Three
Let Me Know Your Preference
If you were refereeing a dungeon, which of the following three presentations of the same room would you prefer. Take a look at each of them and then leave a comment, indicating your preference and, if you don’t mind, your reasons for preferring one presentation over the others.
Presentation #1
Five statues depict male figures, wearing archaic Thulian dress. All have the exact same head and face—a haughty, bearded man with piercing eyes. Characters with religious knowledge recognize the figures as gods. Their heads are those of Turms Termax. These heads are not original and a successful force doors check can remove them. A sixth statue depicts an attractive but hard-faced woman. She is Sarana, Turms’s lover, who, legends say, disappeared shortly before his apotheosis.
Presentation #2
Five statues of male figures in archaic Thulian dress. All share the same head (a haughty, bearded man with piercing eyes). Characters with religious knowledge identify the head as Turms Termax. The heads are not original (a successful force doors check removes them).
A sixth statue depicts an attractive, hard-faced woman: Sarana, Turms’s lover, who vanished shortly before his apotheosis.
Presentation #3
Unlit. Thick layer of undisturbed dust on floor and plinths.
Six statues on stone plinths.
Five depict male figure in archaic Thulian dress. These share the same head: a haughty, bearded man with piercing eyes.
Characters with religious knowledge recognize the figures as gods whose heads have been replaced with that of Turms Termax.
The heads are not original. A successful force doors check can remove them.
Sixth statue depicts an attractive but hard-faced woman: Sarana, lover of Turms, who disappeared shortly before his apotheosis.
Remember: I’m only interested in your preference as a referee who might want to use a dungeon in play. For the moment, my interests are mostly practical. Over the years, I’ve seen a lot of different ways to present dungeons and, while I have my own opinions on the matter, right now I’m interested in your opinion.
Thanks!
In terms of format, I think #3 is easier to use since it is broken into short, concise paragraphs. I don't think that the actual bullet points add much information. However, I want a room description to move from the general to the more specific, but in this case, #3 is simply #2 broken into bullet points. To be more useful, I'd rather it be structured something like this:
Unlit. There are six statues: five of identical bearded men, one of a hard-faced woman. The statues are dressed in archaic Thulian dress. A thick layer of undisturbed dust covers everything.
Religious knowledge (trivial): Recognize the male statues as Turms Termax and the female as Sarana, lover of Turms, who disappeared shortly before his apotheosis.
Close inspection (hard): The heads of the male statues are not the original heads and can be removed.
Force doors (easy): Remove the heads without damaging them.
3.
I prefer getting the information in a way that's easy to parse. The extra space isn't wasted... it's a helpful guide.
It's the only one that makes clear from the beginning how many statues are in the room.