As a DM I’m generally opposed to metagaming – that is all of the game stuff that goes on outside of the game.  As a player the same generally holds true.  However there is one specific instance when I think it is not only okay, but can be very valuable.

When metagaming prevents the game from coming to a complete and total standstill.

When a designer sits down and builds a dungeon they generally have a concept in their head of how the dungeon is going to play out.  For less experienced designers, such as new DM’s, this can lead to some very severe problems such as unsolvable puzzles or overwhelming (or underwhelming) monsters.

In particular this can lead to the problem of where the dungeon itself causes the game to come to a halt.  The party lacks a critical resource to solve some aspect or the dungeon.

In these cases metagaming – i.e. using clues about the designer of the dungeon to figure out the dungeon can be helpful – not only because it generally will lead to loot and experience but because it can take a gaming session from frustrating and boring to interesting and exciting.

One example from my own play experience would be a rather long and uninteresting maze-like dungeon with roughly 2 encounters in it.  Rather than slog our way through it, continuing a session that was going from boring to more boring, my compadres and I decided that the DM in all likelihood based on her personal tastes had very little in the way of serious campaign related material hidden in the dungeon.  We therefore decided to stop searching every little nook and cranny and just looked for the way out which it turns out wasn’t that hard to find.  A short time later we were back down the path of interactive fun.

It took some metagaming and us stepping outside of what we as players and what our characters would normally do, but if we hadn’t we would literally have spent hours doing activities that no one at the table would have enjoyed.

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