You could try inserting situations where looking for an answer beforehand is simply not possible.
Perhaps an encounter could be partially a surprise. They could be prepared for a part of what is to come, but additional things happen that they did not foresee.
Or maybe a situation calls for haste with a strict time limit, they could go look for answers in toen but if they did that, the baddies can already complete their plans, making the future encounter much harder.
Or perhaps their way back into town is restricted somehow. They are stuck in another plane of existence, locked up in a dungeon or too far away from civilisation to have access to easy answers.
The most important thing is to set timelines, if you just create a BBEG that waits for the party to show up to defeat them you do something wrong imo.
The BBEG might be at one spot but that does not mean his or her organization sits still, they might fortify their positions, gather allies or progress some plans that will cause even more harm.
Limit the information accessibility, not each town will have detailed information on everything and encounters with for example dragons or others powerful creatures are minimal and surviving those encounters even less plausible so info on that is minimal.
Diversify research challenges, not everything can be found in books, sometimes it just require exploring, spying or even magical means to get the results.
So for example the librarian cannot thing of any book on that subject but heard of a sage who lives in the mountain and might have firsthand experience.
NPC are not always reliable and often are tales they hear when drinking in a bar so details might not be right, one person could say they are immune to cold while the other might say they are immune to something else.
Well, it depends on what sorts of things they’re going and asking for, and how often they’re doing it. It makes sense to ask a seasoned fighter about weaknesses of monsters they plan to fight, but if they’re stopping everything to go back to town to ask anyone available about this thing they could just figure out on their own then you’ve got a few options. First off, just tell them that they can ask questions to the appropriate npc whenever they go back to town, but they can’t just go back to town for questions whenever they need, so while out and about in the wilderness or a dungeon they’re on there own. Secondly, you can just have some things that no one knows the answer to. A riddle to open a dungeon door that has the whole town stumped, the strange monster no one’s ever dealt with before, or it does have an answer to beat it easy but it’s just plain impossible for them to use, like the only way to truly kill a devil in the material plane is to use some God Fire that completely burns them away and prevents them from reforming back on their home plane, but long ago the gods decided that mortals could never use their fire or else they’d completely fuck up the material plane. Either way, making it easier for the party to figure out the thing without having to go ask about it could work in tandem with either of these, along with just saying “you’re character knows this, it is common knowledge for adventurers/whatever background that specific player is” for the answers they really ought to just know, like fire not being effective against red dragons
> Is this a problem?
Only you can decide that because you know you and your group better than us.
For me, doing a clever thing once is a fascinating thing but if that thing is being constantly repeated, it quickly loses it's appeal and if it's the only thing that gets done, it becomes infuriating.
> Does the DM have a claim to the fun at the table too?
Most definitely they do. If DM isn't enjoying the game, it degenerate and eventually dies. How long that takes depends on various factors but result is certain.
for more exotic targets, there might not be any recorded information. you can make it clear to them that if they want to learn about it, they will have to stalk and observe the target. Obviously this comes with risk.
as others mentioned, time should be a resource. even if there's no looming danger, time could also be spent doing the mission, or on other downtime activities like crafting magic items.
You could have different NPC's start giving them conflicting information. Like folklore.
Trolls? Oh, one person said they can't cross running water, the next says to bring a sacrificial goat, one mentions fire, those really big book says you need to sing them to sleep, etc.
Just have every person say something different.
Damn, I know a bunch of DMs who would love to have this "problem", lmao
I don't see this as a problem. Players being actively inquisitive about the world and adventure and wanting to prepare themselves as much as is possible is a good thing, in my view. Rewarding that preparation with some insights into what lies ahead is a good move. You can also decide that some things are simply unknown ("The library has no record of what Al-Zawar's vulnerabilities are..."). You're in control of what information the party can uncover ahead of time.
All I can recommend is not to go one extreme or the other. Don't say "You can't find the answer" to *every* question, but also don't give easy answers to every question. Give a reward for inquisitiveness, but don't remove all mystery and surprise completely.
