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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Chaosmancer" data-source="post: 8375570" data-attributes="member: 6801228">Okay, but at that point the "pillar of exploration" is just the DM telling the story. All those questions you asked about the room are great, that can lead to good stories, but there is no pillar here to engage with. The question of "What is behind the Iron Door?" exists as soon as you introduce the iron door, but if the answer is as easily found as opening the door... then while it was a fun mystery for 30 seconds, it isn't offering anything. I can't engage with it beyond the storytelling. I'm not sure how best to explain it, but if your point is that you can't "succeed" in exploration because the challenges aren't the point... then you are just enforcing Hussar's point. We skip the challenges because not only can they be trivially solved, they aren't even the point of the exercise.I've actually encountered this a lot. I've had to tell DMs "Okay, we search every room in the house thoroughly, what do we find" because they put us in a house with clues and nothing else to do except search it. And... why would I bother saying "okay, I search the bookcase thoroughly. Okay, then I'll search the chest thoroughly. Okay, then I'll search the dresser thoroughly". I'm just going through the motions, trying to say the right thing to be allowed to find what we are looking for. Actually, even worse sometimes. I'll say something like "I'll go investigate the desk" and the DM will tell me that I find a book on the desk... then stop and stare at me. And after a few seconds I need to say "I pick up the book and try reading it." There isn't exactly anything else for me to do with the information that I found a book except try to see what it is, so why do I have to specify that. And then one of two things happens. 1) They tell me the information in the book. Meaning that they could have simply skipped me saying I picked it up to just tell me what was in it. 2) It blows up. And boy don't I have egg on my face for falling for an exploding book trap. I'm done 15 health and have wasted time doing nothing. Engaging in the information can be interesting, that can lead to decisions, but just blindly searching a room, hoping to find something isn't engaging. It is just point and click until I get to the part that is engaging.</blockquote>

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