Discussing Player Types - The Explorer

Welcome to the Corner! It's here that we will discuss the different player types, in particular, the Explorer! Understanding your players will only make you a better DM, and that's what this is all about!

The Explorer is a very intriguing player type. These players are notorious for one trait, one that they all share, and once they've expressed this trait, you know you're dealing with an Explorer... "Hey! What's that over there!?" haha

Explorers are the true adventurers of the party, these players are all about experiencing different places, finding lost items, and gathering all the information they can about everything. If a player comes up to you with an Archaeologist background, you, my friend DM, are in for some fun!

This player type calls DMs to be better, stronger, and more on their toes when it comes to theater of the mind. They thrive on detail and truly love being caught up in the expanse of an epic city, or a dark, molded dungeon, or the ancient, unused temple of a god long forgotten. You want to catch your Explorers attention, throw out a lost magic item that all have failed to locate!

Explorers come in nearly every form as far as class types, but one thing to note: their character will have a high Intelligence and commonly have proficiency in History and Investigation. I've even seen some go straight up Lara Croft/Nathan Drake/Indiana Jones style characters, and that's just a good time!

A great way to make sure your Explorer is always thinking when it comes to those lost items and dungeons... Traps! The DMs way of abusing those who rush ahead! And I don't mean just the poison dart trap in a chest or in the wall, I mean the big traps! The rolling boulder to block the entrance if you don't make those checks to outrun it! Spikes from the ceiling! Anti-Gravity camber! LAVA PIT! Get crazy and get creative! Challenge your Explorer, because they will challenge you!

Another way to dangle the proverbial carrot in front of your Explorer: have items that don't make sense right away. This doesn't just mean just a puzzle box either. A lot of DMs will drop an item in their game that requires attunement, and ta-da! Know exactly what it does! Throw a curve ball! An item that doesn't require being bonded to it to use, but isn't as straight forward as *point stick and door appears* (Although you could do that!). Maybe the item is in fragments, and although has some function, needs the other pieces to become a truly powerful artifact!

Details are the bread and butter of this player type. They love to collect and piece together knowledge and lore and paint a beautiful picture of the world in their mind (Or on paper!). They want to know the proper name of areas, items, and people, which means a good alias or two is always a great way to further hook that player in!

As a DM, you have resources you can call on to really make your Explorer feel like a big deal. They can build renown and start being called on by guilds and factions to locate objects or seek locations. Let them choose what they want to do! Freelance their expertise, or are they collecting items for someone else? Or donating/selling information to the highest bidder? Oh, the possibilities that exists when an Explorer is at your table is very exciting!

Things to be wary of - Explorer's can sometimes get obsessed with detail, and in turn try to make connections that aren't there. I had an experience where my Explorer found a dumbwaiter, and it was the most curious thing in the world... Where as the DM, I knew it served no purpose beyond being a dumbwaiter! haha But they spent 45 out of games minutes trying to figure out this dumbwaiter! Now, some DMs could have turned it into something to satisfy that curiosity, I did not. It detracted from what I was trying to focus on. That's something you have to balance, and be very careful in doing so. Abide by every whim, you can put yourself in some interesting and some times disappointing situations as a DM. Ignore too many opportunities, your Explorer loses interest all together and isn't have fun any more.

Closing Thoughts - Explorers are the diggers of the group. For items, for lore, for information, for things you never even knew you had in the works! They will work hard if you let them to achieve these goals, and that can sometimes be a lot for very casual DMs. Don't be intimidated by how much information or detail your players want. Make it your own! Fly by the seat of your pants! I promise you, every DM does it. Regardless of if you're running a published campaign, a one shot, or a homebrew, you make that story have a style that only you can put on it! Your Explorer will pick up on that and run with it.