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<blockquote data-quote="Maxperson" data-source="post: 7378295" data-attributes="member: 23751">That's not entirely accurate.&nbsp; I would already have told them about the flagstones on the floor, so I've taken care of my duty to inform them.&nbsp; Since I'm not rushing them from place to place, they would have every opportunity to say, &quot;I examine the flagstones near me to see if one is raised or uneven.&quot;&nbsp; Since there's no way in hell that I pre-authored the individual flagstones, I'd tell them okay, fine, and set a DC so that they can find out the answer.&nbsp; With the intersection, it's not a matter of scale so much as a matter of change. As I mentioned above, I would tell them if the flagstone passage turned into a smooth cave like floor.&nbsp; Similarly, when going down a passageway, an intersection represents a change in the environment that I would alert them to.The problem I have is that if they don't get the &quot;front porch&quot; scene, then unless the players are expected to declare all manner of moves in advance about what might possibly happen, the DM is railroading the players through places by making decisions for the PCs.&nbsp; If they are expected to declare those moves in advance, the game becomes a giant game of chess where you have to stop the momentum of the game so that the players can strategize about every situation they might encounter and give the DM a plan.&nbsp; That wastes a bunch of time on things that the players won't ever encounter.&nbsp; Most of the possibilities won't turn out to be the true situation.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Maxperson, post: 7378295, member: 23751"] That's not entirely accurate. I would already have told them about the flagstones on the floor, so I've taken care of my duty to inform them. Since I'm not rushing them from place to place, they would have every opportunity to say, "I examine the flagstones near me to see if one is raised or uneven." Since there's no way in hell that I pre-authored the individual flagstones, I'd tell them okay, fine, and set a DC so that they can find out the answer. With the intersection, it's not a matter of scale so much as a matter of change. As I mentioned above, I would tell them if the flagstone passage turned into a smooth cave like floor. Similarly, when going down a passageway, an intersection represents a change in the environment that I would alert them to. The problem I have is that if they don't get the "front porch" scene, then unless the players are expected to declare all manner of moves in advance about what might possibly happen, the DM is railroading the players through places by making decisions for the PCs. If they are expected to declare those moves in advance, the game becomes a giant game of chess where you have to stop the momentum of the game so that the players can strategize about every situation they might encounter and give the DM a plan. That wastes a bunch of time on things that the players won't ever encounter. Most of the possibilities won't turn out to be the true situation. [/QUOTE]

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