Difference between revisions of "Region Description Writing"

Revision as of 14:46, 3 August 2007

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A good region description is

Which means it shouldn't:

be an "advertisement" for the region, the realm or the duke
contain misinformation or spurious claims
have information that will be outdated quickly (sooner or later, some lord will forget to update it, if not you then your successor)
repeat information that's displayed on the region details page anyway (e.g. population numbers, realm it belongs to, name of the lord, etc.)
assume actions on behalf of the reader - e.g. "as you walk through the city center looking for a tavern you notice..." will sound strange to an invasion force that came to loot the city to the ground. :-)

Here are some ideas to flesh out the region description:

Add some pure flavour info. Invent a local drink, folklore, custom or other things that add atmosphere
Explain some of the oddities of the region - why does it border on region X? Why does the woodland region contain a slip of rural? Why does the city expand further than other regions? Why is it marked as a badlands type?

Use adjectives to liven up the description. "The tall, white spires of..." is a much better description than "The fortress of ..."
Don't overdo it with the adjectives :-) "tall, white spires" is good, "tall, white, bewildering, grey-marble spires" is almost certainly too much.

@@ Line 24: / Line 24: @@
 === Style===
 * Use adjectives to liven up the description. "The tall, white spires of..." is a much better description than "The fortress of ..."
+* Don't overdo it with the adjectives :-) "tall, white spires" is good, "tall, white, bewildering, grey-marble spires" is almost certainly too much.