Insight is knowledge, not behavior!
5 Responses to “Quick GM Tip: Calling Insight’s Bluff”
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Don’t really understand this one. I feel like I don’t get what the bad alternative is that you’re arguing against?
This was the first time I’ve heard about DMs forcing player’s behavior based on the result of Insight checks. It felt weird watching this, like it’s a solution looking for a problem, since nobody does this. But your experience is vastly greater than mine, and it’s crazy to think there might be DMs who do exactly that!
Keep these short videos coming! I have absolutely no patience for videos, but somehow your voice and your beard have a way of melting my heart! =)
Came here to post the same thing. I’ve never seen Insight checks used to compel behavior. I find it baffling that anybody would actually do that.
One difference between the real-life poker example and the Insight check in the game is the meta knowledge that a player has about the relative success or failure of the roll.
The poker player might be certain that his opponent is bluffing and go all-in, only to find out after the fact that he misread the situation. The D&D player, on the other hand, is rolling the dice, and the player knows whether they rolled a 1 or a 20. They have extra knowledge that the real-life poker player can’t know.
Some types of players will gladly ignore that meta knowledge and take the information the DM gives them and act appropriately, while other types of players will gladly metagame that situation and let that out-of-game knowledge inform their characters’ actions.
So long as the DM and the group have the same philosophy on whether this is ok, there’s no issue. But when there’s a difference of opinion, how do you resolve this (without enforcing behavior)?
@Rob Bush
It may not work for every game, but rolling the insight check behind the DM screen and then having the DM disclose information in line with the result (truthful, fake, misleading, who knows?) might be effective.