I've been DMing for around 2 years and I still have a hell of a time trying to explain the layout of complicated rooms without the use of maps. Any tips?
I have linked an example that frustrated me to no end...
First you need to understand what sort of structure or dungeon you are trying to describe. A Temple is not going to contain the same rooms as a Wizard's Tower. Second begin by describing using this criteria :
1- Dimension of the room.
2- Light and Light sources.
3- Visible Doors and Exits. ( Including stairs ).
4- Major Structures or Features. ( Pillars, Dias, Pedestals, Statues, Pit, Chasm, Stream, Lava ).
After you describe all that start by describing the living creatures inside the room ( Humanoids, Lizardmen, Dogs, Minatour, Dragon ).
Here is a sample :
You enter a circular chamber of 50 by 50 feet in diameter and 30 feet high separated in two floors. large touches light up the whole area, above, you see a bridge extending from the upper floor from your left side to the right side held by multiple pillars. ahead of you at the end of the chamber you see an open large double door with stairs leading upward. Shallow water covers the entire floor of the area you are standing on and you can hear water dripping from the ceiling, The floor is uneven and is hard to move but the water isn't deep and barely covers the soles of your foot. You see different types of small algae and plants sprouting out from the floor and small fish swimming about. The area is cold as your body starts to shiver and you see the breath vapors coming out of your mouth.
After they move around and inspect. You can say :
Fish like monsters stand on their feet and point their tridents towards you! roll for initiative.
Thanks! That actually helps a lot! I might tape those steps up to my DM screen. I've always preferred the more totm style of play like in Dice Camera Action versus the more board game-esc map and figurines based play though I'm not apposed to either if the need arises.
First you need to understand what sort of structure or dungeon you are trying to describe. A Temple is not going to contain the same rooms as a Wizard's Tower. Second begin by describing using this criteria :
1- Dimension of the room.
2- Light and Light sources.
3- Visible Doors and Exits. ( Including stairs ).
4- Major Structures or Features. ( Pillars, Dias, Pedestals, Statues, Pit, Chasm, Stream, Lava ).
After you describe all that start by describing the living creatures inside the room ( Humanoids, Lizardmen, Dogs, Minatour, Dragon ).
Here is a sample :
You enter a circular chamber of 50 by 50 feet in diameter and 30 feet high separated in two floors. large touches light up the whole area, above, you see a bridge extending from the upper floor from your left side to the right side held by multiple pillars. ahead of you at the end of the chamber you see an open large double door with stairs leading upward. Shallow water covers the entire floor of the area you are standing on and you can hear water dripping from the ceiling, The floor is uneven and is hard to move but the water isn't deep and barely covers the soles of your foot. You see different types of small algae and plants sprouting out from the floor and small fish swimming about. The area is cold as your body starts to shiver and you see the breath vapors coming out of your mouth.
After they move around and inspect. You can say :
Fish like monsters stand on their feet and point their tridents towards you! roll for initiative.
Hope this helps.
Very nice, good work. But do not forget the sense of smelling. It is always good to describe any kind of smell that there is the room. It will give the players better sense of the surrounding area.
I would add that the players cannot see every aspect of the room at once the instant they walk in. There is spatial orientations, shadows, corners or alcoves and other unclear spaces within a room. Remember, PCs do not have a schematic or architectural diagram of the dungeon in hand. Some mystery or overlooked details can be held in reserve to keep the description fluid.
If you overload players with complex descriptions, parts are going to get missed / forgotten really quickly.
Try and keep your room descriptions brief, and to first sensory impressions - I've heard the term "5 Descriptor Rule". If you pick the right descriptions - using actions and verbs in the terms you use ( "rivulets of water slide down the damp walls", "the dank smell of decay invades your nose" ) - you can set a pretty memorable first impression, and spin the tone the way you want.
However, I think a diagram is required.
Doesn't have to be full on Dungeon Cartographer map - even just sketching out the rough shape of the room ( not to scale ) on a piece of scrap paper, and circle areas where there's "stuff to interact with" and briefly describe the "stuff" with sensory impression descriptors - will set up the room in the players' minds without a ton of work on your part.
They'll ask questions, and you can fill in the details from their questions.
If you need to layout more than one room, and their relationships to one another, again - simple sketches will do: circles with labels in them for rooms ( or even just naked name labels ), lines connecting them ( labeled "stone corridor", "rope bridge", "water-slide", etc. ) can show the relationship of rooms to one another, and the room-to-room transitions, without a ton of map work on your behalf.
