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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Jeff Carlsen" data-source="post: 8166599" data-attributes="member: 61749">I do not favor boxed text in the form of a verbose description intended to be read to the players verbatim, set apart from the room description through typography. I tend to skip over it when I run a publish adventure, then find trouble when important details are in the boxed text and not repeated below.But, the GM still needs information about what is immediately visible in the room, and it needs to be at the top of the description. But I prefer it to be terse, with interactive elements called out in bold, and matching bullet points below to give more detail when needed.Here's an example from a recent session:<h3>C2-B. Larder</h3>Candlelit. 15’ x 30’ x 10’ (arched)Raw meat rests on stone slabs. Shelves hold fresh herbs, as well as centuries-old flour and spices. Barrels collect dust in the back. There is a small statue of a pig on the north wall.<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Meat. Laid flat on cool stone to preserve it. Some is human flesh.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Herbs. Gathered from the Westwood Forest. Hawthorn (5sp), Basil (2cp), sweetbalm (1sp)</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Statue of a pig. Brass. Rolled on its back, patting its fat belly, belly button extruded. Pressing it opens a secret door to the pantry.</li> </ul>Some context is lost without the map or surrounding room keys. I could probably improve it if I were working on a published adventure, but it does the job and isn't difficult to write.My descriptions are often even more terse, eschewing complete sentences, but I've noticed that I still tend to prefer to have the things in rooms doing something. Meat rests. Shelves hold. I find this easier to take in than raw bullet points. The goal is to give the GM (in this case, myself), the tools needed to visualize a scene, and then let them describe and embellish it. It's a learning process.The Alexandrian has a great article series on the subject, which I believe was posted earlier in this thread: <a href="https://thealexandrian.net/wordpress/35180/roleplaying-games/the-art-of-the-key" target="_blank">The Art of the Key</a></blockquote>

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