Daxius: "I'd like to roll an investigate check on Statue 1." Rolls. "Solid... 19."
DM: "You walk around the statue, gliding your fingers along the rough outlines of it's crisp, defined craftsmanship. You pause as your fingers make contact with the mouth. You feel warm air coming out, and instinctively look to the statue's chest. It appears to be breathing, though very faintly."
This is good DMing (in my humble opinion). The player wanted to use an investigate check, and the DM wove how it happened into the context of the story. But then we continue...
Daxius: "Hmm... we'll get back to that in a second. Let's see what's going on with Statue 2." Rolls. "Ugh. 6."
Let's say Statue 2 is a magical trap of sorts — whoever touches the statue must resist turning to stone themselves. A six isn't high enough to notice this. The DM has a few options here on how to proceed...
- "How exactly do you investigate the statue?" This definitely alerts the player that something is up with it, and they will be naturally inclined to meta-game here, as the roll was poor so they probably don't want their character especially close to it. Plus, the DM didn't ask this during the investigation Statue 1, so the very question hints that Statue 2 is dangerous.
- "You make contact with the statue in the same manner as before, and are instantly overcome with abrasive magic. Roll a Con save." This is consistent with the narrative from before, but now the character is in trouble for something the player never explicitly said they did.
- "You don't notice anything special about this statue." This is super vague and a huge departure from the description given from the first investigation. And it leaves open the implication that they touched the statue in the same way they did the first one, which the DM would be assuming they didn't, where the players might be assuming they did.
The underlying problem here is that the DM sees in his mind's eye the way the world is, and no matter how descriptive he gets the players will always paint a slightly different picture for themselves. The small inconsistencies between the two are generally harmlessly bridged with the DM taking over how, specifically, the characters achieve the goal the players announced they were attempting. But, as above, there are certainly cases where what I would call good DMing forces the DM to either punish a player in the name of consistency, or reveal what should be unknown in the name of not subverting character control.
My question, then, is this:
As a DM, how does one resolve the occasional conflict of interest between wanting to employ creative narrative without bestowing undue consequences upon those player characters who become a part of that narrative?