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Hey looters, Flutes here. Today I want to do something a little bit different and just highlight a DM tool that I've enjoyed using
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Players can use it too, but I use it mostly as a DM. You may have heard of it from sponsorships of YouTubers that are bigger than I am
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but Describe is a really great site. Full disclosure, we do have an affiliate deal with Describe
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and you may have noticed them in our description sections of our videos before, and this is mostly because I really like the tool and I like those that run the Describe site
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I've interacted with them through email and seen them in interviews. I find them very impressive, and I think it's really cool what they've done with the Describe.com site
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I'll give you a walkthrough of what it looks like. So when you go to Describe.com, you can log in, and there are certain free descriptions you can get
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I have a membership, so you can see what it looks like to be a member. They feature some of their finely crafted box text right here at the front
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They're going for an Ennies Award. They were nominated. You can go through different collections
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They have a cartographer section where they actually have box text that's associated with different maps they have available
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So if you're looking to do a one-shot, you could look through some of these and find some box text that relates to different parts of the map
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depending on when and how players interact with those spots, just like an official D&D 5e adventure module does
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They have a summary of all the scenes they have and some of the featured scenes that they've described
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You can also submit requests for your own characters or needs if you don't find what you want on the site
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You do this by going to the Scenes section and going to Submit And then if you select Scene Requests I know that cut off my screen sorry you can if you a hero member submit requests for what you like to see
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If you go to Submit Character Requests, though, you can submit information about your character
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and you see here there's a lot of information you can provide. The other thing you can submit is Way of the Word. Way of the Word is Community Scene Writing
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It's notable that it is always free for everyone, so you can always use this feature
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They give you suggestions on how to write box text. You can click the inkwells to vote for writers' scenes, kind of like a Reddit upvote
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And there's also a Describe Discord server, which I actually overlooked. Maybe I'll have to join that and see what they're up to
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They do still avoid copyright stuff, so Wizards of the Coast things are not allowed
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Here's their summary of how to write box text. This is kind of a look behind the curtain into their method
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Pretty great information. Maybe I'll do a video just about this sometime. If you're looking for something specific, you can go to Scenes
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and you can do a search, or you can go to their Collections, and search by category
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Let's do a quick search, because this is how I typically use Describe. I am a DM who enjoys improvising dialogue and detailed descriptions
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and I focus my preparations on other parts of the game. But sometimes it's good to get some box text and not just improvise everything
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I recently had players casting Dispel Magic, So let's type it in here
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I search for it. I find it here. Dispel magic. Dispel magic
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Dispelling magic makes it seem like it disappears as if your spell rips apart the construct of magic created by another Yet casting the spell reminds you every time of what really happens The last gesture is of flipping something over and you feel the weight of it in your hand like turning an hourglass
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Through this abjuration, you tell the spell its time is up, and thus it unravels itself
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I used this in a game where my players, upon me reading it as they cast Dispel Magic, and then
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after I was done reading it, I focused on the whole feeling of their hand flipping over
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They stopped and complimented me and said, that was a really good description
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That was when I knew Describe was an incredible tool. They do really great work
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My players recognized when text was prepared and evocative. They were able to picture exactly what was happening, and it enriched their role-playing experience
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Let's say there's a monster that I have launching in the game
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So I go to monsters in the collection here, and I think, hmm, what's something I can search for
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Oh, I happen to be using a Mind Flayer. So I look through these and I'm like
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okay, there's some mind-related ones, but this top result says threat from a Mind Flayer
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Touching your mind feels like running my hands through shattered glass. So disordered and chaotic
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Let me cradle you and bring your mind to the peace it so desperately craves
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So this is an actual threat spoken by a Mind Flayer. So you can find incredible dialogue here as well
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I happen to know there's a lot of insults here on Describe where you can use them in combat to insult your enemies. Those can be fun to
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open up at a tab when you DMing just in case you need some trash talk You can also go to Describe if you looking for inspiration Maybe I running a one and I don know what kind of monsters I want to use so I just going to go look at what monster descriptions they have As I scroll through
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I see... Ooh. Maybe I want to run something with Yuan-T or a Psionic Devourer Lich. I won't read
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everything that Describe has here on their site because this is their product and I don't want to
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just give it all away, but I hope I gave you an idea of what you could use Describe for. It can be
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part of your creative process, or it could be in the moment when you need something, you just do a
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quick search while your players are discussing something or taking their turn, and you might find
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some finely crafted boxed text to help you with your DM descriptions. So those are my quick thoughts
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on Describe and why it's a useful tool. Let me know in the comments if you also have a Describe
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membership and how you use it. Do you have a hard time writing boxed text for your own adventures
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or do you not worry about it? I'm genuinely curious what you think, because when Describe first came out, I didn't think their niche had enough people who would actually use it
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but they've proven me wrong. Thank you for watching the video. I hope you will go to the comment section and share your thoughts
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But also, if you don't have anything to share, maybe if you've run a module, share with me
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some texts that you really enjoyed from the module. For me, one of my favorite box text moments was in Curse of Strahd, when it described a
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certain house as lurching as if it was ashamed of itself. And that's just one example that I liked in Curse of Strahd, a module I enjoy very much
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Check out Describe and remember to subscribe to FluteSloot so that you can scry on us every time we have a video coming out
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A finely crafted video. Have a good adventure this weekend. I'll see you later. Bye
