Oxventurers Guild, Johnny, and he said something very important “If you don't want them to fail, don't make them roll for it.” And I think that's a very important thing to think about.)

 

At the end of the day, it's about making sure everyone is having fun. Most players I know don't like being kept in the dark and being fed shit. I don't you do, either. So, don't do it. D&D and other RPGs are cooperative. They're about having fun. It is not a “you against them” type game, usually. Don't be an asshole. You don't have to give away the deep, dark secrets of your settings and games because of lucky rolls and you don't have to make everything a challenge. If you honestly don't know what you need to tell your players, get opinions. Notice the “S” there. I will say that I have the opposite problem of what I've been talking about today, I give away too much information sometimes. I can also accidentally forget to mention critical information. Mistakes happen.

Well, this has gone on long enough. If you want me to explore more about making your own game worlds, let me know.

Until next time!