And sometimes the magic behind the written word. Long does not mean better. Whether some of the later Harry Potter books, or Peter Jackson's bloated Tolkien films, the fact that more is better is clearly not always the case. By the 2nd Edition of D&D, descriptions were long and embellished if nothing else. Entire supplements existed in which barely a paragraph or two seemed able to be used in a practical game setting, and sometimes the flavor text was overblown and, quite frankly, too much.
That didn't just happen in the 2nd Ed world, and the 3rd Ed. showed that too little could often be just that: too little. Some of the descriptions in the 3rd and later editions had all the heart and soul of a set of stereo instructions. Finding that middle ground of just enough and yet not too much isn't easy.
Nonetheless, it can be done. And IMHO, it is done in all of the D&D canon, if not the entire world of roleplaying, in few places better than on page 21 of the original Monster Manual.
I've already stated my first round of praise of that book. There are many reasons, and eventually I'll get there. And while many complained that the monster texts don't have enough description and too many stats, for me some of the best descriptions written in the game are between those covers. And the best? Within that fan favorite section of Devils.
The entire portion of the book dealing with Devils is atmospheric to say the least. The artwork evokes the medieval Gothic, with the Horned Devil picture on pg. 22 looking as if it was lifted out of a medieval stone carving or illuminated manuscript. The section's opening summary text also does well, as do several of the descriptions beneath the individual devils.
But its the one under the Lord of the Flies that is the best, and showed what could have been more common throughout the years, rather than too often the exception. First the picture itself:
Note it is not a square border, but an arched border, again evoking the idea of a rounded window, in a castle or perhaps lonely monastery. Medieval. Then the picture itself. One of the most original concept pieces of any outer plane creature; certainly one of the most original devil portraits. And then underneath, specifically the first paragraph, you have this:
"The sixth and seventh planes of Hell, Malbolge and Maladomini respectively, are ruled by Baalzebul, "Lord of the Flies" ("lies"?) He is an arch-devil of great power, second only to Asmodeus. Malbolge is a black stone plane, filled with stinking vapors, smokes, fire pits, and huge cave and caverns. Maladomini is simliar, but there will be found the moated castles of the malebranche and the great fortress of Baalzebul."
Call me simple or call me sentimental, but there is some power in that terse, crisp and brief description. Especially of the two planes. Black stone plane. Stinking vapors. Smokes. Fire pits. Huge caves and caverns. A classic picture of Hell. And then the seventh: similar, but there will be found the 'moated castles' of the malebranche, and the 'great fortress of Baalzebul.'
Playing off Dante by using the Latin names only helps, and adds to the quick word paints; the feeling is one of spectacular foreboding, of legendary place, of locations known to the heart and soul of the world's inhabitants. Note that the castles are 'moated', and they are the castles of the malebranche (which, if reading the book for the first time front to back, the reader would not have encountered yet). Why are they moated? Are they the only home of the Malebranche? The imagination takes over. And like any writer or artist knows, the audience's imagination is always better than the author/painter.
I'm not saying there was never good descriptive texts elsewhere in the whole of the RPG universe. Of course not. I've not read but a small portion of all that's been printed, and I've seen some very wonderful cases of painting those mental pictures necessary to breath life into the hobby. But word for word, I've not found any that pack so many punches, bring to mind so many images, and set such a wonderful stage of real, and historically inspired, supernatural belief. If there ever was a Hell, this was the result of an eyewitness. And in a game based upon using the imagination, there is no greater purpose than that for a text.
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