Everything is a point-and-click crawl
Some of you may remember that game of a Moneky in an Island, right? And there was this Guy that learned how to fight with swords by insulting the enemy.
It is common, in the point-and-click genre, to find videogames that present several choices for exploring a 2D world by inputing a simple sequence (the point and click). Since these games are played with a screen, visual cues capture the attention of the player and convey information, often adding some kind of puzzle to be solved aside from exploring.
One could argue, that the most primitive point-and-click type of game is the one popularized by "Where's Wally/Waldo?" (look at an image, point your finger at the character and click mentally).
This post is, however, about TTRPGs.
Role-playing games as a game of conversations
I would like to say that tabletop roleplaying games are different. But honestly, they are not, they are just games as any other game out there. Nonetheless, the act of playing and interacting includes a conversation (one could argue about having a solitary conversation if we want to include solo rpgs) and this is where things go in different directions.
But first, imagine a point-and-click videogame that does not give you any information about your choices: the most radical version of this would be a black screen with a "You Lose" or "You Win" result depending on where you click. Consider now this black screen has a random probability to give you some information of the next level when you click.
This game, may be fun to some people, but I argue that being able to discern interesting choices before deciding what to do may be FUNNER more interesting.
In the same way as videogames present information visually, we need to convey information of the choices through linguistic communication, when playing TTRPGs. If we don't give proper information, we hide it behind a random procedure or we have no regard for the players'choices we are losing on the game.
Because games are about making choices.
The conversation-guided point and click
Now, the main point (HAH!) of this post is to mention that any conversation will be finite and numerable. AND WHAT THE HELL DOES THIS MEAN?
Describing a "room" implies a set of finite items that can be interacted with: a chair, a wall, a scroll, etc. When the referee tells the players about these different items, we are presenting a conceptual point and click, a finite set of items that convey information to the players through the lenses of the characters.
The reaction to these descriptions is the click, and the click in TTRPGs is an infinite set of possibilities: what some people call "tactical infinity". Consequences are also potentially infinite, but rather constrained by the click itself and should come with more information.
Then, the game loop behaves like a set of conversational point-and-clicks scenarios, where the points are the descriptions and information and the clicks are the choices and results from the players' input.
Ok, and what does this imply?
I think the main idea here is that, conversations are ephemeral, dungeon descriptions are itemizable and information must be freely given based on the actions of characters and the choices of players.
Keep in mind that since conversations are ephemeral, it will happen that players will ask questions about descriptions. And there will be a loop of metagame which will consist in resolving doubs before the characters even decide what to do.
In any case, even if some people like gating information behind dice rolls, you should try to present a lot of information beforehand in order to have interesting choices in the conceptual point-and-click.
Yes, instead of having a completely hidden trap of spikes below the floor, try to just tell the players that the tiles are broken and there is a pit with pointy spears at the bottom in front of them.
The result can also fun, specially if there is a monster chasing them.
References
Ooze Nun episode mootsack question - Between two Cairns