Adding Details

Series: world-building · Part 2

A room without details is a painting without texture. Details are the things players can examine, touch, and interact with — the lanterns on the hooks, the cobblestones underfoot, the distant masts in the harbor. They give depth to a space that would otherwise be a single paragraph.

Add a detail to your harbor gate:

chart> add detail harbor-gate lanterns
  Added detail "lanterns" to room:your-realm/harbor-gate.

chart> describe harbor-gate/lanterns
  (Enter description. End with a blank line.)
  Iron-framed lanterns with thick glass panes, hung from hooks
  driven into the stone arch. The flames inside burn steady —
  sheltered from the wind. Each one bears a small maker's mark
  stamped into the base.

  Description set for detail lanterns in room:your-realm/harbor-gate.

Details can themselves contain details. The maker’s mark on the lantern could be its own detail — examinable, carrying provenance, perhaps even a clue. Nest as deep as the story requires, but no deeper. A room with thirty details is a catalogue, not a place.

Good details reward curiosity. They give the attentive traveler something the hurried one misses. They are the difference between a room that is passed through and a room that is remembered.