What separates basic play from role-playing art? For game masters it is almost always a question of atmosphere.

In this episode James teaches aspiring DMs how to create and maintain atmosphere. He also gives some tips for hardened grognards looking for ways to better describe their locations.

LINKS
NERDette interview

TRANSCRIPT:

Yoseph Writes:

I have run my players through several different tabletop role-playing games over the years searching for a game that would meet my mental expectations of what a pen and paper RPG is supposed to be. Just that, pen and paper. No miniatures. No vinyl mat with wet erase markers. No elaborate Dwarven Forged tile pieces. I believe I have found what I am looking for in Swords & Wizardry.

I enjoy taking the time to draw out dungeons for my players to explore. The more time I spend drawing out the details of a dungeon the easier I find it to describe the ambience of the place that my players are exploring. Where I struggle is with describing the shape and size of the place to my players. How do I best describe the distance of a tunnel or passage way? How do I handle rooms that are ovals or circles? How do I handle describing a room that can’t fully be illuminated by torch light? These are the things I struggle with.

I try very hard to not show my players the map until after the game is over. More often than not, I end up having to relent and show them the map as I don’t know how to describe the shape of the room they are seeing.

Any advice on how to navigate my players through a dungeon would be immensely  appreciated!

——

Ah, The old pen and paper game. Youseph, you and I clearly have very different methodologies when it comes to building sessions. However I do think I have some wisdom to lend.

Yoseph’s question centers around an advanced bit of DMing and that is creating and maintaining atmosphere. Atmosphere is not something you really think about your first few times behind the screen. Once you are done getting used to the basic functions of GMing, if you love it you’ll be craving ways to up your game.

Anyone can lead a dungeon crawl. Heck, computers with orange screens could do it.

DMing is really about giving players the information necessary to allow them to make choices. What separates a newbie from a pro is how that information is conveyed. Your goal as a GM should be not only to let your players know what is going on, but also have that information provoke an emotional reaction.

For instance, when describing action going into detail beyond “you hit” can help your players feel the excitement of the moment.

For instance let’s say we are dealing with an attack action a dual wielding ranger. He rolls two attacks, a 5 and a 19

“Ok your five misses, but your nineteen definitely hits. Roll damage.”

That is the base level information you needed to provide. That doesn’t tell much of a story. Simply moving the game forward is basic level D&D. To make that same scene have a bigger impact add some flavor.

“You strike with your long sword and the goblin rises his buckler. The ferocity of your first blow dulls his reflexes enough to allow your second attack- roll damage!”

By adding some detail, you make the scene a little more vivid and real. This is a treat for the acting player because they get to feel more badass, and it is good for the other players because listening to cool descriptions gives them more to do than sit and wait for their turn.

Those details also create the atmosphere. The description focusing on the hack and slash lends an air of adventure and action. You can also take the same actions, in the same scene and change it entirely by focusing on different details.

“The young goblin’s eyes are sharply focused on your blades as you begin you’re attack. He manages to bring his buckler up to meet your fist blow. However, even with his battle fueled adrenaline he is unable to move the shield quickly enough to block your second blow. You catch his eye and see not anger or hatred as you blade buries itself in his shoulder. As he lets out a ragged cry- roll damage.”

Through changing details we have turned our pulpy adventure into a dark tragedy. It is the same action in the same game, but by altering the atmosphere you have profound control over the story.

If you are having trouble thinking of which details to add try to imagine where you want to draw your players focus in order to provoke your intended reaction. To make the game exciting I pulled focus to the action. To make it sad I brought attention to the enemy. If I want to make it clear the player is in a boss fight I can focus on the efforts of the player.

“You firm up the grip on your blades. You search for an opening but, your opponent is totally focused on your movements anticipating your attacks. With all the strength you can muster you bring your first sword down. The goblin’s buckler defects your strike, but you press the attack and manage to nick his shoulder with your second blow. The goblin grits his teeth and lets out a rasping hiss as you roll damage”

You can even use details to bring attention to other aspects of your plot. The story doesn’t have to stop just because initiative was rolled.

“The light emanating from the glowing runes in the Temple of Peace reflect of the polished blades of your swords. They flicker as your blade clangs off the goblin’s buckler. But when your second strike finds the sinewy flesh of the goblin’s shoulder they start to dim.”

The details you focus on can also reflect time. Battles are a weird thing in D&D and all initiative based systems. In first ed D&D a round was a minute. In 3.5 one round is six seconds. In Shadowrun a round is supposed to be three seconds (which is bonkers considering all the initiative passes you can have.)

That bit of rules minutia really doesn’t mean much to players. Usually Players are estimating how much longer they have to fight based on their hit points and how many enemies are left standing. By detailing an atmosphere you can add a play clock to the narrative.

“You draw a calm but labored breath as your ready your attack. Your blades arc through the air spattering the blood of slain enemies on the stone of the temple. You struggle to maintain your grip as your first blow clashes with the goblin’s buckler. But you feel a satisfying squish through your aching fingers as the second attack find his shoulder- roll damage.”

Of course the versatility of atmosphere doesn’t end with combat. Youseph is specifically looking for ways he can describe environments. If you have a technical, tactile mind like Youseph it can be difficult to express your ideas in words the same way you can through a map.

