Describing is Seeing (and more)

[Blue]

The door creaks open revealing a well-lit room ...

This is actually a point I always try to do and my players have been very enthusiastic about - always include other senses besides sight. Great verisimilitude.

 

[5ekyu]

Isn’t that classic Gyagax adventures?

“You open a door into a 20X20 foot room. There is an expensive tapestry on the wall of a prancing horse ridden by a Knight who has a Phoenix feather on his helmet. The knights eyes evoke mystery and power. On the writing desk across the way is a gilded ink pen with the words, “for melva”

“Anything else?”

“Yes, there are also 6 angry orcs.”

Description is story-telling.

I’m guilty of forgetting details but usually because I find it more difficult to give a good description as the night wears on and fatigue is setting in.

Like you, I try to describe all the pertinent details and save the smaller details for when they have the time to notice them. I’ll give a broad description. Lighting is important and so is smells, especially if it’s a clue to something else, like foreshadowing a hidden encounter. “This room has a pungent smell of rotted leaves or a stagnant pond.” Might hint at some kind of creature lying in wait.

hah... yeah... i will admit to flashbacks to ye olde days of "you did not say you looked up" when the description stopped at a room with an elaborate pit with nothing described across from it and no apparent other use for the pit than to block progress - in a closed room? Then, only after the "is there anything on the other side" was there "oh yeah a passage leading..."

 

[5ekyu]

This is actually a point I always try to do and my players have been very enthusiastic about - always include other senses besides sight. Great verisimilitude.

yup... for me often sound and/or smell are revealed before sight - unless that sight is light in a distance.

 

[WaterRabbit]

But a picture/map is worth a thousand words. Both allow you to focus on meaningful description instead of the mundane size of room and number of exits.

 

[5ekyu]

But a picture/map is worth a thousand words. Both allow you to focus on meaningful description instead of the mundane size of room and number of exits.

I agree completely and often use maps myself... But...

In this case using ToM this would have been a quick done and past thing, no map ever needed, if only a little more complete description was done at the outset.

 

[LordEntrails]

This is one area that I think digital excels at. When I use my VTT online or in person, rooms get three descriptions. First the players see the map. Second they get the "boxed text" in the chat window they can read. Third they get my audio description.

This means I almost never have to describe size. It means that players get major information in 3 ways. So that people (like me) who often have a hard time building a mental image from a verbal description can get the details in a way that works for them.

You can do similar with battlemaps, terrains and miniatures, but digital is much easier/faster/quicker once you are there (but less tactile and no reading material for the players).

For instance, I tend to focus on priorities like
Obvious dangers to you now (creatures, moving effects, etc.)
Obvious dangers other than those ( pits, broken floors, crumbling roof.)
Exits and entrances
Major furnishings
Anything "active"

This is a good list. Though when going digital I usually ignore exits/entrances and major furnishing.

Are there "style guide" elements for room/scene descriptions defined for or used for official sources? ...
Would they help if there were?

Not that I know of. And since 5E talks about "natural language" I don't think their is likely to ever be one. If such exists, the DMsG Writer's Guild on FA\acebook would be the place to find it.

Would it help... yes and no. I mean how many people use Strunk & White's style guide or another except when writing for school?

The trick is not to do it as some sort of checklist. Speak actively, and always describe the sensations the characters are experiencing, not merely the attributes of the environment. Describe size in terms of characters reach and movement, for example. ...

Communicating specific information to one character is a good way to get them to pay more attention and communicate. ...

Be upfront if they're taking a risk, because they often don't see it that way. ...

This is all good advice.

But a picture/map is worth a thousand words. Both allow you to focus on meaningful description instead of the mundane size of room and number of exits.

Agree with this. It's why I feel maps and pictures are very valuable. But, not everyone agrees or has the resources to make such happen. But, I will emphasize that different people absorb information in different ways. And it is very likely that some of the players at any given table will absorb that information in a way different than the DM's preferred method.

So, remember, just because you like descriptions done in one manner, or you like maps or xyz, doesn't mean others will

 

[aco175]

I like to put threats and monsters, and even NPCs, after the general description. I found that when the door opens to a group of monsters, the players focus on that and I need to re-read the description after the combat.