* With kudos to Ursula K Le Guin for this title.
Table of Contents
Part 0. Introduction
1. Consider the Forest
2. Consider the Forest, Fantasy Edition
3. Consider the Waterfall
4. Consider the Ruin
5. Pitfalls of Fantasy
Appendix A. Using Fantasy
B. Similar Differences
---------------------------------------------------------------------- Part 0 --
Introduction
Let's think a moment on who, or what, the MUD builder's best friend may be.
It isn't Tolkien, no, though we all of us owe a great debt of gratitude to the
man. Nor is it his fellow Inkling CS Lewis, either, nor Mervyn Peake, nor Lewis
Carroll nor George R R Martin nor Robert E Howard nor Robin Hobb. Fine writers
all, to be sure, but no.
Strunk and White could also be considered our besties, certainly, but I'm
figuring we're past learning HOW to write and just WANT to write.
Done guessing?
For world building, especially for rooms and to a great extent most objects,
the photograph (and videos, and paintings, and the world outside your window)
is the builder's best friend.
Why's that?
Because it shows you not only what's possible, and also what's limited, but
also what's generally believable... to your reader.
And to the extent you don't break your reader's brain trying to figure out what
it is you're saying, you'll be keeping him around to read your stuff.
So what's all this annoying nonsense got to do with this essay?
For an answer, let's turn to our to second, or maybe third, best friend (so long
as you know what you're getting into...)--the Wikipedia.
--------------------------------------------------------------------- Part 1a --
Groundwork
Using your favorite web browser, turn here--
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northeastern_coastal_forests
See any pictures? Never mind, here's one I downloaded from that URL--
PIC
[Borderland State Park in Massachusetts
Credit: by Miguel.v, CC0, see also -
https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=21864592]
What do you see?
A forest? A stream? Rocks? Rapids? All the of previous?
Let's get to work.
--------------------------------------------------------------------- Part 1b --
Consider the Forest*
* With kudos to David Foster Wallace for the title.
Let's spitball** the denizens of the forest.
Is the forest...
old? young? a mix of both? (MIX)
lush? sparse? (LUSH)
light? heavy? (LIGHT)
gloomy? bright? little effect on the daylight? (LITTLE EFFECT)
full of other vegetation? [ONLY SHRUBS, MOSSES AND IVYS]
soil-y? rocky? [ROCKY]
dry? wet? [WET]
Briefly describe what you see in the pic...
forest
trees
saplings
young trees
old trees
branches
fallen branches
fallen trees
leaves
canopy
wet branches
log bridge
trunks
roots
holes
shrubs
ivys
moss
algae
rocks
boulders
gravel
cracks
holes
dirt
mud
water
stream
pools
wet rocks
wet roots
swirls
rapids
whitecaps
shallows
shore
reflections of the sun
trail
crevice
ledge
hillock
...
solitary
cool (temperature)
quiet
bubbly
damp
wet wood
dim
When you're satisfied you've seen all you can see, and have written it down,
let's move on.
** Spitballing--In writing terms we are scribbling out word clouds. In tech
terms we are generating a mind map. In Ray Bradbury terms we're jotting down
word associations. (I admit it--I'm cribbing from myself... see Let's Build a
Bridge.)
--------------------------------------------------------------------- Part 1c --
I'm not sure about a picture being worth a thousand words, but one like this
picture helps us (1) to directly visualize what a forest looks like and (2) to
generate many words and ideas we can use in writing out our own forest.
Number (1) tells us what's possible in a real forest. Doesn't mean we can't
transcend the real with fantastical elements, but by grounding what we write in
the real we also ground it in the FAMILIAR. Leaping into the unfamiliar and into
the abstract works best if we connect it with the familiar.
Number (2) is the shit we use to grow our forest. And we need lots of shit to
made our forests lush.
--------------------------------------------------------------------- Part 2a --
Consider the Forest, Fantasy Edition
Before we create our lush forest (or perhaps just a few rooms,) let's take apart
another well-known (stock) MUD forest, the Haon Dor.
--------------------------------------------------------------------- Part 2b --
All good, very basic. Most readers will look past the basic-ness of the
descriptions in search of monsters and treasure. In fact, many MUDs are coded so
that, once you've been in a room, you see only the brief description thereafter.
Or you can toggle the prompt to show only brief descriptions wherever you go.
But is this... satisfying? Either as a reader or as a writer?
This guide assumes 'no'. NO. NOOOOOO. (Doing my best Michael Scott impression.)
