Difference between revisions of "Region Description Writing"
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* Add some pure flavour info. Invent a local drink, folklore, custom or other things that add atmosphere | * 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? | * 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? | ||
| − | + | * Explain the origin of the region name -- does it mean something in the old tongue? Is it named after a local landmark or an ancient hero? | |
| + | * What's the weather like? Does your desert region suffer from dust storms, is your coastal region humid? | ||
Revision as of 00:16, 8 August 2007
This article is a stub or placeholder. The BattleMaster Wiki is a collaborative effort, and you can help expand it by adding to this article.
Someone want to write this up into a nice, well-structured article? Please feel free to start... --Tom 17:34, 3 August 2007 (CEST)
A good region description is
- Neutral
- Objective
- Fits within the BM style
- Long enough to create atmosphere, but not so long that it gets tiring.
- Factually correct - don't speak of the famous Academy if the region doesn't have one. Don't mention the bars in the harbour district if the entertainment option doesn't offer a trip to them.
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- have information that will be outdated quickly (sooner or later, some lord will forget to update it, if not you then your successor) - only include recent events if they have a major impact on the region (e.g. population almost extinguished by starvation)
- 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. :-)
Some Ideas
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?
- Explain the origin of the region name -- does it mean something in the old tongue? Is it named after a local landmark or an ancient hero?
- What's the weather like? Does your desert region suffer from dust storms, is your coastal region humid?
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.
