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<blockquote data-quote="Jer" data-source="post: 8570146" data-attributes="member: 19857">I'm going to make a controversial statement - I don't think you can. I think players need to know the ground expectations of the game they're playing in order to engage with it appropriately.&nbsp; They need that level of metagame knowledge in order to just know what the expectations are and what they should be trying to do. Say you're playing what we might think is the opposite of the Wilds Beyond Witchlight in an adventure format - a complete sandbox game where the GM is expecting the players to decide what to do and where to go and is going to improvise from their choices to a large degree.&nbsp; There are no adventure hooks per se, just places like a tavern where the PCs can go to hear rumors, some other areas in town that they can go to try to chat up locals, and some sites on a map that the GM has for their own use that are the &quot;fixed&quot; encounters that the PCs might stumble across. But you as a GM aren't going to be presenting them with opportunities, they need to go find them.If you don't tell the players that's the kind of game you are running they are probably going to be lost with how to engage with the game (unless that's the type of game they usually play).&nbsp; They have to have some level of meta-game knowledge to know that they should be looking for their own adventures.&nbsp; Even back when I ran the game that way when I was younger, new people picking up the game had to be told what the game was in order to be able to engage with it.&nbsp; That's metagame knowledge sure, but it's something I don't think you can do without in a TTRPG. Or at least if you do you're probably going to be a lot more frustrated with it than if you just had it explained up front.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Jer, post: 8570146, member: 19857"] I'm going to make a controversial statement - I don't think you can. I think players need to know the ground expectations of the game they're playing in order to engage with it appropriately. They need that level of metagame knowledge in order to just know what the expectations are and what they should be trying to do. Say you're playing what we might think is the opposite of the Wilds Beyond Witchlight in an adventure format - a complete sandbox game where the GM is expecting the players to decide what to do and where to go and is going to improvise from their choices to a large degree. There are no adventure hooks per se, just places like a tavern where the PCs can go to hear rumors, some other areas in town that they can go to try to chat up locals, and some sites on a map that the GM has for their own use that are the "fixed" encounters that the PCs might stumble across. But you as a GM aren't going to be presenting them with opportunities, they need to go find them. If you don't tell the players that's the kind of game you are running they are probably going to be lost with how to engage with the game (unless that's the type of game they usually play). They have to have some level of meta-game knowledge to know that they should be looking for their own adventures. Even back when I ran the game that way when I was younger, new people picking up the game had to be told what the game was in order to be able to engage with it. That's metagame knowledge sure, but it's something I don't think you can do without in a TTRPG. Or at least if you do you're probably going to be a lot more frustrated with it than if you just had it explained up front. [/QUOTE]

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