I'm curious what your thoughts are here. Do you ever reveal the threats a party avoided after they've cleared a room or area if they successfully avoided them? How soon after?

thanks

I struggle with this. I always want to, but I don't think it's a good idea. I believe that the out of game talk is best restricted to what actually happened.

Of course, it really sucks that you put in hours of work on things that the party bypassed. But keep them in your back pocket for future adventures.

Depends on what it is, and where it is.

If the party has just cleared a dungeon, I'd probably highlight some of the things they avoided to lend significance to their accomplishment. However, if there is any chance that they might visit the location again, then that information stays private.

Traps and random encounters are generic and expected, so it's pretty low risk to share that information after major checkpoints. Skip telling the party anything they would be disappointed to know, like missed treasure, and anything custom made should be kept quiet to recycle later.

Sharing meta-knowledge can add depth to the world and provides context that would otherwise have been missed. Distribute it as needed to supplement the narrative.

Thank you!!

I'll consider revealing bypassed stuff once the information is no longer useful to the PCs, but only if it's something particularly interesting.

My players are new to D&D so for some time I have explained to them how the "behind the scenes" worked so that they could have a better grasp of how their actions affect their environment.

For instance, they decided to enlist a paladin knight for help when they ambushed a semi-villain and when they entered his house, he almost immediately surrendered. After the session I told them that the decision to take another person with them made the difference between auto surrender and rolling for initiative. There is only two of them so in that case the villain would take his chances against two opponents but against three it was a done deal for him.

As the story progresses forward and they learn, I will be doing less and less of that.

I reuse and recycle anything the players miss into later areas, dungeons, etc. Just make things modular, or re-skin them to the new environment/situation. I guess that's my way of "revealing" the threats. Sometimes it takes a session, sometimes it takes a year, or an entirely new campaign or one-shot.

I wouldn't ever tell the party what they missed. On the practical side, I can reuse it someplace else. I also think it takes the players out of game and reduces verisimilitude. Why would they all of a sudden know things they never experienced?

The party might decide to go back. In my current campaign they went back to an old dungeon because they were looking to material to build a magic item.