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Message: <blockquote data-quote="payn" data-source="post: 9549158" data-attributes="member: 90374">I think its going to fall on play style. I had an old school GM some years ago with a pretty new school minded group. That GM was the skill play type where everything, I mean everything, was trying to kill your character. Nothing was a certainty unless you searched it high and low, prodded it with a ten foot pole, and even then didnt trust it. The GM didnt get why folks were not enjoying his game. It just wasnt what they wanted to spend their session time doing. I've taken to moments of moving the game along. That manifests as a certain look on my face or more recently a confident tone that "we are all good here". As in, "the PC is sure there is no trap" or "you spend as long as the character wants, but nothing is discovered." I dont go there until I feel one of two things. Either the players are being too thorough with something that has no significance, or are fixated on pursuing a red herring.I know some folks are of a mind thats a cardinal sin of deciding something of interest for the players, but I dont see the matter as simple black and white issue. I dont want a pixelbitching session and so im going to inform the players they dont need to treat my games like one. I will, provide plenty of opportunity to explore a situation out as interests my players, but I wont waste our time on cobwebs and dead ends either. YMMV    Its pretty rare for me these days to set up a narrative around opening a trapped chest. I might make a thing of it, if its part of an adventure and thus a well thought out puzzle which will be completely telepgraphed. If its just an average chest with some goodies in it, im going with the abstraction as the rules offer. Meaning, in order to open the chest you need to operate the latch in a way thats going to mean facing the trap. Doesnt matter if you are in front of it, on the side, or behind it. Operate the latch, and make a save against the trap. If the PCs really go out of their way to use poles, or drop the chest down a pit, or hit it with a fireball, etc.. im just going to give it to them. Then, ill probably never use a chest again unless its actually a puzzle to solve. As far as I am converned, this is how I presented the situation as a GM issue, and not the PCs have to follow a protocol based on their perception result matter.</blockquote>

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