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ShortQuests -- individual adventure modules! An all-new collection of digest-sized D&D adventures designed to plug in to your game.

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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Celebrim" data-source="post: 2274590" data-attributes="member: 4937">I didn't say anything that contridicted that. Ok, great.  Lavatories are a nice emersive touch that reminds the PC's that they a moving around in some inhabitants (current or former) living space.   So....Your work doesn't end when you dress the lavatory.  Is the lavatory still in use?  If so, what in dungeon is using it.   What is down the hole?  Where does the hole go?  If the hole goes nowhere, and the lavatory is still in use, why hasn't the hole filled up?  If the lavatory is still in use, why didn't we smell the lavatory three rooms away?   Any dressing of the lavatory you make only increases the number of questions that need to be answered.   Ok, so there is some broken basins in the room.   Are they decorated in any way?  Can I tell from thier style approximately how old they are?  There is some graffetti carved on the wall?  What language is it in?  What does it say? The gotcha in this is that the more detailed and interesting your description, the more work is involved and the more the characters will want to probe the environment.   Now imagine that your dungeon contained 2/3rds rooms that were just elaborate descriptions.   How long before the players would get tired of this song and dance of playing with the toy and finding that there was hardly ever a reward?   How long before the players would start metagaming by 'poking' the environment, watching your responce and determining from that whether or not they should waste any more time in this well dressed but utterly empty room.That pretty much hits the nail on the head.   Over time I've learned that there are things you can do without sacrificing realism that are just more fun than saying 'nothing to see here, move along' in increasingly flowery ways.   The player's might almost never figure out how all the things that they find are related, and might never learn the story behind why the Hobgoblin female in room 10A is pregnant and why the hobgoblin male in room 11 is furious with goblins, but so what.  It's there if you need it.</blockquote>

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