Make Encounters Dramatic (TCG)

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: The statue you were fiddling around with animates and swings its fist at you.
Described like this, the eerie magics that breathe life into an eight-foot-tall being of cold stone seem somehow mundane, as if it happened every day. Think how much more exciting it would be for the players if they were told:
: As you attempt to remove the gems from the statue, the blood red ruby sinks inward as if it were a button being pressed. With a sharp snapping sound the statue's eyelids slide up to reveal jewels that glow like lanterns through green glass. Its cold stone flesh suddenly becomes almost hot, like a sunbaked rock and a hiss of vapor escapes its mouth. Its limbs move with unnatural speed as it swings a mallet-like fist at your character.
Notice how the second description focuses on what the characters see and feel. If the DM emphasizes the sudden movement of the eyes and punctuates it with a sharp sound, he may catch the players off guard. Like their characters, they too have been caught off guard and now share the character's apprehensions.
The key to making encounters dramatic is to focus on what makes them fantastic:
* Stress the fantastic or the unusual in every encounter. Try to make each encounter unique in some way, even if the characters are encountering something they already know about.
* Make the foes seem unbeatable. Their numbers or apparent abilities make the chance of failure and death an all-too-possible reality.
* Monsters should be horribly monstrous or wondrous and fantastical. Don't treat them as natural parts of the environment. Evil is vile and awful, frightening to behold. Marvelous things bring out the child in us. When magical beasts make an appearance, scare the characters or make them marvel in wonder.
* Have the monsters or NPCs make startling or mysterious entrances and exits. A wizard or monster appearing in a puff of smoke may be a trite and overworked cliché, but that's the general idea. Try having thieves who sneak up to politely tap a character on the shoulder, or monsters who drop from the ceiling or leap from hidden cavities in the floor. Have the lights go out and when they are rekindled, the monster/NPC has appeared or disappeared (hey, it works in detective movies). Use the old "chill wind shivering the spine" effect to make an encounter seem weird. Leave the players wondering "How'd he do that?"
* Use foreshadowing to warn or hint of an encounter's eventual occurrence. Foreshadowing is a storytelling technique where mysterious minor events seem to tell of the occurrence of another major event. For example, a dream might hint at black shadows creeping across the countryside, implying something evil this way comes. A found note might reveal the name and intentions of an evil wizard 'who's actions have recently involved the PCs. The idea is to give the players just enough infomation to make them wary or nervous, then slowly play up the fears through other hints and rumors until they crave/dread the foreshadowed encounter. Then its up to the DM to make sure that the encounter is worth all the anxiety it has generated.
==The Threat of Failure==
If life, death, or the fate of the universe hangs on the outcome of the player's actions, the threat of failure adds significant drama to any situation. When it's impossible for the characters to fail or if the pes are immortal (or nearly so), the drama is gone.
In real life, risk taking is an addictive, but deadly form of entertainment enjoyed by a few, but appreciated by many. Every day, men and women jump out of airplanes and drop earthward, drive automobiles at breakneck speeds around the hairpin curves of racetracks, dangle precariously from wind whipped icy rocks at altitudes where oxygen is a rare commodity, and challenge lightning-quick martial artists in combat-all in the name of sport and enjoyment. Part of the excitement in these activities is the risk factorthrilling and chilling realization that a single misstep means injury or death.
Since most of us do not risk our lives for the sheer thrill of it, a significant attraction to role-play gaining is the ability to vicariously partake in risky activity-without any personal danger (other than the threat of writers cramp or danger of overeating).
Therefore, increase the drama of an encounter by putting the characters at risk of personal injury, death, or loss. Possibly have their failure inflict injury or death on someone else (remember the legend of William Tell and the apple he had to shoot off his son's head?). Make the players aware of the consequences of failure (at least the immediate ones). Of course, the rewards should be equal to the risk.