From the article archive
Personal Knowledge Can Enhance Your Game
Aside from my RPG hobby I’m also a hunter. I not only kill my own food (during the appropriate season of course), but I gut, drag out, skin, clean, bone, wrap, freeze and cook that food myself. While I wouldn’t say that I’m an authority on hunting, I will say that I’ve been doing this for quite a few years and I know a few things about the hunting process that many folks do not.
During a game session not too long ago I was playing a ranger. Our party was out in the wilderness (an area my ranger had never been in before) and our supplies were running low. The GM told us that we needed to do something about the food and water issue soon. The party looked to me as the ranger to get us out of the mess we were in. I looked to the GM and said:
“Well, this isn’t an area I’ve hunted or traveled in before. While I know the type of forest we’re in I don’t know the lay of the land, and I don’t know where any of the water holes or streams are.”
“I’ll use my tracking and woodsman skills to see if I can find a fresh game trail or some sign that water may be nearby. I’ll venture out about a mile or so from camp. If I don’t find enough sign to indicate a lot of animals in the area I suggest we head back the way we came and pick up some more supplies.”
The GM asked me why I wasn’t just hunting for game. “You’re a ranger, you can do that.”
I replied that while yes my ranger was a capable hunter he does not know this area very well. He can’t be certain what the habits of the animals in this area are. I also doubted that we’d find many deer as he GM had told me the oaks we were traveling through had not dropped any acorns yet. We had also been told that this was an old growth forest so I wasn’t certain if there would be enough downed trees to provide the cover that rabbits and other small game enjoyed. There would be some game yes, but not enough to provide for our party of eight as we continued to travel to our goal (a lost tomb in this case).
The GM understood my logic, had me make a few rolls and, luckily, I found freshly cut trees and other marks telling me that loggers were in the area. I got the rest of the party and we made our way to the logging camp to see if we could obtain some food.
Now, in that situation I could easily have told the GM: “As I’m a ranger I can hunt for food. What do I need to roll?” But, I believe it would have been out of character for my ranger.
Note that I said “My ranger.” As I said, I’m a hunter. I have personal knowledge that I can lend to my character to help make him more real and the game itself more interesting. Why not use that knowledge to enhance my gaming experience? I was within the bounds of my character, I didn’t take things too far, my actions added a bit of spice to the game and the GM was still free to do what he needed to do to move the plot along.
Taking things too far is one problem that we have when it comes to player vs. character knowledge. The other problem is doing it out of character.
How do you know if you’ve taken it too far? I’ll continue with my ranger example.
As my ranger I could have gone on and on about the time it takes to track an animal and to get a good shot, or the time it takes to scout and set up a good ambush for taking game. I also could have rambled about the fact that the arrows I had in my quiver were not suited for hunting, or that I didn’t have a proper butchering kit with me so I couldn’t quarter a large animal and that we didn’t have enough salt to help preserve any meat I found or any number of small things that would have added nothing to the adventure.
I tried to just use some of my basic hunting knowledge to give the situation a bit more color. I also used it as an opportunity to get into my character a bit and try to act like a woodsman. As the GM didn’t mind and the other players thought it was well played I feel I was right on the mark that time. The right amount of personal information was used, and it was used at the right time in character.
Using personal information in character is not always easy to do. Lots of folks like to quote laws, rules, and other info whenever they think it would be handy. Not the best idea.
Had I been playing a magic user and someone else had been the ranger in my example above, I would not have said anything if the other player would have simply asked the GM what he needed to roll to find food for the party. I’m not the ranger – I shouldn’t say anything.
Why shouldn’t I say anything? Because now I’m stealing the other player’s spotlight and there is no need to do that. If the player recognizes your real world experience and requests some help from you that’s fine. If you feel the nedd you can offer some pointers out of game, but don’t jump in with “That’s not how X should work.” It’s rude and disruptive.
Same thing goes for if the GM makes an error. No one likes to be made a fool in front of others so even if you know personally that a Ford truck can’t do 175mph up a steep hill, you should let it go instead of spoiling the fun of the high speed chance the characters are in. Pointing out the flaw doesn’t add anything to the game and only results in hurt feelings and ticked off gamers.
If you do feel the need to point of a flaw, make sure that it’s done in character when possible, and done politely. If that is not possible – talk to the person who made the mistake outside of the game. Don’t stop play to say “Normally you couldn’t do that, but we can ignore that for the sake of the game.” Let it go and talk about it after the game session is over. That way the next time a similar situation comes up everyone has learned something and the reality of your game should be stronger for it.
