Hey everyone, I’m looking for any tips or advice with running exploration, as a recent example my players recently came across an abandoned ship and decided to climb aboard and look for any treasures that were left behind. They went room to room and I made an effort to describe each room in detail but the whole process felt very drawn out and repetitive. Especially if there’s no special encounter in that room.
I would try to clearly outline to players what spaces are available for them to search. Work with a discrete list like: captain’s quarters, crew quarters, galley, magazine, and cargo hold. That’s it. Then you can come up with an interesting description for a limited number of spaces, and also use them for exposition (a letter tucked in a crew bunk, a map in the Captain’s quarters), while not getting bogged down in repetitive spaces that don’t contribute to the campaign.
It’s up to you what the inside of the ship looks like, so if you don’t want it filled with repetitive rooms, just say it isn’t.