D&D 5E Oops, Players Accidentally See Solution to Exploration Challenge

[iserith]

A situation arose in our Saltmarsh game last week and I'm curious to hear what you would do about it. I'll try to be somewhat vague so as to avoid spoilers, but be advised that some stuff might be given away in this thread. Anyway, here's what happened:

While playing one of the Saltmarsh scenarios on Roll20, the DM had us on an overland map that depicted a beach on which we were landing to pursue some pirates who are led by my character's nemesis, Captain Whiskers, the nefarious tabaxi pirate. It was fairly nondescript as maps go, really just showing a number of dunes stretching off to the north until it reached higher ground. The map had a grid on it for us to presumably plot out our path through these dunes.

By mistake, the DM accidentally sent some stuff from the GM Layer (which players can't see) to the Map Layer (which players can see). Said stuff included a bunch of numbers showing keyed map locations, some of which were repeated and others unique, plus a dotted line showing what was presumably a safe, circuitous route through the dunes to the location we were trying to find.

We let the DM know about the mistake and he dropped the numbers and path back down to the GM Layer so we couldn't see it anymore. But at that point, we were pretty sure were already knew the best path to take. Still, we had to make a decision in the face of this to play on.

So what would you do here as a player and DM?

 

[Tonguez]

As DM Id move the numbers around and change the safe path, as players Id presume my ancestors had sent a vision and roll with it

 

[Celebrim]

As with most cases of metagaming, the fault lies with the DM. The DM should be very upfront about that and apologize. The player's cannot 'unknow' what they now know, and it would be entirely wrong for the DM to try to force them not to use the information he's accidently revealed however they like.

In this case, if I were the DM it would depend on whether I'd also give you other information. If this was the only leak, I'd say, "Errr.... sorry about that mistake. I am now quickly sketching out another map. Please proceed normally, because what you just saw is no longer relevant."

Or if that wasn't possible, I'd just shrug it off and let the players do what they wanted with that information knowing that really this is just one scenario and I blew it, not the players.

 

[jayoungr]

I'd probably just say "Oh well, your characters miraculously find the right path on the first try" and move on to the next challenge.

 

[billd91]

I'd consider saying "Those are the tracks of a sand piper who seems to make regular rounds, enough to make a faint trail. What do you do?"

Maybe the players will assume that, because it's a regular trail, it's safe. On the other hand, as a fairly small bird, it may be able to walk right over things that would otherwise be unsafe for a PC. Then, I might have more fun by saying that there's a spot where there are a bunch of lost feathers - as if that sand piper got suddenly snatched up by something bigger and more ornery than itself.

Unless it pulled a Batman TV show and had a big, Lucite sign saying "Safe Path" on the GM's layer, you're working from incomplete info. You can probably presume it was intended to be a safe path, but presumptions have been wrong before. I'd probably throw that change up.

 

[Charlaquin]

As a DM, I would thank the players for pointing out the mistake, apologize, and offer the players the choice: we can take a 6-10 minute break for me to devise a new path and re-arrange the DM layer elements, or just let this challenge go and assume the characters were just lucky enough to guess the safe path on the first try.

As a player, I would ask the DM how they wanted to proceed.

 

[Mistwell]

A situation arose in our Saltmarsh game last week and I'm curious to hear what you would do about it. I'll try to be somewhat vague so as to avoid spoilers, but be advised that some stuff might be given away in this thread. Anyway, here's what happened:

While playing one of the Saltmarsh scenarios on Roll20, the DM had us on an overland map that depicted a beach on which we were landing to pursue some pirates who are led by my character's nemesis, Captain Whiskers, the nefarious tabaxi pirate. It was fairly nondescript as maps go, really just showing a number of dunes stretching off to the north until it reached higher ground. The map had a grid on it for us to presumably plot out our path through these dunes.

By mistake, the DM accidentally sent some stuff from the GM Layer (which players can't see) to the Map Layer (which players can see). Said stuff included a bunch of numbers showing keyed map locations, some of which were repeated and others unique, plus a dotted line showing what was presumably a safe, circuitous route through the dunes to the location we were trying to find.

We let the DM know about the mistake and he dropped the numbers and path back down to the GM Layer so we couldn't see it anymore. But at that point, we were pretty sure were already knew the best path to take. Still, we had to make a decision in the face of this to play on.

So what would you do here as a player and DM?

As a player you should act based on the knowledge the character has, not the knowledge the players have.

But we're human, and that can be difficult to do sometimes.

If it's an issue the players are having trouble getting over, the DM should alter the scenario to deal with it. Just explain to the players that was the original layout, but the DM is changing the layout to make it easier for the players to handle the difficulty of them wanting to act on player knowledge.

And then the DM should pick up an 8 sided die and roll it once (secretly) for random keyed location on the map, assigning locations away from it's current position to each roll of the die (1 = northwest, 2 = north, 3 = northeast, 4 = west, 5 = east, 6 = southwest, 7 = south, 8 = southeast). Whatever result comes up on the die for that keyed location, moving it some appropriate amount in that direction (and adjust accordingly if it's now bumping into another location), until a new safe path can be determined and new locations for each keyed location.

It will be a bit messing and time-consuming, but it shouldn't be too difficult.

 

[ccs]

I wouldnt say anything. I'd just continue to play on as normal. Search the area, decide my characters actions based on what the DM says, etc.
If one of the others led the group around via meta gaming I'd follow. But I wouldn't be the cause of it.

But then I'd be doing that anyways because as a DM I've read/run/used an immense amount of published stuff over the decades.
I'm very good at not revealing what I know as a player.

 

[MNblockhead]

I'd make it the path of some fearsome monster. Something high enough level that the only non-suicide course of action would be to avoid it.

That's why all those other "dangerous" areas are away from that path--the other denizens know enough to keep far from the trail of the Monstrous SeaMcGuffin who goes out with the high-tide.

I wouldn't say anything to the party. Let them start following the path and describe giant footprint, evidence of something huge being dragged from the sand. Trees knocked over.

What might make good monsters?

Maybe it is hatchling dragon turtles making their way from the laying grounds to the ocean. Sure, the party can likely defeat any they come across (though it would still be a challenge), but doing so risks the wrath of mama. Now the party could probably survive an attack by an angry dragon turtle mama just by running away. It would be too slow dragging itself on land. But, how did they get to the island? Mama dragon turtle just smashed their ship apart? How are they going to get off the island with an enraged dragon turtle in the nearby waters?

What I like about this approach, is I have to change very little. Chose one monster and how that path relates to it. If chosen well, its a "mistake" that adds to the game. Also, your players will wonder whether you did that on purpose. They'll be hesitant to rely on "spoilers" in the future, either because they think you are trying to trick them or because they know that you may make a change on the fly to correct it.

 

[Charlaquin]

As a player you should act based on the knowledge the character has, not the knowledge the players have.

But we're human, and that can be difficult to do sometimes.

It’s not just difficult to do, it’s literally impossible. You can choose not to follow the safe path based on the reasoning that your character doesn’t know it’s there. But that’s still acting on the knowledge that it’s there, it’s just doing so in the negative.