Tag: Boxed Text Descriptions

In this episode, we take a more practical look at what we can learn from three examples of boxed text descriptions from the classic 1985 module The Temple of Elemental Evil written by Gary Gygax.

• How does Gygax set the stage for adventure?
• What can we learn from his physical descriptions of natural spaces and dungeon/temple rooms?
• How have the needs and expectations surrounded description changed?
• What are some things we might need to adjust or change to suit our own groups or our DMing/GMing style?

In this episode, I look at how we can use prewritten modules and the provided boxed text descriptions to deliver great narration.

Some questions we explore:

• What’s the difference between boxed text descriptions and the module information intended for the GM?
• Why are some descriptions better than others?
• How can we get the most out of the read-aloud text boxes?
• What are things we should avoid?
• How can we use prewritten materials to enhance our game if we prefer to improve our descriptions?
• How can we make the most of a module that has incomplete or insufficient descriptions?
• And many others.