Notice the repetitiveness of the opening sentences, 'You are on a trail...',
'You are on a narrow trail,..', 'You are on a small path...'. Notice the overuse
of 'you' (I'm scrying on my victim from my tower, how am I on a narrow path..?).
Notice the telling rather than the showing, eg. 'the trees are so huge and
their crowns so dense that forest remains in total darkness.'
And while there IS a time and place for rather generic descriptions (especially
in overland zones), for areas where the player is expected to encounter monsters
and other struggles, the builder might consider something a bit more
substantive.
How so?
Well...
--------------------------------------------------------------------- Part 2c --
Consider the Forest, Fantasy Edition Redux
Let's try a couple rewrites.
Original:
Rewrite:
Original:
Rewrite:
Shall we try another?
Original:
Rewrite:
Perfectly serviceable, yes? And there's variety between rooms. It's not merely
stated to be a forest, but by adding certain words--e.g. shrubbery, saplings,
clearings--we're making the forest feels more like a forest. And without wasting
time on *gulp* beautiful phrasing. Serviceable.
Let's delve deeper into the woods...
Original:
Rewrite:
Again, serviceable. Let's do one more...
Original:
Rewrite:
--------------------------------------------------------------------- Part 2d --
Again, all perfectly serviceable. Annnd... varied. Let's take a look at that
last rewrite, shall we?
So how did I come up with all that off the cuff? The rewrite took roughly three
minutes, adding specifics, variety and a feel for an ancient forest. What secret
wizardry have I been initiated into?
Let's go back to our spitball--not all of it, but a few choice words...
Briefly describe what you see in the pic...
forest
trees
saplings
young trees
old trees
...
canopy
...
roots
shrubs
...
moss
algae
rocks
boulders
...
trail
...
When looking at the words above, and then looking at that final rewrite--
--it no longer seems like wizardry, but is instead a matter of (1) being
cognizant on what exists in a forest and (2) using those existing things to
create a serviceable room description.
This is where photographs (and videos, and the outdoors) help.
By grabbing a photograph and generating a list of all the things you see in
there, you become aware of what makes that which is in the picture. If you
examine a photo of a dog, you become aware of hair, tail, eyes, teeth, ears,
tongue, brown, spots, droopy, snout, and so on. A photo of mushrooms gives us
stem, head, gills, spots, red, gooey, rot, abrasion, cluster, flesh, and so on.
In fact you can probably pull all these words out of your nether regions relying
only on memory, but... why use only memory when you can use what's in front of
your face?
Okay, well, you didn't exactly use what you see, you might say. Afterall, the
picture you gave isn't an ancient forest. How did you know to use 'otherworldly
twilight illumination'?
In my case, experience. And a guide using the original description: 'unreal
twilight illumination'. And, if need be, a quick search of 'deep forest' in my
browser:
PIC
Credit: DuckDuckGo.
To get a feel for a deep (or a dense) forest, download not just one, or two, or
a handful of photos, but a dozen or more if needed. And from these extract the
ideas/words that come to mind when looking at a deep forest, jot them down,
generate a list. Then, when you're ready to create your area, use the list of
words (and, occasionally, re-reference the photos) to come up with a
description:
I timed writing this: one minute twenty-two seconds (1:22:22.) Is it the best of
descriptions? Not at all. Is it serviceable? Absolutely. Is it varied? Looks
like it, yes. Is it different from your common, rubber-stamped room description?
ABSOLUTELY.
And it's something you can do. Easily.
--------------------------------------------------------------------- Part 3a --
Consider the Waterfall
Have a link--
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pisgah_National_Forest
And the pic (if it's no longer showing)--
PIC
[Upper Creek Falls in the Pisgah National Forest
Credit: by Ken Thomas, Public Domain, see also -
https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=3819835]
Let's spitball the denizens of the waterfall--
Is the waterfall...
wet? dry? [WET - WATER DOES RUN OUT SOMETIMES THO'...]
high? low? middling? [LOW]
single-streamed? multi-streamed? [SINGLE]
plains? forest? tundra? canyon? [FOREST]
rocky? [OF COURSE - EVER SEE A WATERFALL WITHOUT ROCKS?]
pooling? falling? [FALLING ONLY]
Briefly describe what you see in the pic...
waterfall
split fall
single stream
small stream
main stream
white water
erosion
rocks
boulders
wet rocks
rocky backing
discoloring
flecks
limestone
rust
smooth
cracks
algae
cracked algae
moss
wet moss
flat surface
slippery rocks
jagged
trees
evergreen
deciduous
branches
bare branches
leaning tree
bent tree
vegetation
red leaves
debris
leaves
sunlight
open-ness
...
rushing water
dampness
wet soil
wet trees
cool
Let's use what we have.
