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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Asisreo" data-source="post: 8049091" data-attributes="member: 7019027">They're coming to these conclusions based on prior knowledge and experience. If the last two doors of the dungeon were booby-trapped nothings, then they'll have the impression that "this lair's boss sure likes trapping doors, how about we just avoid doors? Real-life isn't something I want emulated in my games. Uninformed decisions are just guesses that make players feel like everything is happening not due to their choices but due to how the DM wants to punish or reward a guess. They're basically rolling the dice in talking form, who knows what may happen? It's generally not fun since lack of understanding to what your actions will do mean you lack the ability to feel like your actions have ever mattered. Personally, I don't mind the punishments for explorations but I surveyed my players and they unanimously agreed what the weaker parts of exploration is: being frequently punished for doing anything. Objectively, they got more rewards than punishments from me by miles but they remember negatives more than positives and a bitter moment can make a sweet session bittersweet at best. So I began implementing continuous rewards for doing almost anything. These rewards range from physical rewards like magic items and treasure, to worldbuilding rewards like lore or history, to metagame rewards like inspiration or extra exp. Sometimes, I'll throw a punishment or two to throw them off from thinking I'd never punish them for exploring but I quickly give them a greater reward for dealing with the punishment, making it seem worth it. If I want to challenge them intellectually, I'll give them a riddle written down so they can use their brains, but more often, my players aren't there to feel like they're taking logic exams every 5 minutes or they have to solve a new game of sudoku every time. Likewise, my players aren't here to continuously play chess against a grandmaster tactician that can predict everyone's moves, most combats are interesting but with a large margin of error so that everyone can shine equally. Because all my players come to the table just to have fun, nothing much more to it than that. Some of my players like these dark-souls level of challenge but I don't want to have the casual players stop having a good time just to specifically cater to that specific player.</blockquote>

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