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<blockquote data-quote="Cruentus" data-source="post: 8940875" data-attributes="member: 7034645"><p>After 40 years, we still struggle with this, although there is only one player I know who will actually use all the meta knowledge, or pull up the monster stat block while we're playing... </p><p></p><p>I handle it in a few ways: </p><p>1) In my Greyhawk campaign, the players are in Sterich. Anything that ends up on the "random encounter" charts for that area is "known" to the players - whether through rumor, information passed along, things talked about around the fire, folklore. Iconic monsters likewise - vampires, will o the wisps, dragons (though mine aren't color coded), werewolves, mummies (rot), etc. </p><p>2) Monsters they may encounter that are super rare, or not common to the area, I usually change things around on the stat block - changing immunities, changing/adding/removing abilities to the monster, so they don't automatically know what it does - or at least they might think they do. </p><p>3) I'll always describe the monster, but not name it. This can leave the players guessing, even though it might be 'just' a zombie, or a ghoul, or whatever. Sometimes they'll figure it out in a couple of rounds, or I'll slip and name it. I freaked a party out in a 5e game with a hellhound (it was well within the 'easy' realm for them at the time), but the description, and it rolling well and taking down a player when he got overly confident made the rest of the party panic. </p><p></p><p>I also try to make sure session zero is clear that the point is not to "win DnD", its to have fun playing the game. Our one player mentioned above is always out to "win" (and that is his fun), but we all know that going in.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Cruentus, post: 8940875, member: 7034645"] After 40 years, we still struggle with this, although there is only one player I know who will actually use all the meta knowledge, or pull up the monster stat block while we're playing... I handle it in a few ways: 1) In my Greyhawk campaign, the players are in Sterich. Anything that ends up on the "random encounter" charts for that area is "known" to the players - whether through rumor, information passed along, things talked about around the fire, folklore. Iconic monsters likewise - vampires, will o the wisps, dragons (though mine aren't color coded), werewolves, mummies (rot), etc. 2) Monsters they may encounter that are super rare, or not common to the area, I usually change things around on the stat block - changing immunities, changing/adding/removing abilities to the monster, so they don't automatically know what it does - or at least they might think they do. 3) I'll always describe the monster, but not name it. This can leave the players guessing, even though it might be 'just' a zombie, or a ghoul, or whatever. Sometimes they'll figure it out in a couple of rounds, or I'll slip and name it. I freaked a party out in a 5e game with a hellhound (it was well within the 'easy' realm for them at the time), but the description, and it rolling well and taking down a player when he got overly confident made the rest of the party panic. I also try to make sure session zero is clear that the point is not to "win DnD", its to have fun playing the game. Our one player mentioned above is always out to "win" (and that is his fun), but we all know that going in. [/QUOTE]
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