NPC and location description
Dec 24, 2014 23:27:55 GMT -8
Post by baldyr on Dec 24, 2014 23:27:55 GMT -8
This is the first actual play I've ever attempted to listen to, so I tend to react to things hearing other people (actually) playing and all. Not to be overly critical of your play-style, or anything.
Apart from the distractions like the side-converarsations, the out-of-character jokes made in-character, the snacks, the burps and what-not, I did noticed a surprising lack of adjectives used to describe the locations and their inhabitants. I mean, there was never any descriptions delivered on the player characters themselves, or on the high-sorceress, the toy maker or pretty much anyone else. The temple of Vecna (?) did get some exposition though, but only due to the players' own questions. While the NPCs were acted in character and fairly distinctly so, the locations remained somewhat lack-luster to the listener.
I guess each player - and listener - has their own mental picture of everything from the look of the city itself to the bra size of the sorceress, but surely some sort of shared imagery could be had by all? But perhaps the intent here is not to bog down play with lengthy description and let the players focus on what actions they wanna take instead? Maybe some sort of happy middle-ground could be found between the bare minimal location exposition and the box-text type monologuing?
One thing achieved by not having box-text kind of exposition is, though, that the players will have less opportunity to evaluate if a particular location or NPC is more or less plot-significant. This in turn gives the DM the opportunity to elevate improvised bits to plot relevance seamlessly.
As a suggestion I would put out there that the DM could let the players create the scenes and describe the NPCs. Like you point at a player once his or her character enters a new location and have them share their image of something like the toy shop. Other players could then add their bits and the DM will be the arbiter of the actual facts, yes-anding and no-butting it all. Because if the DM never prepared anything particular for the location, then the players' own ideas would be as valid as anything he or she will improvise at a moment's notice. Chances are that the players will be able to enrich the scene with interesting detail, unexpected story hooks and what-not. A combat encounter could also benefit from some detail as far as the actual battle field goes. (Again, taking the toy shop as an example - I would have expected furniture to be thrashed with the war hammers and longswords being flung about. Perhaps some fixtures could have become integral to the combat situation?)
Apart from the distractions like the side-converarsations, the out-of-character jokes made in-character, the snacks, the burps and what-not, I did noticed a surprising lack of adjectives used to describe the locations and their inhabitants. I mean, there was never any descriptions delivered on the player characters themselves, or on the high-sorceress, the toy maker or pretty much anyone else. The temple of Vecna (?) did get some exposition though, but only due to the players' own questions. While the NPCs were acted in character and fairly distinctly so, the locations remained somewhat lack-luster to the listener.
I guess each player - and listener - has their own mental picture of everything from the look of the city itself to the bra size of the sorceress, but surely some sort of shared imagery could be had by all? But perhaps the intent here is not to bog down play with lengthy description and let the players focus on what actions they wanna take instead? Maybe some sort of happy middle-ground could be found between the bare minimal location exposition and the box-text type monologuing?
One thing achieved by not having box-text kind of exposition is, though, that the players will have less opportunity to evaluate if a particular location or NPC is more or less plot-significant. This in turn gives the DM the opportunity to elevate improvised bits to plot relevance seamlessly.
As a suggestion I would put out there that the DM could let the players create the scenes and describe the NPCs. Like you point at a player once his or her character enters a new location and have them share their image of something like the toy shop. Other players could then add their bits and the DM will be the arbiter of the actual facts, yes-anding and no-butting it all. Because if the DM never prepared anything particular for the location, then the players' own ideas would be as valid as anything he or she will improvise at a moment's notice. Chances are that the players will be able to enrich the scene with interesting detail, unexpected story hooks and what-not. A combat encounter could also benefit from some detail as far as the actual battle field goes. (Again, taking the toy shop as an example - I would have expected furniture to be thrashed with the war hammers and longswords being flung about. Perhaps some fixtures could have become integral to the combat situation?)