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Message: <blockquote data-quote="AaronOfBarbaria" data-source="post: 6995033" data-attributes="member: 6701872">There is an easy fix for that problem, which is actually a player etiquette problem, not one of using knowledge inappropriately.The fix being that the more knowledgeable players could be making the new player feel included, rather than slighted, by feeding the knowledge they want to act upon to the new player, along the lines of "Ooh, maybe your character would be able to tell us all how BLAH these BLIBBITY BLAH creatures BLAH?" Because the actual problem is that the established players are playing despite the new player, rather than playing with the new player.Have you tried scaling it back and just having some off the cuff fun? Most of my campaigns that my players have given stellar reviews to were run with me putting equal, or even less, "work" into the experience than the players. Maybe it'd work for you too.It isn't, but it can easily, even accidentally, become a controlling no fun DM power trip thing. As soon as it goes to that point where a player is being denied the ability to role-play their character as making a guess or acting on a whim because the DM knows the player isn't guessing or acting on a whim, it's become a controlling no fun DM power trip thing as it has prevented the player from playing their character as they choose to.I'm fine with player-elective rolls like that; it's the player choosing to let a die decide between actions they have thought of in the moment.What I'm not fine with is a DM stepping in and telling a player how they must play their character, including doing so by questioning why I as a player chose an action rather than asking for the reason why the character chose that action.I don't think that I have ever heard of a campaign in which these types of situations could possibly come up more frequently than "once in a blue moon" that was not a campaign wherein the DM was deliberately attempting to trick their players with "Gotcha!" challenges or was attempting to make the game basically unplayable on purpose by using challenges that could not be defeated without certain knowledge that was intentionally withheld from the player characters. So I don't think there is actually a problem with frequency of this kind of "my character guessed correctly the information I clearly already knew" moment in a typical campaign.I think the easiest thing to do is convince the players that it is okay for them to not even think about whether their character does or doesn't know something - just do what feels right and fun at the moment, and nobody is going to question you.But then, that's because I think the hesitation that is "I'm don't think my character would know..." is primarily caused by belief that they are going to figuratively get their knuckles wrapped with a ruler for stepping out of line, by way of the DM demanding an explanation for why their adventurer just did something adventurous. And I find that making it clear to all involve that the environment is not hostile in that way, it's a safe place to unwind and have some fun with some friends, no judgements, no hurt feelings (at least not so hurt that another tasty beverage or scrumptious snack won't make it all better) is a significant tool in a DM's fun-experience-building tool kit.</blockquote>

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