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In the case of your example, those who say they prefer no "metagaming" tend to cite players establishing setting details as a route toward exploiting it to their advantage, same as if they declare their character knows about trolls and fire. If I get to say who the NPC is and how they react to...

Yes, that's an example of the "metagame thinking" the DMG warns against. In the DMG, the example given is a door the DM described to great detail and the players believe that, since so much time was spent on the description, it must be important, causing them to waste time searching it repeatedly.

I would say it's unusual for someone who cares about "metagaming." In my experience people who care about that aren't into players improvising details outside the four corners of their character sheet or their backstory. While many DMs are fine with "Yes, and..." to something like the player...

I'm not sure much is gained by being stingy with information. If the DM gives away "too much," oh well! The poker analogy also suggests some kind of competition with the players, which I don't view as the DM's role. There is something of an art to telegraphing though. I just wouldn't be upset if...

They don't really need to hear anything other than the basic scope of options that present themselves though (how many doors lead out of a room, what’s on a table, who’s in the tavern, and so on), which can be refined (or revealed, if hidden) after the players describe their actions. It's not a...

All that is being asked of the player is to say what they want to do (smash the vase) and how they do it (with their bare hands). For the DM's part, they just need to describe the basic options that present themselves in the environment. The players' declared actions will then prompt them to...

Okay. For anyone else, we've shown the goal and approach of goal-and-approach. Nothing in the posts of those using that method suggests a "bad faith relationship," only a desire for clear communication where the DM does not assume or establish what the character does for the player. Please feel...

One simply cannot draw a valid connection between "bad faith relationship" and anything that Charlaquin, Swarmkeeper, myself, and others have said, regardless of how many pages it has been discussed.

What is agreeing not to "metagame" but a "set methodology for communication?" If I can't use fire on the troll until the DM agrees that my character knows about trolls and fire, that's a methodology for communicating action in that some actions are off limits unless and until a process is...

What exactly is "stringent" about asking for "I smash the vase with my bare hands" versus "I smash the vase?" It's certainly more precise, but some reasonable specificity can be needed to adjudicate fairly, and to avoid taking over the player's role in the game. And as a reminder, if it's not...

What's the correlation here? None of the people advocating for clarity as to goal and approach have suggested anything about a bad faith relationship.

Except that poster doesn't actually ask them to be reasonably specific. They assume and establish for the players what their characters do. By their own posts, they'd love for the players to be reasonably specific, but for some reason doesn't ask for that, even though it would incidentally...

You didn't answer as to why you go straight to "bad faith relationship" as an explanation for the clarity some of us seek. And again, we're talking about something as simple as "I smash the vase with my bare hand" rather than "I smash the vase" so that the DM can determine what happens next...

Why do you go straight to "bad faith relationship" when some people just want clearer communication, where the player is in control of their own character, and the DM doesn't have to establish or assume anything for them, which avoids all the things you go on to describe?

Nilbog.

I don't know about that. I've certainly converted a lot of people who were down on dungeons to become down with dungeons. And it sounds like mom's priority is seeing the kids have fun anyway. I wouldn't approach it to try to win her over, personally. If the OP is right on her motivations, win...

What I described is really more of a pointcrawl with only two points (the town and the dungeon), not much of a sandbox. The "quite strong direction," such as it is, can be framed as "go to the dungeon" since that's where adventure can be found. The kids aren't that young in my view, and...

Start small. A boring little town, a safe haven for the PCs, a place to buy stuff and long rest. The adventure doesn't happen here. Where it does happen is in a dungeon nearby. Maybe just a small one to start, and there are just tons of them on the internet for free. Give it a theme. Fill it...

It's like a group text except you can say that one person who is excluded has an Android phone.

Some tools are great at doing multiple things effectively.