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Message: <blockquote data-quote="engrishonly" data-source="post: 2766603" data-attributes="member: 38460">Combat descriptions... d20 can get bogged down in the dice, which is where I really liked reading the Exalted rules. It gets you a little bit past the dice.I try to think about feelings, and about the tone of what is going on. Right now, I have the Iliad on the brain... and Homer does not spare his victims - it is unpleasant and brutal when someone is taken by the darkness, his blood spilling to the ground. Spears clang heavily off of breastplates when they don't pierce heroes above the pelvis, through their bladders, and their lives and futures are lost.Maybe you want something cleaner, like Star Wars... more (poorly filmed?) close-ups of faces and less of actual action. Less about the chopping that dinks away at someone's hit points... the Jedi might be thrown backwards by the clash of blades, with a look of pain and desperation on his face.Try to think about movies or books that you liked, and re-imagine the fight scenes in the context of your adventures. What flavor works for you? What theme are you trying to use as "seasoning" for your story?This is something I try to think about... almost like the Iliad, in the tradition of reciting the epics to an audience. Rosy-fingered dawn, Athena with her eyes flashing, Agamemnon - leader of men, that sort of thing. It's also like remembering someone's name... in order for someone to be memorable, you need that one thing to hang your memory on. Thinking of descriptions along the lines of the classics might also help give your adventure a more epic feel, if that is what you are after.</blockquote>

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