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Helpful translation guide for DMs
(startrek.website)
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this post was submitted on 24 Sep 2023
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Something I got from Spoony which I really liked:
"There is nothing there." -> "You don't see/perceive anything."
Even if there isn't something there, keep the players on the edge and guessing how good their skill worked. And it makes it just a little bit less gamey if the character doesn't have some divine insight that there really is nothing there instead of deciding that their skills just show that there is nothing there and be happy with that - or not.
Of course, extend that to everything. Pull away from the facts of the game and put more ambiguous language in.
I also like misdirection that doesn't result in anything.
"And where are you standing right now?" - "Ok, just checking."
After insight check on an honest npc: "As far as you can tell, he's telling the truth"
"The door seems normal to you."
players proceed to analyze the door for an hour, not realizing if they take the stairs slightly to the left, they'll be taken to the treasure room they're looking for
I've gotten impatient before and snapped "the door rots away from the time you've spent arguing and falls open" which just sparked a few minutes of debating whether the building is sentient and will eat them if they enter the door.
Haha, you just can't win.