Originally Posted by robertthebard
Yes, because no TT session ever had players with a Player Handbook, or any of the other myriad of books aimed specifically at the players, right? You must have to spend a few sessions in a row, just explaining things, since you don't require your players to have resources created specifically to prevent that. You see, the problem with trying to translate your TT experience into a video game is that someone around the table is going to have these reference books. That is specifically what they are for. I wonder, how many interruptions of gameplay does it take before your players are suggesting the new player get X, Y and/or Z books? I've played at tables where you weren't allowed to sit down if you didn't have at least a Player's Handbook.

For rules and rulings, yes, players often have books. For lore and history, no, not so much... in fact, never in the years I've been playing have I ever sat at a table where players have cracked lore books mid session, or paused to read up about a fact of the world they're in that they didn't know - not once.

The DM has done so, certainly... but never the players, and that's an important difference to remain aware of when discussion the transition from table top to video game.

If there is pertinent lore about the world, the figures in it, or the situation that it behoves players to know, and they don't, or that it is meaningful for their characters to know, and they would, then smoothly making sure that that information is understood by the people that it ought to be understood by is the role of the DM; it's a very large part of their job running the game, in fact. A DM that runs an adventure in a setting, but gives the players no information about that setting, and expects them to know about it, or else to read up about it in their own time, without being prepared to weave the sharing of the relevant information into the game space during the session is, I am terribly sorry to say, a very shitty DM.

At the table, a situation might look like this:

Quote
(DM) The rune fits, and even though you can't really make heads or tentacles about the oddly squishy console, you're pretty sure you've done something right. A moment, later, you see lines of power pulse between the console, and the pod next to it, and the warding runes dim, then go out. The emergency release gives way with a hiss, and the pod begins to open, ejecting an exhausted-looking figure onto the deck of the ship in front of you... (Jane, if you'd like to describe your character..?)

(Shadowheart's Player) So, um, you see... [player-given description follows] ... and I try to catch myself as I climb out, but it totally doesn't work, and I just tumble out and sprawl completely in a heap. You probably hear a very unlady-like curse from the ground.

(Gale's Player, amidst group chuckles) I'm going to help her up... "Easy there. You're safe, well, as safe as one can be, at least, while one is escaping from an Illithid nautiloid as it plunges out of control through the hells while being beset by Githyanki dragons, of course. I take it you would like to escape, yes? I'm Gale. A pleasure to make your rescue."

(Shadow's Player) I wave him off and get up. "I... I thought I was going to die there. Thank you... and I really hope that if you've got the time to flirt, then you've also got a plan for getting us out of here? I'm fine... Call me Shadowheart, but we should move and talk, we don't have any time to waste."

(Gale's Player) (Was I flirting?)
(Shadow's Player) (That was totally flirting)

(Dm, clearing their throat through the giggles) Gale, as you attempt to help Shadowheart to her feet, you eye catches on the circlet she's wearing; it's a diadem of a slender, graceful design, clearly made to display its centrepiece prominently, which looks like-

(Shadowheart's player, quickly) Oh! I wouldn't still be wearing it, would I?

(Dm) Were you wearing it when you were taken?

(Shadow's Player) ....Yeah. Um, could I have tried to snatch it off and hide it when I was climbing out?

(Dm) Hmm... a little late, but okay I'll give you that this time... Give me a slight of hand check; your character's pretty out of it, and if you only thought of that now, then Shadowheart might not have the wherewithal either.

(Shadow's Player) Okay... I'm decent at that... Awww!"
(Dm) hmm?
(Shadow's Player) ... seven.

(DM, double checking Gale's passive perception) Okay, So. Gale, as you're helping her up, you do in fact notice her hurriedly trying to remove and hide the diadem I described before - it's partially because she tries to do so, with a sudden urgency, that you notice it, really.

(Gale's Player) You were about to describe the setting?

(DM) Right. She does whisk the piece of jewellery off and tucks it away before you get a really good look, but in the glimpse that you do get, you're fairly sure that the central focus of the piece was a smooth, flat black disc, devoid of other details.

(Gale's Player) Anything significant about that that I'd know of?

