Result of the Votes, 1st Week

The winners, with six and four votes:

"Broad view: Large statue of an orc in center, facing north, holding a broken sword, inscription at base that reads, 'Halls of Bashag the Proud.' "

"The second door to the right stands slightly ajar. You don’t see any light through the crack."

Fairly simple.  I would encourage the readers to consider how very little is actually needed for a party to get interested.  Because the room is closed, I'll give my own take on the description, and why I would go that way.

"The nearest right door is painted red.  The other four doors are normal dungeon doors."

It's not only that less is more; it is that the players are bound to fix their attention on one or two details, however we might try to pack the room full of interesting things.  By keeping it simple, we produce a more memorable experience ... and through the rest of the dungeon, the players are either thinking, "We should have gone through the red door," or, "We absolutely shouldn't have gone through the red door."  It doesn't matter what's behind the door; the red color is flexible, easily explainable, yet just enough to arouse the curiousity and attention of the party.

The orc statue is the same; at one time, it suggests the dungeon will be full of orcs; but the broken sword clearly suggests the orcs were cleaned out and aren't around to fix the statue.  The open door beckons ... human nature is inclined to go right to it, either to snap it closed and then stand on guard, to see if something boils out, or to kick the door in and hope for a surprise.

The bare description gives less impression that the DM has already created some massively complex scenario designed to trap us.  It's hard to see, but great detail is actually comforting; it suggests to the player, "Oh, doesn't matter what I do, the DM's got this all planned out."  Thus, a reduction in tension.  We're just along for the ride.

A bare presentation doesn't make its intention clear.  Are we in control or not?  We feel like we're in control.  We can argue that any door will do (and some players always say this), but the truth is that we're free to listen at each door, examine the first fifty feet beyond each door in turn and ultimately make our decision by steadily gathering more information.  Initially, yes, the doors do seem the same ... but that is a surface impression.

I haven't rolled up any characters yet.  I need to do that today, though I intend initially to create the bare minimum.  My inclination is to close the open door, step back, load missile weapons and see if something comes for us.  If not, we'll enter that room.  So tomorrow, I'll post a map, plus some other planned materials, and we'll go from there.

P.S.,

For those who haven't seen it, the DMG Dungeon Generation system creates spaces, stairs, includes some features and places traps, monsters and treasure.  So going forward, I'll be asking the players to avoid adding traps, monsters (including men and demi-humans), valuables of any kind and excessive features such as chasms, pools and wells at this time.  However, we will be discussing the expansion of these concepts in the weeks ahead, so there will be opportunities to brainstorm these things.

Remember, we're not trying to make the whole dungeon in one room.  We're not looking for a huge dungeon "theme."  We're training ourselves to imaginatively create an organic setting based on what's come before, and not what we expect must come after.  Think past, not future.