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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Lanefan" data-source="post: 7071808" data-attributes="member: 29398">OK.With a DM who halfway knows what she's doing, from the player side what's the functional difference?  Player can't tell whether what's learned is a rumour or a hook.  Consider this hypothetical exchange:Situation: party finds itself at a loose end with no immediate mission or adventure on their plate.  They send their "face" character (say, a Rogue or Bard type) out into the town to gather information and find out what needs doing.  This town is a place they've been to before and they have contacts here; they've also met occasional raiding orc bands in the past off to the east aways.Player: "I ask around various places - mercenaries' guild, local militia HQ, my old contacts from the Thieves' guild - and find out what's on for adventuring this season."DM: <rolls some dice, consults some notes>  "OK.  You get some hits.  First off, the mercenaries for sure have something on the boil but they won't say what it is - very secretive.  "The militia have a few things: there's been orc raids - again! - on some of the farms to the east maybe 20-30 miles out [Player: "Sigh - I thought we already dealt with that!"]; there's been some problems in the lakes to the south <a few days travel away> - travellers and caravans being attacked, that sort of thing, from survivor reports they think it's by lizardmen; and we've heard rumours (but nothing confirmed) of something really big being sighted in the air over that old tower near Dumont."Your old guild buddies confirm the orc and lizardman raids but throw in some concerns they have about these things somehow maybe being related to each other.  They've also heard about some strange activity going on over Dumont way; and they've also got wind that Baron Larchwood <previously-known-of ruler of a nearby city-state similar to this one> has been putting spies about here in town and they'd like to know what he's up to this time."After a day's good digging, that's what you get."Player: "Cool.  So there's orcs and-or lizardmen, or spies, or Dumont tower.  Got it.  Busy place!  I'll report back to the party." <the party then eventually either take on one or more of these adventures or move on to a different town>Now, knowing nothing more about anything (as in theory a player wouldn't know anything more about the workings of the DM's mind), can you tell whether the DM dreamed those adventure ideas up on the spot or whether she had them pre-planned.  If you can't tell, then why is anyone worried about anything?  The player(s) has(have) gobs of information to work with (and can always seek out more), the game has loads of directions it can go from here, and everything's just rockin' on.Notice here I've woven in some secrets (the mercenaries won't say what they've got going on) and some plot questions (is there a connection between the orcs and lizardmen or not) and hinted at some previously-hidden backstory (the Thieves guild tossed off a remark about what's the Baron up to "this time", implying this has happened before).Also notice that while I point out the DM rolls dice and consults notes I make no reference as to whether these actions are for real or for show.My question here is not whether this is player-driven or DM-driven, but whether it even matters in the slightest?Lanefan</blockquote>

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