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Message: <blockquote data-quote="redrick" data-source="post: 7306668" data-attributes="member: 6777696">This example isn't provided with enough context to know how I would handle it at the table.If, through the course of questioning or investigating, the characters have learned that an enemy is planning to setup an ambush on the road to Big Town, it would be reasonable for the players to take precautions against this ambush. So the players might declare, PLAYER 1: Ok, Gnarly Karl at the inn told us to watch out for an ambush on the road to Big Town, and Gnarly's never led us wrong before. Let's keep our eyes out.PLAYER 2: Yeah, good idea.DM: So, how are you going to "keep your eyes out"?PLAYER 1: I guess we'll all keep watch at all times.DM: If you want to be particularly alert while moving, you could move at a slow pace.PLAYER 2: Yeah, ok, let's do that. We'll go slow and careful and we'll all keep watch for ambushes!Now, if the characters have learned so much about the ambush that they know the specific location, I'd probably give them advantage without requiring any penalty, or, more likely, just scope down to character moves when they approach the location of the ambush, since they told me they were looking out for it. Now it comes down to individual characters trying to spot the ambushers and position themselves tactically.And yes, if the characters had learned to expect an ambush on the road to Big Town, but the players just said, "Hey, ho, it's off to Big Town we go!" without saying anything about taking precautions or anything of the sort, well, shucks, sorry guys.Alternatively, if players are reacting to specific details of the environment and taking precautions because, "That canyon road would make a great place for an ambush and we know Bad Bob has it in for us," then this would also potentially allow them to gain some sort of advantage for paying attention, processing what they know about the game world, and acting accordingly.What I would not want to have is a lengthy and generic "travel procedure" that is declared rote at the beginning of every trip. As a DM, I would communicate with the players what their characters are assumed to be doing, and work on my own adventures and encounters to make sure they aren't so predictable and un-telegraphed to require a lengthy, generic procedure for crossing every room.In short, players paying attention and interacting with specific details of the game world is good. Players feeling that they need to recite generic procedures that are totally divorced from the specific details of the game world at hand is bad.</blockquote>

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