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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Celebrim" data-source="post: 9766841" data-attributes="member: 4937">So I am going to cut against the grain by saying it is imperative everyone in the group is seeing roughly the same thing in their head.  Players are taking actions and asking questions based on the scene they imagine in their head.  Sometimes it is not clear for several minutes that those actions and intentions are based on false understandings of the scene.  Yes, you should be brief so that the players do listen, but you can't be so brief that you leave out facts everyone needs to know.For example, one of the first things everyone needs to know is all the visible points of egress and ingress from the room.  This maybe the most important thing in the description.  Another thing everyone needs to know is all the features that might provide concealment for creatures or things in the room.  Are their containers?  Are their drapes or tapestries?  Are their pillars or alcoves?  Another thing everyone needs to know is the sensory experience.  Is it noisy or quiet?  Is the room dusty or clean?  Is there an odor in the air?  Is there a breeze?  Is it warm or cold?  Is it dark or lit?  Does the room have a palpable supernatural aura?Another thing everyone needs to know is whether there are complex features in the room that should be drilled in on for further explanation.  Bookshelves, desks, paintings, murals, carvings, floor tiles, flora, containers, and trophies may all require potentially as much explanation themselves as the room does.  For brevity you may leave out the details, but you need to at least signal things that may require a closer look or caution.Finally the room may have inhabitants and these need to be described along with their actions or attitude.You just can't do this in three sentences and a thing they players need to hear remains needed to be heard whether the problem is you didn't speak what needed to be said or the players weren't listening.  They certainly can't listen to the things you didn't say, and that's just as bad.</blockquote>

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