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01/14/11(Fri)11:03 No.13518147
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 >>13518129
3. Then, think of how it will all go down; evoke imagery, try to get emotions going, and try to convey the meaning of the scene all in a couple paragraphs of spoken description from yourself. Use your voice to evoke; speak quickly when urgent, slowly when suspenseful, louder when presenting excitement or danger and softer when presenting calm or quiet. Also, present the mood of the scene to the PCs; don't expect them to read your mind. "You come over the ridge and see a drider. Roll initiative." versus "You crest the ridge into the cavern and see that the room is dominated by a massive pool full of phosphorescent fungus that glow and fill the cave with an eerie light. At the far end of the cavern is a drider. He is not armed, nor does he look dangerous, and he seems to be resting in a massive web that dominates the side of the room." The former says a fight and the latter gives you multiple opportunities-- you could ambush, negotiate, use diplomacy, sneak by, whatever.
Nothing is more boring than a DM that sets down monsters on a blank chessex map, says "Bebilith" and then just runs you through the rotes of combat. "Oh. Make a save. You're fine." ... "You take 17 damage." .... "You're knocked prone." "By what?" "Oh, the monster." "Which... which one?" "If you don't know, then, whatever."
>>13518131
If you haven't gamed with a lot of different groups, you'd be surprised how often these suggestions don't occur to the DM. Every tip I am offering here is something that I have encountered. Sometimes my GM would come to me and whine about how we killed an NPC he liked and how they were awesome when they introduced them with "A guy is coming up the road... uh, he's a.. orc... um, give me your cell phone, that's a wagon. Okay, initiative" and never tried to speak or describe him at all. |
