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View Full Version : DM Help Conveying information to players at the right time?



GoblinGilmartin
2014-10-26, 11:59 PM
I was hoping to get some input from other DMs on this one.

How do you convey information to your players? It's the most basic question, almost akin to "what tense do I write this story in". It's a matter of opinion at times.
To clarify: Say I have an unfamiliar place or concept I want to explain to my players, without them making too many assumptions.

For conversations sake, I'll use my homebrew settings Half-Goblins. One way to approach this... "as you arrive at the assigned meeting place, you find your contact. A thin man with blonde hair, a long nose and pale skin the color of green olives".

How would you put it? Would you out right add "he is a half-goblin" to the end of that explanation? Or would you wait until your players asked for specific information?

Sorry if this is hard to follow. I'm a little buzzed...

DireSickFish
2014-10-27, 12:09 AM
It's nice to have players ask questions about concepts you want to explain. But odds are they are going to glaze over a lot of worldbuilding stuff. They may latch onto something and try to find out answers but it's difficult to know what that will be. If you want to drop information that the PC's would know in character but the players don't then just tell them about it right away as something they'd be familiar with. If it's a new concept then have an NPC tell them about it. If it's information the badguys have then have a convenient journal setting about because odds are they are going to kill them and not ask to many questions.

Kelb_Panthera
2014-10-27, 12:12 AM
Depends on the information. With your example, unless half-goblins are particularly rare I'd probably state it outright that the contact was one such creature. After all, race is -usually- a plainly discernible characteristic of a humanoid creature unless they're a rare breed or you're a rube.