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Remember that no matter how you describe it they won't picture it exactly the same as you do -- and that's completely fine. We are going to picture things based on what we have seen in our past experiences, and sometimes getting too detailed may ruin the immersion for a player thinking of the place in their head. Give enough detail to get an idea of what the room looks like, note the areas of interest and perhaps a few extra "mundane" things (as to not only point out things they should be focusing on)
Disclaimer: This signature is a badge of membership in the Forum Loudmouth Club. We are all friends. We are not attacking each other. We are engaging in spirited, friendly debate with one another. We may get snarky, but these are not attacks. Thank you for not reporting us.
One thing you can do (especially helpful with all the back and forth running of the example you gave) is talk to your players and try to convince one of them to make a map based on your descriptions so that they don't get lost.
Disclaimer: This signature is a badge of membership in the Forum Loudmouth Club. We are all friends. We are not attacking each other. We are engaging in spirited, friendly debate with one another. We may get snarky, but these are not attacks. Thank you for not reporting us.
Remember that the most important thing in the room/area is the characters. (Group noun, as the grammar gets messy otherwise.)
A related point is that not everybody experiences things the same way; Raistlin claimed he saw everything as time affected it, some characters' senses are enhanced by familiars/pets/spells. Some characters may be literally cold blooded. Or not actually there. Language can also be varied on how the players themselves view the world and how they interact with it - maybe the room is "as big as a baseball diamond" or a door as "tall as a rugby goal." It won't break immersion as much as you might think. Perhaps the dire wolf is "growling like a Harley, and almost as big." Try not to compare anything with a player's mum's cooking though!
The more you play, the more you can feedback what the players & characters have experienced in the game world. "Bigger than Olaf, the bouncer at the Weeping Halfling" or "Hairier than Sven's wolf companion", "Sharper than [insert patry bard's name] wit", "Colder than Bryn Shander."
As with anything, don't overdo it. If the player's eyes are glazing over and they are reaching for their dice, then the time for prose has past. If the players want more information, they'll ask.
Now if I could just remember this while sitting at the gaming table...
Here’s another (very late) suggestion on how to describe rooms.
Describe the first 2 to 4 things that anyone would notice upon entering the room. Each thing must be something the characters can interact with or investigate. When a player declares that they’re going to inspect a thing, describe that thing using 2 to 4 details. These details must be presented in such a way that options for interaction become evident.
The dimensions of the room, the layout, shape, etc., can come afterwards. The most important thing the DM can do with their descriptions is to show the players things they can interact with and investigate. By doing this, the DM is empowering the players’ ability to make informed choices.
Your players may enjoy the vivid descriptions you give to the environments their characters explore, but the act of playing the game requires that the players make decisions. The best way for you to help them do that is by using your descriptions to present things they can poke at, manipulate, break, tinker with, look under, tip over, open, close, lift, play with, examine, turn about, steal, and generally futz with. A dungeon that is filled with fascinating things to interact with is a lot more interesting than a dungeon that’s filled with fascinating things to look at.
Focus your descriptions on things the players can interact with. The rest can come later.
Unless the characters are getting out measuring string and sticks, don't give them dimensions. Their quick glance should only let them know, "small room", "medium room" or "bigger than the light cast by your torch." You could also phrase it relative to things they know how to measyre by eye, for example "the room is about the size of a fireball", or "the room is so small that one burning hands would get it all".
To avoid repetitions, make a list of things that describe the theme of the dungeon. For example, for a water filled cave you might have dank, damp, dripping, swamp-smelling, wet, slimy, and so on. Keep this list on a scrap piece of paper and use one word from the list for each room, crossing the words off as you've used them.
I am of the mind that every room in a dungeon was built for a reason and therefore there is something description-worthy about it. When I describe a room in my dungeon, I try to include two senses in addition to sight in my room description. I try to put myself in the place of the adventurers walking into the room for the first time and pass on the things that would jump out at me if I were there. Lastly, I try to keep my descriptions concise. If you can get your point across in fewer words, then do it. While it may be fun for me to rattle off a detailed description of every aspect of a room, it's usually not necessary and runs the risk of boring the players. I try to keep my description to three or four sentences whenever possible.
As you open the door, a wave of humid heat and the smell of cooked food meets you and it is immediately obvious this room is the kitchen. A large cooking fireplace takes up a corner of the room with a massive cauldron slowly boiling some type of chunky stew. Several tables and cupboards in the room contain a collection of spices, liquids, and all manner of chopped vegetables. A large bugbear wearing an apron over his leather armor and a tall chef’s hat turns to face you as you enter and raises his massive meat cleaver (handaxe) menacingly.
