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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Nathan Wolf" data-source="post: 1768871" data-attributes="member: 21179">DM Assuming player knowledgeThere's one thing that I want to comment on, that I haven't seen others here address. I think you have a point regarding your DM relying upon -player- knowledge in order that the -characters- behave in a certain way. I'm seeing it like this:DM: You see a thin layer of dust on the ground, it vaguely forms the shape of a human body.Players (lacking the Knowledge(Buffy) skill): Um... okay. *whistle* Now what?What the DM wants is this:DM: yada yadaPlayers: Aha, it must be the remains of a fallen vampire! What a significant and motivating clue, to the batmobile!The problem here, as I see it, is twofold, though closely related.First, the DM is relying on an understanding of the campaign world, but the players are not aware of the same set of details. If he explicitly tells the players "Hey, my vampires are straight outta Buffy, make sure you've seen at least a few episodes," then at least they have a shot at 'getting' clues like the one above.Second, the DM is encouraging/relying upon player knowledge to influence character actions. This (IMHO wrongly) encourages metagaming and fails to recognize that the characters may never have seen a vampire (or watched an episode of Buffy at the local theatre) in their lives, even if the players have. As a DM, I attempt to either place clues within the story (a room full of coffins containing nothing but stakes and dust silhouettes, perhaps) that would teach the players what they need to know in order to interpret later clues, or perhaps more conveniently, urge them to utilize skills like Knowledge(history) or Knowledge(local) to 'recall' that vampires go 'poof' when they die (which I then tell them straight out). I prefer the first method, as the players truly get to discover something, but it requires effort and can fail. The second method (skills use) is also good, at least you can make it -character- knowledge that is being represented, even if it's the DM telling the character what they know.-- nathan</blockquote>

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