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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Oofta" data-source="post: 6938657" data-attributes="member: 6801845">In addition to the fine advice above, I would add a few points.You need to adjust your style to your players.  Pay attention to how they respond to your descriptions and embellishments.  I've judged for a lot of different groups and what works for one group may not work for another.  Sometimes I use descriptive combat scenes, sometimes I don't.  It sounds like perhaps you're trying to mimic Mearl's style instead of finding your own.  That's probably not the best approach.  For me, my DMing is half improv, half planning and I try not to over-think what approach I'm going to take or how the game is going to play out.  That lets me be more flexible and adjust the game to better respond to the player's actions.Think of a favorite author.  How do they describe scenes and characters?  What narrative tricks do they use?  Some will give a very detailed, fleshed out description while others will give a very simple outline and let the reader fill in the details.  Both narrative styles can work, but you need to find a happy medium that will work for you.  The worst thing you can do is try to force a style that doesn't fit you or your players.Be careful how many flourishes you use.  A flourish can be any "extra" characterization or description that adds more than absolutely necessary to the scene.  Is the group having fun with the baker's wife flirting with the party's bard?  Great!  That doesn't mean that every single woman the bard comes across will flirt with him.  Throw it in now and then to remind people that women flirt with the bard all the time, but there's no need to hit them over the head with it.So let's talk about combat.  Let's say the group is trying to sneak by some sleeping ogres.  First I would describe the ogre's current encampment "the area looks like it was once a farmstead, you would think it's abandoned but there is the nearly overwhelming smell of fresh garbage and rot.  It appears that someone, or some thing, has taken up residence here and built a crude cage which is holding at least a few of the lost villagers."  I may give a general layout and sketch but I'm not going to go into much detail. Let people fill in the details of the farmhouse.Asking for a stealth roll, one of the player's rolls his eyes and said "Just rolled a 1!  That's ... a -2 stealth."  As the group groans and gets ready for combat I describe what happened "You were trying to approach carefully but stepped on something slippery.  Looking down you realized you had just stepped into what looks like bloody entrails.  Startled, you slipped and accidentally knocked over some rusty farm implements making a incredible racket that would wake the dead."  I may also let the player describe what happened if they want but otherwise I just improvised the gross but appropriate entrails to step in and decided what would make a lot of noise.As an ogre comes charging out of the barn "A large humanoid dressed in crude leathers, and wearing what appears to be the rotting head of one of his recent victims as a necklace charges out at you.  The dull eyes of the creature show little intelligence but are burning with rage as he yells THIEVES DIE!" using my best stupid ogre voice. Roll for initiative.In combat, the ogre may yell a few monosyllabic insults and I'll probably describe his club as an old wagon wheel.  But describe every blow?  Nah.  I probably add description to 10-20% of attacks, at most.  I try to limit to initial blows, or adding some fun fluff here and there like the fact that the "javelin" the ogre throws is really an old pitchfork..So that's my advice.  Try to find your own voice as a DM and don't overthink your presentation style.  Play to your audience and add flourishes only when it makes sense or adds to a scene.A last thought is that I always ask people when they need to leave, how long they feel comfortable playing.  Exhausted players are players that are not having fun.Good luck!  I've been DMing since D&D was a blue book, and I'm still learning so don't give up hope.</blockquote>

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