Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
5th ed D&D general impressions from a new player and DM.
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="Oofta" data-source="post: 8201523" data-attributes="member: 6801845"><p>So ... I didn't mean to derail the thread on my personal rant and if you get narrative searching to work that's fantastic. <img src="http://www.enworld.org/forum/images/smilies/blush.png" class="smilie" loading="lazy" alt=":blush:" title="Blush :blush:" data-shortname=":blush:" /> </p><p></p><p>But I don't like the descriptive narration of searching from both angles. Like [USER=205]@TwoSix[/USER], there's a lot of times when I'm basically improvising. If I do descriptive searching, as a DM I now need to come up with details for areas that I just made up on the fly.</p><p></p><p>Second, if stating that "I look under the bed" means that I automatically find whatever's under the bed, I'd probably be like [USER=7021420]@fearsomepirate[/USER]'s problematic player and want to specify everything possible. I got a 19 on my investigation check, but maybe, just maybe I had to get a 20 to find that folded up portable hole attached to the bottom of the chair. Because if searching my great room, it's not <em>just</em> the curio cabinet, it's multiple "areas of interest" just on the kitchen table much less the rest of the room. You can divide and conquer and it wouldn't take long in game time but real world time at the table? It would take longer than I want.</p><p></p><p>I just can't imagine how I would make if fun or better to have a narrative search for something like my house. If it's "I search the great room" then it's going to be a question of how long do you want to take. Quick glance? Roll a check for each room. Then it just depends on how much time and the situation where a more thorough check can be anywhere from passive with disadvantage, passive, passive with advantage all the way up to what we used to call take 20.</p><p></p><p>Only in cases where something is trapped or for some other reason it's unusual do we pull out the dice for anything but a quick search. Narration, description and obstacles only need to happen in those scenes where the general search has uncovered something that needs that level of detail. </p><p></p><p>But I think I'd have to watch a video/stream where someone actually did the narrative search well because I don't know how to do it without getting bogged down or feel like I'm potentially playing "gotcha" as a DM. I mean, if the McGuffin is hidden under a loose floorboard how would people know to look there unless they <em>always</em> check the floor in every room? Maybe you missed it when I mentioned multiple paintings on wall and didn't realize I had missed it so don't think to ask what I missed.</p><p></p><p>If you get it to work, great. If you can point me to something I can watch/listen to that you think is a good example maybe I can learn something. Until then, I'm not telling anyone they're doing it wrong, I just don't see how to do narrative searches well.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Oofta, post: 8201523, member: 6801845"] So ... I didn't mean to derail the thread on my personal rant and if you get narrative searching to work that's fantastic. :blush: But I don't like the descriptive narration of searching from both angles. Like [USER=205]@TwoSix[/USER], there's a lot of times when I'm basically improvising. If I do descriptive searching, as a DM I now need to come up with details for areas that I just made up on the fly. Second, if stating that "I look under the bed" means that I automatically find whatever's under the bed, I'd probably be like [USER=7021420]@fearsomepirate[/USER]'s problematic player and want to specify everything possible. I got a 19 on my investigation check, but maybe, just maybe I had to get a 20 to find that folded up portable hole attached to the bottom of the chair. Because if searching my great room, it's not [I]just[/I] the curio cabinet, it's multiple "areas of interest" just on the kitchen table much less the rest of the room. You can divide and conquer and it wouldn't take long in game time but real world time at the table? It would take longer than I want. I just can't imagine how I would make if fun or better to have a narrative search for something like my house. If it's "I search the great room" then it's going to be a question of how long do you want to take. Quick glance? Roll a check for each room. Then it just depends on how much time and the situation where a more thorough check can be anywhere from passive with disadvantage, passive, passive with advantage all the way up to what we used to call take 20. Only in cases where something is trapped or for some other reason it's unusual do we pull out the dice for anything but a quick search. Narration, description and obstacles only need to happen in those scenes where the general search has uncovered something that needs that level of detail. But I think I'd have to watch a video/stream where someone actually did the narrative search well because I don't know how to do it without getting bogged down or feel like I'm potentially playing "gotcha" as a DM. I mean, if the McGuffin is hidden under a loose floorboard how would people know to look there unless they [I]always[/I] check the floor in every room? Maybe you missed it when I mentioned multiple paintings on wall and didn't realize I had missed it so don't think to ask what I missed. If you get it to work, great. If you can point me to something I can watch/listen to that you think is a good example maybe I can learn something. Until then, I'm not telling anyone they're doing it wrong, I just don't see how to do narrative searches well. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
5th ed D&D general impressions from a new player and DM.
Top