Game Master Guidance: The Characters Have Five Senses- Possibly More

How you present the world and its contents to the players is one of the most important parts of being a Game Master. Besides understanding the actual plot and circumstances, the players’ sense of immersion rests on the details you present them. There’s such a thing as too much information, so it’s best to be conservative with your descriptions. Less is more, as they say. But the question is, what sort of information you should prioritize? A quick, profound way to define a scene is to provide sensory information.

Of course you’re going to describe what the characters see, that’s almost a given. But it’s easy to get so caught up in the visuals that you forget the rest. While it is important, it shouldn’t necessarily take priority. If you watch a movie, notice how much sound is used in place of actual imagery. What is implied can be just as, if not more effective than what is shown. Even if you’re just establishing what an area looks like, consider if there's any ambient noise. Do the characters hear an industrial hum, howling wind, dripping water, or the skittering footsteps of vermin? Sound can be a vital component in selling a scene to your players.

Smell and touch can be harder to work in to your descriptions but they’re even more convincing when you can manage to establish them. Most popular mediums can’t work in those senses without a lot of effort, as they have to accommodate the pacing, perspective, and nearly everything else. But RPGs rely enough on the written word that smell and touch can be easily added. The former can help a lot with marking scene transitions. The first thing you notice when you open a door is the odor it introduces. Why should that be any different in an RPG?

Touch is a lot more situational but a GM should bring it up whenever a player picks something up. The leather strap of a shield should chafe against exposed skin. The hilt of a laser pistol should be smooth enough that they have to adjust their grip to get a proper hold on it. Any time they come into contact with something alien, use touch to establish just how "out there" it is. Descriptions of how something feel is the quickest way to establish comfort, discomfort, or mundanity for your players. Touch is the second hardest sense to work into your descriptions but it arguably has the most payoff.

I’ll admit GMs are in a tough spot when it comes to taste. Eating and drinking rarely come up, as players usually have their sights set on more exciting activities. It almost only happen if a GM sets up a scenario where it's necessary to the plot. But when it does show up, go all out with your descriptions. Even if it doesn’t have a mechanical impact, make sure there’s a difference between deep space MRE rations and exquisitely cooked salmon. Let the player know when their character’s meal has made them full, sick, or something similar. This shouldn’t be like a modern video game RPG, where mass quantities of food can be consumed without consequence or even a real effect. Taste will rarely come up but that doesn’t mean it should be an afterthought.

Then there’s the matter of extra senses. Plenty of species or classes will be able to perceive things “normal” people simply can’t. Whether theses senses are borderline cosmetic or particularly alien, it’s a distinguishing feature you can’t afford to ignore. These sorts of decisions should be more than just statistical bonuses and the unique sensory information they can provide will help greatly in distinguishing the character from the rest of the group. However, describing these abilities might be more than a little difficult. The rulebook might give you some guidance but you and your players will lack the personal experience you have with the regular five senses. If you can’t make these new senses anything more than existing ones with strange elements tacked on, it might be better not have them at all. But however it might take form in your game, sensory information is an overlooked but vital tool for a GM.