Campfire Games

The Rule of Three

Three details per scene or NPC (a sound, a smell, and a visual) is usually enough to anchor the imagination without overwhelming players.

You don’t need to write a novel every time your players enter a tavern or meet a merchant. Stick to the Rule of Three: describe one sound, one smell, and one visual. “The room hums with quiet conversation, smells faintly of pipe smoke, and the barkeep’s left eye is a milky white.” Just like that, your world has weight. It sparks the players’ imaginations without overwhelming them with detail – and keeps you from burning out trying to describe every plank of wood in the floor.

Thanks for reading!

I hope you enjoyed exploring this article. If you’d like to support the site and help me create more TTRPG resources, consider donating through my Ko-Fi page. Every contribution helps keep this project going—thank you for your support!