Boxed Text - A Railrod Sign, or Great tool for Immersion? Both?

[Jeff Wilder]

I think boxed text is fantastic for a beginning DM and beginning players, because even if the writer of the text isn't a better writer than the DM, the writer usually has a clear visualization of the scene and a clear understanding of what needs to be conveyed. It also, when done well, serves as an example of how to engage all of the PCs' senses.

On the other hand, boxed text does tend to break immersion for us as experienced players. (One thing I do as a player that tends to help keep this from happening, BTW, is actually close my eyes and "paint" the scene as my DM describes it. Give it a try ... you might be surprised how much it can add to immersion.)

What I've been doing in my own adventures -- especially those intended for other DMs, such as the game I ran at GenCon -- is to begin any encounter are with a list of sensory hooks. (I try to use at least three or four senses in any area.)

For example, in a caravanserai scene, for "Hooks," I'd write something like: "The smell of animal sweat and manure; the creaking of harnesses and ungreased axles; the shouting and darting from place to place of caravan personnel; mud underfoot; the sun breaking over the east gates."

From this any competent DM can tell what the atmosphere of the place is, and weave the hooks into the description, whether paraphrasing or inserting them verbatim.

I find that this keeps many of the benefits of boxed text, while eliminating the "let's wait for the DM to finish reading" aspect of it.

Remember, there is no save against boxed text! (Apologies to whomever, whose sig I stole that from. It's become a running joke at our table.)

 

[Celebrim]

Towards the end of my last campaign (ended last month) and in the first game of my new one (two weeks ago) I have found myself writing out more and more boxed text descriptions.

Good.

As a DM, I love it - it lets me get down good descriptive text of a person, place or thing that is edited and gets across the feel I am going for without having to search for the words on the fly. I use it more and more now as a transition piece - to help keep the players on track etc.

Yes.

For example, when the players get on the boat they are waiting for in my upcoming game, I will have something like so (this is not the exact 'boxed text', it's just a quick example)...

Wade escorts you onto the 'Goletta', a relatively small merchant ship he has assured you is heading for Port Winters. The events of the past few days weigh on you as you step aboard, and while being shown to your quarters, your mind wanders... adrift in a sea of questions... why are people killing and kidnapping those whose names are on the list... who made the list... Wade mentioned that "Tolan" was likely an agent of the Red Mask, and the ship 'Dmitri' that left last night certainly belonged to them... but what was their part in this, if any... back on deck now, the whipping of the sails grabs your attention and draws your thoughts to the task at hand... the Captain was introducing some of his crew to you and you seemed to have missed the first few names...

Hmm... ok, I think I see your problem. I've bolded the problem text.

You are trying to adopt the tone of a novel narrator. This is wrong for several reasons. RPG narration is not exactly like narrating any other form of literature, but it is much more like a screen play than it is a novel. Write your text boxes in a 'cinematic style'.

1) Never ever impinge on the character's free will. This is the big way that RPG narration always differ's from every other form of narration. You as the narrator are not all powerful. You can't control the PC's ever. That means you can't ever tell the players what they feel (in an emotional sense) unless something supernatural is in play, nor can you ever tell players about their characters own internal intellectual and emotional lives. Nor can you ever tell the player's what their character does unless they've explicity told you that they intend to do so.
2) Always show, don't tell. This is the screen writer's maxim. Don't tell the players how to feel, respond, or think. Don't offer observations or opinions on what happens (unless they ask for a hunch). Narrate concrete events.
3) Long text is fine, but make sure your extensive description is a description of place and persons, not of time. Sometimes you'll need to use a long peice of narration because there are alot of physical details to take in, or because alot of things are happening at once. Avoid the temptation though to narrate are long period of time, unless the players have expressedly given you permission to handwave the time because you've mutually agreed that some amount of time will pass uneventfully. Never narrate a long period of time in which things are happening, because then you've got on the railroad and the players are just along for the ride. Every time something happens, you must stop and give the players oppurtunity to interact. Your players shouldn't feel the need to interrupt your narration.
4) Whenever possible, use dialog Dialog is what breathes life into your NPC's and makes them memorable and interesting. It also encourages your players to interact in an appropriate manner. Avoid the temptation to tell the players a summation of what an NPC says.

The above can be written to a more appropriate form for RPG narration:

Wade escorts you onto the 'Goletta', a relatively small merchant ship. "This boat is headed for Port Winters. Her Captain, Putterson is a fine man and a good sailor. He's agreed to take you aboard as passengers. Let's go aboard and I'll introduce you."

This is a stopping point. The players may want to ask some questions about the boat, Captain Putterson, or Port Winters. The players may want to refuse to get aboard entirely. Or any number of things may happen. And notice, dialog rather than summaries.

As you step aboard the ship, the sails are being unfurled in the rigging above you and they whip in the stout shore breeze. Deckhands are moving about the deck at a frantic pace making various preperations to sail. Wade shouts up above the commotion, "Ho Captain Putterson, I brought the Lords and Ladies we spoke of at the Rusty Anchor... your passengers." A short man with a red face and wearing a heavy red buff coat of nearly the same color, turns about on the stern deck and shouts, "Ho, Wade, me hearty. Bring them up. No, better yet, I'll come down to you. We are in a hurry to leave before the tide changes."

