Box Text

[Lanefan]

I don't mind boxed text...often, when I'm about to read one out, I'll joke "OK, here's the boxed text"; the players sometimes groan, and I read it out...editing on the fly if things are included that shouldn't be.

Boxed text that assumes the party comes from a certain direction can be a pain; well-written boxed text has a version for each approach: "If approached from area 23, read: [box]", followed by "If approached from area 8, read [box]", and so on...or at least makes reference to the differences of view etc. if approached from different directions.

Boxed text that assumes the party do some logical things like glance around the room before entering (in other words, describes what they see from the door) is good...it saves time worrying about minutae.

Lanefan

 

[Delta]

Boxed text that assumes the party do some logical things like glance around the room before entering (in other words, describes what they see from the door) is good...it saves time worrying about minutae.

That's a good point, and yet you still shouldn't actually say, "as you glance around the room...". Just say, "to the left there is X and to the right there is Y" or somesuch.

 

[Hussar]

I actually usually like the boxed text. I don't mind switching to "Narrator Voice" for some things. In my OpenRPG games, I actually simply highlight the boxed text and send it with a special background. That way the players know that they are seeing a certain thing.

While the boxed text in the World's Largest Dungeon may be purple prose from time to time, by and large, it's not bad. I haven't run into any complaints about it anyway.

 

[Oryan77]

You've got kind of a different problem there, because you're trying to encapsulate a description of a whole town there.

Hmm, I never thought about their being a difference really. I just think of each place a PC goes to as being just another environment whether it's a room or an outdoor setting. My city/town descriptions are kept no longer than my example boxed text so the players don't get annoyed. I'll describe those larger areas more as the PC's move along in the city. But at that point, I'll describe things in my own words rather than boxed text since I hopefully already established the mood.

That's a good point, and yet you still shouldn't actually say, "as you glance around the room...". Just say, "to the left there is X and to the right there is Y" or somesuch.

I get what you're saying here and I agree that when you think about it...it comes off as less controlling to the players. But is it really that big of a deal to players? So the DM says "you see" instead of "to the left there is"...if a player at my table had a problem with that, I'd tell them they probably should find another hobby if something that small ruffles their feathers. I personally have never given it any thought at all until I read this thread A DM could tell me what I see all day long & I'd never think twice about it as long as it was helping me get a mental image of his scene.

 

[Xyanthon]

I don't mind boxed text. I usually don't read it as written but I do like to use it as a guideline from time to time. I read carefully through each module I get so I've always taken them as something to use as a guide and not necessarily use as written.

Oh, Quasqueton; I loved that whole Forest Oracle thread so much the first time I saw it that I immediately went out to eBay to snatch myself up a copy. That is one of my new favorites.

 

[Hypersmurf]

That's a good point, and yet you still shouldn't actually say, "as you glance around the room...". Just say, "to the left there is X and to the right there is Y" or somesuch.

Of course, "to the left and to the right" will run afoul of the complaint people make about entering the room from an unexpected direction...

-Hyp.

 

[MerricB]

Of course, "to the left and to the right" will run afoul of the complaint people make about entering the room from an unexpected direction...

-Hyp.

Which is why you should always write entirely linear dungeons, of course!

Cheers!

 

[the Jester]

I love good boxed text! In our group, we make a production of it; when the gm (usually me) announces, "Boxed text!" there's usually a hue and cry that goes up as everyone focuses on the words to come.

Then again, we're atypical, I think.

In the spirit of things, I'll post a few recent instances of my homebrewed boxed text for critique as well. Here's one from a dungeon:

A large mound of earth and stone, stained with blood and scattered with bits of dried grass, straw and hay, looms out of the mist. The corpse of some kind of large beast is rotting atop it, festooned with arrows and showing the signs of stab and chop wounds. From the smell, it has been here for a month or more.

Here's another. Note how it cleverly talks about the character's entry path without specifying which path they took!

The path leads to a clearing, roughly 20’ in diameter, with three other paths leading from it. Throughout the place, rosebushes grow, scenting the area with their delicate fragrance. Two statues of men with daggers upraised are in the place; the moldering, headless corpse of what appears to be a human woman lies near the entrance of one of the paths.

Finally, this one is from part of a wilderness trek:

Once again you have come onto a ravaged battlefield. This one is strange and disconcerting, however, for no clothes, armor, weapons or other things remain: only naked corpses, terrifically damaged. They show the signs of battle, including cuts and stab wounds, but nowhere is even a single broken spear or a tattered remnant of a banner. The ground itself looks scoured, and rather than the churned earth one normally finds at the sight of a battle, there are only pitted stones and broken gravel. There are probably several hundred corpses here, all of them apparently human.

 

[Oryan77]

There are probably several hundred corpses here, all of them apparently human.

Now see, I have a problem with this boxed text! How do the players actually know all of the corpses are human? First, you're assuming they actually looked at them, and 2nd, did they actually look at every body to see if it was human? Maybe some were half-elven! And how do they know there were several hundred? Did they count them? You're also assuming that they counted them!

Your boxed text is as bad as mine

 

[Gentlegamer]

I've always loathed boxed text (just as P&P said). Just give me the description of the area with what NPCs are present and I'll "narrate" the info the players.