As an inexperienced DM, this is something that puzzles me, and it applies very much to published adventures too. IRL if I opened a door and there was a MINOTAUR in the room, my first reaction would be "OMG THERE'S A MINOTAUR IN THIS ROOM!" and only then would I start to notice room size, etc. So why is there this convention of describing size, furniture, smell, whatever before getting to the most important thing?
(Actually my IRL reaction to entering a room is to see if there are any interesting books around. Eventually I might get around to saying hello to the people/minotaurs in there.)
I just give a brief description and "sort of" point out key items. I will obviously point out a baddie that is squatting there in shock over some adventures who just opened on it dropping a duce. Another thing I will do is use a fog of war in some way (currently playing over discord and using Photoshop for fog with images/maps). Or have the players map the dungeon based on what they see and feel the room size may be bases on DM's description. Also let them ask questions to fill in the gaps if needed. This can be really fun when they get things wrong and start crossing paths.
I would love so much to find a whole pile of descriptive encounters like this one. That's an area where I struggle. If you know of any good links or resources :) :)
As an inexperienced DM, this is something that puzzles me, and it applies very much to published adventures too. IRL if I opened a door and there was a MINOTAUR in the room, my first reaction would be "OMG THERE'S A MINOTAUR IN THIS ROOM!" and only then would I start to notice room size, etc. So why is there this convention of describing size, furniture, smell, whatever before getting to the most important thing?
(Actually my IRL reaction to entering a room is to see if there are any interesting books around. Eventually I might get around to saying hello to the people/minotaurs in there.)
I agree, if there is an obvious feature that would catch the PCs attention, good to lead with that.
As you enter the chamber a large minotaur shambles to his feet and lets out a deafening roar that reverberates in the dark recesses of this large cavern. He holds a wicked looking double-headed axe with his hoofed hands. An overpowering animal stench, mixed with a smell of rotting meat, assaults your nostrils. You can see the remains of his last meal by the flickering light of a large fire pit - it appears adventurers are a favored meat.
That's an easy one, good module too! Prep!! That's the biggest thing. Read through the whole module, each room, the descriptions they have, the time of year, the monsters there, everything front to back. You will then wrap your head around what it feels like to you after knowing about the drop into the weird basement of that place. After you read through it, put yourself in you player's character's shoes and have a mock run through of what you think things will go like (and also realize they will not do anything like what you expect). Jot down notes of how you feel when you are thinking to yourself what the rooms feel like. The temperature, the smell, the lighting, the ceilings, the floors, the kind of doors, the joints in the walls, the tables, chairs, furniture, windows. Jot down some notes per room and then be verbose when you describe the room so they can get an idea of what you are seeing. The module or adventure is a book you have read and you are describing it to them as how you saw in your minds eye. Then their imagination will take it even further and no matter how descriptive you are, if they were to draw a picture of what you say it will vary greatly from you think it will be. Have fun with it!
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I've been DMing for around 2 years and I still have a hell of a time trying to explain the layout of complicated rooms without the use of maps. Any tips?
I have linked an example that frustrated me to no end...
Room 15: http://dnd.sendric.com/adventures/core/htm/images-sc/image09.jpg
First you need to understand what sort of structure or dungeon you are trying to describe. A Temple is not going to contain the same rooms as a Wizard's Tower. Second begin by describing using this criteria :
1- Dimension of the room.
2- Light and Light sources.
3- Visible Doors and Exits. ( Including stairs ).
4- Major Structures or Features. ( Pillars, Dias, Pedestals, Statues, Pit, Chasm, Stream, Lava ).
5- Furniture. ( Tables, Chairs, Cabinets, Torture Implements )
If you want to go further
6- Temperature.
7- Sounds ( Dripping water, Hissing Fire, Moans or cries, Laughter, People Talking ) Smell ( Rotten Flesh, Perfume Aroma, Cooked Meat, Baked Bread ).
After you describe all that start by describing the living creatures inside the room ( Humanoids, Lizardmen, Dogs, Minatour, Dragon ).
Here is a sample :
You enter a circular chamber of 50 by 50 feet in diameter and 30 feet high separated in two floors. large touches light up the whole area, above, you see a bridge extending from the upper floor from your left side to the right side held by multiple pillars. ahead of you at the end of the chamber you see an open large double door with stairs leading upward. Shallow water covers the entire floor of the area you are standing on and you can hear water dripping from the ceiling, The floor is uneven and is hard to move but the water isn't deep and barely covers the soles of your foot. You see different types of small algae and plants sprouting out from the floor and small fish swimming about. The area is cold as your body starts to shiver and you see the breath vapors coming out of your mouth.
After they move around and inspect. You can say :
Fish like monsters stand on their feet and point their tridents towards you! roll for initiative.
