How do you describe scenes for your players?

As a Dungeon Master, you’ll spend a lot of time describing the scenario in front of your player’s characters. Let’s look at three tips I’ve learned for making this description useful and engaging!

Keep it short

My players want to start asking questions or taking action as soon as I finish describing a scene. A short description allows my players to focus on one or two parts of that description.

This is especially true for the first time you describe a particular room or area. You can paint the room in broad strokes—“The vampire awaits you in the middle of a dark, gothic chapel.” Then, when the players ask for details, you can add in, for example, “the stained-glass windows depict a battle against a dragon.”

Of course, you don’t want to hide details that may impact how the players proceed—like how many enemies they can see, or the number of obvious entrances to the room. A “less is more” approach best suits purely descriptive details.

Focus on next steps

The last thing you say will be what the players remember best. So, your final words should focus on either the most actionable or most dramatic feature.

For example, a typical dungeon crawl. If the characters move into a hallway with multiple doors, you would describe the general features of the hallway and end with “to your left are two small doors, and at the end of the hall you can see a set of large double doors.” This helps the players calibrate their mental image of the area around what they can do with it.

Another example would be if the characters stumble upon a murder scene. You might describe the scent of blood or the disarray of the surrounding area, but you would leave the description of the dead body to the end. This is also an exercise in building suspense and keeping the players engaged. If you mention the corpse first, your players may have difficulty following the rest of the description when they really just want to ask about the state of the body.

Be prepared to repeat yourself

Your players may miss part of your description, and that’s okay. It’s not a reflection on your skill as a DM. We’re all fighting distractions during the game. It’s okay to remind your players about how the area was first described if it seems like they’ve forgotten!

I hope these tips will help you engage your players! Do you have any other tips for description as a DM? Let’s hear them in the comments!