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Show, Don't Tell

Radio dramas often have their characters speak so as to indicate their actions.

Does anyone have an extra blanket? If I get cold I’ll wake up with a bad back.

Hearing this, we know

1. The group is sleeping outside,

2. the speaker is old, and

3. the speaker wants to sleep.

I wonder if the group adopting this habit might enhance games.

Action                                 | Statement                                                                                                                      
---------------------------------------|---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
My character goes to go to a tavern    | “Is anyone else thirsty?”                                                                                                      
I hit it with my axe                   | “How do goblins like the taste of axe?!”                                                                                       
I search for clues                     | “Take the west wall, I’ll check this one. You never know what you’ll find if you look hard enough”                             
I follow the bandit tracks immediately | “Looks like fresh tracks. Let’s go!”                                                                                           
I loot the bodies                      | “Gimme a hand rolling this guy over, he’s heavy but there’s got to be something in one of their pockets if we look hard enough”

I tried this for one game, and it didn’t take. Perhaps it would work better with other players. Perhaps I should have put in some XP reward for a couple of games, just to get into the swing of it.

I also found it really doesn’t work so well in combat.

I retain hope that I’ll one day get a group to try out this style, at least enough to notice when they have a good opportunity for a line.