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What do you want in a published adventure? / Adventure design best practices?
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<blockquote data-quote="Lanefan" data-source="post: 7174094" data-attributes="member: 29398"><p>Of course. How else would it make sense?</p><p></p><p>It matters as it makes the whole thing more believable and real. Also, as I said earlier, not every room in a dungeon has to be exciting - there need to be some that are bland and boring if for no other reason than to mix it uip a little.</p><p></p><p>Think of movies. They (or at least most of them - Michael Bay hasn't figured this out yet) have rises and falls in the action level as they go along, with the less active bits both providing a sensory break and serving to make the high-action bits seem all that much more exciting when they come along.</p><p></p><p>With which there is nothing wrong whatsoever. Also, the description should never be "throwaway": unless the room is or appears to be completely empty it's on you-as-DM (or on the module writer, whichever) to describe each room in roughly the same level of detail based on its contents. Obviously, an elaborate throne room will take a bit more describing than a cloistered monk's spartan chamber, but the level of detail used for one should be used for the other. The only real exception is when a series of very similar rooms are encountered one after the other such as prison cells or inn rooms or suchlike, when it's easiest to just say "It appears much the same as the room you just left".</p><p></p><p>But the players/characters shouldn't have any way of knowing it's just a bland boring room until and unless they've explored it and searched for clues/traps/treasure/secret doors/etc. - unless the DM tips them off somehow, which is a straight-up DMing error.</p><p></p><p>There doesn't need to be something to find in every room. And this can also apply to great big majestic halls with fluted pillars and a ceiling lost in the darkness above - search it all you like, but what you see is what you get 'cause there ain't anything here.</p><p></p><p>Lan-"the best place to hide an important secret door is in the 6th of 8 identical bland boring sleeping chambers, because by then everyone will have given up searching"-efan</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Lanefan, post: 7174094, member: 29398"] Of course. How else would it make sense? It matters as it makes the whole thing more believable and real. Also, as I said earlier, not every room in a dungeon has to be exciting - there need to be some that are bland and boring if for no other reason than to mix it uip a little. Think of movies. They (or at least most of them - Michael Bay hasn't figured this out yet) have rises and falls in the action level as they go along, with the less active bits both providing a sensory break and serving to make the high-action bits seem all that much more exciting when they come along. With which there is nothing wrong whatsoever. Also, the description should never be "throwaway": unless the room is or appears to be completely empty it's on you-as-DM (or on the module writer, whichever) to describe each room in roughly the same level of detail based on its contents. Obviously, an elaborate throne room will take a bit more describing than a cloistered monk's spartan chamber, but the level of detail used for one should be used for the other. The only real exception is when a series of very similar rooms are encountered one after the other such as prison cells or inn rooms or suchlike, when it's easiest to just say "It appears much the same as the room you just left". But the players/characters shouldn't have any way of knowing it's just a bland boring room until and unless they've explored it and searched for clues/traps/treasure/secret doors/etc. - unless the DM tips them off somehow, which is a straight-up DMing error. There doesn't need to be something to find in every room. And this can also apply to great big majestic halls with fluted pillars and a ceiling lost in the darkness above - search it all you like, but what you see is what you get 'cause there ain't anything here. Lan-"the best place to hide an important secret door is in the 6th of 8 identical bland boring sleeping chambers, because by then everyone will have given up searching"-efan [/QUOTE]
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