After playing the starter edition as a DM, a player that I was playing with wanted to give DMing a shot and asked me to join him. And I happily did.
We are now 2 sessions in and I have noticed a problem. I know everything.
Since I DMed the adventure myself I know every nook and cranny of it and it is influencing how I play. I know where to go, where the monsters are, where there are traps, what to ask certain NPCs and I noticed that I am very much meta-gaming. And not only I have noticed it but my DM has asked me to "Pretend to not know everything".
I have already tried to be fully in character but with players that are not really (or at least struggling) into RP and a character that is a lot like me I find it hard to pretend I don't know things.
How can I play a published adventure and get into character without letting my knowledge from DMing the adventure influence my play?
Best Answer
Take a back seat
While this might be hard to implement advice when you're already a few sessions in, the best thing would be to play a character who does not wish to lead or make decisions. This does not mean the character has to be passive: They will help out the group, gather information and offer advice. But they will never have the last word in any discussion.
This way, the players who don't already know how the adventure goes are the ones steering and making the major decisions. They get to make the bad decisions and mistakes that will make this adventure their personal story instead of just an optimized run bypassing all traps with ease.
Agree with your GM on ways to help you re-integrate your meta-knowledge. Do things like ask him for skill checks (like Perception or similar) before telling the others there is a monster down that path, and make sure to formulate those things from an in-character perspective.
Yes, this will require extremely rigid self-discipline, to not even groan when the group goes down a wrong path. Unfortunately, that's what you've to some extent signed up for right now. If you can't do that, and can't find enjoyment in being surprised at the antics of your other group members, the other option is basically:
Take a break
Tell your group that you will skip the sessions as long as they're running that adventure. This might mean not coming to the roleplay at all, or it might mean just being there as an observer, but not playing a character.
This might sound extreme, but consider this (hypothetical) rationally: You don't seem to be having unadulterated fun running an adventure you know while metagaming. But not metagaming requires mental effort that also gets in the way of fun. Since either way, you're not having fun, the old adage of "No roleplay is better than bad roleplay" advises sitting this one out.
And your GM and other players will probably not begrudge you that decision. The GM's comment shows that their fun gets affected by your issue, and I wouldn't be surprised if the other players are affected as well. If there is one player who knows how this goes, there might appear little reason for them to roleplay: After all, any course of action your character suggests will be the right one.