Dungeon Funtimes

One of the most unique aspects of roleplaying games is that players aren't just players — they're also characters and audiences. But that means that sometimes, for the sake of the story, that they need to be careful not to let their desires as audience members influence their actions as characters. Metagaming is when a player acts on information their character doesn't have, usually spoiling the fun for the other players. The idea is that since the character is a different person who grew up in a different world and has had unique experiences, there are a lot of things that the character knows that the player doesn’t, and vise versa. I don’t know how to cook a delicious pie, but my 160-year-old half-elven grandma sorcerer Nina does. Likewise, Nina does not own a Monster Manual, and therefore she doesn’t know the challenge rating and vulnerabilities of every evil creature she may meet. OOC talk Some new players get metagaming mixed up with out-of-character talk. Wh...

Sammy the Snek was leading her party on a mission to break into the mayor's mansion and retrieve a ledger proving the mayor is in cahoots with an evil cult. Things seemed to be going pretty well on the way in, but on the way out, the party ran into trouble. They'd chosen to break into the mansion in broad daylight, and several neighbors had seen the party unlock and sneak in through a window. When they came out the same window, the city guard was waiting with an ambush they couldn't roll their way out of. The party was apprehended and thrown in the dungeon. Here's the problem, though: Sammy the Snek is a burglar by trade. She's been breaking into houses for years and has never been caught. Sammy's friends in the city's underbelly are shocked — she should have known better. It just doesn't make sense that Sammy would botch the job with such a rookie mistake. Reverse metagaming In forum discussions of this situation, many people would blame the ...