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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Uller" data-source="post: 7345144" data-attributes="member: 413">Let your players know that they have agency.  Ask them what they want to do (not what they do....what they WANT to do) and then fill in the details that make doing that thing possible and interesting.Example from your OP... (assuming this is Camp Vengence or Fort Belurian)You described the buildings they see and they ask about the people...clearly they want to interact with someone...Describe some soldiers and camp followers milling about, maybe someone that looks more "in charge" eyeing them suspiciously and maybe someone else that might look like they could provide info about available services and then ask the players if there is anyone in particular they want to talk to or anything in partucular they want to do.Player: "I need to find a place to buy some lighter armor because adventuring in the jungle in chainmail isnt working out"You: "You do hear the ringing of a hammer on an anvil on the other side of the camp and you see a large tent with some guards and an older chap with a heavy blacksmiths apron handing some freshly sharpened weapons to a soldier."Basically...dont go for immersion by over describing things.  Let your players fill in the details with their imaginations.  If you over describe the details then you risk painting yourself into a corner such that something your players want to do cant be done or you have to twist the details you already laid out.  Worse, the players start to miss details because they are overwhelmed with info.  Give just the barest hint of details...let your players fill in the rest.  A sound, a smell, a color, a trait on an NPC can go a long way...that blacksmith I mentioned above...all I said was he was older and wearing an apron...but I bet you filled in what he looks like in you own mind.  When the PCs talk to him add another trait...balding grey hair...a gold tooth...scars from a wicked burn...an accent.  They'll remember him.I ran a game for my daughter and she met a gnome NPC...she asked if he knew any jokes...I have no idea why she did this...but I said sure and he told her a knock knock joke about an interrupting dragon...she spent the next two sessions exchanging jokes with him...he had to leave the party to return home and she was visibly sad...before she met him he was just a stat block and a source of info.Sent from my [device_name] using <a href="http://EN World mobile app" target="_blank">EN World mobile app</a></blockquote>

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