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You know when a dungeon says that it's really hard not to respond "you're in a room....." While sometimes they're easy to discoed, you're in the level one clue room, well room or causeway some of the other rooms don't always have titles, and need describing and you're always going to start with 'you're in a room' followed by a description.

while they did it as a poor joke in the new episode, I probably would have said the same thing without realising it. It's hard not to...

So, ways of getting around using the horrid 'you're in a room' ?

" You have entered a chamber, and [physical appearance of locale here] "

You're right in that it's hard NOT to use " You're in a room " instinctually, especially after it being one of the most stock kneejerk sayings of all of the older series...but all it really needs is a little more creative description and a lexicon of solid alternative terms that fits the scenario better.

It's really just about fighting the urge of an immediate reply and considering your verbal options carefully before getting down to the nitty gritty of a description.

The thing is, they even say it when the dungeoneer isn't in a room. Teams have said it in caverns, forest clearings, villages etc. It's instinctive, sure, but there are times when it isn't even redundant, it's just plain inaccurate.

If we look at the starting room form series 1 for example... is replacing room with chamber enough?

I know they told the old “In a room” – “I need more than that…!” joke but I chuckled at it anyway. In a one-off special and with an adult team, I did half expect it to crop up. I had no issue with it!

The ‘Slice Me, Dice Me’ is certainly no room! It’s basically a mammoth pit with stone walls! Caverns are indeed always confused with as being ‘rooms’ – probably one of the most common examples. In real life, you’d struggle to describe a rough stone walled hollow with a gravel/dirt floor and with little or no lighting as a room!

I’ve always been a bit confused when the advisors just say “a door” or “doors” to describe exits, when in my cases there isn’t actually a physical door there! Maybe a ‘doorway’ would be a better description, ‘exit points’ or even a ‘stone archway’ in which many are – or certainly were in the case of the YouTube special.

I suppose it’s just instinctive to say ‘a room’ because you’re looking at it on a screen rather than if it were real and you had a 360 degree view for yourself. I have little doubt if I ever appeared as an advisor I’d no doubt slip up and say the same thing myself...

They were 'portals' mainly.
I don't think I ever heard a team say 'You're in the level 1 clue room' (they might have done) it's always been a "a room, with a table with some objects on it and a door to your right"


A full description isn't going to help the dungeener, giving him a brief description have any apparent dangers or the puzzle (say it's a causeway and he'll know exactly what it is and not to make big/fast steps) is all they need, he dones't need to know where the doors are, that wont help him much, as log as he'll follow the teams instructions.

But we're talking about kids, if I was going on the show today we would probably be better prepared.

A lot more difficult than it looks I bet with that helmet on.

One thing not to say is 'You're in a room, your not gonna fall off anything' like Alan's team in Series 7 kept on saying!

I guess it's just instinct to say it unless you go into deep description of where the dungeoneer actually is.

I always loved the the early seasons were mostly consisting of 'You're in a room' and as the show became more sophisticated with it's backdrops it became almost entirely "You're in a courtyard" or 'You're in some ruins".

Old castles single handedly kept Knightmare in business.

"You're in a chamber" isn't helpful - "chamber" isn't a word most people would naturally use! If it's a corridor/cave/clearing/etc, that's a different matter *to an extent*, but how much does it matter? All the dungeoneer really needs to know immediately on entering a new area is (1) where to go, (2) where NOT to go [i.e., down a pit].

After that, if they don't require immediate movement [e.g., bomb room, corridor of blades], next comes who or what else is there that might be relevant, but what the area actually *looks* like to the advisors never really needs to come up except insofar as it relates to clues or dangers. You'd be as well saying "You're on a solid floor" or whatever and skipping rather than altering "room".

This discussion reminds me of the episode of House in which life is described as being a series of rooms.

Can advisors really be blamed for giving the same answer to the same question? Perhaps some responsibility lies with the dungeoneer to vary his or her wording (if permitted by the production staff). Because if the dungeoneer were to say something like "Tell me about the room I'm in" or "Any immediate danger in this room?" or "I'm in a room, aren't I? Or maybe I'm not. Surprise me, my friends!" then there'd be no way that the response could be "You're in a room".

Having said that, if the lead singer of Ultravox were standing in front of the dungeoneer then a response along the lines of "Ure in a room" would scarcely be avoidable.

I'm sure I remember one dungeoneer saying something like "What sort of room am I in?", which was a good way of avoiding the same old response! Can't remember who it was now.

Canadanne wrote:I'm sure I remember one dungeoneer saying something like "What sort of room am I in?", which was a good way of avoiding the same old response! Can't remember who it was now.

I'm sure Barry from series 7 said that! Just trying to think what room he said it in though.

In some respects the points raised here are one of the reasons I absolutely hated the massive overhaul the dungeon received between Series 3 and 4. While the "You're in a room" routine had gotten old as early as the middle of Series 1, I had always envisioned the day when the advisers would be able to accurately and quickly convey the dungeoneer's location through the use of the established room names - for example:

"Where am I?" - "You're in the Level 1 Clue Room"
"Where am I?" - "You're in the Great Corridor of the Catacomb"
"Where am I?" - "You're in Merlin's Chamber"

Just as the show reached the point where the incoming teams would likely know and be familiar with the more popular locations, they were pulled away and replaced with more numerous, but much more generic locations. Teams couldn't even take for granted they would even be within the dungeon itself, with locations ranging from forests to caves, footpaths to medieval houses, random castles and everything in-between.

This consequentially led to teams either taking forever in an attempt to properly describe the dungeoneer's location, or just skipping most of it and merely stating how many doors there are, if there is a table and stuff like that.

I know the dungeoneer is supposed to be blind, but that's merely a by-product of the dungeon itself being virtual. I've always felt the dungeoneer only really experiences about 10% of the adventure, simply trotting around like a tank and following instructions instead of feeling immersed, especially if he or she can't properly visualize the locations he or she has passed through in his or her head, and that's always seemed a tad unfair to me.

"You're in a room" to me epitomizes the problem here pretty well.

pjmlfc05 wrote:

Canadanne wrote:I'm sure I remember one dungeoneer saying something like "What sort of room am I in?", which was a good way of avoiding the same old response! Can't remember who it was now.

I'm sure Barry from series 7 said that! Just trying to think what room he said it in though.

You're right, Barry asked "What sort of room am I in?" in the chessboard/spikes room. He also asked "What sort of place am I in?" just after the starting point of Level 3. There may have been plenty more imaginative ways of asking the question used by Barry during his adventure - that's why he was so enjoyable to watch

UnclePob wrote:

pjmlfc05 wrote:

Canadanne wrote:I'm sure I remember one dungeoneer saying something like "What sort of room am I in?", which was a good way of avoiding the same old response! Can't remember who it was now.

I'm sure Barry from series 7 said that! Just trying to think what room he said it in though.

You're right, Barry asked "What sort of room am I in?" in the chessboard/spikes room. He also asked "What sort of place am I in?" just after the starting point of Level 3. There may have been plenty more imaginative ways of asking the question used by Barry during his adventure - that's why he was so enjoyable to watch

Oh yes, I couldn't agree with you more! Thanks for pointing out the room, I couldn't think which one it was!