Player Advice: Questions
Part of the Player Advice Bandwagon
It's good to state the obvious sometimes. So here goes. If questions are gameplay then players should always be asking questions.
Ask questions if you're unsure about anything. Sometimes I only describe a scene with a sentence or two because I want my players to investigate further. I think it's a better way to convey information than talking in paragraph form. And sometimes I forget to mention something obvious or my description just isn't clear. Either way, the idea is that questions help build a shared understanding of the world so you can make informed choices.
Ask questions to take advantage of the answers. Ask me how thin the walls are or if there's a fire escape or if the mayor has any religious symbols in his house—anything that I left out while describing things but definitely has an answer that can potentially be exploited. Also ask questions related to your skills and backgrounds. If your character is a hunter I'll always try to freely give you information about bite marks, tracks, useful plants etc. but I don't always remember so feel free to remind me. Ask even if the relationship between the skill/background and desired outcome is shaky, I'd love to be convinced that your character with the Industrial Equipment skill knows about bombs or a Squidbagger could reasonably compete in a wrestling match against a professional wrestler!
That's it. Ask me questions, I want to answer them. Or don't. It's also incredibly fun to commit to an action without asking for clarification and then living with the consequences.
Bonus: a little theory. The types of questions a player asks can bleed into how their character perceives and interacts with the world. A player that regularly asks about social relationships and where the hirelings are during a fight makes for a character that feels different than one whose player is always asking about points of egress or flammability of building materials.