Short Post Pointing You To Someone Else's Post

Over at Hack & Slash, -C is analyzing a session in which one of the players died due to grabbing some yellow mold. There's some very interesting and important discussion there about refereeing an adventure game that you should probably read. Especially important, I think, is this observation: "The rule is, if it can have an effect or is important, then it must be mentioned to the players." The temptation, as a referee, to leave out some crucial bit of information unless the players specifically ask for it is always present. That leads to the problem of pixel-bitching (the situation in which a certain magic phrase must be guessed and said by the players in order to successfully resolve a situation), and must be avoided. The rule that -C gives is one that should minimize that problem.