D&D General Harshest House Rule (in use)?

[Mannahnin]

It is a direct @Mannahnin post #144. Which just quoted my post and another... with no text of its own to tie them together and why they think they are related.

I was quoting Bloodtide to show you the paragraph you seemed to have missed.

 

[ezo]

I was quoting Bloodtide to show you the paragraph you seemed to have missed.

Still doesn't change anything, especially if you read the rest of their posts concerning the issue and not take one thing by itself. @bloodtide said they prefer the PCs (and players) learn information by A) referencing material they were given to learn about the game world, their race, class, or whatever and B) intereacting with NPCs instead of them (the DM) just giving them the information at that time.

But this is @bloodtide's position so I'll leave it to them to expound further.

As an aside, if you have a point to make, it is better to state it alogn with the quotes instead of just quoting things. What might be obvious to you or even relevant might not be to others. Just FYI and thanks for elaborating.

 

[Mannahnin]

Still doesn't change anything, especially if you read the rest of their posts concerning the issue and not take one thing by itself. @bloodtide said they prefer the PCs (and players) learn information by A) referencing material they were given to learn about the game world, their race, class, or whatever and B) intereacting with NPCs instead of them (the DM) just giving them the information at that time.

But this is @bloodtide's position so I'll let it to them to expound further.

As an aside, if you have a point to make, it is better to state it alogn with the quotes instead of just quoting things. What might be obvious to you or even relevant might not be to others. Just FYI and thanks for elaborating.

We are getting very different things from their posts.

 

[ezo]

We are getting very different things from their posts.

It happens.

 

[bloodtide]

What they do not allow is an Intelligence check to determine if the character might know something the player does not or could not know. The idea is the character can only know what the player knows or learns from the material they offer or during game play.

Correct

I think most of the time the locale of the adventure sandbox is not known to the characters. They are always coming to it. As time passes though, it is not uncommon, for someone to ask me as DM if they know anyone in a town if the group begins to travel out. Based on their backgrounds hopefully developed collaboratively, I can answer that question easily.

Not in my game. Any player that just sits there and says "DM tell me all the people in town my character knows", will get the quick answer of "no one".

Should the player make a detailed background with some NPCs, they might very well encounter them during game play. But a player that says "hey DM make my NPC buddy just pop right in front of my character", will get a quick "nope".

If people have a certain social skill, I will nudge them at times if they seem to be considering something that lacks awareness of that knowledge.

I do often give hapless players a pet, familiar, item, ghost or something like that to help them out. But as the DM I'm never going to give nudges or hints.

Assuming you're of a simulationist bent, the only way to play a character in that game correctly is to play a character who fell through a portal or a character who is grossly ignorant of all their surroundings, which presents a pretty limited poll of possible character options.

It is true that limiting the player to clueless characters does limit them to only a million or so types.

And no player has too. A player is free to say their character is "a super genius that knows all magic" and then freely role play the character as a blithering idiot.

If you're not allowed to ask if your character would know X NPC, and you're not allowed to assert any knowledge of the game world, the only way to faithfully play a character is for the character to be completely ignorant of the world around them up until the point of the game start.

Well, you don't need to ask if your character knows an NPC when the answer will always be 'no', unless you know the NPC.

I guess your free to "assert" knowledge of the game world. If the handout says the town is named "Honeywood", you can "assert the name of Honeywood".

 

[TwoSix]

Well, you don't need to ask if your character knows an NPC when the answer will always be 'no', unless you know the NPC.

I guess your free to "assert" knowledge of the game world. If the handout says the town is named "Honeywood", you can "assert the name of Honeywood".

I'll be honest, I'm really trying, and I cannot fathom how your games' intro sessions work.

 

[bloodtide]

I'll be honest, I'm really trying, and I cannot fathom how your games' intro sessions work.

I'm not sure. It is possible my games don't have an intro? What is it you do your your games?

 

[Emerikol]

Correct

Not in my game. Any player that just sits there and says "DM tell me all the people in town my character knows", will get the quick answer of "no one".

I wouldn't rule out having some major NPC allies / enemies detailed out early in session 0. If a group enters the home town of the PC then I can't imagine I've told him every single person he knew.

Should the player make a detailed background with some NPCs, they might very well encounter them during game play. But a player that says "hey DM make my NPC buddy just pop right in front of my character", will get a quick "nope".

No but the DM might say "You know a blacksmith on 3rd ave."

I do often give hapless players a pet, familiar, item, ghost or something like that to help them out. But as the DM I'm never going to give nudges or hints.

<snip>

So if a person has a high skill in history, and some obviously historical thing he'd know about comes into his position you are not going to tell him or at minimum roll for it???

 

[TwoSix]

I'm not sure. It is possible my games don't have an intro? What is it you do your your games?

I'm very much a fan of a starting the party into some in medias res situation where they already know each other.

In some of my last few games, I've had:

1) Two groups of special military operatives for two recently allied nations, joined together in a task force to investigate necromancers. (7th level)
2) All the PCs were in the same brutal labor camp, and then shipwrecked together on the way to a mysterious island. (1st level)
3) A mercenary group that had already been working together for a year, starting on a new contract to find a lost magic item in a dungeon. (8th level)
4) 20 years ago, the PCs saved the kingdom from an elemental invasion. After a peaceful retirement, the king has begged them to return to service to stop a new threat. (10th level)

 

[bloodtide]

I wouldn't rule out having some major NPC allies / enemies detailed out early in session 0. If a group enters the home town of the PC then I can't imagine I've told him every single person he knew.

I would firmly say "you know X NPCs." If they want to know more, they can meet them.

So if a person has a high skill in history, and some obviously historical thing he'd know about comes into his position you are not going to tell him or at minimum roll for it???

If you mean a player that has a character will a high skill in history. Then no.

In no way, will I ever as a DM, just tell a player endless things forever just as they wrote something like "my character is super duper smart" on a scrap of paper.

I'm very much a fan of a starting the party into some in medias res situation where they already know each other.

In some of my last few games, I've had:

1) Two groups of special military operatives for two recently allied nations, joined together in a task force to investigate necromancers. (7th level)
2) All the PCs were in the same brutal labor camp, and then shipwrecked together on the way to a mysterious island. (1st level)
3) A mercenary group that had already been working together for a year, starting on a new contract to find a lost magic item in a dungeon. (8th level)
4) 20 years ago, the PCs saved the kingdom from an elemental invasion. After a peaceful retirement, the king has begged them to return to service to stop a new threat. (10th level)

While I do like it if the characters all start knowing each other or even friends.....I leave that 100% up to the players.

So by "intro" you were just talking about a limited game? Ok. Well, in general, I do like the unlimited game. So I avoid the limited "everyone is X", unless the players really, really, really want it.

And the players can say "my character has lived in town for 20 years", and that won't change anything with me.