Descriptions tend to make players think things are important, so I'd only describe important things. So give a description of the item is magical, made out of a special material, or is particularly valuable.
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
Definitely, yes.
Elaborate descriptions of loot items adds to the depth of the experience. Some of the items may be non-magical, so the only really important thing is the gold (or silver) piece value. Magic items should be special, and I think elaborate descriptions help with that.
Plus, the descriptions you make can give clues towards the provenance of items. Even gold or silver pieces might have been minted in specific countries, or specific historical periods, and that can give clues as to where this loot came from, and what it was used for.
Sure, some players won't care. They just want to get on to the next encounter, to flex their powers. But most players I know love this kind of thing, and it deepens their immersion in the game world.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Descriptions tend to make players think things are important, so I'd only describe important things. So give a description of the item is magical, made out of a special material, or is particularly valuable.I agree with this. It's kind of a play on the idea of Chekhov's gun. Giving more elaborate than usual descriptions of items will make the players assume there is something important about the item. If there is not, in fact, anything important about the item, it will waste the players' time trying to make that determination, and then make characters less interested when you give elaborate descriptions in the future.
OTOH, if you describe a room as:
You enter the small room, a bookshelf of books stands in one corner, a small cot along the back wall, and a writing desk full of many drawers opposite. On top of the desk lays a book, inlaid with gold along the cover, untouched by the dust that covers every other surface in the room.
You're going to get this response:
Cleric: "I check out the book"Fighter: "I check out the book"
Wizard: "I check out the book using Detect Magic."
Rogue: "I check the book for traps."
Guess what, the book is the only thing of any import in the room.
How about...
You enter the small room, a bookshelf stands in one corner, books of every size and color line every shelf, sometimes even stacked two deep. The shadows in the space between the top and the ceiling has several more laying haphazardly. There is a small cot along the back wall, simple, but obviously well used by the previous occupant, who likely put it there in order to avoid a long travel back home. A writing desk sits opposite the cot, there are dozens of drawers along both sides of the comfortable looking chair tucked into it, several sit slightly ajar. On top of the desk lays a book, inlaid with gold along the cover, untouched by the dust that covers every other surface in the room.
Now what's interesting?
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
Searching for hidden treasure and investigating objects in the room always seems more interesting than it ends up being, in my experience. It's hard to describe a room in a way that doesn't arouse suspicion or bore the players.
Identifying items is another thing that I suspect is just more trouble than it's worth, which is unfortunate because there are so many rules for item identification. I ran into this a lot in Fall of Plaguestone, where the party was constantly picking up alchemical items but couldn't succeed on crafting checks to identify them. So they had this sack of unidentified bombs they were lugging around.
So I'm with Kasoh in that regard. That aspect of looting--as cool as it is in theory--slows things down, and if the party doesn't figure out what this magical helmet is immediately they're just going to toss it in the bag until they figure out what it is. Because it's obviously cursed. Everything is cursed, always.
Definitely, yes.
Elaborate descriptions of loot items adds to the depth of the experience. Some of the items may be non-magical, so the only really important thing is the gold (or silver) piece value. Magic items should be special, and I think elaborate descriptions help with that.
Plus, the descriptions you make can give clues towards the provenance of items. Even gold or silver pieces might have been minted in specific countries, or specific historical periods, and that can give clues as to where this loot came from, and what it was used for.
Sure, some players won't care. They just want to get on to the next encounter, to flex their powers. But most players I know love this kind of thing, and it deepens their immersion in the game world.
What Wheldrake said :) Descriptions only add to the experience. Even non-magical items (can) have stories to tell. But either way, a definite plus.
Also, if you want some ideas for this, I highly suggest Raging Swan products.
Regarding single item loot descriptions, no yeah, hek off with it. Just tell me what it is. I'm fine if you want to enforce identifying stuff, but I don't give a damn about the flowery descriptions of each item.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
I too am with Kasoh. Cut to the chase and say what the loot is.
I also indicate this to my players so they don't waste choices on being better at identifying items.
Just too much book keeping otherwise... Your player is going to try to identify the thing on the spot, if they can't they'll stuff it in a bag and probably forget it for a while. Then later on they'll ask "hey, I have an unidentified sword in my bag... can I try to identify it?"
....and at that point, I've no longer ANY clue what it is.
Best case scenario there is that your supply a book and page number so that the player can say "I have an unidentified sword in my bag that I got from Fall of Plaguestone page 15, can I try to identify that?"
That works better.
But I still say it works best to just pony up the info and let them be excited about it then and there.
|
If it's the first time they've seen a consumable, I will let them roll a quick recall knowledge check to see if they know what it is.
Permanent Magic items they have to do the ten minute identity dance.
After they've identified it once, they know what it is. So all those +1 weapons they know what it is. If it is something more than that, they can do the research.
I also sometimes flavour random bits of junk, throwaway items a bit nicer just for colour, and I particularly like naming books.
Yeah, I'm inclined to think describing items as a good thing, up to a point. Save it for especially powerful or important things. That will make the game more immersive and fun. Make the everything else asier to write into the daily notes.
On a related note, I'm hard of hearing. The more words there are, the more likely I am to miss the important words among the jumble. For long winded descriptions I often have to ask the GM to repeat portions of it, or else go home after the game and crack open my own copy of the module just so that I have an understanding of what was happening after the fact.
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
Magic weapons mostly have runes etched on them. (CRB 580). I expect PCs would normally spot them.