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This would not happen, but in theory I would ask how do they know and how would their character know. And lets face it, the the reason is that they have read the module and are using that information to metagame and this would be an indication that we have incompatible gaming preferences. We would have to discuss whether we can come to an agreement how to handle matter or whether it is just better than we do not play together. And the latter is a perfectly fine solution; I think that choosing a group of players with roughly compatible preferences and expectations is one of the key elements for running a successful game.
But what happens if they never admit to reading the module? You suspect, but you aren't sure. Then what?
When we are envisioning how this fictional person is, the game statistic inform us on that right? (Perhaps we assign different weight on how much though, and that was also reflected on our disagreement on the importance of racial ASIs?) So when I look at my fictional person and try to think how much they would know I look at their game statistics for the clue. High intelligence and a lot of knowledge skills tells me that the character is either well educated or otherwise knowledgeable, the lack of those tells me opposite. So when answering to the question whether my character knows who is the Prime Minister of Thay (there isn't one, right?) I would not go for my own memories about the matter, nor I would pick up the FR sourcebook as those are things that my character doesn't have automatic access to.
But somebody IRL who...I don't know how to say this gently...has a really low Int score is going to have all kinds of random facts stored away. On a test of the leaders of countries around the world, for example, they might score lower, even a lot lower, than other people, but they're not going to get zero. That's what the Int modifer represents: that reduced but non-zero chance.
So, yeah, it's entirely reasonable that your low Int character knows who the Prime Minister of Thay is. Or, as @iserith repeatedly point out, maybe that's just who your character thinks is the Prime Minister of Thay. And in those cases where the DM decides that outcome is uncertain, he/she will call for an Int roll. By not calling for a roll, the DM is signalling....like not asking a low-Strength character for a roll in order to walk up stairs...that the challenge is low enough that you get it for free.
In other words, the modifier to declared actions is plenty of penalty. I don't feel the need to also pretend my character doesn't know any facts, or can never deduce any clues or solve any puzzles. If the DM thinks the outcome is uncertain, he/she will ask for a roll.
EDIT: Of course, you and I are both free to decide that our characters don't know a certain fact, for the purposes of roleplaying. But that's the point: it's up to us to decide.
As for the gunpowder, this should never, even come up and would be a total dealbreaker. It is not even about whether it would work, it is a completely absurd action taken by a character in this fictional setting and would indicate that the player is not trying to properly play the role and I would have no interest in playing with them.
Yeah, I wouldn't expect the gunpowder scenario to actually come up (although that might not be true for others' campaigns.) Like your module-reading scenario, I was using an extreme example to "stress test" the approach. Hopefully I demonstrated that even in that extreme example player knowledge doesn't break anything.
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