Hope this helps.
Thanks! That actually helps a lot! I might tape those steps up to my DM screen. I've always preferred the more totm style of play like in Dice Camera Action versus the more board game-esc map and figurines based play though I'm not apposed to either if the need arises.
I would add that the players cannot see every aspect of the room at once the instant they walk in. There is spatial orientations, shadows, corners or alcoves and other unclear spaces within a room. Remember, PCs do not have a schematic or architectural diagram of the dungeon in hand. Some mystery or overlooked details can be held in reserve to keep the description fluid.
Our truth is the lies we love.
This helps so much :) Thanks a bunch guys!
Perhaps a contrasting opinion, here :)
If you overload players with complex descriptions, parts are going to get missed / forgotten really quickly.
Try and keep your room descriptions brief, and to first sensory impressions - I've heard the term "5 Descriptor Rule". If you pick the right descriptions - using actions and verbs in the terms you use ( "rivulets of water slide down the damp walls", "the dank smell of decay invades your nose" ) - you can set a pretty memorable first impression, and spin the tone the way you want.
However, I think a diagram is required.
Doesn't have to be full on Dungeon Cartographer map - even just sketching out the rough shape of the room ( not to scale ) on a piece of scrap paper, and circle areas where there's "stuff to interact with" and briefly describe the "stuff" with sensory impression descriptors - will set up the room in the players' minds without a ton of work on your part.
They'll ask questions, and you can fill in the details from their questions.
If you need to layout more than one room, and their relationships to one another, again - simple sketches will do: circles with labels in them for rooms ( or even just naked name labels ), lines connecting them ( labeled "stone corridor", "rope bridge", "water-slide", etc. ) can show the relationship of rooms to one another, and the room-to-room transitions, without a ton of map work on your behalf.
My DM Philosophy, as summed up by other people: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1rN5w4-azTq3Kbn0Yvk9nfqQhwQ1R5by1/view
Disclaimer: This signature is a badge of membership in the Forum Loudmouth Club. We are all friends. We are not attacking each other. We are engaging in spirited, friendly debate with one another. We may get snarky, but these are not attacks. Thank you for not reporting us.
Remember that no matter how you describe it they won't picture it exactly the same as you do -- and that's completely fine. We are going to picture things based on what we have seen in our past experiences, and sometimes getting too detailed may ruin the immersion for a player thinking of the place in their head. Give enough detail to get an idea of what the room looks like, note the areas of interest and perhaps a few extra "mundane" things (as to not only point out things they should be focusing on)
How do you get a one-armed goblin out of a tree?
Wave!
My DM Philosophy, as summed up by other people: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1rN5w4-azTq3Kbn0Yvk9nfqQhwQ1R5by1/view
Disclaimer: This signature is a badge of membership in the Forum Loudmouth Club. We are all friends. We are not attacking each other. We are engaging in spirited, friendly debate with one another. We may get snarky, but these are not attacks. Thank you for not reporting us.
One thing you can do (especially helpful with all the back and forth running of the example you gave) is talk to your players and try to convince one of them to make a map based on your descriptions so that they don't get lost.
Or.... just describe things honestly, but still let themselves get lost a few times.
Eventually they'll start mapping on their own :)
My DM Philosophy, as summed up by other people: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1rN5w4-azTq3Kbn0Yvk9nfqQhwQ1R5by1/view
Disclaimer: This signature is a badge of membership in the Forum Loudmouth Club. We are all friends. We are not attacking each other. We are engaging in spirited, friendly debate with one another. We may get snarky, but these are not attacks. Thank you for not reporting us.
Remember that the most important thing in the room/area is the characters. (Group noun, as the grammar gets messy otherwise.)
A related point is that not everybody experiences things the same way; Raistlin claimed he saw everything as time affected it, some characters' senses are enhanced by familiars/pets/spells. Some characters may be literally cold blooded. Or not actually there.
Language can also be varied on how the players themselves view the world and how they interact with it - maybe the room is "as big as a baseball diamond" or a door as "tall as a rugby goal." It won't break immersion as much as you might think. Perhaps the dire wolf is "growling like a Harley, and almost as big."
Try not to compare anything with a player's mum's cooking though!
The more you play, the more you can feedback what the players & characters have experienced in the game world. "Bigger than Olaf, the bouncer at the Weeping Halfling" or "Hairier than Sven's wolf companion", "Sharper than [insert patry bard's name] wit", "Colder than Bryn Shander."
As with anything, don't overdo it. If the player's eyes are glazing over and they are reaching for their dice, then the time for prose has past.
If the players want more information, they'll ask.