The rule I use is to treat the personal knowledge used in a game as spices used in food. Just enough to add something interesting, but not so much that it overpowers the situation, and never add spice to someone else’s food unless they ask you to.
-Brett J.B.
During a game session not too long ago I was playing a ranger. Our party was out in the wilderness (an area my ranger had never been in before) and our supplies were running low. The GM told us that we needed to do something about the food and water issue soon. The party looked to me as the ranger to get us out of the mess we were in. I looked to the GM and said:
“Well, this isn’t an area I’ve hunted or traveled in before. While I know the type of forest we’re in I don’t know the lay of the land, and I don’t know where any of the water holes or streams are.”
“I’ll use my tracking and woodsman skills to see if I can find a fresh game trail or some sign that water may be nearby. I’ll venture out about a mile or so from camp. If I don’t find enough sign to indicate a lot of animals in the area I suggest we head back the way we came and pick up some more supplies.”
The GM asked me why I wasn’t just hunting for game. “You’re a ranger, you can do that.”
I replied that while yes my ranger was a capable hunter he does not know this area very well. He can’t be certain what the habits of the animals in this area are. I also doubted that we’d find many deer as he GM had told me the oaks we were traveling through had not dropped any acorns yet. We had also been told that this was an old growth forest so I wasn’t certain if there would be enough downed trees to provide the cover that rabbits and other small game enjoyed. There would be some game yes, but not enough to provide for our party of eight as we continued to travel to our goal (a lost tomb in this case).
The GM understood my logic, had me make a few rolls and, luckily, I found freshly cut trees and other marks telling me that loggers were in the area. I got the rest of the party and we made our way to the logging camp to see if we could obtain some food.
Now, in that situation I could easily have told the GM: “As I’m a ranger I can hunt for food. What do I need to roll?” But, I believe it would have been out of character for my ranger.
Note that I said “My ranger.” As I said, I’m a hunter. I have personal knowledge that I can lend to my character to help make him more real and the game itself more interesting. Why not use that knowledge to enhance my gaming experience? I was within the bounds of my character, I didn’t take things too far, my actions added a bit of spice to the game and the GM was still free to do what he needed to do to move the plot along.
Taking things too far is one problem that we have when it comes to player vs. character knowledge. The other problem is doing it out of character.
How do you know if you’ve taken it too far? I’ll continue with my ranger example.
As my ranger I could have gone on and on about the time it takes to track an animal and to get a good shot, or the time it takes to scout and set up a good ambush for taking game. I also could have rambled about the fact that the arrows I had in my quiver were not suited for hunting, or that I didn’t have a proper butchering kit with me so I couldn’t quarter a large animal and that we didn’t have enough salt to help preserve any meat I found or any number of small things that would have added nothing to the adventure.
I tried to just use some of my basic hunting knowledge to give the situation a bit more color. I also used it as an opportunity to get into my character a bit and try to act like a woodsman. As the GM didn’t mind and the other players thought it was well played I feel I was right on the mark that time. The right amount of personal information was used, and it was used at the right time in character.
Using personal information in character is not always easy to do. Lots of folks like to quote laws, rules, and other info whenever they think it would be handy. Not the best idea.
Had I been playing a magic user and someone else had been the ranger in my example above, I would not have said anything if the other player would have simply asked the GM what he needed to roll to find food for the party. I’m not the ranger – I shouldn’t say anything.
Why shouldn’t I say anything? Because now I’m stealing the other player’s spotlight and there is no need to do that. If the player recognizes your real world experience and requests some help from you that’s fine. If you feel the nedd you can offer some pointers out of game, but don’t jump in with “That’s not how X should work.” It’s rude and disruptive.
Same thing goes for if the GM makes an error. No one likes to be made a fool in front of others so even if you know personally that a Ford truck can’t do 175mph up a steep hill, you should let it go instead of spoiling the fun of the high speed chance the characters are in. Pointing out the flaw doesn’t add anything to the game and only results in hurt feelings and ticked off gamers.
If you do feel the need to point of a flaw, make sure that it’s done in character when possible, and done politely. If that is not possible – talk to the person who made the mistake outside of the game. Don’t stop play to say “Normally you couldn’t do that, but we can ignore that for the sake of the game.” Let it go and talk about it after the game session is over. That way the next time a similar situation comes up everyone has learned something and the reality of your game should be stronger for it.
The rule I use is to treat the personal knowledge used in a game as spices used in food. Just enough to add something interesting, but not so much that it overpowers the situation, and never add spice to someone else’s food unless they ask you to.
-Brett J.B.
Recovered from the Gaming Outpost database backup. Original wording is preserved; damaged punctuation and presentation markup have been repaired. Historical links without a local match point to the Internet Archive.