How to describe things familiar to the players but unfamiliar to the characters?

[the Jester]

Say the pcs find a gun (assuming such things are unheard of in you game). Do you tell them it's a gun? Or do you describe it as a metal object with a strange, roughly cylindrical shape, a strange smell associated with it, with a trigger on one side and a number of little doodads and stuff?

In other words, if the item's familiar to the players do you make it obvious what they've found or do you keep it more confusing and mysterious (since that's what it is to the characters)?

Doesn't have to be a gun- it could be any kind of modern item, or an archaic one that simply doesn't exist in the campaign (a stained glass window in a culture with no stained glass?)

I fall into the "mysterious and confusing" camp myself, but I'm curious as to how others handle this issue...

 

[Shallown]

Lead them down the assumption path.

I had this problem in Gamma world a lot and learned that describing little and pausing to search for a word helped. Often players will supply and word and if it fits, From their point of veiw use it. Also give the item to them in parts.

I ran a recent d20 hybrid Gamma world (Baddly done then but I'm working on an update) and they found a metal box half buried in the sand. I knew it was a buried car and only the trunk was exposed but that being all they saw they made all sorts of assumptions. Since it was a hover car no spare wheel but everything else in the trunk was very car like. A small medical kit, suitcase and briefcase etc. Like 3 sessions later it dawned on a player what the hell it was.

For a gun use a revolver with the chamber open and make it a 5 shot (Not uncommon in the old west I understand) Say the chamber looks like a spotting mechanism and such.

Just taking it and turning it a little sideways helps. When we hold or look at a gun we naturally orientate it correctly becuase we know what it is. A primitive doesn't so describe it while looking down the barrel. It does create a new prospective.

These are a few tricks I use and also remember old fashion/early guns looked odd even by todays standards becuase they hadn't been refined yet.

A gun could be just a blow gun with a handle until you load a bullet in the chamber roatate the handle to close the chamber and reveal the hammer and trigger which lock into place only when a bullet is in it.

Hope this helps

 

[Xarlen]

Describe.

I had a buddy who ran a game, and described a porcelin structure about 18 inches high, wide open at one side, filled with water.

Everyone in the room (Even one of the players' mom's, who was reading) knew it was a toilet. However, the paladin in the party was CONVINCED it was a holy water font.

 

[Moon_Goddess]

I had the characters come to modern day earth once, and they droped from a portal, landed into a bathtub and spend one hour real time exploring a bathroom, before ever figuring out that I was describing the room across the hall from them.


My trick is extreme detail, most people just don't look at the world that closely, so if you choose different details than the ones they normallly pay attention too it becomes alien.

 

[Valmur_Dwur]

Looks like we're all of the same mind I too describe things instead of instant idenification. Monsters are the best for this followed closely by real-world items as others have mentioned. Let the players think whatever they want it makes it easier to keep them confused