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<blockquote data-quote="EzekielRaiden" data-source="post: 9007790" data-attributes="member: 6790260">There is a difference between:It is possible for someone to go somewhere without knowing anything about what's there first.andIt is impossible for someone to go anywhere while knowing anything about what's there first.And frankly, I find your experience more than a little unrepresentative, based on the way pretty much everyone describes old-school D&amp;D. That is, that's exactly the kind of behavior that gets characters killed. Repeatedly and intentionally. The rules do not care--they will chew you up and spit you out if you try that. Caution dominates, and leads to ossified SOPs, which was why the DM/player arms race of cloakers and cursed items and ear seekers became such a thing.Edit: And, to be clear, my claim was that players have major incentives (in every edition, not just old-school ones) to investigate before they act. That investigation will, in part, be an effort to learn whether it is worth their time to do something. It may be that they really, really want whatever is in a particular place, but if they know it's full of monstrously powerful undead and an ancient black dragon, they're not going to go there until they are prepared, by whatever means (gaining levels, finding/buying gear, recruiting allies, whatever.) Likewise, a place that has just a mere kobold warren is unlikely to be of interest to someone who can slay dragons; that doesn't mean they have no interest at all in the place, but time and resources are finite. If the kobold warren is a concern, as others have said, buy them off or pay people to clear it up (and thus the cycle of adventuring turns!)</blockquote>

[QUOTE="EzekielRaiden, post: 9007790, member: 6790260"] There is a difference between: It is [I]possible[/I] for someone to go [I]somewhere[/I] without knowing anything about what's there first. and It is [I]impossible[/I] for someone to go [I]anywhere[/I] while knowing anything about what's there first. And frankly, I find your experience more than a little unrepresentative, based on the way pretty much everyone describes old-school D&D. That is, that's exactly the kind of behavior that gets characters killed. Repeatedly and intentionally. The rules do not care--they will chew you up and spit you out if you try that. Caution dominates, and leads to ossified SOPs, which was why the DM/player arms race of cloakers and cursed items and ear seekers became such a thing. Edit: And, to be clear, my claim was that players have major incentives (in every edition, not just old-school ones) to investigate before they act. That investigation will, in part, be an effort to learn whether it is worth their time to do something. It may be that they really, really want whatever is in a particular place, but if they know it's full of monstrously powerful undead and an ancient black dragon, they're not going to go there until they are prepared, by whatever means (gaining levels, finding/buying gear, recruiting allies, whatever.) Likewise, a place that has just a mere kobold warren is unlikely to be of interest to someone who can slay dragons; that doesn't mean they have no interest [I]at all[/I] in the place, but time and resources are finite. If the kobold warren is a concern, as others have said, buy them off or pay people to clear it up (and thus the cycle of adventuring turns!) [/QUOTE]

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