Help! I suck at descriptions!

[Warrior Poet]

Try using pictures and artwork. There are thousands of sources on the internet for pictures to show to players.

Good call. I used to fret over how to describe the difference between landscapes (the Gobi desert looks different from the Sahara desert which looks different from the Chihuahua desert; the Washington rainforest looks different from the Guatemalan rainforest, etc.), but it's easy now (especially if you have access to a computer with internet connection at the game) to call up a National Park photo or similar, and say, "Look!"

Warrior Poet

 

[Hand of Evil]

Wow! I certainly wasn't expecting this much of a response. ct

this is why EN.World is better than WotC (on some things)

 

[Crothian]

this is why EN.World is better than WotC (on some things)

I'm curious what aren't we better at?

 

[Heathen72]

Another idea

Make interesting and colourful locations a part of your adventure design. It gets hard to come up with an interesting description for yet another dank sewer, and just as hard to make the 108th dungeon sound different (especially on the fly) so when you are designing your adventures make an effort to set them in fantastic locales. Figure out what is different about any area - what sets it apart or what makes it special and make those things the focus of your description. In my world, for instance, the players recently went to the Shimmering Lake - the waters of which (though very deep) are so clear that they do not soak up the light, meaning that you can see right to the very bottom of the lake. And there at the bottom at the heart of a still living forest, is an ancient gothic cathedral....
And so on.

Put things like that in your game, and the details tend to flow very readily.

 

[NewLifeForm]

Not what you say, but how you say it

One interesting technique I use a lot is to describe the area in a tone of voice different from how you would describe, say, walkng down a path or into a familiar tavern. For example, I will repeat myself in a low echo to reinforce the vast emptiness of a canyon or immense cargo bay. I 'whisper loudly', speaking in a raspy voice and putting my hand up in front of my face in regions of snow and high winds. This lends weight to your descriptions above and beyond the words themselves.

I also use my voice to create low, background sound effects. If the players are moving through a dungeon, a scuttering noise like a mouse in the distance or water dripping paints a visual picture that the players' minds end up filling in.

In one Traveller campaign, an NPC of the canine Vargr species guided the PCs through a forest looking for an abandoned outpost. I started to huff and sniff as I delivered the Vargr's dialog. Eventually I was shaking my head and pruning up my face as I described the long lost base. After a few minutes the players started to prune up their own faces, unconsiously acting like something stank. Suddenly one of them said outloud, "Goddamn, WHAT is that smell?!"

Up til that point, I never uttered a word about an odor. I didn't have to.

NewLifeForm
"Mostly Harmless"

 

[Hand of Evil]

I'm curious what aren't we better at?

Abusing fellow members.

 

[Inconsequenti-AL]

Abusing fellow members.

You smell like a gerbil.

Feel more at home now?

Thought that was a rather good description. Short, sharp and evocative. Perhaps a career in module writing beckons?

 

[Hand of Evil]

You smell like a gerbil.

Feel more at home now?

Thought that was a rather good description. Short, sharp and evocative. Perhaps a career in module writing beckons?

No, home is here...that is work!

 

[Connorsrpg]

Good thread and lots of cool advice.

I must say I love Buzz's advice. Obvious first, then worry about the rest later. I often fall into the trap of giving dimensions and details the PCs couldn't give 2 hoots about until they have dealt with that ogre and the meat cleaver.

other details come out as you map the room, layout the room for minis battle etc. Whilst doing that place some dice or somesuch for cupboards, benches and barrels. Describe if players ask what is that...or better yet state 'the ogre picks up a barrel. By the way its muscles are straining you can tell it is full of something' which you would then go on to describe when is smashes

Anyhow, there is some excellent advice in this thread. Stuff that could easily go into DMG III

Connors