You see? Lots of boxed text, but no rail roading. The more practice you get, the better you'll get at doing this sort of thing extemporaneously, but there is nothing wrong with providing yourself some proper prompting to get the scene started.

 

[Blackbrrd]

I hate boxed text. That and the predetermined way most modules want you to play them is a big turnoff for me. On the other hand, premade modules can create a great backdrop for some really nice RP, but the players often doze of when it comes to questions like "where do we go next?". It is all so obvious where the module wants you to go.

My next game is gonna be a sandbox, with a linear start to get them familiar with the sandbox. The characters are gonna get the facts, or find what the facts are and make decisions, in addition to be able to role play their characters.

I got one exception to that in the Red hand of doom module:

Spoiler

The players found the phylactery of the lich and one of the players instantly went: "We are off to make a deal with the lich hey-hey". OMG that made me laugh. That was SO on character from that player. Made his day I am sure - and mine.

 

[Oryan77]

There's also something about the loss of eye contact with players and the brisk pace brought about by plowing through boxed text that seems to signal a break in the flow of the game

I like boxed text myself for the same reason weem gave. It helps me describe things in better words when I can plan ahead.

But I also agree that it can seem forced when you read it to players.

When I am reading boxed text, I like try to do a little ad-libbing while I am reading the text. So I may read a sentence that says, "The column looks to be 50 ft high and as you scan your surroundings, you can barely make out a catwalk high above through all the mist in the room." Then I'll look at everyone, put down the page, and maybe say, "So this room is huge (use arm gestures) and it's filled with mist. You see the giant column in front of you and you gotta squint your eyes to see the catwalk up above." Then I pick the page up and read off the next bit of text from the boxed text.

Basically I am giving a description twice, but it seems like it helps. My players always seem to pay attention when I do this and it also helps give me more descriptive ideas that I can ad-lib after I've read the text myself. I can't think of a time when my players have zoned out when I read box text like this. And even when I've described the scene twice like this, they'll still ask me for clarifications sometimes. This method seems to help keep players from feeling like it was forced.

 

[Ambrus]

Your players shouldn't feel the need to interrupt your narration.

Heh. This reminds me of the scene in The Gamers in which the DM is trying to launch into the bandit king's cliched monologue only to be interrupted by a player who wants to shoot him, mid sentence, with his bow. The DM gets progressively more frustrated as the player tries no less than three times to interrupt him to shoot the long-winded bandit king.

 

[Mythmere1]

When boxed text is very short, it's a good thing because it (a) keeps the DM from missing some important detail, and (b) allows you not to break eye contact. Having a DM read aloud for more than a couple of seconds is awful.

Boxed text that tells players what their characters "feel" are usually pretty bad, and boxed text in which the writer tries out his talents as a novelist with long, lavish, read-aloud bedtime stories -- also pretty bad.

But there's a huge corresponding benefit of allowing the DM to break right into the room description instead of stopping to refresh his memory from a room description without the boxed text.

In short, I think there's an art to it. In general, less is more.

 

[frankthedm]

Boxed text is fine. The problem is with lazy delivery and the DM not already having read his lines.

Best prose in the world is for naught if someone is stumbling over it in a voice monotonous enough to make Ben Stein sound hyper.

 

[Celebrim]

Heh. This reminds me of the scene in The Gamers in which the DM is trying to launch into the bandit king's cliched monologue only to be interrupted by a player who wants to shoot him, mid sentence, with his bow. The DM gets progressively more frustrated as the player tries no less than three times to interrupt him to shoot the long-winded bandit king.

Funny because it's true.

This sort of thing can be dealt with by making it clear to the players that any NPC that sees the players as a potential foe who has been aware of the PC's for more than a few seconds is no longer flat footed and can't be surprised. Lots of players seem to think that 'flat footed until you take an action' means, 'flat footed until you attack'. Partly this is because DM's generally don't roll for initiative until right before the melee starts, so players think that if initiative hasn't been rolled for, that no one has acted.

In reality, this is just a convienent short cut. If party X observes party Y at a distance of 600' and is in turn observed by them (or indeed becomes aware of them at all), everyone has already acted and become on gaurd usually well before the first attack. What's really happened is that for serveral turns, both sides have been taking 'delay', 'move', or 'ready' actions in anticipation of possible attacks. If I've held off on rolling initiative, it's only because sadly some players have been trained to think that if initiative is rolled that combat with no quarter to the death is inevitable.

Interupting an NPC that is already aware of you and fears you in order to make a 'surprise' attack gains you absolutely no advantage (unless you think that he's monologuing to give time for reinforcements to arrive, or for spellcasters to cast spells, or whatever).

 

[The Ghost]

As a player, boxed text to me seemed to draw (my) attention to the fact that this was probably all predetermined - you were intended to get to this point and you may not have had much of a choice about it.

So the question is, what do you think of boxed text in this regard, from both a Player and DM standpoint?

I tend to react negatively toward any text, description, or otherwise that tells me how my character thinks or acts. However, if the text boxes are written as just a description of what we see, hear, or smell, then I am fine with it.

 

[Theo R Cwithin]

I paraphrase boxed text, mainly to keep the style "mine". I find it distracting to listen to a DM speak in his own words, then shift over to another author's. A lot of momentum can be lost there.

I also avoid emotional descriptions, replacing them with physical ones, if possible. So "You feel a sense of dread" becomes "A vague unnatural chill make the hairs on your neck stand on end" or something.