(DM) Sure, give me a religion check.
(Gale's Player) ... seventeen

(DM) So, you do recognise it, or at least, you recognise what it might be. It could just be an innocent piece of jewellery, but a flat black circle like that, as the main feature on a head piece like that? Yeah, that's probably an icon for a deity, and you know which one. Now, Gale, you grew up in Waterdeep, but you've been all over as well and you've learned a lot, especially about the histories of the deities that have anything to do with the weave, so, your mind jumps directly to Shar. A plain black circle, usually bordered in purple but often not, is Shar's symbol, and you know a fair amount about Lady of Loss. You would know that Shar is regarded as the twin sister and opposing force to Selune, the moon-maiden, and that they are both greater deities, and some of the very oldest deities that exist in the realms. Your knowledge begins with the fact that it was the conflict between Selune, who wished to bring light and warmth into the world and to allow Chauntea to coax life as we know it into the world, and Shar, who felt betrayed by what she saw as her sister's attack on the cold and dark - her very essence - which led to the creation of Mystral, and the birth of the weave. Your particular research suggests that particularly favoured followers of Shar are suspected of being able to tapping the shadow weave for their magic instead. Shar and Selune have been in conflict ever since this first schism, all throughout the history of the realms, and for her part, Shar wishes to extinguish all light and warmth, and bring about an end to life as we know it in the multiverse. She's a pretty nasty, dark deity.

(Shadow's player, in good humour) (That's slander!)

(DM, continuing) You know that worship of the evil goddess is viewed in much the same way as worship of any truly evil deity, and worse than many - her followers often resort violent and dark means to forcefully compel others to convert to her following, or break their spirits to the point that they accept her. Few would admit to following or worshipping her openly, unless they intended that you not be able to tell anyone else... Shar herself is known to come to people who are at their lowest and most vulnerable, offering the solace of oblivion when it seems the most appealing, and binding them to her through the forgetting of all else. She's also known as the Dark Lady, the Mistress of Pain and the Goddess of Loss, or sometimes by those speaking more favourably of her, as the Nightsinger.

So, that's what you would know. What you see is just a very nicely made circlet. Your mind immediately jumps to Shar's symbol, and it very well could be that, but you only caught a glimpse, and it could potentially just be an innocuous and unfortunate similarity. You can't be certain.

(Gale's Player) But she did try to hide it suddenly...

(Shadow's Player, rueful giggles, face on desk) (This is off to a good start... gods I'm so bad at this...)
(Gale's Player) (It's fine, I'm sure your creepy goddess will just wipe my memory or something)
(Shadow's Player) (Shut up...)

(Dm) Anyway... Gale, that's what you see. Shadowheart, you manage to hide your circlet, but you're not sure if you got away with it.

(Gale's Player) An interesting piece, don't want to get it dirty, I imagine? Some personal significance, perhaps?
(Shadow's Player, game face back on) I know you rescued me, but that's really none of your business. We have more important things to deal with right now, don't you think? (I grab my pack and other things and start walking... you said there was a... sphincter... north of the console, right?)
(Gale's Players) We shall have to have talk about that later, 'Shadowheart'. For now... If my knowledge of Illithid nautilods serves me correctly, and I'm sure you'll find it does... then we actually need to head this way. The control helms on these are supposedly located above and forward of the central spiral, which unless I miss my guess, we are in the heart of right now...

(DM) As you're saying this, you hear the scamper of small clawed feet in the tunnel you came from before. Another one of those creatures, the walking brains, scuttles into the room - Shadowheart, you've seen one of them moving through the chamber before, but it's worse now that there's not a layer of glass between you and it. Gale, this one is like the rest - it seems to ignore you, and instead runs up to the central console, near the strangely pulsating column in the middle of the room. One tendril whips up and depresses a button, but as it does, the brain flinches back suddenly, shrinking down, and runs in a small circle, seemingly... panicked? A hum of energy flows through the column, but then crackles and seems to burst wild. The figures on the slabs all around you lurch up, moving, though still clearly not properly aware. Each of them begins to scream, and turn milky, unseeing eyes towards you both. You hear a thin series of discordant voices in your minds - yes, you hear it too, Shadowheart. "They are damaged! Broken, not working! They're Wrong! please Stop them..." The little brain backs away a step as these five figures, now on their feet, lurch and flail towards you, still screaming. I'd like you both to roll initiative."

The game is our DM: it is responsible for making sure we have the information we need to understand and enjoy the content that it is presenting; it cannot ask or expect us to go do side research just to understand the story it's letting us explore - if it foists that work onto the player, then it's being a very shitty DM.

Last edited by Niara; 30/10/21 04:39 PM.