D&D General Read aloud text in modules: What are folks opinions about read aloud content?

[jgsugden]

I write my own for my own adventures to make sure I remember all the key facts to deliver.

A good set of text includes:

• Descriptions that are not subjective.
• Only describes involuntary feelings/reactions a PC might have, such as nausea at a horrible smell or squinting at a bright light, rather than things a PC would elect to do ... and never in a way that the feeling/reaction has a mechanical impact on the PCs.
• Italics for sections that should not be read unless they have adequate light.

I follow these rules and the text helps me. When I get adventures without the text I need to memorize a lot about each room to be able to deliver a description of it ... and that is a pretty big burden when the PCs might go anywhere in a large dungeon.

 

[overgeeked]

It's generally tedious, boring, and overlong. Check out some of the better OSR modules and their read-aloud text as a guide. You're getting bullet points, bolded words and phrases, and only the most relevant info rather than 100s of words of flowery dreck.

 

[Stormonu]

Read-aloud text helped me a fair bit in my early DMing years. If it gets to be more than a short paragraph, I'll paraphrase it. Certainly will avoid any parts that ascribe actions or emotions in the player's characters.

Even if I just read over it while learning the dungeon layout it often reminds me to invoke the senses beyond sight - smell, temperature, sounds and atmosphere and even throwing in small details so it isn't a bare, stone-walled cube of a room.

 

[John R Davis]

Very short mentioning what the senses clearly, erm , sense.

 

[Lanefan]

I will not abide read aloud text that tells the players how their PCs feel, think, or speak. That’s not my purview as DM.

I'll tell them what they feel if it's part of the scene e.g. if they've entered an Evil temple that makes the Good characters' skin crawl then those characters will be told their skin is crawling and they feel a sense of foreboding (or whatever else suits).

I will read text that briefly explains a few evocative details about the scene so the players then have something for their PCs to interact with. I appreciate the inclusion of such text in published adventures so I have less prep to do.

I'll read what it gives me unless I have to modify it too much. If nothing else, doing so helps me remember to mention things I might otherwise skip or forget.

My one complaint with a lot of boxed text I've seen and-or used is that when there's multiple entrances or approaches to a room-area-encounter the boxed text assumes the party will come in via a specific one of them and uses "left", "right", "ahead" etc. on that basis. Result: if they come in a different way I have to flip all that around on the fly while I'm reading it out. Grrrr!

Use the cardinal directions (north, south, etc.) instead, 'cause those stay the same no matter which door the party comes in.

 

[TaranTheWanderer]

Make it short, give the major details such as entrances, smells and major enemies if that’s the centre of an encounter. Leave the minute details out unless you are describing details of NPCs.

I like it, especially when playing online, my dm will copy/paste it into the chat and let us read it which helps me to visualize it and lets me refer back to it.

At least if it’s there, you can change it if you don’t like it. Sometimes, without it, you accidentally tell people stuff only to find out it’s hidden or whatever.

 

[Burnside]

There is good read aloud text, and there is bad read aloud text.

There are also people who read text aloud well, and people who don’t.

 

[TiQuinn]

I always disliked being told what I felt or did. I prefer just being told what I see. That has always been my biggest issue with read aloud text.

This. I actually like read aloud text in modules when it doesn’t do this.

 

[Swarmkeeper]

I think "feel" is fair game for some things. E.g. "You feel a chill running up your spine as..."

To a point, yes. I avoid telling them how they feel emotionally but telling them what they feel with their senses is certainly fair game. Your example is a bit of a gray area - invoking a kind of sixth sense that that could be interpreted as telling them their PC is scared but could also be telling them that their “spider senses” are picking up something and now it’s up to them to tell us what their character is thinking or feeling emotionally (scared, guarded, curious, etc). I’m cool with leaning into the latter.

 

[Shiroiken]

My one complaint with a lot of boxed text I've seen and-or used is that when there's multiple entrances or approaches to a room-area-encounter the boxed text assumes the party will come in via a specific one of them and uses "left", "right", "ahead" etc. on that basis. Result: if they come in a different way I have to flip all that around on the fly while I'm reading it out. Grrrr!

Use the cardinal directions (north, south, etc.) instead, 'cause those stay the same no matter which door the party comes in.

I personally dislike the cardinal directions because the party may not know the cardinal direction. Old adventures tried very hard to confuse map makers and try and get the party lost, so using cardinal directions messes with that idea.

Personally I prefer vague descriptions when dealing with relative locations. "Off to the side" and "nearby" are typically adequate, unless the exact location is necessary for a puzzle, trick, or trap. In those cases, a handout is preferred.