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Tell, Don't Show

by Mike on 12 February 2024

"Most readers are in trouble about half the time."

E.B. White

In 1990, Elizabeth Newman at Stanford University earned her PhD with an experiment. She had one participant tap out the rhythm of a popular song with their fingers while the other participant tried to guess what it was.

The tappers expected that 50% of the time respondents would be able to guess the song. It was actually 2.5%.

We GMs build rich worlds in our heads. We think through complex situations. We imagine NPCs living their lives, villains moving through their plots, vast dungeons buried beneath ancient mountains, and monsters lurking in the depths.

We do our best to describe these worlds and situations and adjudicate the results of the actions of the characters to our players. We love to imagine that the world we've built in our heads is the same one living in the heads of our players.

It's not.

Players understand about half of what we describe to them.

For a video on this topic, watch my Tell, Don't Show YouTube video.

A lot of the time, players don't really grab what's going on and we see this manifest in lots of ways.

Players don't realize the danger of their situation.
Players miss a potential quest hook they'd be interested in.
Players misinterpret an NPC's motivation or mannerisms.
Players grab onto a piece of lore thinking it's a main quest when it's not.
Players go after a minor villain and ignore the major one.
Players make a poor choice on where to defend or where to rest.
Players miss an obvious safe path and follow a more dangerous one.
Players fully expect a trap when it's perfectly safe.
Players think a location is perfectly safe when it's obviously trapped.

Don't Hold Your Cards Too Close

Many DMs hold back information, thinking it's too much to tell players what's going on. They think it should be a surprise or the players need to say the right words to get the information they need. They think telling too much is leading the players or taking agency away from them.

But, when we realize players aren't always grasping the situation, we should put those cards on the table. Explain the situation. Reiterate things we think we've already said. Repeat ourselves. Emphasize what's important to understand.

The Players Are Not Their Characters

The characters in our games are full-time adventurers. They have eyes and ears and fingers most of the time. They're there in the situation. Our players are not. Players aren’t adventurers. Their lives aren't on the line. They're busy people with lives and jobs and families sitting at our table for an evening of fun. They're not really seeing what's going on the same way their characters are. Don't assume players understand what's going on.

Help players see what their characters see. If a player makes a bonehead decision, don't punish them for it. Reinforce what their character sees and what their character knows. Assume their character acts appropriately for their experience and their place in the world.

Assume players aren't grabbing what you're describing and help them out.

Tell, Don't Show

Sometimes, instead of waxing colorful metaphors, just tell players what's going on. Here are some situations where it might make sense.

A monster is clearly out of the characters' league.
A monster is legendary and has legendary resistances.
What happened the turn before in combat impacts the situation surrounding the character now.
The characters exhausted all of the information they're going to get from an NPC.
The characters thoroughly checked a room for traps, secrets, and treasure.
A character will provoke an opportunity attack if they move.
The three paths that stand in front of the characters.
The characters' current goal in the area they're exploring.
The characters don't have the item they need to progress further.
The characters learned everything they can about a new magic item.
When the characters act on a misunderstanding or follow a red herring too far.

Many of these things may seem obvious. You've given them the signs. You've seeded the secrets. And yet they're not grabbing on.

Just tell them.

Tell Them Colorfully

We don't have to fully break character when we tell them what's going on. We can keep our flowery narrative. Here are some in-world ways to make it clear to the players what's going on:

Looking at Xartherex the Balor, you are confident that this foe is beyond any of you.
Behold! You face Hellmaw, the legendary ancient red dragon.
After a thorough search, you are confident you've learned everything you can in this room.
After careful study, you are confident you've learned everything you can about this magic sword.
Study as you might, you can't get your head around these runes. You think only another primer or a more learned sage can help you.
After a thorough examination, you don't believe spell, lock pick, or the mightiest hammer swing will break this massive door.

Feel free to keep your language colorful and stay in the world but state clearly what the characters know, or should know, about the situation. Give players the information they need to have fun.

Tell players what's going on.

More Sly Flourish Stuff

Last week I posted a couple of YouTube videos on Fantasy RPG Adventure Structures and Stuck Between a Gelatinous Cube and Two Air Elementals– Shadowdark Gloaming Session 20 Lazy GM Prep.

Last Week's Lazy RPG Talk Show Topics

Each week I record an episode of the Lazy RPG Talk Show (also available as a podcast) in which I talk about all things in tabletop RPGs. Here are last week's topics with time stamped links to the YouTube video:

Patreon Questions and Answers

Also on the Talk Show, I answer questions from Sly Flourish Patrons. Here are last week's questions and answers:

RPG Tips

Each week I think about what I learned in my last RPG session and write them up as RPG tips. Here are this week's tips:

Pool damage in one tally for large groups of monsters. Each time it has enough damage to kill a monster, remove the last monster hit.
Roll once for several attacks or saves for large numbers of monsters. Choose a number of rolls and divide total damage by the number of rolls.
For quick skirmishes, go around the table or alphabetically instead of rolling for initiative.
Ask players to describe new features to the group when they level up.
Let characters build their own safe haven for resting even in the darkest dungeons.
Feeling overwhelmed? Boil your next session down to its most necessary elements: a strong start, a map, some monsters, and some discoveries.
Improvise monsters with core stats and an interesting feature or two.