--------------------------------------------------------------------- Part 3b --
Here's a basic waterfall--
About three minutes to create this generic waterfall. Not bad, eh? By changing
the focus, we can generate another waterfall--
And another--
Of course you can make the title a bit more descriptive--
Etc etc.
Like we did with the forest previously, we grabbed a photo, quickly listed in
plain words what we saw, then we used those words to develop our waterfalls.
Having a picture in mind, or right in front of us, really does help.
--------------------------------------------------------------------- Part 3c --
You ever watch anime? Or any cartoon? Or, really, any show, live-action or
otherwise?
When you watch a show, what do your eyes focus on? The walls? The tables? the
wheel of the car?
I would guess you focus primarily on the characters. The protagonist. The
antagonist. The sidekick(s). The victim(s).
In anime the backgrounds are almost all throwaway. Take a look sometime (search
for 'My Hero Academia') if you haven't already: nothing moves. Not even the
people. The background people. How come? They're not important. The animators
know full well where the meal tickets are, and they're not in the backgrounds.
So they minimize the backgrounds--a splash of color here, static imagery there,
crowds of people that never blink and are panned over to simulate movement--and
they focus on what their audience will focus on--the main characters.
Keeping room descriptions simple is a fine thing, really, because unless the
room is part of a quest, or perhaps has a hidden door/container, it will more
often than not be quickly scanned and/or ignored. As anime artists remind us, no
need to waste time on things people care less about.
And yet... even an animator won't place a happy, playful puppy in a gloomy
goblin cave. Not unless he was being purposefully incongruous. Nor will he draw
characters in empty space, not unless he was creating a follow-up to Looney
Tunes' Duck Amuck. (YES. YOU MUST SEE THIS! IT'S RELEVANT!!) Happy people go in
happy places, unhappy people go in unhappy places. Not unless we're looking to
stir up (more?) trouble in those places.
So place matters. Areas matter. And thus rooms DO matter. To an extent.
While I wouldn't, then, dwell on place, you can still do much better than craft
a cookie cutter and stamp the thing all over the zone.
Rooms, for example, tell players which way they can go. In singles or in chains,
they separate one significant area or room from another. Or they are the
significant rooms themselves. They hold information that better readers can use
to avoid those nasty monsters or, worse, deathtraps. Or to escape no-recall
areas. A room may be a library with extra descriptions describing other persons,
places or things. Or the room could hold the main clue to a quest.
Rooms provide you, the builder, an opportunity to give information that both
delights and frustrates your players. (And if you've the right codebase, rooms
also can damage your players, spell them up, transport them, etc.)
To reiterate, then, you needn't fret about (or waste time on) things people care
less about. Just know that writing out a variety of room descriptions*, making
sure you change them up a bit from room to room, isn't itself the source of this
waste. Keep 'em simple and varied, and if the room will be important to
gameplay, then focus your energies on that room.
* Not just rooms, of course--monster, weapon, pet, container and other
descriptions also need love from the variety department.
--------------------------------------------------------------------- Part 4a --
Consider the Ruin
One more wikilink--
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dale_Abbey
And the pic (again, if it's no longer showing)--
PIC
[The Ruins of Dale Abbey
Credit: Grant Shaw, CC BY 3.0, see also -
https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=6014217]
Let's spitball the ruin--
Is the ruin...
old? recent? [OLD]
brick? stone? wood? stucco? [BRICK]
a castle? shop? house? temple? gate? [TEMPLE]
large? small? medium? [SMALL]
forested? hilly? swampy? fielded? [FIELD]
standing? fallen? [FALLEN]
Briefly describe what you see in the pic...
ruin
brick
arch
window
fallen bricks
old mortar
blocks of bricks
no stairs
field
grasses
weeds
shrubs
trees
hills
cows
snow
cold
powdered
Here's another view of the ruin--
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dale_Abbey_(ruin)
Does this help?
Lllllet's go. (--Captain Tenneal, MXC.)
--------------------------------------------------------------------- Part 4b --
And so we write--
Okay, took five minutes for this one. With the photo of the ruin to the right of
the text editor on my left. And with the words I generated above.
But suppose we were to now transpose this ruin to a far-away land, to a dense
forest at the edge of a well-known city..?
Mmmmmm yum. Now THIS is interesting, no? What was this temple? What are those
symbols? What's with that clearing? What does it mean 'no easy way'? IS there a
way?
