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Message: <blockquote data-quote="delericho" data-source="post: 5865627" data-attributes="member: 22424">A couple of things:- The other players may well not have any better idea of what's going on than you do. It's entirely possible that they're just making a bunch of assumptions, and working from those.- Just because you don't understand doesn't mean the fault lies with you. More than a few times, I've given out what I thought was a nice, clear description of a situation, only to see players get completely the wrong impression from it.(It's also possible that the DM and other players have developed some sort of "shared language" of in-jokes, old references, and the like that they understand but you don't. Obviously, in such a case the fault doesn't lie with you, or indeed anywhere - it's just that the rest of the group doesn't realise the difficulty!)Fundamentally, if you don't understand something, you just have to ask. The advice I generally give (actually, when teaching kids to play the bagpipes, but it applies equally here) is this: chances are other people are having the same issue, they're just too shy to speak up!Not quite the same, but I often feel overwhelmed when playing with groups I don't know, especially if I'm the one new player in the group. We just build up so much history within long-standing groups that it can be hard for a new member to feel at home unless the existing group make a real effort to be welcoming.It doesn't help that I have issues when dealing with people I don't know all that well - indeed, part of the reason I love the game so much (and especially DMing) is that it goes a long way towards helping me set aside those problems.IME, most really smart people I know just aren't as smart as they think. Also, being smart doesn't mean they don't make mistakes; they just make different mistakes. (And, as someone who considers himself to be pretty smart, both of these definitely apply to me too.) Besides, I haven't actually noticed any great correlation between 'being smart' and an interest in 'nerdy' pursuits, especially now that video games have gone mainstream.But being aware of your weaknesses, and (even moreso) being able to talk about them publicly? That's a rare thing, and commmendable.</blockquote>

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