Do you have any tips, pointers and hints on writing a good description?

Trevize · February 2013

Tael said:

Disclaimer: I didn't read this entire thread, many things might have been mentioned already.

I've never liked most of the advice in ADP - it comes from a very specific subset of the population of roleplayers (a subset that seems to have dwindled a bit thankfully) who see extraordinary descriptions as unrealistic, particularly, for some reason, descriptions that accord with OOC aesthetic preferences.

Except adventurers are, by definition, extraordinary. Being a tall dwarf is pushing it, but even that isn't that strange - adventurers are exceptional, they explicitly aren't average members of the playable races. Hell, denizens are relatively exceptional. The nondescript masses are already there - they're just implicit or mentioned primarily in room descriptions - you don't need to bolster their ranks.

I'm afraid I must disagree. Roleplaying ordinary has always appealed to me more than roleplaying the extraordinary. Those who roleplay extremes, to me, become boring to interact with fast. I also prefer for my characters to not see anything special about themselves. Trevize just sees himself as yet another Xoran. What little there is about him that's unusual is due to someone who is extraordinary and has reason to be so - his goddess. My unnamed forger alt, he just sees himself as a smith. He wants to make a living and be left alone. My old Lusternia character was just a city guard, in his eyes. Nondescript, unnoticed unless someone attacked, then he stepped up.

Chryenth · February 2013

Chryenth is just a mage. Sure, he channels mind-blowingly destructive power on a daily basis, but that's nothing compared to some of his Housemates.

He considers himself to be fairly normal - with a small glow of pride that, y'know, he's pretty good at what he does.

Trevize · February 2013

Oh and Trevize often gets tall dwarves and hairy trolls mixed up. Hard to tell the difference at times!

Tael · February 2013

Trevize said:

Tael said:

Disclaimer: I didn't read this entire thread, many things might have been mentioned already.

I've never liked most of the advice in ADP - it comes from a very specific subset of the population of roleplayers (a subset that seems to have dwindled a bit thankfully) who see extraordinary descriptions as unrealistic, particularly, for some reason, descriptions that accord with OOC aesthetic preferences.

Except adventurers are, by definition, extraordinary. Being a tall dwarf is pushing it, but even that isn't that strange - adventurers are exceptional, they explicitly aren't average members of the playable races. Hell, denizens are relatively exceptional. The nondescript masses are already there - they're just implicit or mentioned primarily in room descriptions - you don't need to bolster their ranks.

I'm afraid I must disagree. Roleplaying ordinary has always appealed to me more than roleplaying the extraordinary. Those who roleplay extremes, to me, become boring to interact with fast. I also prefer for my characters to not see anything special about themselves. Trevize just sees himself as yet another Xoran. What little there is about him that's unusual is due to someone who is extraordinary and has reason to be so - his goddess. My unnamed forger alt, he just sees himself as a smith. He wants to make a living and be left alone. My old Lusternia character was just a city guard, in his eyes. Nondescript, unnoticed unless someone attacked, then he stepped up.

There's nothing wrong with realising that this is your preference. There is absolutely something wrong with expecting other people to feel the same way or, worse yet, trying to enforce that preference. It's fine if you like it better, but the game explicitly contradicts your view that adventurers should be ordinary.

Sena · February 2013

Tael said:

the game explicitly contradicts your view that adventurers should be ordinary.

Where? It's definitely implied, but I've never seen it stated explicitly that adventurers are extraordinary.

Nellaundra · February 2013

Essentially, the Trial. Adventurers are normal denizens until they go through the trial. Then we become genociding super badasses.

Sena · February 2013

Nellaundra said:

Essentially, the Trial. Adventurers are normal denizens until they go through the trial. Then we become genociding super badasses.

Where is that made explicit though?

Blujixapug · February 2013

Sena said:

Nellaundra said:

Essentially, the Trial. Adventurers are normal denizens until they go through the trial. Then we become genociding super badasses.

Where is that made explicit though?

I brought this specific thing up with original Maya once and she was very vague and noncommital about giving any absolute confirmation or denial, instead responding along the lines of, "How do you know no denizens have gone through the Trial?" I don't know if that's Canon®©™, but I am pretty sure it is not made explicit anywhere. I'm not sure why. I suppose the vagueness makes it easier to handwave annoying, potentially troublesome questions like "what's with some NPCs respawning but not others", "do PCs ever die for reals, like some but not most NPCs do", and "what's with NPC children failing to grow up for like 400 years now".

Trevize · February 2013

Tael said:

There's nothing wrong with realising that this is your preference. There is absolutely something wrong with expecting other people to feel the same way or, worse yet, trying to enforce that preference. It's fine if you like it better, but the game explicitly contradicts your view that adventurers should be ordinary.

I agree with your first sentence. I halfway agree with the second (flexibility and ingenuity should be encouraged, stupidity and annoyances should be discouraged). I also halfway agree with your last sentence. Going through the trial does make one 'not ordinary' in the fact that you made it. You may live a long time, you may be powerful, et cetera. However, it does not make a dwarf fifteen feet tall, it does not give a tsol'aa pointed ears, and it does not give a siren butterfly wings or coin-si... yeah, you know what I mean. It reveals potential, possibly grants abilities, but it doesn't make you a freak or proud of it. Now, Chaos can do both. Choose occultist if you want people to gape and make long strides around you while shuddering.

(Not that the latter is bad! Occultist was fun, I was tempted on my return to change back to occie, but serpent will always be my true love.)

Trevize · February 2013

To quote a good friend, and my mentor when I first started playing RP games.

"It takes a good imagination to draw attention to something ordinary. It only takes a desire for attention to create something out of place."

Nim · February 2013

Wait, you mean I don't get butterfly wings?

Why'd I even pick this race, then!

Trevize · February 2013

Nim said:

Wait, you mean I don't get butterfly wings?
Why'd I even pick this race, then!

You can have butterfly wings. I have quite a few. I fed the now-wingless butterflies to my serpent, as well.

Tael · February 2013

Trevize said:

To quote a good friend, and my mentor when I first started playing RP games.

"It takes a good imagination to draw attention to something ordinary. It only takes a desire for attention to create something out of place."

To my mind, the key is in taking something extraordinary and treating it ordinarily. Playing a particularly tall dwarf (within reason, fifteen feet is absurd, but it isn't at all hard to believe that there might be a human-sized dwarf at some point just like there are rare dwarf-sized humans) is boring if that's all there is to it. If you're interested in roleplaying how such a person would fit into the normal social fabric, I think that can be very compelling.

Trevize · February 2013

Tael said:

To my mind, the key is in taking something extraordinary and treating it ordinarily. Playing a particularly tall dwarf (within reason, fifteen feet is absurd, but it isn't at all hard to believe that there might be a human-sized dwarf at some point just like there are rare dwarf-sized humans) is boring if that's all there is to it. If you're interested in roleplaying how such a person would fit into the normal social fabric, I think that can be very compelling.

Trevize said:

Oh and Trevize often gets tall dwarves and hairy trolls mixed up. Hard to tell the difference at times!

^_^

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Do you have any tips, pointers and hints on writing a good description?

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