Box Text

[Crothian]

Box text seems to be something people are hating on now even though it was very common in the days of 1e. So, why is it bad? What where some of the worst examples and what are some of the best ones?

 

[JoeGKushner]

I think boxed text is a good idea but most writers screw up it's purpose by including a lot of vital information in areas not IN the friggin' boxed text!

 

[Crothian]

Like what?

 

[S'mon]

I found myself really missing boxed text with 3e, especially running Lost City of Barakus which really cries out for it.
Bad boxed text is too long, bores players, and focuses on irrelevant details. The worst I've ever seen was in Gygax's Necropolis, my players were threatening to throttle me if I read any more! Good boxed text - the older modules, especially B/X ones like Castle Amber. Ironically, AIR Gygax's Keep on the Borderlands has some good stuff.

 

[Lorgrom]

Most box text that I remember. Is written with certian assumptions (ie the characters are conning in the room from one direction, things happen automaticaly that smart players might have actualy worked around - "as you walk into the room, all of a sudden the floor falls out from under you" - wait doesn't my dwarf automaticaly get a check to sense that the floor can move, doesn't the rogue even get a chance to look for the trap, etc)

So even when did run published adventures. I almost never used the box text. OF course since I did not use them. They could always tell when I did. The box text is not how I describe things.

 

[Henrix]

The worst part is that the box text is written to be read aloud, not paraphrased. Listening to a DM read the text as written is dull.

 

[Numion]

It's not that useful for me because the table language is Finnish. Usually I disregard the text completely, in some cases if it's really good I translate it into Finnish and once in a blue moon I read the English text

I could live without it.

 

[Hypersmurf]

The worst part is that the box text is written to be read aloud, not paraphrased. Listening to a DM read the text as written is dull.

I had this at the weekend - I played an RPGA game where the DM read all the boxed text in a monotone.

Nnnng.

-Hyp.

 

[jmucchiello]

The box text is not how I describe things.

I think this is the biggest reason not to include it. Nothing says "We're switching to Narrator voice" like picking up the module and reading the box text. Second biggest peeve is the description for room 8 assumes you are approaching from room 7 and not coming the other way from room 23.

I don't like them because sometimes items in the room have their description split between the box text and rest of the encounter text. For example, the text only mentions that the statue is a female elf warrior in the box text. The rest of the description (for the DM) just says statue so even the DM can forget the statue is an elf.

 

[Quasqueton]

I like boxed text, if done “right”. I’ll have to go through my modules when I get home to give an example of some done right.

But here is one done wrong. Very bad. From The Forest Oracle

A group of seven men approaches. They are following the road east, and are making good time, neither tarrying nor running. Their faces are expressionless. One is dressed as a cleric of some sort, and another is dressed as a traveling drummer. The others could be peasants or serfs going from one location to another for the harvest season. Each carries some sort of weapon. It is plain that they are not soldiers by their haphazard way of walking. They do not seem to be joking loudly or singing as they advance.

See more of this “gem”:
http://www.enworld.org/showthread.php?t=148566

Ironically, AIR Gygax's Keep on the Borderlands has some good stuff.

KotB doesn’t have boxed text. Like most of Gygax’s modules, it has little/no textual organization – he often wrote his adventures in a sort of “stream of consciousness” style. It required careful reading (with a “highlighter” – I used a yellow crayon) before play, as Player info was often buried in the text. Tomb of Horrors could really have used some box text (to go along with the illustrations) – it had a set up that box text would really have supported. I think Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth has box text, but I don’t remember if it is particular good or bad. I can’t think of any other EGG module with box text at the moment.

Quasqueton