Thoughts on Metagaming: Don’t

Picture this: you’re playing in an ongoing campaign and haven’t been playing Dungeons and Dragons for long. Wandering through an unfamiliar place, your party encounters a giant, multi-legged reptilian horror, a basilisk (which can turn you to stone if you look at them, for those who don’t know). This is a creature that nobody in your group has ever encountered before in game, and no character should have previous knowledge on how to fight one, especially without making a history check beforehand. 

However, one of your teammates, someone who has been playing longer and knows the ins and outs of the Monster Manual, immediately tells everyone not to look at the basilisk or they’ll be turned to stone. This is called “metagaming,” an action taken in game by a player character based off of the player’s previous knowledge or opinions, rather than going by what the character themself would realistically have knowledge of.

While this isn’t necessarily breaking any rules and can even be meant as something helpful, metagaming can easily derail the roleplaying aspect of D&D, and it’s also just annoying. One of the best parts about becoming your character is learning to think like them and react to different situations in a way that fits with the setting. There are some things that your Outlander Half-Orc Barbarian simply would have no way of knowing without a ridiculously high history check. Metagaming is especially obnoxious when playing with less experienced people; if someone says something that pertains to unknown monsters and lore that the newer players may not have been exposed to, it can spoil the experience of learning that information in game as they grow into the world and their character.

For example, if you know the backstory of another character outside of the game, but your character themselves hasn’t actually learned that information, referencing to things about their past while speaking in character not only doesn’t make any sense, but can also be annoying. In terms of etiquette, acting this way is rude and definitely pulls everyone else out of the game.

Basically, while it does depend on who you’re playing with, most people who play Dungeons and Dragons find metagaming obnoxious. It can ruin a game that could potentially be an immersive, exciting experience, and completely throw off the concept of “the unknown.” If you’re playing D&D, just don’t be that person.