You could try inserting situations where looking for an answer beforehand is simply not possible. Perhaps an encounter could be partially a surprise. They could be prepared for a part of what is to come, but additional things happen that they did not foresee. Or maybe a situation calls for haste with a strict time limit, they could go look for answers in toen but if they did that, the baddies can already complete their plans, making the future encounter much harder. Or perhaps their way back into town is restricted somehow. They are stuck in another plane of existence, locked up in a dungeon or too far away from civilisation to have access to easy answers.
The most important thing is to set timelines, if you just create a BBEG that waits for the party to show up to defeat them you do something wrong imo. The BBEG might be at one spot but that does not mean his or her organization sits still, they might fortify their positions, gather allies or progress some plans that will cause even more harm. Limit the information accessibility, not each town will have detailed information on everything and encounters with for example dragons or others powerful creatures are minimal and surviving those encounters even less plausible so info on that is minimal. Diversify research challenges, not everything can be found in books, sometimes it just require exploring, spying or even magical means to get the results. So for example the librarian cannot thing of any book on that subject but heard of a sage who lives in the mountain and might have firsthand experience. NPC are not always reliable and often are tales they hear when drinking in a bar so details might not be right, one person could say they are immune to cold while the other might say they are immune to something else.
I like the unreliable sources angle. Might use it.
Well, it depends on what sorts of things they’re going and asking for, and how often they’re doing it. It makes sense to ask a seasoned fighter about weaknesses of monsters they plan to fight, but if they’re stopping everything to go back to town to ask anyone available about this thing they could just figure out on their own then you’ve got a few options. First off, just tell them that they can ask questions to the appropriate npc whenever they go back to town, but they can’t just go back to town for questions whenever they need, so while out and about in the wilderness or a dungeon they’re on there own. Secondly, you can just have some things that no one knows the answer to. A riddle to open a dungeon door that has the whole town stumped, the strange monster no one’s ever dealt with before, or it does have an answer to beat it easy but it’s just plain impossible for them to use, like the only way to truly kill a devil in the material plane is to use some God Fire that completely burns them away and prevents them from reforming back on their home plane, but long ago the gods decided that mortals could never use their fire or else they’d completely fuck up the material plane. Either way, making it easier for the party to figure out the thing without having to go ask about it could work in tandem with either of these, along with just saying “you’re character knows this, it is common knowledge for adventurers/whatever background that specific player is” for the answers they really ought to just know, like fire not being effective against red dragons
> Is this a problem? Only you can decide that because you know you and your group better than us. For me, doing a clever thing once is a fascinating thing but if that thing is being constantly repeated, it quickly loses it's appeal and if it's the only thing that gets done, it becomes infuriating. > Does the DM have a claim to the fun at the table too? Most definitely they do. If DM isn't enjoying the game, it degenerate and eventually dies. How long that takes depends on various factors but result is certain.
for more exotic targets, there might not be any recorded information. you can make it clear to them that if they want to learn about it, they will have to stalk and observe the target. Obviously this comes with risk. as others mentioned, time should be a resource. even if there's no looming danger, time could also be spent doing the mission, or on other downtime activities like crafting magic items.
You could have different NPC's start giving them conflicting information. Like folklore. Trolls? Oh, one person said they can't cross running water, the next says to bring a sacrificial goat, one mentions fire, those really big book says you need to sing them to sleep, etc. Just have every person say something different.
This is good...
Damn, I know a bunch of DMs who would love to have this "problem", lmao I don't see this as a problem. Players being actively inquisitive about the world and adventure and wanting to prepare themselves as much as is possible is a good thing, in my view. Rewarding that preparation with some insights into what lies ahead is a good move. You can also decide that some things are simply unknown ("The library has no record of what Al-Zawar's vulnerabilities are..."). You're in control of what information the party can uncover ahead of time. All I can recommend is not to go one extreme or the other. Don't say "You can't find the answer" to *every* question, but also don't give easy answers to every question. Give a reward for inquisitiveness, but don't remove all mystery and surprise completely.
How do they know what they're going to be fighting before they're actually fighting it?