As the Overlord, I often face the problem of how much and when to reveal information to the players.

For places with different Areas, I normally read out what's in the grey box of the Area but do I need to inform players of the different traps and stuff available? And if so, do I reveal right from the start or when the trap occurs?

For example,

(1) Road to Legend Dungeon #30

Do I let the players know that when they step in squares marked with 'X' they get webbed? Or do I wait till the first player steps into one before revealing it to them?

(2) Road to Legend Dungeon #12

Do I inform the players they have to end their movement on the throne? Or do I wait till they realise the master Giant does not unlock the rune-locked door and let them devise their own solution to opening the door?

These are just some examples of the issue of how much information to reveal to players and also the timing. Please help. Thanks.

Aloysius said:

RAW is explicit, for RtL at least.

RtL pg 17
Finally, the overlord reads aloud the dungeon level description (found in the Quest Guide, next to the map), as well as the entire Dungeon Level card , including all “special” and “leader” text.

Ok, so we got that clear for Dungeons. How about Rumors and such? Does the Overlord reveal special information to the players, i.e. the different effects on the tiles that might not be known to them at the start of the level?

Rumors and Legendaries are like vanilla (basic) Descent quests - just read the boxed text and reveal modified stats of the named monsters (modified abilities are not required to be revealed).

I still dislike that ruling = I know it's to help the players out for changes in the different dungeons but I still think they should be left to figure it out (if it seems like they're not getting it, then read the description) I 'unno, we haven't started our campaign yet so i'll wait and try both ways to see if it makes a big difference.

Aloysius said:

You have to read the text of the card to them, but I don't see any reason you need to show them the map. They'll be aware of the possibility of being webbed, but not where the trapped spaces are exactly.

In practice, once you've played through a campaign, the surprise factor on those levels will be gone anyhow.