Hey there,

there has been some debate in my group as to whether the overlord should only read the flavor text, all of the quest text or just parts of it.

We started off with me (the overlord) reading all quest text, until I read somewhere in the rules that at the start of a quest you read the flavor text. Now I'm kind of torn by this because some things the heroes just can't come up with. We played the hero-interlude (in which the heroes are trying to escape with a casket) last week and I really don't think they could've come up with trying to swim through the water or hurl themselves off the waterfall; there is no physical connection between the water areas and thinking of this requires you to go so far outside the box that it slows the game down tremendously. Also, how are heroes supposed to know what they have to do to certain items/objectives?

The altar that heals the guy in the cathedral for example. How would they know how to "use" it? We've handled it so that once the heroes are somewhat on the right track I will tell them what they have to do, but I never tell them the rules for reinforcement for example. I think it requires the heroes to think of more possiblities as the reinforce mechanic is pretty straightforward but still requires the heroes to think about it.

Is there some clarity as to what the heroes have to be told? I like to have some standard to point to instead of us sitting around discussing stuff like this that just takes away from actually playing.

TLDR: How much of the quest text does the overlord actually have to read to his players?

Best regards

 i thought I read in the rules that yoh read all quest information to the players.  No surprises!

Correct, unless it specifies that something shouldn't be told to the players then the players should know it before the encounter starts so that they know what to do.

I see, thanks. Any idea where I can find that passage in the rules so I can show it to my players?

Quest Guide, first page, top-right corner has a box titled "Public Information""

You shouldn't tell them anything. You should let them read the quest, because if you're the only one who reads it, you might misread/forget/misinterpret something, which could unbalance the quest completely.

I was secretive at first (hangover from Pen & Paper DMing), but the heroes should be completely aware of the special rules for the mission - as this includes actions that they are able to make.

Also, once the map + tokens + monsters have been set down - there's not really anything else that the quest text contains, aside from the special rules; which the heroes should be made fully aware of.

By the 2nd campaign I now hand the quest guide to the players, to make sure they are fully aware of all the nuances of the individual encounter.