Reply to thread

Message

<blockquote data-quote="Charlaquin" data-source="post: 8477950" data-attributes="member: 6779196"><p>It’s not a matter of being good at describing the action, it’s a matter of conveying enough information for me to be able to figure out if what your character is doing could successfully bring about your goal, if it could fail to bring about your goal, and what the consequences of failing to bring about your goal would be, without having to make assumptions or establish those details myself. A precise and detailed description of inserting the probe into the lock, slowly testing each pin’s resistance, feeling for the subtle change when they pass the tumbler, carefully sliding them up and then forcing them each just enough off track to jam them up, out of the way, and then turning the whole system to disengage the bolt is no better than just saying you use your thieves’ tools to pick the lock. In fact, in some ways the former is actually worse because it’s not nearly as concise as the latter, and I actually still have to make the assumption that picking the lock is your goal, though it’s obviously a pretty safe assumption in that particular case. Level of descriptive detail is not the bar, clear information about what you’re trying to accomplish and how is.</p></blockquote><p></p>

[QUOTE="Charlaquin, post: 8477950, member: 6779196"] It’s not a matter of being good at describing the action, it’s a matter of conveying enough information for me to be able to figure out if what your character is doing could successfully bring about your goal, if it could fail to bring about your goal, and what the consequences of failing to bring about your goal would be, without having to make assumptions or establish those details myself. A precise and detailed description of inserting the probe into the lock, slowly testing each pin’s resistance, feeling for the subtle change when they pass the tumbler, carefully sliding them up and then forcing them each just enough off track to jam them up, out of the way, and then turning the whole system to disengage the bolt is no better than just saying you use your thieves’ tools to pick the lock. In fact, in some ways the former is actually worse because it’s not nearly as concise as the latter, and I actually still have to make the assumption that picking the lock is your goal, though it’s obviously a pretty safe assumption in that particular case. Level of descriptive detail is not the bar, clear information about what you’re trying to accomplish and how is. [/QUOTE]

Verification