D&D 5E Need some help gm'ing

[Reapernazara]

So I've GM'd a few times, we're all new to it. I think I'm doing ok for a beginner, definitely not spectacular. Anyhow, my wife pointed out last time by asking "where's the people?" They in a fort in tomb of annihilation. I described the buildings, and the surroundings and just completely forgot about describing the people.

What do you guys do to help remember the details? What will help me to remember to make it more immersive, or just plain help it be more immersive? It's easy to forget, when I know the details, that they won't just inherently think there's people there, or some other detail that helps immersion. And I know I'm bad about omitting details like that because I subconsciously assume they'll fill in those details. I think it will help if the world is of my own creation, which I'm working on, but I need more time Gm'ing to get me there. Idk if it will matter but I play with my wife and daughter, so the only urgency there is to help them get into it better, I don't fear being made fun even though it happens lol, and I doubt I'll get kicked out.

 

[Hussar]

Notes are your friend. Write down two or three points beforehand to remind you what you need to describe. Doing it on the fly is really hard.

 

[Reapernazara]

Notes are your friend. Write down two or three points beforehand to remind you what you need to describe. Doing it on the fly is really hard.

I keep the book there with me, of tomb of annihilation. I would not try to run it off my head. So are you saying write down a few points in addition to having the book?

 

[delericho]

I keep the book there with me, of tomb of annihilation. I would not try to run it off my head. So are you saying write down a few points in addition to having the book?

Yes. One of the quirks of published adventures is that the boxed text tends to be quite good on the fixed features (walls, doors, floors) but tend not to discuss the movable items (people) anywhere near as well.

I'd generally recommend that for each major scene you write yourself a quick Post-it with 3-5 features, covering different senses (sight and hearing, obviously, but also touch, taste and smell if you can think of anything useful to say). And when reading the boxed text before running, try to ask yourself, "what have they not mentioned?"

 

[Reapernazara]

Yes. One of the quirks of published adventures is that the boxed text tends to be quite good on the fixed features (walls, doors, floors) but tend not to discuss the movable items (people) anywhere near as well.

I'd generally recommend that for each major scene you write yourself a quick Post-it with 3-5 features, covering different senses (sight and hearing, obviously, but also touch, taste and smell if you can think of anything useful to say). And when reading the boxed text before running, try to ask yourself, "what have they not mentioned?"

Thank you, that's a good suggestion. I have noticed that they don't say much. At first I wasn't sure if that's all I was supposed to say or not. I'm still hesitant to give out too much, but maybe too much is better than not enough. I remember my college english teacher stressing all 5 senses when writing, so I'll try the post it notes to help with my descriptions.

 

[76512390ag12]

Was your wife amused or puzzled or cross?

If the first, then roll with it.

The second, she's paying attention and looks for cloos. Potentially great detail player.

Oops, better not lose her enjoyment.

Make notes, but also make light of your own mistakes, you are allowed to make errors, and so are they...

Sent from my SM-G901F using Tapatalk

 

[Reapernazara]

Was your wife amused or puzzled or cross?

If the first, then roll with it.

The second, she's paying attention and looks for cloos. Potentially great detail player.

Oops, better not lose her enjoyment.

Make notes, but also make light of your own mistakes, you are allowed to make errors, and so are they...

Sent from my SM-G901F using Tapatalk

She was puzzled. I think I may have described like the person they were following and a couple guards on the walls, so she was wondering where everyone else was.

I know I'll make a lot of errors being new, but I'd like advice from long time players. I also know this is a problem not just limited to the game. I often leave out details in real life because I already have the info, usually from puzzling it out myself, so I subconsciously tend to assume everybody must do that and must know all the same info I do.

 

[GameOgre]

Don't worry about errors. Just laugh with the players and make up something funny.

"you bang on the screen and the graphics glitch for a second and the scene comes back into focus but with all the people of the fort in it this time! Dang some of these patches are bugged!"

 

[iserith]

The DM describing the environment is Step 1 of the basic conversation of the game, but bear in mind that the 3-step loop described on page 3 of the Basic Rules is continuous. Thus, you're constantly describing the environment at the start of the loop which begins after you describe the result of the adventurers' actions.

This means you don't need to get everything out up front - you can add as you go, filling in more color or detail as the players do their thing. What's more, rolling out information in stages tends to be better in my experience as it's more easily consumed by the players that way. While it's obviously a comical omission to forget about the people in the fort in the initial description, if you forget something and the players remind you, treat that as an opportunity to start the loop again. "Where's the people?" can easily be answered without missing a beat with "They begin emerging from wooden buildings and tents to see the recent arrivals. They're mostly humans, looking a bit worse for wear. 'What news from Port Nyanzaru?' one of them asks. What do you do?" (I do, however, heartily recommend getting your players into the habit of stating what they want to do rather than ask questions. "Where's the people?" in my view is better as "I look around for any people..." or "Ragnar looks around for any people.")

I recommend keeping your descriptions down to 3 to 5 sentences at a clip. Boxed texts in modules are not very good at being succinct in my opinion and aren't necessarily organized in the best way to share what's important up front. It might be a good exercise for you to reorganize things a bit with notes or re-writes. And remember - a module is a writer communicating his or her vision to you, so it will tend toward being a little overwrought. You don't need that many words to communicate your vision to others around the table (especially when you get into coming up with your own adventures).

 

[Warmaster Horus]

I write a 1-2 page set of notes before each session, starting with a RECAP from last time. Then I have headings like ENCOUNTER, EVENT, BACKGROUND and a couple more that I use to organize the notes, using bold for key info. These notes are then kept in the same document and become something like a log of the game.

As for using good description and remembering key info, describe a scene or interaction like a story before you tell it in game-terms. And yeah, you'll forget details, it just happens. Don't sweat it and don't feel bad if you have to do a bit of retcon'ing of an event to get the situation across from time to time.