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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Asisreo" data-source="post: 8048592" data-attributes="member: 7019027">That means if the behavior isn't automatic, you need to establish the behavior first. Behind the screen, though, you needn't actually give direct punishments. You can disguise the reward as a punishment until they overcome a challenge but players should walk away glad that they opened the door. It's not about what they know, it's about what they think they know. If they think they know the door isn't supposed to be opened, they'll stop trying. If they think they know that a door is trapped with nothing behind it, why even open it? You don't want to confuse your players, though. It's frustrating being confused and it makes you feel dumb. Now, I don't have a problem with an occasional misdirection, but they shouldn't be misguided often as it feels like they can't trust information and therefore do not have true agency over their decisions. It's not a very voluntary type of exploration. A party that decides doing too much might make their lives harder will randomly guess (most likely the open archway) to see if they can just get to the boss and leave. If they take the wrong turn, they wasted time and resources and are forced to backtrack to try door number 2, then door number 3 until they find the correct door.</blockquote>