Help, how do I determine what is or isn’t common player character knowledge in a fantasy world?
For example, do I assume that every PC knows that Trolls hate fire and regenerate? What about lycanthropes and silver? How to make a proper offering to a fey creature? How to build and use siege weapons?
So far I’ve been asking “Ok, tell us how you know” and then calling for Spout Lore. But there seems to be an opinion in the group that a lot of knowledge should be freely given.
How do you handle this? Where do you draw the line? Am I being too stingy with knowledge?
Sometimes, just take a second and ask, “so, what rumors have you heard about the mischievous fey?”
Adam Koebel talked about this recently, let me dig it up.
t was here: https://plus.google.com/100891656436184215243/posts/KGX4An38pmW
One thing to do, I don’t know, is disclaim decision making. Is that in the book? If you don’t know, aren’t sure how to make the decision, you can do a few things…
1 ) Turn to the players (as Giovanni Lanza has said)
2 ) Turn to dice (a good trick I use is assign a rough percentage, so, there’s a 1 in 3 chance they know, a 1 in 6 chance they know)
3 ) Turn to your prep and previous games (so, are fey rare in your world? mysterious? then not much is known about them)
4 ) Turn to the character’s background (a druid or wizard or cleric of secrets is much more likely to know about mysterious fey than, say, an ex-farming fighter)
5 ) Turn to the characters moves (I don’t know, does the bard have a knowing stuff move? I think so)
And finally, if all of that fails, you can fall back to the method you already use, which is to let them use this basic move.
I don’t tell my players anything without a reason. My games always involve characters that are just starting their life of adventure (zero to hero) so there isn’t a lot of “well GM my guy knows this because he had this amazingly experience filled life before he joined up with the party” issues. I lay out a few ground rules when we begin so everybody is on the same page:
1. I will prep for sessions by preparing new monsters, location ideas, interesting situations, and generally some adventure hooks. They exist to propel adventure. No hard details are nailed down until the information is introduced at the table. I prefer a cooperative narrative approach which means I will introduce information and we’ll tackle the finer details through me asking you questions.
2. If you would like to introduce a fact into the world, then use Spout Lore. Anytime you want to be creative or leave your wacky mark on the world around you, Spout that Lore. Use it as much or as little as you like.
3. Feel free to ask me questions about anything. I am your senses in the fictional world. If you want to know something that your senses could tell you, ask and I will answer truthfully. If you want to know something beyond your senses capabilities, ask and I will either answer or have you roll DR or SL.
I try to get my players involved in the world and comfortable with introducing new information that defines it. By limiting what I simply give away I am able to increase their level of personal investment. This can lead to greater immersion and overall higher levels of fun.
But for all of this…
“For example, do I assume that every PC knows that Trolls hate fire and regenerate? What about lycanthropes and silver? How to make a proper offering to a fey creature? How to build and use siege weapons? “
I would say most people don’t know it without good reason. They might know lycanthropes and silver, that might be common. I don’t know.
1) Ask questions.
2) Spout Lore
3) Make shit up and just tell the PCs.
In that order.
Also remember that asking questions can make Spout Lore unnecessary. If trolls routinely steal livestock, our farmer-Fighter shouldn’t need a Spout Lore any more than he would to plant crops. Conversely, an ivory-tower academic Wizard who says “It was in one of my textbooks” is in Spout Lore territory. (Corollary: don’t give Wizards all the freebies)
Anything folklore-y also should be Spout Lore material. Vampires are the perfect Real World example. We’ve heard a million stories about them, but the particulars (garlic, crosses, transformations, crossing water, counting, etc.) vary by tale and should be treated as unreliable. Hearing stories a lot doesn’t mean they’re accurate.
I tend to be pretty generous with information provided it is reasonable that the characters would know it. Unless, of course not knowing something is more interesting fiction-wise.