This took a little more than five minutes to write, but you'll notice what
combining two different things can do for us, i.e. give us an opportunity for
good variety. I didn't set out to make this an important location--it just came
out that way.
Yes, all right, let's see what happens if we combine a forest, a waterfall and
the ruins of a temple--
*whew*
While not the best description of anything, you can see that practical wording
with a few flourishes can give amazing results.
---------------------------------------------------------------------- Part 5 --
Fantasy is an interesting genre, whether in fiction, MUDs, television, or
elsewhere, but like other genres it's not without its pitfalls.
From what I've read of others' areas, one of those pitfalls may be an
overdependence on (1) the established tropes of fantasy fiction and (2) the
descriptions provided by writers of fantasy. And together these contibute to a
third: (3) a reliance on the memory of what those tropes/writers have to say.
I'm against neither tropes nor fantasy writing--far from it.
But to make a thing fresh, you sometimes need to come into it with fresh eyes.
And you get those fresh eyes by looking at and considering things that you've
neither seen nor thought about before.
It's that freshness that will set your writing apart.
------------------------------------------------------------------ Appendix A --
Using Fantasy
What about the use of fantasy drawings?
Go for it!
I like fantasy drawings, and they are a source of much of what I build (Frazetta
anyone? Luis Royo perhaps..?) As are fantasy movies (I may or may not rewatch
LotR every year...) and fantasy comics (let me tell you about my Dark Horse
Conan collection...)
But always keep in mind that the artist, too, works with things in the real
world--kneading, shaping and transmogrifying these objects into works of fantasy
by the gradual accretion (and occasional attenuation) of other real world
things.
To be sure, an artist may pick up a book of Frazetta, become inspired and start
drawing his own versions of the Death Dealer or Conan the Avenger. But does he
know that Frazetta, who had his own pantheon of artist inspirations, also used
others in the real world as models? And does he know Frazetta took photos of
himself crouching, shooting, punching and more to better understand certain
technical qualities of his own work?
Fantasy is a good springboard for jumping into your own creative endeavors, but
don't lose sight of the fact that fantasy gets its start in the real world,
building on top of what is already there. Use fantasy, but don't be afraid to
peek behind the curtain at existence to discover what more remains discarded and
unused.
------------------------------------------------------------------ Appendix B --
Similar Differences
Ever hear of the Bronx in New York City? How 'bout Compton in LA County? Maybe
*shrug* Detroit, Michigan?
Besides being cities, know anything else they have in common?
Each was the founding scene of its own form of rap music (now called hip-hop).
The Bronx had East Coast, Compton West. And a little later came Detroit with its
Midwest.
MUDs, too, can have areas that use the same forms, backgrounds and environments,
which then set themselves apart in the details.
New MUDs often feature two common (stock) areas to get themselves off the
ground--Miden'nir (or Miden'Nir) and Haon Dor. Both are forests, both typically
are just outside Midgaard's gates (one south, the other west,) both are dark and
gloomy Guses.
But the one, Miden'nir, is home to dozens of goblins and a handful of wyverns.
Haon Dor, OTOH, is home to wolves, spiders, at least one lumberjack, and a green
dragon. Miden'nir is dark and evil; Haon Dor is dark due to the nature of the
ancient trees (and treants..?)
They differ in the details.
When creating your own forest, or perhaps updating stock, you, too, must focus
on the details. What sets your forest apart from those other two?
You could do as one builder did and create from scratch the Emerald Forest, a
very lush woodland full of dryads, nymphs and other mythical creatures, together
with a dark side full of huntsmen, pumpkin men and other nasties.
Or you can do as another builder did and create a northern jungle full of
carnivore apes and black centaurs.
Or, if you wanna get weirder, you can delve underground and develop a fungal
forest dominated, not by myconids, but by a tribe of fomorians who've enslaved
the myconids. And there the player will find massive mushrooms that are not
unlike trees in the world above...
Before leaving off this appendix, a reminder that the Wikipedia is your (second,
third best) friend when it comes to building. While you cannot rely on absolute
truths from the site, when it comes to general descriptions they're pretty
good--
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forest
This is a forest. Do you need a specific kind of forest?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forest#Types
Need something subtropical?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tropical_and_subtropical_moist_broadleaf_forests
Building something Mesoamerican themed?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Veracruz_moist_forests
If nothing else the Wikipedia will give you a decent springboard from which to
do your research.
Hope this helps.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Copyright © 2023 Morrn CC-BY-4.0
