How much reality and Detail?

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parejf63
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How much reality and Detail?

Post by parejf63 »

How much reality do you place in your games? I was talking with my brother yesterday about dungeon design. He is a firm believer that everything has to have a reason to be there, to eat, drink, defacate. I do not even go into that detail. In a fantasy setting, magic is real, and it can explain alot of what we create. He also believes in giving players every detail, I do not. He will describe a wall down to the color and shade of bricks, and then the dimensions of the bricks. I say "Its a brick wall!"
Most players do not care about details, and I really don't either, UNLESS it is vital to the game.
So what do you think?
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Dimirag
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Re: How much reality and Detail?

Post by Dimirag »

For details I only give the bare minimum, if a player wants to know more he will ask, I feel that if you go into tiny details the players might think there is nothing else for the characters to find.

As for dungeon design, it depends on the dungeon but I prefer to make it "realistic", not putting things that will look out of place.

Maybe this can help
Last edited by Dimirag on Sat Sep 17, 2016 10:26 am, edited 1 time in total.
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mTeasdale
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Re: How much reality and Detail?

Post by mTeasdale »

I generally pretty much as the article suggest. Roll some random stuff, the think about reasons the monsters are there and fudge the results a bit.

Otherwise, my dungeons would end up looking all the same. The rolls surprises me and then surprises my players.
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kerc
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Re: How much reality and Detail?

Post by kerc »

I approach details in two ways:

First, I go at it in layers. General description of the room, place, etc. If the players decide to observe something in detail, then I get into more detail. This might develop into looking for traps or secret doors.

The second approach is where I give extra information if I think it's relevant to the plot and/or game. Something that might be noted because of the current situation, because of heightened alert, etc., and that information then is given right out of the bat.
Last edited by kerc on Sat Sep 17, 2016 8:54 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Solomoriah
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Re: How much reality and Detail?

Post by Solomoriah »

You can find my opinion in painful detail here:

http://basicfantasy.org/blog/?p=127
My personal site: www.gonnerman.org
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Clever_Munkey
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Re: How much reality and Detail?

Post by Clever_Munkey »

Echoing most of the comments here. I actually do a fair amount of planning, but never in the ecological details. Much of my design philosophy is influenced by the Hack & Slash blog, and Sly Flourish, which is to say I only include as much detail as the players need to make a meaningful decision, and only cover what they would notice given ~5 seconds of study. So a room description might go something like this:

The floor of this room is covered in fine dust. The far door opposite where you entered is made of a bright bronze, and is covered in intricate carvings. Running vertically along the wall are deep gouges in the stone.

I don't have to tell them the stone is dacite, and that the engraving depicts a covetous tyrant being held by his slaves, or that the dust and gouges are from the falling ceiling that will crush them when they disturb the door. At least not until they ask, and even then I can just say that it's something they can't find out just from their observations.

Of course if something is threatening them, then they won't get a description.
Mostly my players are worried about what in the environment can harm them, or they can use. If they won't see it, ask about it or have no way of knowing, then I don't worry about it.

My rule of thumb: If it would make a boring picture subject (e.g. a brick, or a plain chair), then they have to ask for more information about it.
Last edited by Clever_Munkey on Sat Sep 17, 2016 1:47 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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parejf63
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Re: How much reality and Detail?

Post by parejf63 »

I just feel that playing a fantasy game is supposed to let us escape reality. My goal as a DM is to make the players happy, and not bog them down in reality. If it needs to be detailed in such a way, I will do it, but if it don't -- I wont.
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Longman
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Re: How much reality and Detail?

Post by Longman »

I'd recommend that for every three pieces of detail in the game, at least one of them should be useful to the players in some way. GMs Rule of Three.

If you are describing the color of bricks for no reason, that's gonna get frustrating unless there is actually some useful info in there. One of my pet peeves as a player is to get lots of information that doesn't help, and no access to the info that would help.

As for dungeon ecology, that really depends on if the players are interested in such things. If you roll a bunch of giant beetles on a random table and the players kill them and keep moving, don't bother with their ecology. But if your group start asking "I wonder what these creatures eat?" then you better do some legwork. This is particularly relevant where the existence of such creatures might reveal the location of food, or a way out of the dungeon.
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Solomoriah
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Re: How much reality and Detail?

Post by Solomoriah »

Longman wrote:One of my pet peeves as a player is to get lots of information that doesn't help, and no access to the info that would help.
Heh. I tell the players what the characters see. In some cases, I insert a hint into the description, if I think it is reasonable, but I try not to put up any neon signs pointing to the hint.

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Longman
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Re: How much reality and Detail?

Post by Longman »

Solomoriah wrote:
Longman wrote:One of my pet peeves as a player is to get lots of information that doesn't help, and no access to the info that would help.
Heh. I tell the players what the characters see...
There are different extents to which you can tell the players what they see.

A GM could say "you see a brick wall", or, "you see an old brick wall with some herringbone detail up the top and several loose bricks. There's lots of moss on the wall and a damp odor about the place."

If some of that detail is a clue (a secret door?) then that's fine. If it's all just fluff, I don't really want it. I'd rather have a general scene setting to begin with and then imagine the rest within that general scene.
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