Comments on: 30 Fiction Writing Tips That Will Make You A Better DM (part 2)

By: Blog Post: Friday Links for November 20, 2009 (on Sunday, November 22, 2009) | Moebius Adventures

Tue, 24 Nov 2009 22:07:39 +0000

[...] 30 Fiction Writing Tips That Will Make You A Better DM (part 2) from Dungeon Mastering (dungeonmastering.com) [...]

By: Yax

Yax — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 03:43:05 +0000

@Jeff Carlsen: Good advice!

By: Kolbold Minion

Kolbold Minion — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 01:34:21 +0000

@Tyson J. Hayes
Inspiration? Well, for starters, one of my players wrote a brief short story about a blind soldier (he enjoys presenting his writings to our group). I got the hint and realised that my players wanted something radically diferent, a blind adventure. Also, the Elder Scrolls Oblivion helped me create the adventure. The game’s idea of Blind Moth Priests who used blindness as spirutual elevation helped me create the adventure’s story.
As for the mechanics, I used repetitive descriptions to describe monsters. i,e a zombie would always be a rotting, foul odor that moans and takes shambling steps. A room full of zombies would be full of shambling, moaning, rotting enteties. The players caught on quickly.
Best part of the adventure? The players solved a riddle, which I wrote out (in real life), by palming my paper and feeling the letters until they understood what it said.

By: Jeff Carlsen

Jeff Carlsen — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 03:32:25 +0000

Smell is the single most important sense if you’re trying to evoke a particular mood. Our minds attach emotion to smell very, very readily.

A good followup to the use of all five senses is the value of sticking to significant details. A handful of specific, and unique, details set a scene, or add interest to an NPC, and the players will fill in the rest.

By: Tyson J. Hayes

Tyson J. Hayes — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 23:41:42 +0000

@Kolbold Minion – What inspired this adventure? I rather like it in concept but would definitely have to prep quite a bit as my descriptions tend to be weak from time to time.

@Yax you definitely should be writing more I like this blog and it’s good to be hearing from all of you.

By: Kolbold Minion

Kolbold Minion — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 22:48:02 +0000

#14-Use all senses in your discription.

A great technique to bring life and imagery into a fantasy world. For one of my games, I only used four. With my players’ approval, they all went temporarily blind for one session. This was no Perception check subtraction, for the whole game nothing but smells and sounds were discribed. A memorable game.

By: Yax

Yax — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 20:30:13 +0000

Thanks Tyson. Writing this series made me realize that I haven’t written much for the blog in a few months. It’s fun and I just hope I can help a couple of game masters out there.

By: Tyson J. Hayes

Tyson J. Hayes — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 18:25:58 +0000

#11 – End your preparation sessions mid-sentence

I can attest that this is extremely useful. I personally use it for almost all of my development, and it works wonders for keeping you writing when you come back to something.

#14 – Use all five senses in your descriptions

Although I completely agree with this make sure it makes sense, for example when describing a person most likely you aren’t going to be using the a description for their taste, unless your going for something a bit creepier then what I play. Just make sure it all makes sense. :)

Yax, great post, looking forward to the next posting.