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Message: <blockquote data-quote="iserith" data-source="post: 8826567" data-attributes="member: 97077">I don't run as many one-shots with pickup groups as I used to, but lots of players would play games they'd already played. Some aspects of the game change because I base some of my design on random charts and such, but the bulk of it remains the same. These players just wanted to check out places they didn't explore in previous games or run the same areas with a different character. Once I had a group who had all played through one of my dungeons before, but decided to go in again as Small-sized characters as there was a whole section of the dungeon accessible only by Small creatures. I even encouraged players to build optimal characters for a given specific scenario and have at it again.Not once was this is an issue. Sometimes they'd share prior knowledge with the group and sometimes they didn't. Nobody cared because everyone was having a blast and "player knowledge vs. character knowledge" made little to no impact on that. People did what they wanted.Getting back to the original topic, as DMs, we reap what we sow. If the DM creates the conditions for "metagaming" to be the optimal choice, it should hardly be a surprise when it happens in my view. So, if you don't like "metagaming," or just want to have a variety of flourishes for narrating the result of a failed ability check, consider the following:Narrate with "progress combined with a setback" instead of saying "You don't find anything" after a failed check. They found something, but not the important thing that could have been found, and not nothing."Progress combined with a setback" also works here - the trap is disarmed, but your thieves' tools are ruined in the process. Or it ends up making a lot of noise and draws in a wandering monster. Or, alternatively, your attempt to disarm the trap sets it off.The easy way to handle this is to just say that no determination either way can be made (same as telling a lie from the truth). It's not terribly exciting, and may instigate the skill dogpile, but again, the DM decides who rolls ability checks and who doesn't, not the players. Alternatively, "progress combined with a setback" reveals that the flowers are poisonous and, oops, now you're poisoned.Ask the rogue's player what the result of their death saving throw looks like to the other characters so as to establish some kind of reasonable way they may know how they are doing.It's good to remember, in my view, that when we point the finger at someone who is "metagaming," there are three more pointing back at us.</blockquote>

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