[RPG] Making relaying information less awkward

gm-techniquesmetagamingnew-playerspathfinder-1eplayer-communication

I recently started DMing for a group of friends that are new to pathfinder. Combat and group conversations went well, but after having the characters roll perception for what they see or after splitting up to search different places they got upset when I tried explaining that their character didn't know the information another knows. Eventually they accepted it but listening to them relay information from me to the others is noticeably awkward and basically ends up being them saying "what he said".

How can I make the exchange less awkward, preferably without getting rid of it completely?

Best Answer

The traditional answer to this is, "Write it down and pass a note." In the 21st century, I might change that to, "Send a text." Of course, nothing prevents your players from passing the note around amongst themselves, or reading it aloud. In some circumstances, "Take one player aside and talk to him or her."

However, I think you might be asking two or more related questions at once; even if not, it's worth thinking about the cases where this sort of explicit information relay is necessary or useful.

  1. Friendly, cooperative characters, all in the same place, relaying fairly mundane information. (I think of this as a default case in dungeon-crawly games, but it need not be.)

    In this case, is there anything to be gained by this added layer of "realism"?

  2. Circumstances where communication is possible, but either difficult, error-prone or dangerous. For instance, if the characters are planning a sneak attack.

    In this case, there is clearly something to be gained—a sense of tension, an additional degree of difficulty or challenge, etc. But the situation itself presents a solution: Simply point out that for every act of communication, you're going to roll perception checks as appropriate for the targets. Then, actually do it.

    If they're still meta-gaming inappropriately, pass notes or send texts or make the perception checks for the implied communication that the players aren't role-playing.

  3. Circumstances where communication is just impossible, due to separation.

    If simply telling them not to meta-game is impossible, you might take one player (or the separated group) aside for a few minutes and handle them, then let them rejoin the main group.

    I personally find this cumbersome, and probably your players will, too. It is possible that after a few instances, you can ease up and say, "Okay, let's assume I'm taking these two aside..." after you've gotten them in the right mindset with stricter methods.

  4. Circumstances where players have legitimate cross-purposes.

    This one can be tricky even for well-intentioned players. I occasionally have trouble with it myself, as a player rather than a GM. It is, in my opinion, something of a skill—it's mildly difficult to consistently act as though you do not know something for an extended period of time, but if these pieces of non-knowledge accumulate, it can be hard to keep track of it all.

    (This is in contrast to the other situations, which seem to me to be much shorter-term. I find that much easier.)

    After a few sessions with any given group of players, I like to think I have a sense for what their hot buttons and their potentially opposing agendas are. (After all, as the GM, I probably helped set them up!) And so I often use that insight to guess when a private note might be appropriate, and if it's necessary.

Ultimately, though, these are tools to regulate the information flow, and remind the players to take part in that regulation. These tools don't necessarily make the process less awkward if these techniques are used constantly.