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<blockquote data-quote="Nemesis Destiny" data-source="post: 5609814" data-attributes="member: 98255">I have seen players do this a lot, and in every RPG I've played. This is a particular issue with newer players, or ones less confident in their ability to roleplay their characters. They are faced with a situation, and the first thing they do is look at their sheet, as though some kind of &quot;answer&quot; will pop out at them. I tell them the same thing - it won't.This is exactly it. In situations like this it does come down to the DM, entirely, and your example is a perfect illustration of how important good DMing skills can be. It can and has been argued that 4th edition made it a design element to lower any and all barriers for entry to becoming a DM - a good goal, to be sure - but that doesn't mean that just anyone can be a good DM, at least, not without practice and experience. This isn't to say that I'm a DMing elitist (everyone has to start somewhere), just that the situation you described, and those like it, can be more easily handled by more experienced DMs.So while a more robust knowledge check system could be used, placing the onus on the system, it could also be placed on the DM. In the case of your example, the DM could have provided another tidbit of information on the location being researched, perhaps one made up, or something the players would not normally have any reason to know. Even provide it in metagame terms - like, &quot;you find out about a specific trap or a clue to a puzzle, which I will tell you about when you get there,&quot; kind of thing. Or even telling the players that they find a map (a partial, rough, and possibly wrong one), that again, will be provided later.This is probably a fair assessment, but IME, it has far more to do with the rest of the group (i.e. playstyle) than it does the game we're playing.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Nemesis Destiny, post: 5609814, member: 98255"] I have seen players do this a lot, and in every RPG I've played. This is a particular issue with newer players, or ones less confident in their ability to roleplay their characters. They are faced with a situation, and the first thing they do is look at their sheet, as though some kind of "answer" will pop out at them. I tell them the same thing - it won't. This is exactly it. In situations like this it does come down to the DM, entirely, and your example is a perfect illustration of how important good DMing skills can be. It can and has been argued that 4th edition made it a design element to lower any and all barriers for entry to becoming a DM - a good goal, to be sure - but that doesn't mean that just anyone can be a [I]good[/I] DM, at least, not without practice and experience. This isn't to say that I'm a DMing elitist (everyone has to start somewhere), just that the situation you described, and those like it, can be more easily handled by more experienced DMs. So while a more robust knowledge check system could be used, placing the onus on the system, it could also be placed on the DM. In the case of your example, the DM could have provided another tidbit of information on the location being researched, perhaps one made up, or something the players would not normally have any reason to know. Even provide it in metagame terms - like, [I]"you find out about a specific trap or a clue to a puzzle, which I will tell you about when you get there,"[/I] kind of thing. Or even telling the players that they find a map (a partial, rough, and possibly wrong one), that again, will be provided later. This is probably a fair assessment, but IME, it has far more to do with the rest of the group (i.e. playstyle) than it does the game we're playing. [/QUOTE]

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