Love the emphasis on details. In improvisational comedy these details are referred to as 'gifts'. And for good reason! They heighten the scene and allow the improvisors to generate more specific and detailed encounters. In this sense, restriction is a good thing. Having too many choices makes it harder to actually settle on decision. For example, "They walked into a church," leaves a lot of options on the table and it's now up to the players to add gifts into the scene. Whereas your alternative sentence about shipbuilders gives a lot of gifts and serves as a great foundation for play.

Tabletop gaming sounds like a lot of fun, but I've never had the chance to get into it. So I never saw the connection with improv comedy. I find it fascinating how close tabletop gaming is to 'longform' improvisation where the scenes are about discovery. Thanks for helping me make a link between the two!