"My Character Would Know That"

Reynard said:

What's your take? Do you expect the GM to inform the player when they are making a bad plan that differs from what the GM expects the PC to know? Or should the GM adjust to fit what the player believes their character should know to be a solid plan?

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As a general rule, I expect the GM to tell the player they're making a bad plan if their character would know better. Years ago I was running Trail of Cthulhu, and the PC threatened a mid level mob boss with an arrest if he didn't cooperate. I took a time out to explain the PC would know such a threat would not work in this case. Such a threat might work on a low level hood, but not on this guy, so come up with another threat or another way to convince him to give you the information.

You're on a thread creating roll, my friend. These are dynamite.

MGibster said:

As a general rule, I expect the GM to tell the player they're making a bad plan if their character would know better. Years ago I was running Trail of Cthulhu, and the PC threatened a mid level mob boss with an arrest if he didn't cooperate. I took a time out to explain the PC would know such a threat would not work in this case. Such a threat might work on a low level hood, but not on this guy, so come up with another threat or another way to convince him to give you the information.

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Hmm. Is there a reason why the character would know this but not the player?

MGibster said:

You're on a thread creating roll, my friend. These are dynamite.

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Thanks.

Reynard said:

Hmm. Is there a reason why the character would know this but not the player?

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The character was a New York police detective while the player worked in health insurance.

overgeeked said:

Maybe don't start from the assumption that the referee is a jerk who's out to get you.

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Isn't that what skilled play is???

MGibster said:

The character was a New York police detective while the player worked in health insurance.

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Mostly I was curious if it was a known fact about that specific NPC.

MichaelSomething said:

Isn't that what skilled play is???

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No.

overgeeked said:

For example, you don't have a flint and steel because someone forgot to buy it. But, if you happen to have a spyglass you can hold it over tinder and kindling to start a fire. That's skilled play. A very, very basic example, yes.

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I think this might be an example of player knowledge surpassing character knowledge

Committed Hero said:

I think this might be an example of player knowledge surpassing character knowledge

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Not really - anyone who uses a spyglass regularly would know its hazards, and turning them into a useful feature would be a small step.

Beyond that, though, that's kind-of the definition of skilled play, as I understand it - using personal ingenuity to solve problems in unusual ways with the resources at hand.

Committed Hero said:

I think this might be an example of player knowledge surpassing character knowledge

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Skilled play, as I understand it, does not differentiate between the two.

I will never even hint that a player is making a bad decision or a mistake or doing something unwise. After all, if I did, I would just be doing it 99% of the time. And that would not make for a fun game.

A good half of all player just play any character as themselves. And most of the rest that try a bit, don't put all that much effort into it. And they only remember to mention their character when they need to try and exploit something or try and backtrack something. Or try and cover their own mistakes, foolishness or just not paying attention.

Only a rare few play their character all the time.

A typical character from a typical fantasy world would know a ton that a typical player from 2024 would not know. Even more so the D&D era of like 1300 AD vs 2024. Plus you have city vs country. As a Country person myself, I have hundreds of skills city people don't have. And most of them are the same skills that a person in 1300 ish would have had: hunting, fishing, and general survival off the land. People from cities and suburbs often don't have such skills. So when role playing, if you know things for 'real' you can use it in the game.

And beyond this goes just common sense. Where a lot of typical characters would never, ever do or fall for anything the typical character does.

A character is often just played as a bit of a 'ideal' version of the player. So what does a super smart wizard character do on a night? Well, they go to a run down low life bar and want to get into a ;cool' bar fight...as this is what the player fantasies about doing. It's not exactly what a tyoical super smart wizard would do....but then it does take all kinds to make a world. So you can have smart wizard that love to drink and bar fight.....as it is cool to them.

So as the DM you can't tell the player "no your character is too smart to go to a bar and start a bar fight as he thinks it's so cool. It's not cool....it's dumb".

So like an hour of game play later, when the wizard character is arrested for mass murder....as he was 'so cool' he slaughtered folk in the cool bar fight....the player can't then say "wait, my character is too smart to be arrested for this." And that might be true....for the smart wizards that stayed home and read a book, no the wizard trowing a drink in an orcs face and saying "you want a piece of me bub!"