He said it himself, maps are what interests him most, maps are how he engages with the game. How can Youseph draw his players into his world without simply showing them the maps he is supposed to be keeping secret?

Before we apply our lesson on atmosphere to Yousephe’s conundrum let’s bring our green horns up to speed on map play.

In old fashioned crawls only the DM would have access to the map and players would have to track and draw their own map to navigate a dungeon.

Not everyone likes to bother with maps, some see them as an unnecessary extravagance, others see them as a chore. But for many folks, myself included, maps provide vital detailing. The same way stats make grounded sense out of our characters, maps provide scale and clarity to our settings.

Laying your dungeon out on a map also shows you how much use you are getting out of your space. The most important part of a room might be the treasure chest but it makes no sense for a 500 sq. ft. room to have nothing in it but a single treasure chest.

If you are going to map out your own dungeon, always ALWAYS use graph paper. Those little boxes will keep you from getting lost in your own work.

If you pick a concrete value for your boxes and stick with it, you will always know how big a room is. This answers dozes of pesky player questions like “Can I get there in a charge?” and the cringe inducing “Does it look like I can jump it?”

For oddly shaped rooms all you need to do is count up the boxes on your graph paper and you will have a relative idea of the size of your environment.

Keeping a consistent scale also helps you track relative size which is going to be really important in a second.

Now that we’re caught up to Youseph let’s apply what we have learned about atmosphere to help Youseph’s game become more vivid and alive.

Something important to keep in mind is that most people are shitty judges of distance and scale. Unless you are an architect, marksman, carpenter, orienteer, or cartographer you probably can’t gages the size of an environment just by eyeballing it. You can guess, but without some experience in a field that specializes in judging distance your guess is likely to be off.

Everyone judges the size of rooms and objects based on relative scale. The moon played hell with astronauts because the environment was so barren that there was no reference for judging size and distance.

You should always be looking at a dungeon from the perspective of a character. After all when you are describing what a player sees, you are really describing what a character sees.

The only tools characters have to judge scare are:

1. Themselves
2. Known enemies
3. Known objects
4. The room they were just in

The reaction people have when walking into a new room is all based on those perceptions. Walking in a narrow corridor can make you feel very large and awkward. Coming out of the corridor into a massive cavern can suddenly make you feel very small.

If you really want an exercise to get good at these types of descriptions, go to your local library (or google as we call it these days) and look up blue prints for municipal building you have access to. Walk around in corridors of driftnet sizes, see how confined spaces feel compared to open spaces. Get an idea of how yourself on a map compares to yourself in a place.

To a lesser extent you can accomplish this on a smart phone just walking around in maps, but I think in door spaces work better to understand dungeons.

If you want to understand torch light go out at night and look at street lights who well can you see, what do you notice first? Grave yards and parks are great for this because they are often busy with distinct objects.

Sadly, I can’t give you the words to define the distance of a tunnel or passageway. To master the art of describing imaginary spaces, you have to get good at existing in real spaces.

But, getting down scale is really only the most basic thing you can do for your players. Ultimately it does not matter if they know the exact dimensions of the room you are describing. You really just need to know how to get around. Remember, They wouldn’t know the exact dimensions if they were there.

What matters most is how they feel in the space you created. Thank fully you have control over that, because you now understand the basics of manipulating atmosphere.

“The red glow of your torch stretches out into a warm yellow as you emerge from the passage way into a room full of treasure! Shadows extend beyond the reach of your torch, the only way to gave the size of this hoard will be exploring the room further.”

Finding the room with those words lets your party focus on the fun of finding treasure. By describing what the light touches light and what they see immediately you let your party indulge the comfort of knowledge. The shadows add mystery and discovery.

You can change the mood of finding the same treasure room by focusing on what the party can’t see.

“You feel the humidity hit you as you leave the stale corridor and enter a massive cavern. The rough hewn walls give way to wild natural rock as the room opens up beyond the reach or your torch. Before you is a massive pile of gold which stretches endlessly into the darkness. In the distance you hear what you hope is a regularly fluctuating natural air current… what you fear is breathing.”

Sure your players characters are drawn to the gold, but bay manipulating the details they get first they will be aware of the danger lurking in the dark.

Heck you can even turn finding a room full of piles of treasure into a tragedy by manipulating atmosphere with the context of you plot.

“You leave the confines of the corridor for the grand hall. But you are not met with the awe inspiring sprawl of legend. You instead see the sacred treasures of your kingdom piled haphazardly into heaps, turning the majestic palace in to a jagged maze of gold. Beyond this affront to your kingdom’s pride you see only inky shadow.”

Focusing on the feelings you want players to have in your environments will make your descriptions more powerful.

If you need inspiration, look to videogames. They are also cultivating atmosphere with music, lighting and detail. Look at some of the minor details they use to punctuate their environments. Dust floating in the air, moss growing on cobble stones, random piles of bones. These are all details game designers use to build atmosphere. Just steal that stuff wholesale.

Remember: maps are only useful if they enhance play. It all adds to the atmosphere. If you find that maps are distracting you, pull back to core skills.

Have fun heroes!

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