Every meaningful decision in an RPG arises from the interplay between knowledge and choice. Information empowers players to define their goals, explore alternatives, evaluate possible outcomes, and ultimately judge the best course of action. These four phases – defining, exploring, evaluating, and judging – form the core of informed decision-making. In the context of RPGs, information is not a passive background element; it is an active driver of agency and engagement. Understanding how information functions and is shared within the game world reveals why it is essential for creating deep, interactive, and satisfying play experiences.

Information as the Foundation of Informed Decisions

Information as a Source of Agency

Information is the foundation of player agency. Within a role-playing game, agency refers to the player’s capacity to make meaningful choices that influence the unfolding story or game state. However, agency is only meaningful when those choices are informed. Without knowledge of the world, its rules, and the consequences of potential actions, choices become arbitrary rather than intentional.

Information thus functions as a resource that transforms randomness into deliberation. The deliberate sharing of information by the GM whether through narration, description, or mechanical feedback – empowers players to make choices that reflect understanding and strategy. Importantly, granting information does not simplify the game or reduce challenge. Instead, it enhances the players’ cognitive participation, shifting focus from guessing to reasoning. Players who act based on insight rather than blind trial experience a more genuine sense of mastery and contribution to the game’s outcome. Information, therefore, is not a threat to tension or mystery but a precondition for meaningful play.

The Three Categories of Useful Information: Interesting, Useful and Necessary

Information within an RPG can be conceptually divided into three categories: Interesting, useful, and necessary (aka core) information. Each fulfills a distinct function in shaping the player’s understanding of the game world and their potential for action.

1. Interesting information (aka details or color) enriches context and atmosphere. It communicates tone, theme, or background – the color that gives a world coherence and texture. It may not directly affect player success or failure, yet it establishes meaning and immersion.
2. Useful information has direct mechanical or strategic relevance. It allows players to optimize their options, create new options, manage resources, or even remove obstacles or render choices moot.
3. Core information is critical for progression along the narrative throughline. It enables players to overcome key obstacles, solve mysteries, or unlock essential paths. Without access to core information, the game cannot advance coherently.

Alongside these three lies a fourth, implicit category: Irrelevant information. This encompasses facts that neither enhance immersion nor affect play right now or in the near future. Effective information management minimizes the presence of such data to avoid cognitive overload (aka “The Magical Number Seven, Plus or Minus Two”). The more irrelevant information the GM provides, the more likely the players are going to forget some piece of necessary information.

How Information Takes Form in Play: Facts and Clues

In the dynamic process of play, information manifests through distinct structural forms that differ in immediacy and interpretive demand: Facts and Clues.

1. Facts are explicit statements or observations that require no further interpretation. They provide certainty and can be acted upon immediately. Once a fact is known, it becomes a stable part of the shared game reality.
2. Clues are indirect forms of information. They suggest or hint at a fact without declaring it outright, inviting players to make logical inferences. This type of information stimulates engagement and reasoning, fostering a sense of discovery through interpretation rather than revelation.
3. Multi-part clues represent the most granular and fragmented form. Individually, they are incomplete; together, they assemble into a clue that may then be resolved into a fact.

Balancing Impact and Ease of Accessibility

The relationship between impact and ease of accessibility defines the informational economy of an RPG. Every piece of information carries potential consequences for the unfolding of play – its impact – and a corresponding degree of accessibility that determines how easily it can be obtained or used.

Information that is easy to acquire and immediately actionable should generally have lower impact. Conversely, information that is difficult to obtain or interpret can justifiably exert greater influence on outcomes. This proportional relationship prevents trivialization and ensures that the cognitive or narrative effort invested in uncovering information is meaningfully rewarded.

The earlier categorization of interesting, useful, and core information aligns with this principle. Interesting information, being low in immediate utility, is appropriately easy to access. Useful information, which provides tangible advantages, often requires moderate effort to discover or interpret. Core information – that which enables progress – typically carries the highest impact and should therefore demand proportionate engagement, whether through exploration, deduction, or the synthesis of multiple clues.

Balancing these dimensions is a core aspect of good RPG design and facilitation. It shapes player perception of fairness, challenge, and reward. Properly calibrated, it transforms information from a mere vehicle of knowledge into a dynamic system that governs the rhythm and satisfaction of play itself.

Strengthening Decision-Making Through Information

Information is the architecture that supports player choice and agency in role-playing games. By structuring how knowledge is shared, categorized, and accessed, GMs enable players to move through the full cycle of decision-making: Defining their situation, exploring alternatives, evaluating consequences, and judging their best course of action. The deliberate use of information transforms uncertainty into intention and transforms play into a meaningful dialogue between knowledge and choice. In this way, information is not merely the content of the game world – it is the very mechanism through which decisions gain depth, coherence, and consequence.

This article was inspired by concepts from Scott “Angry” Rehm’s blog writings (2017) and from Shane Parrish’s “Clear Thinking” (2023).