Design: Jasyn Jones
Commentary: Ks. Jim Ogle, Winston

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Roleplaying, much like radio or books, involves described settings and events rather than depicted settings and events, like in movies. The more vivid and interesting the descriptions the GM can provide, the more the players will be drawn into the game. Conversely, players can also describe their actions more vividly, increasing their own immersion and the immersion of everyone else at the table. Doing so makes the game more involving and more fun.

The following is a list of ideas and rules to encourage players (and gamemasters) to create vivid descriptions of their character's activities.

Even within the current rules, certain types of game mechanical effects require some description of the character's actions: trading cards, playing a Supporter card, and Player's Call results for Non-Combat Interaction skills. This article extrapolates those situations to a more general rule, and adds additional bonuses.

Before rolling dice or spending cards, a player declares their action, what the character is going to do in game mechanical terms, then describes it. Some actions require a basic description, while more colorful or evocative descriptions can grant bonuses to nearly any significant action.

Declaring the action: I attack. I defend. I trick. I test. This is the statement, in game mechanical terms, of what the character is doing. It allows skill use, but not "Player's Call" results or interactive card use. In addition to any description the player may chose to include, he has to clearly state what the action is so the gamemaster can adjudicate the situation (this declaration can happen before or after the description.)

For most skill checks, a simple action declaration will suffice. For a few, a little more is required. In addition to declaring the action, players can choose to describe what their character is going to do, and how they are going to do it.

Not all descriptions are equally interesting, and not all situations require the player to put special effort into describing the action. Many common game mechanical effects require nothing more than a basic description.

Basic description: I strike for his heart. I kick him in the head. I shout "You killed my father, prepare to die!" This is a short, and not necessarily involved statement. It is the minimum description necessary to allow Player's Call results, Critical Moments, interactive card play (Leadership, Supporter, Rally, trading cards, etc.), and Trick Shots.

Optionally, GM's can also require a basic description for the Vital Blow (or Called Shot) and Single-fire as Multi combat options (this makes those options into more than just number crunching).

If the player chooses to go beyond this basic description, when taking a significant action to advance the scene, the gamemaster can choose to grant the player a bonus to the action, based on how evocative and interesting the description is.

Evocative description: An evocative description is something more involving than the basic description, essentially a basic description done with flair and color. It isn't required for any game mechanics, but is entirely optional, granting a bonus if done well. Depending on how well done the description is, the GM should feel free to hand out a Bonus Modifier of +1 to +3 (boring descriptions gain no such bonus).

In order to gain a bonus, the action itself must advance the scene or be meaningful or significant. Routine skill checks, no matter how well described, don't qualify.

It should go without saying that well-done descriptions can happen out-of-combat as often (or more often) than in combat. Any significant diced action is a good time to add color to the game.

Remember though that it is the description that determines the bonus, not the action. Other games use similar rules, in which the action itself determines the bonus. This is not the case here. A subtle and quiet test of wills can be described just as vividly as a wildly over the top attack, and both can receive equal bonuses.

Descriptions should be short, no more than a couple of sentences, and should describe the action visually, so that other players and the gamemaster can see (in their "mind's eye") what the character is doing or how he looks doing it, what he is doing it to, where he is doing it, and so forth. If it also hints at the character's emotions or mood, so much the better. The description should draw the other players and the gamemaster into the action.

Whenever possible, a description should involve specific details- what the character is doing, how they are doing it, with what, or to what. Referring to other characters, scenery, props, facial expressions, gestures, and so forth can be extremely effective.

The description must enhance the mood and immersion of the game. If the description is too long, or if the game has come to a crashing halt while a player composes a description, the gamemaster can decline the bonus. Similarly, breaking character, metagaming, and other such problems negate any bonuses an evocative description might provide.

Descriptions of any kind ought not be boring and should never be repetitive. Repeating the same action- "I shoot"- is perfectly acceptable, repeating the same description isn't. In order to gain a bonus, every time the character repeats the same action, the player should describe it differently.

Even if the character is shooting his guns, like he has done many times before, when, where, how, at who, and other details of the situation have changed, so the description can vary (and must vary, to be worth any bonus).

Evocative descriptions can include more than one action, if the player can describe all of them concisely enough. If the player includes several actions within the description, all actions gain the bonus.

When adjudicating multi-actions, the gamemaster should ignore extraneous actions. No matter how many "actions", if the character is only attacking once, ignore them. "I insult his heritage, spit in his face, and strike for the heart." This is one action, not three. Similarly, "I wipe the blood from my chin and launch a fusillade of blows." If this is just one attack, treat it as such.

Players should be rewarded for working with the gamemaster to enhance the action and description of a scene. Don't punish players for attempting in-character moves that are colorful.

For example, if a character describes the following as a taunt action: "With a casual air and a slight yawn, I slap him across the face with my glove," don't make the player roll for an attack to slap the villain.

Similarly, if a player describes an intricate forward flip and roundhouse kick, don't increase the difficulty of the attack or make him roll an acrobatics check in addition to the attack. Neo jumped up a wall to kick Agent Smith in the face. The flip-and-kick is just an unarmed combat attack, so don't penalize the player for describing actions in an involving and interesting way.

The more powerful the opponent, the more lenient the gamemaster should be. Facing off against big bad guys in dramatic scenes are the payoff in Torg modules. If the module's been at all interesting, the players and their characters alike are angry and spoiling for a good rumble. Let them get away with wilder and more outrageous actions than otherwise.

This isn't an injunction to allow them to metagame or break the scene, but rather to let them shine. Give them a tough, wily bad guy and let them duke it out, mano a mano. The more they get into the scene, the better the game will be.