[prof1515]

The first things I ever built when on the staff of SoI was a series of rooms comprising part of a building in Osgiliath. In the description of the central room was mention of a mural on the wall. If one typed look mural they'd get a very generic description of it. If, however, they proceeded to other rooms that comprised the balcony, they would get a slightly different take on the mural and if they approached the south wall from one side of the balcony, they would see more detail including a reference to a feature of the mural. Looking at that feature would give a vague description as it was too far away to make out. But if you progressed to the other balcony across the room and looked at the mural, you could make it more clearly and looking at that feature would reveal what it read.

Long story short, it's up to the player to make what they will from a room description. I always put a bunch of them in every room I build. If the players don't bother to read it, that's their loss. The key is consistency though. If players discover that many rooms have embedded descriptions, they're more inclined to look for them. But if they're too rare, players will give up trying to find them and will miss those that you want them to see. In other words, don't do it half-arsed.

Take care,

Jason