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<blockquote data-quote="pemerton" data-source="post: 6963753" data-attributes="member: 42582">Moldvay Basic advised players (not just referees) that they should read the monster chapter. But I think it assumed (maybe it even said? it's been a while) that players wouldn't do this during the course of actual play.Sometimes the players knowing the stats of a monster is bad for the game - it gives an unfair (or unearned) advantage.Sometimes its good for the game - eg if knowing how tough something is makes the players sweat a bit mroe than they otherwise would!But personally I prefer to handle this through GM discretion, knowledge checks and/or actual play experience. I've never had players just try and help themselves, but I don't think I'd like it if it happened.EDIT: I was reminded of this bit of commentary from Dragon (&quot;History of a Game that Failed&quot;, number 99, 1985):It would be a wonderful world if players were so conscientious and so willing to risk their characters for the sake of a good time that they never looked at the Dungeon Masters Guide, the modules, or even &quot;Dungeon Master advice&quot; articles (such as this one) in magazines. It would even be nicer if they did not look up monsters in the Monster Manual, FIEND FOLIO Tome, and Monster Manual II whenever they confronted them. Maybe you can forbid this sort of activity during the playing of an adventure, but you can't control what players do on their own time. And never underestimate the ingenuity of players. I once had a player justify looking in the Monster Manual during play by saying that his character carried around a bestiary in his backpack!</blockquote>

[QUOTE="pemerton, post: 6963753, member: 42582"] Moldvay Basic advised players (not just referees) that they should read the monster chapter. But I think it assumed (maybe it even said? it's been a while) that players wouldn't do this during the course of actual play. Sometimes the players knowing the stats of a monster is bad for the game - it gives an unfair (or unearned) advantage. Sometimes its good for the game - eg if knowing how tough something is makes the players sweat a bit mroe than they otherwise would! But personally I prefer to handle this through GM discretion, knowledge checks and/or actual play experience. I've never had players just try and help themselves, but I don't think I'd like it if it happened. EDIT: I was reminded of this bit of commentary from Dragon ("History of a Game that Failed", number 99, 1985): [indent]It would be a wonderful world if players were so conscientious and so willing to risk their characters for the sake of a good time that they never looked at the [I]Dungeon Masters Guide[/I], the modules, or even "Dungeon Master advice" articles (such as this one) in magazines. It would even be nicer if they did not look up monsters in the [I]Monster Manual[/I], FIEND FOLIO Tome, and [I]Monster Manual II[/I] whenever they confronted them. Maybe you can forbid this sort of activity during the playing of an adventure, but you can't control what players do on their own time. And never underestimate the ingenuity of players. I once had a player justify looking in the [I]Monster Manual[/I] during play by saying that his character carried around a bestiary in his backpack![/indent] [/QUOTE]

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