Tag - Improvisation - Heavy Meta Gamer

By Eric Maziade on Thursday, January 15 2009, 23:16 - Dungeons and Dragons

I'm still working on prequelling "Scepter Tower of Spellgard" and I'm figuring out that I'll have to mostly improvise through the scenario.

My objective is mainly to help my players develop their characters story-wise and find a motivation to go to the Oracle.

I used to be good at improvising as a DM, but I haven't done so in a while and have been thinking about methods to help me there.

An idea started to form when we were playing Munchkin Quest.

I liked how the dungeon was built randomly, how events and monsters where arriving randomly... My mind wondered a bit about how this could be applied to an improvised DnD game.

Dungeon building can be handled easily with DnD tiles - or just plain stealing already crafted dungeons. Internet seems full of perfectly good dungeons to steal from.

What I figure would be interesting is to have a pile of "event cards" the DM can draft from randomly when the pace slows down to spice up things.

I figure such events should not necessarily enormous, but be potentially engaging enough that the players might want to explore them.

Provided we take for granted that these events can happen in a dungeon. Perhaps these cards might clues of what to put in a room?

Here are a few idea templates I had:

Characters. NPCs that come and meet the party. They might be friend or foe. The description could give a few role playing tips (a quirk, a distinctive physical feature). They might have a little story - potentially driving towards a small quest. Or maybe just people to interact with.
Items. They can be found or just mentioned. Perhaps they are required for something to happen in this room?
Traps. Pretty much self explanatory. A trap might require an item from another room (hopefully both described in the same card).

I feel the idea has some merit and might help on those times when the DM didn't have enough time to prep something up... or just needs some spice to add to a dungeon.

I'd love to hear your thoughts on this - and I'd love even more to hear your suggestions on what random tidbits you'd like to put in a dungeon...

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The Rules of Sharing Narrative Control (and Improv)

By Eric Maziade on Monday, December 22 2008, 08:10 - Dungeons and Dragons

Sharing narrative control requires a set of skills that are not too different from the skills used in theatrical improvisation (a.k.a. improv).

I've done a bit of improv in my younger days and I wonder if and how the "rules" of improv can be applied to DMing.

Improv is an interesting beast. It is cooperative as much as it is competition. You cannot beat your opponent without working with him.

And even while you are striving to win the competition, you are still both striving to provide a good show for the audience.

You need to collaborate with your "opponent". Its the friendliest and most collaborative type of competition I've ever participated in.

No wonder most improv games end up at a pub over a beer!

Rule 1 - Always say "yes"

When sharing, accepting is always better than refusing. This is not a fight, its a collaborative effort.

Rule 2- "Yes, and..."

You want to build atop other participant's ideas... so add your own.

Rule 3 - Don't block

In improv, the flow must always go. The most common mean of blocking is saying "no" - outright refusing or ignoring what the other participants are bringing in is downright rude.

Rule 4 - Provide details

Establishing location, delve into the motivations of characters, add subtle "useless" information. This will give fuel to the other's creativity.

In improv, the winner is not always the one saying the punchline. Anyone who ever wrote comedy knows that the setup is the actual hard part.

Furthermore, as a DM, you should pride yourself at a great setup and allowing your players the joy of the "punchline"...

Rule 5 - Change

Change is what makes a story interesing. Without change, nothing happens. Change makes things go forward. You must not be afraid of it...

Rule 6 - Letting go

By far the hardest part of the game for me. I often came in with a plan, an idea - a plot. And when I did that, I always ended up with a supbar improv.

My plans actually prevented me from actually observing and building upon what the other players were doing. With experience, I learned to use my plan as a guideline only - it no longer prevented me from listening to others, as I had no qualms about changing it or downright letting it go... which I ended up doing almost all the time.

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