Now if I could just remember this while sitting at the gaming table...
Roleplaying since Runequest.
Here’s another (very late) suggestion on how to describe rooms.
Describe the first 2 to 4 things that anyone would notice upon entering the room. Each thing must be something the characters can interact with or investigate. When a player declares that they’re going to inspect a thing, describe that thing using 2 to 4 details. These details must be presented in such a way that options for interaction become evident.
The dimensions of the room, the layout, shape, etc., can come afterwards. The most important thing the DM can do with their descriptions is to show the players things they can interact with and investigate. By doing this, the DM is empowering the players’ ability to make informed choices.
Your players may enjoy the vivid descriptions you give to the environments their characters explore, but the act of playing the game requires that the players make decisions. The best way for you to help them do that is by using your descriptions to present things they can poke at, manipulate, break, tinker with, look under, tip over, open, close, lift, play with, examine, turn about, steal, and generally futz with. A dungeon that is filled with fascinating things to interact with is a lot more interesting than a dungeon that’s filled with fascinating things to look at.
Focus your descriptions on things the players can interact with. The rest can come later.
Unless the characters are getting out measuring string and sticks, don't give them dimensions. Their quick glance should only let them know, "small room", "medium room" or "bigger than the light cast by your torch." You could also phrase it relative to things they know how to measyre by eye, for example "the room is about the size of a fireball", or "the room is so small that one burning hands would get it all".
To avoid repetitions, make a list of things that describe the theme of the dungeon. For example, for a water filled cave you might have dank, damp, dripping, swamp-smelling, wet, slimy, and so on. Keep this list on a scrap piece of paper and use one word from the list for each room, crossing the words off as you've used them.
I am of the mind that every room in a dungeon was built for a reason and therefore there is something description-worthy about it. When I describe a room in my dungeon, I try to include two senses in addition to sight in my room description. I try to put myself in the place of the adventurers walking into the room for the first time and pass on the things that would jump out at me if I were there. Lastly, I try to keep my descriptions concise. If you can get your point across in fewer words, then do it. While it may be fun for me to rattle off a detailed description of every aspect of a room, it's usually not necessary and runs the risk of boring the players. I try to keep my description to three or four sentences whenever possible.
"Not all those who wander are lost"
As an inexperienced DM, this is something that puzzles me, and it applies very much to published adventures too. IRL if I opened a door and there was a MINOTAUR in the room, my first reaction would be "OMG THERE'S A MINOTAUR IN THIS ROOM!" and only then would I start to notice room size, etc. So why is there this convention of describing size, furniture, smell, whatever before getting to the most important thing?
(Actually my IRL reaction to entering a room is to see if there are any interesting books around. Eventually I might get around to saying hello to the people/minotaurs in there.)
I just give a brief description and "sort of" point out key items. I will obviously point out a baddie that is squatting there in shock over some adventures who just opened on it dropping a duce. Another thing I will do is use a fog of war in some way (currently playing over discord and using Photoshop for fog with images/maps). Or have the players map the dungeon based on what they see and feel the room size may be bases on DM's description. Also let them ask questions to fill in the gaps if needed. This can be really fun when they get things wrong and start crossing paths.
I would love so much to find a whole pile of descriptive encounters like this one. That's an area where I struggle. If you know of any good links or resources :) :)
I agree, if there is an obvious feature that would catch the PCs attention, good to lead with that.
As you enter the chamber a large minotaur shambles to his feet and lets out a deafening roar that reverberates in the dark recesses of this large cavern. He holds a wicked looking double-headed axe with his hoofed hands. An overpowering animal stench, mixed with a smell of rotting meat, assaults your nostrils. You can see the remains of his last meal by the flickering light of a large fire pit - it appears adventurers are a favored meat.
That's an easy one, good module too! Prep!! That's the biggest thing. Read through the whole module, each room, the descriptions they have, the time of year, the monsters there, everything front to back. You will then wrap your head around what it feels like to you after knowing about the drop into the weird basement of that place. After you read through it, put yourself in you player's character's shoes and have a mock run through of what you think things will go like (and also realize they will not do anything like what you expect). Jot down notes of how you feel when you are thinking to yourself what the rooms feel like. The temperature, the smell, the lighting, the ceilings, the floors, the kind of doors, the joints in the walls, the tables, chairs, furniture, windows. Jot down some notes per room and then be verbose when you describe the room so they can get an idea of what you are seeing. The module or adventure is a book you have read and you are describing it to them as how you saw in your minds eye. Then their imagination will take it even further and no matter how descriptive you are, if they were to draw a picture of what you say it will vary greatly from you think it will be. Have fun with it!