Catullus64
2021-11-29, 10:31 AM
As a GM, it often comes down to your words to paint the scene and immerse players in their characters' situations. A piece of advice I often give to new GMs is to cultivate a large stable of phrases and descriptors that can help lushly set the scene.
Share some of your favorite words, phrases, or sentence structures for describing things in games. My selection below is mostly going to revolve around fantasy gaming. Note that many of the phrases under Characters and Combat get used as a player as well.
"high-vaulted ceilings"
"rich with wood-smoke"
"once-polished stone"
"pillars of (x material), and (x material) the gates."
"gently sloping passage"
"a frowning fortress"
"the walls painted with blasphemous scenes"
"etched with evil-looking symbols"
"scents fair and foul mix upon the market air"
"noises of love, violence, and mirth echo through litter-strewn alleys"
"a wood, green with life and musty with death"
"many old and wise trees"
"a swampy labyrinth of waters"
"the distant cry of some strange bird"
"the hungry gnawing of the sea"
"the vasty indifference of the sea"
"bare and mist-shrouded hills"
"red-cast in the firelight"
"savage peaks"
"a fearsome-swift river"
"sheltered in the snow"
"a questing nose"
"clean-limbed"
"as if ever anticipating attack from one quarter or another"
"a resting sneer"
"fair-favored"
"a hungry look"
"portly"
"an impressive beard"
"handsome" (applied to women, somewhat unusual in modern usage)
"x of hair, and of eye y"
"flash of sudden mirth"
"scars both ancient and new"
"a calculating look"
"limbs jutting at unnatural angles"
"antediluvian horror"
"eyes glisten with malign intelligence"
"a maw reeking of death"
"long, raking claws"
"in form a cruel mockery of x"
"man-shaped, but for x"
"tendrils, each one seeming to move of its own mind"
"hissing curses in some dark antique tongue"
"slime-slick scales"
"shambling gait"
"blood-freezing screech/howl/bellow"
Note that in accordance with forum rules, I'm omitting any phrases that describe gory wounds, but just know that I have a lot of those.
"the clangor of blades"
"steel answers steel"
"feet shuffling in a deadly dance"
"desperately guards one strike, then two, three"
"the air crackles with spell-fire"
"sparks fly as the blades catch in the bind"
"heedless of his wounds"
"the shock of the blow travels up your arm"
"with upraised arm he belts forth an incantation"
"he lunges, with death in his right hand"
"with a fearsome stroke, you hurl him down to death"
"an arrow suddenly sprouts from the tree/wall/door beside you"
"like some sweet liquor, the charm floods your thoughts"
Share some of your favorite words, phrases, or sentence structures for describing things in games. My selection below is mostly going to revolve around fantasy gaming. Note that many of the phrases under Characters and Combat get used as a player as well.
"high-vaulted ceilings"
"rich with wood-smoke"
"once-polished stone"
"pillars of (x material), and (x material) the gates."
"gently sloping passage"
"a frowning fortress"
"the walls painted with blasphemous scenes"
"etched with evil-looking symbols"
"scents fair and foul mix upon the market air"
"noises of love, violence, and mirth echo through litter-strewn alleys"
"a wood, green with life and musty with death"
"many old and wise trees"
"a swampy labyrinth of waters"
"the distant cry of some strange bird"
"the hungry gnawing of the sea"
"the vasty indifference of the sea"
"bare and mist-shrouded hills"
"red-cast in the firelight"
"savage peaks"
"a fearsome-swift river"
"sheltered in the snow"
"a questing nose"
"clean-limbed"
"as if ever anticipating attack from one quarter or another"
"a resting sneer"
"fair-favored"
"a hungry look"
"portly"
"an impressive beard"
"handsome" (applied to women, somewhat unusual in modern usage)
"x of hair, and of eye y"
"flash of sudden mirth"
"scars both ancient and new"
"a calculating look"
"limbs jutting at unnatural angles"
"antediluvian horror"
"eyes glisten with malign intelligence"
"a maw reeking of death"
"long, raking claws"
"in form a cruel mockery of x"
"man-shaped, but for x"
"tendrils, each one seeming to move of its own mind"
"hissing curses in some dark antique tongue"
"slime-slick scales"
"shambling gait"
"blood-freezing screech/howl/bellow"
Note that in accordance with forum rules, I'm omitting any phrases that describe gory wounds, but just know that I have a lot of those.
"the clangor of blades"
"steel answers steel"
"feet shuffling in a deadly dance"
"desperately guards one strike, then two, three"
"the air crackles with spell-fire"
"sparks fly as the blades catch in the bind"
"heedless of his wounds"
"the shock of the blow travels up your arm"
"with upraised arm he belts forth an incantation"
"he lunges, with death in his right hand"
"with a fearsome stroke, you hurl him down to death"
"an arrow suddenly sprouts from the tree/wall/door beside you"
"like some sweet liquor, the charm floods your thoughts"