Super-Detailing Adventures

I was busy working on my next AD&D adventure last weekend when I came to some sort of epiphany. I've been DMing now for almost 3/4 of my lifetime and it never fails that no matter how much information I place into the module, I still end up having to make "on the fly" descriptions of rooms and NPCs that have the opposite effect to what I anticipate. If I have only an empty room, that's the place where all the searching occurs. If I place an interesting room chock full of stuff, people walk in and then leave without so much as a glance. If the NPC is not named, it's meant to be nothing more than window dressing. My named NPCs rarely if ever survive 3 rounds of an encounter. Those NPCs with important information are ignored, while those who are mere pawns with no information are grilled for hours. No matter what I plan, my players always do the opposite.

So I'm contemplating a "super-detailed" adventure based on the original Greyhawk module T1: The Village of Hommlet. What I mean by this is taking the original description and expanding upon it to the degree that no matter what is asked I will have the information in front of me. This may require up to a page of fine print text per encounter area and possibly two to three pages for additional histories, descriptions, and diagrams for areas not covered in the original module. For instance, detailing the reticulated patterns on the snake in the moathouse may allow the players to come to the conclusion that the snake is not poisonous, but rather a constrictor (should that information be pertinent, say for a druid character able to identify animals). I could describe the chipping plaster and the mortared stone of the corridor walls. Sketches of the rooms and buildings on 1"-square graph paper would allow the players to better visualize the space they have to work with, along with ceiling heights, floor conditions (rubble, dust, dirt, cobwebs, dead bodies, etc.), and positions of the monsters when first encountered. Most of the combatants in the moathouse are static - they don't move around much. However, according to the wandering monster table one could encounter creatures from the various keyed areas on the map and their positions should be noted.

Can this be done for EVERY adventure? Surely not. But careful planning of the base town (in this case, Hommlet) with sufficient details and explanations (including motives, names, and physical descriptions or personality quirks) could allow the setting to come fully alive for the players. Players will often come to erroneous conclusions or make strange leaps of logic based off minimal information and mental "filling in the gaps." If given enough information they might be able to more easily come to the proper conclusions or even be better fooled by those trying to conceal their motives.

Super-detailing takes some time, to be sure. However, the DM is the sensory input for the players. Without a detailed description the players are basically deaf and blind in their world, being assaulted without reason by their environment, and reacting with brute force against any obstacle regardless of level of threat. More information might allow them to become diplomatic, cautious, and reactive in positive ways that will promote good gaming practices and hopefully allow better choices to be made. Of course, this assumes that the DM has a full grasp of the material and the wherewithal to complete such a project. It requires a good grasp of using visual aids and a talent for explaining "hard-to-explain" features of some modules. Of course, the players may not even care that the air smells of urine and rat feces before they attack the giant rats in the corner, but at least you can have the information at hand if, say, the torches get blown out and the party suddenly has to fumble around in the dark. By playing up the atmosphere, I believe that the D&D experience can be positively exciting if not mind-blowing! The trick is to explain to the fullest without going overboard. All five senses should be detailed if possible. Obviously taste would not necessarily be used in a  dungeon setting, but one never knows when one will find a storehouse of food and taste-testing may come into play (soured wine, dry biscuits, bubbling stew, etc). Sight would by necessity be the first and most important sense to cater to, with smell and sounds being next. Textures and vibrations are important for the sense of touch. How efficiently these senses can be processed would require some "super-detailing" of the characters as well. Detailed records of what is being worn and where would come into play. Usually unimportant details, like the the thief wearing fingerless gloves, would then become important in describing the prickly surface of a splintering chest, or the minute protrusion in the wall that activates the secret door. The DM must also answer the basic questions of any description: who, what, where, when, why, and how.