I'm a soon-to-be DM and I'm having trouble figuring out what information I should hide from my characters and what information to tell them, apart from the obvious (maps, campaign info, monster stats etc. ). I know the DMG and Published Campaigns have guidelines on this, but what about magic items and player maps (yes I know that sounds dumb but looking at some of the PC versions of campaign maps it seems to give a bit too much information in my opinion and also the story gives no reason at all that they should even have a map)?
Well as far as dungeon maps go unless its a man made structure there probably isn't an 'in-world' map of it. Non-man made structures would have to be mapped and explored but its up to you if that knowledge is accessible much less exists. As for magic items, more common kinds might be known about, like bags of holding, but generally you'd have to make an arcana check to know about magic items. Of course powerful magic items might belong to famous heroes, etc and those items would be known of in a very general sense.
I'd chime in and say specific things about the dungeon shouldn't really be known beforehand unless the PC's specifically go get it.
Think of it like Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. He has to go back to Berlin to get the Book with the clues to get him past the traps, and even then, the traps are crudely drawn out and described only very generally. I'd let them make a map of the dungeon as you reveal it, but I wouldn't just hand them a map of the dungeon and say '30 gold pieces at Dungeonmart got you this map' that'd take the fun out, i think.
As far as magical items go, unless they have a way to identify an item as magical, then how would they know? Detect Magic only tells you what school of magic an item may be enchanted with as well. Identify, 1st lvl divination, will tell you what it is but do you have a 100gp pearl and an owl feather to burn to find out? If so, rock on, but the casting time is 1 minute as a ritual and not 1 action. Powerful items might have stories or songs told about them, the Shield of Athena for example, or the Sword of Perseus, or Stormbringer and The Mournblade, but those stories don't necessarily detail what the weapon is capable of, finding out can certainly be its own adventure.
If in person, you can cover a dungeon map in post it's, and remove them as it's explored.
I don't see anything wrong with having a map of a city or well traveled country.
You can either just say what magic items are, or a player could have to experiment, or pay someone to identify it. I usually just say what the item is, since I prefer to devote game time to other stuff.
The overarching questions are: will revealing (or hiding) this information make the game more engaging? Will a mystery pique players' curiosity, or create another chore that delays "the fun part?" Will sharing the info help you cut to the chase?
Through trial and error, and player feedback, you'll start to get a feel for it.
I'm a soon-to-be DM and I'm having trouble figuring out what information I should hide from my characters and what information to tell them, apart from the obvious (maps, campaign info, monster stats etc. ). I know the DMG and Published Campaigns have guidelines on this, but what about magic items and player maps (yes I know that sounds dumb but looking at some of the PC versions of campaign maps it seems to give a bit too much information in my opinion and also the story gives no reason at all that they should even have a map)?
Well as far as dungeon maps go unless its a man made structure there probably isn't an 'in-world' map of it. Non-man made structures would have to be mapped and explored but its up to you if that knowledge is accessible much less exists. As for magic items, more common kinds might be known about, like bags of holding, but generally you'd have to make an arcana check to know about magic items. Of course powerful magic items might belong to famous heroes, etc and those items would be known of in a very general sense.
I'd chime in and say specific things about the dungeon shouldn't really be known beforehand unless the PC's specifically go get it.
Think of it like Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. He has to go back to Berlin to get the Book with the clues to get him past the traps, and even then, the traps are crudely drawn out and described only very generally. I'd let them make a map of the dungeon as you reveal it, but I wouldn't just hand them a map of the dungeon and say '30 gold pieces at Dungeonmart got you this map' that'd take the fun out, i think.
As far as magical items go, unless they have a way to identify an item as magical, then how would they know? Detect Magic only tells you what school of magic an item may be enchanted with as well. Identify, 1st lvl divination, will tell you what it is but do you have a 100gp pearl and an owl feather to burn to find out? If so, rock on, but the casting time is 1 minute as a ritual and not 1 action. Powerful items might have stories or songs told about them, the Shield of Athena for example, or the Sword of Perseus, or Stormbringer and The Mournblade, but those stories don't necessarily detail what the weapon is capable of, finding out can certainly be its own adventure.
Are you in person or online?
If in person, you can cover a dungeon map in post it's, and remove them as it's explored.
I don't see anything wrong with having a map of a city or well traveled country.
You can either just say what magic items are, or a player could have to experiment, or pay someone to identify it. I usually just say what the item is, since I prefer to devote game time to other stuff.
The overarching questions are: will revealing (or hiding) this information make the game more engaging? Will a mystery pique players' curiosity, or create another chore that delays "the fun part?" Will sharing the info help you cut to the chase?
Through trial and error, and player feedback, you'll start to get a feel for it.