Boosting this as a reminder about metagaming.
We’ve been seeing it more often lately. I don’t think it’s malicious, but sometimes excitement to “solve” the plot leads to people using knowledge their characters wouldn’t realistically have.
The biggest examples are situations where players immediately assume a suspected villain was secretly behind an event they weren’t even part of because they were logged in at the same time, but they don't suspect any other player who wasn't logged in. But it also shows up in smaller ways: characters knowing rulebook details, event mechanics, or solutions they’ve never learned in-game (like how to solve the Cave of Wickedness, which no current PC has completed in years).
Please keep an eye on this. It can really disrupt the fun and collaborative storytelling when characters make huge leaps based on OOC knowledge from old PCs, past events, or system familiarity.
When in doubt, ask a DM whether your character could reasonably know or figure something out.
For example, during a scene today, drow openly murdered someone, were witnessed doing it, and even bragged about it — yet players still jumped to accusing another character who wasn’t even there. That’s a good example of OOC assumptions creating strange IC conclusions.
I know people get excited and want to catch the villain, but please take a moment to separate player knowledge from character knowledge so the story stays fun and believable for everyone.
