Character Knowledge

Don’t waste time with minor details or arguments about character knowledge—find an efficient way to deal with them. Smart players expect their characters to have some basic knowledge about the places they frequent. They also expect their characters to have some ability to lay their hands on information about places they visit.

It is a good idea to prepare reference materials about your world and always keep them on hand. Include things such as geography, climate, political divisions, and similar information that is common knowledge. Likewise, prepare a list of rumors and other easily obtainable information about the current adventure, and pass it around at the beginning of the game. Doing so not only saves time, it also helps make players feel that their characters are part of a living world.

Of course, high-level characters are specialists in their areas of expertise. If the adventure is going to be an in-depth investigation of a new twist on an old spell, the archmage of the party probably knows all about the spell. It’s perfectly understandable that the wizard doesn’t know about the spell’s new use, but common knowledge should be readily available.

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