Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*TTRPGs General
GM-player Communication vs. Metagaming
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="delericho" data-source="post: 5835230" data-attributes="member: 22424"><p>I agree with Umbran.</p><p></p><p>The thing is that the DM has a clear picture of the scene in his head, plus all the relevant background information, all the appropriate assumptions, and anything else that is needed.</p><p></p><p>The players have what the DM tells them, and nothing more.</p><p></p><p>Communication is <em>hard</em>. At my place of work, I'm regarded as one of our most effective communicators, especially in the written form. Yet I've lost count of the number of times I've written something that seemed completely clear and obvious to me, only to have it come up in the review because my colleagues have misunderstood it - often because I assumed some other knowledge that was lurking in the back of my mind, but which I hadn't (and should have) mentioned.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>It's not about blame. Ultimately, it doesn't matter if the DM communicated badly or if the players listened badly - in the scenario described, the game may be about to go off the rails because the players are working with incorrect information. Since the players <em>can't</em> know they've gone wrong (or else they would have fixed it!), it falls to the DM to correct the situation.</p><p></p><p>And, to finish up, a few things I've learned that help with getting the message across:</p><p></p><p>- Don't <em>imply</em> things. If there's something the players should know, <em>tell them</em>.</p><p></p><p>- Don't swamp the players with detail. If you talk for more than about 20 seconds, by the end the players will likely have forgotten the details from the start. That's not because they're stupid, or not listening, it's because short-term memory is limited, especially if it's not clear what is and is not important.</p><p></p><p>- Watch your language. Your players aren't Gygax, or Tolkien, or even REH. Chances are that they won't know exactly the same set of words as you (and this is even more true if they're playing in a second language, of course). If you throw in lots of obscure words into your descriptions, you're as likely to muddy up your descriptions as you are to evoke an old-timey feel.</p><p></p><p>This last one is controversial, of course, since descriptions should <em>also</em> be evocative, and choice of words is an important part of that. Here, I've found a hybrid approach works quite well - describe the parameters of the situation in almost technical terms ("three goblins, here, here and here..."), but then add some limited flavour on top, generally in peripheral matters ("the lead goblin capers and cackles with a malevolent glee...").</p><p></p><p>(Of course, if your players are Gygax, Tolkien and REH, or equivalently skilled with the language, you should ignore the above. But then, you'll have realised that. <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite1" alt=":)" title="Smile :)" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":)" /> )</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="delericho, post: 5835230, member: 22424"] I agree with Umbran. The thing is that the DM has a clear picture of the scene in his head, plus all the relevant background information, all the appropriate assumptions, and anything else that is needed. The players have what the DM tells them, and nothing more. Communication is [i]hard[/i]. At my place of work, I'm regarded as one of our most effective communicators, especially in the written form. Yet I've lost count of the number of times I've written something that seemed completely clear and obvious to me, only to have it come up in the review because my colleagues have misunderstood it - often because I assumed some other knowledge that was lurking in the back of my mind, but which I hadn't (and should have) mentioned. It's not about blame. Ultimately, it doesn't matter if the DM communicated badly or if the players listened badly - in the scenario described, the game may be about to go off the rails because the players are working with incorrect information. Since the players [i]can't[/i] know they've gone wrong (or else they would have fixed it!), it falls to the DM to correct the situation. And, to finish up, a few things I've learned that help with getting the message across: - Don't [i]imply[/i] things. If there's something the players should know, [i]tell them[/i]. - Don't swamp the players with detail. If you talk for more than about 20 seconds, by the end the players will likely have forgotten the details from the start. That's not because they're stupid, or not listening, it's because short-term memory is limited, especially if it's not clear what is and is not important. - Watch your language. Your players aren't Gygax, or Tolkien, or even REH. Chances are that they won't know exactly the same set of words as you (and this is even more true if they're playing in a second language, of course). If you throw in lots of obscure words into your descriptions, you're as likely to muddy up your descriptions as you are to evoke an old-timey feel. This last one is controversial, of course, since descriptions should [i]also[/i] be evocative, and choice of words is an important part of that. Here, I've found a hybrid approach works quite well - describe the parameters of the situation in almost technical terms ("three goblins, here, here and here..."), but then add some limited flavour on top, generally in peripheral matters ("the lead goblin capers and cackles with a malevolent glee..."). (Of course, if your players are Gygax, Tolkien and REH, or equivalently skilled with the language, you should ignore the above. But then, you'll have realised that. :) ) [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*TTRPGs General
GM-player Communication vs. Metagaming
Top