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<blockquote data-quote="Quickleaf" data-source="post: 7592461" data-attributes="member: 20323">When done well, I've found text boxes to be a valuable tool for a time-harried DM to quickly grok an environment/scenario and communicate that to the players.However, there are many examples of how boxed text can go wrong. One of my favorites comes from I-2: Tomb of the Lizard King...[SECTION]2. Great Hall of the BrigandsAs you open the unlocked door to this chamber, you find yourself peering into total darkness. Suddenly, the darkness is pierced by a brilliant light, and you hear the twang of many bowstrings![/SECTION]Injecting &quot;you&quot; into boxed text is almost a guaranteed recipe for an epic fail. Using scripted events is even worse. And then not having any room description from that &quot;brilliant light&quot; makes you wonder what the writer of the boxed text was thinking.Another gem comes from Gates of Firestorm Peak – though I've seen it often repeated in older modules where the monsters are described only at the end of a text box's description. [SECTION]21 b. KitchenThe kitchen holds all manner of cooking implements stored helter-skelter atop stone tables. Large meat hooks in the ceiling provide a sturdy support for the butchering of game creatures brought up from the underdeep. Three cots in the corner provide the goblin cooks with a place to sleep.[/SECTION]What? Goblin cooks! Where? I was getting lured into the vivid description of objects when– whammo! There are goblin cooks!</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Quickleaf, post: 7592461, member: 20323"] When done well, I've found text boxes to be a valuable tool for a time-harried DM to quickly grok an environment/scenario and communicate that to the players. However, there are many examples of how boxed text can go wrong. One of my favorites comes from [I]I-2: Tomb of the Lizard King[/I]... [SECTION][B]2. Great Hall of the Brigands[/B] As you open the unlocked door to this chamber, you find yourself peering into total darkness. Suddenly, the darkness is pierced by a brilliant light, and you hear the twang of many bowstrings![/SECTION] Injecting "you" into boxed text is almost a guaranteed recipe for an epic fail. Using scripted events is even worse. And then not having [I]any[/I] room description from that "brilliant light" makes you wonder what the writer of the boxed text was thinking. Another gem comes from [I]Gates of Firestorm Peak[/I] – though I've seen it often repeated in older modules where the monsters are described only at the end of a text box's description. [SECTION][B]21 b. Kitchen[/B] The kitchen holds all manner of cooking implements stored helter-skelter atop stone tables. Large meat hooks in the ceiling provide a sturdy support for the butchering of game creatures brought up from the underdeep. Three cots in the corner provide the goblin cooks with a place to sleep.[/SECTION] What? Goblin cooks! Where? I was getting lured into the vivid description of objects when– whammo! There are goblin cooks! [/QUOTE]

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