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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Charlaquin" data-source="post: 7789269" data-attributes="member: 6779196">It’s not sufficient though, at least not for the way I adjudicate actions. I don’t need you to be descriptive, but at minimum I need to know what you hope to accomplish and how you go about trying to accomplish it. You don’t have to go into detail about how you’re trying to accomplish it, but I’m not comfortable assuming a course of action you might not have intended. Sorry, I’m not playing the “But I never said I touched the door” game.If there’s something hidden, I telegraph it. I give the players some kind of indication in my description that there is something to be found. Maybe a draft to indicate a secret door, maybe a bit of unmortared tile to indicate a pressure plate, maybe a faint scuffling sound to indicate a creature preparing an ambush, what have you. In the past, I might have gated the telegraph behind a minimum passive Wisdom (Perception), but I don’t really do that any more. Then it’s up to the players to announce actions (with goal and approach) if they want to follow up on that hint, and I will resolve those actions as per my usual process (chance of success, chance of failure, you know the drill by now.)For History and other knowledge-related skills, if there’s relevant information that the PCs might or might not know off hand, I just give it to them if any of the PCs are proficient in a relevant skill (History for historical facts, Nature for details about the environment or natural creatures, Arcana for magical secrets or details about magical creatures, etc. etc.) Again, at one time I might have gave such information a minimum passive Intelligence (Skill) to know, but I don’t really bother with that any more.Now, on the other hand, for the classic scenario where you find some bauble in a dungeon with mysterious runes on it and you want to know if the runes have historical significance or whatever, yes, I need you to tell me what you hope to learn (“I want to know if these runes have historical significance” is perfectly sufficient here) and how (e.g. “by comparing them to other ancient runes I’m familiar with), and I evaluate chance of success, failure, etc. and call for a roll if necessary.Maybe not in your game. They do in mine.</blockquote>

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