Do you keep your Players in the Dark?

[Sherlock]

I was wondering about GM styles.

One of the first questions out of a players mouth when combat begins is usually. "What's his AC?" or "What's the DC of that fireball?"

Do you as a GM try to keep that information secret or to speed up play do you just tell it like it is?

Is it important to keep that information from the players? And why?

 

[orchid blossom]

I notice that in the group I play with nobody asks those questions. We assume the DM will tell us if we hit or make the save. Our DM will tell us an enemies AC after a couple rounds as we've usually got it narrowed down from seeing what players hit and miss on.

If a battle is particularly complex or taking longer than it should, he will give us the AC's of the bad guys so we can roll ahead of time and just give the results. We've been playing together long enough that he trusts us to be honest.

If a DM has a player in the group he doesn't think will be honest, he would probably keep it secret to cut down on the player fudging rolls.

 

[Desdichado]

I prefer to not tell players those things, but it's not a strong preference and quite often I end up doing so anyway.

 

[Benben]

If it's a combat with a few number of enemies, I'll tend to keep the information secret. That keeps up the mystery of how good the opponent is.

If the combat is a little more epic, I'm much more free with AC's, DCs and the whatnot, just to keep the combat moving.

 

[Psion]

I don't ever tell the players that sort of info (save DCs, AC, etc.) unless it will really speed up the game and won't reveal anything important.

I just tell the players to roll and tell me the result. The players may not be privvy to what is going on behind the scenes, like a spell that affects some characters worse than others.

 

[Gnarlo]

Pretty much the same as Psion, my players make the rolls and I tell them what happens. I have my computer right next to the table and have all the characters' stats and numbers at my fingertips and don't have to ask for them, so it makes it easier to do.

 

[Shallown]

AC I usually won't tell outright but let the players try to figure it out, It keeps their attention. I usually only tell them the DC of a save if it is high enough to scare them a little so they go "Oh NO" as they realize they need make a save of 22 with thier +6 will save or something like that. One of the methods I use to make the players feel some of the fear their characters should fear.

I usually prefer rolling the damage and just telling them a total they watch me roll dice and figure out what the + to damage is and etc. Much like the Ac it keeps their attention and also strikes fear into them somewhat. Last night for example they got hit by something that did like 1d6+4 with 6 strikes (A Behir) so they saw hey we can take that no sweat so next round when I power attacked for like 8 they started sweating when it was 1d6+12. That was suddenly scary going from taking 28 points one round to 60 the next. It shook them up and they no longer took the encounter for granted as the creature dropped the now dead mage to the ground. (Dwarven mage with lots of hit points for a mage)

I use the information to invoke emotions that otherwise the group wopuldn't feel since they are not that immersive in their roleplaying style. They fear the numbers and if that is the kind of fear I can get I get it. Not to be cruel or lord it over them but so they feel like adventurers when they emerge out of the combat alive and kicking. They get more out of it in my opinion that way.

and hey look I said about 10 times as much as I planned.

Later

 

[Desdichado]

I agree that the psychological factor is quite fun. At the Chicago gameday a week or so ago, William Ronald summoned up a Celestial Giant Bee to go against the recently appeared demon. Now, I don't know the stats of a celestrial giant bee from a celestrial pimple on my butt, so I got to make some pretty cool comments like: "What's his AC? Does a 36 attack roll hit him?" That got their attention. Especially followed by "How many hit points does it have? More than 27?"

The PCs figured out pretty quickly that they didn't want to mess with that particular demon. Who turned out to be Dagon...

 

[Xeriar]

Common enemies and flunkies get detailed. Sometimes NPCs get handed off to players even.

Generally, one to three big enemies - it gets kept secret. Flunkies are cannon fodder and get treated that way.

 

[Mouseferatu]

I can't even picture playing in a game where the DM hands out info like the monster's AC. Nothing, IMO, ruins suspension of disbelief faster than:

"The ogre comes lumbering around the corner at you."

"I swing my sword! What do I need to hit?"

"Uh, 15."

I try never to let my players know anything their characters wouldn't, and I prefer DMs who treat me the same way.