Who, What, Where, When, Why, How to improvise - part 1

If you followed this blog for a while you know that I love all kinds of improv in my tabletop roleplaying. I am pushing things like hexcrawl and random tables down my readers' throats for quite some time now... and will continue to do so. Don't get me wrong - I enjoy scripted adventures as much as any of you, but the constrains of adult life usually stop me from preparing those. So I turn to more free-form games - narrative RPGs, story games - basically things that were created for zero prep gaming. Those are great, but usually not suitable for long-term play. So, if I want to run a long term campaign in a traditional RPG, I improvise a lot.

And so can YOU!

The aim of this article is to show you how to start improvising during the game. I want to focus on the basics and give you the tools, so you can start tinkering with improv yourself. My approach to improv is by no means the only way to improvise during session, but it is something that has worked for me for years. I hope it will do the same for you.

Why Improvise?

I started improvising my games because I had less and less time to spend on my session prep. If you are having the same issue, I strongly encourage you to give improv a try. Even if the session is not as polished as a fully preped one, it is still better than no session at all, especially when time is a valuable commodity.
I kept improvising, because this style of GMing gives me a similar feeling to that of a player. The sense of wonder, discovery and surprise that every session brings. You won't know what hides around next corner. While you might know who the bad guy is, but you have no idea how the players will stop him. If you had been GMing for a long time, this approach will feel like a breath of fresh air. Not knowing all the details of the plot might seem a bit scary, but trust me, it is very rewarding and will create amazing stories.
Lastly, the way I improvise (or maybe just explain improvisation) includes some techniques that you will find helpful in your life away from table. They are are used in training programs for journalism, management and general problem solving. While I might sound like a snake oil salesman trying to push some dodgy product on you, those techniques (even if looking and sounding silly) can help in your everyday life.

Who Can Improvise?

Anyone!

No, honestly - anyone can improvise. It is a skill and like many others, can be learnt. Wannabe actors pay good money for improv classes. You, as a tabletop roleplayer, have a head start. If you had even been a player - you have improvised. If you ever had to wrangle players back to the plot while GMing - you have improvised.

It might not seem as such, because it was just a small part in a larger, pre-scripted, scenario. But this is exactly how you start. No one is asking you to start a session with 0 preparation and come up with an amazing story right away. I want you to start small and level up your improv skill over time. Improvisation is an art that builds up on input of others. In tabletop RPG terms it might be your PCs' past exploits, their background and their knowledge. It will also be based on the rules and contents of the world you are playing in. Lastly, the extra input will come from the players themselves - your friends around the table. Don't be afraid to share the improv load.

How to Improvise?

This is it. This is the Holy Grail that you traveled here for. Gone trough all those lines of text. Dear gods, so many letters! Now, the secrets to successful improvisation lay before you. Finally, you discover that to become an Improv GM you have to...

Ask Questions.

I know, I know. It seems quite disappointing, but this is the trick to improvisation during a session. Whenever you need to introduce some unscripted element in your games you need to ask yourself few open ended questions. You know, those questions that start with Who, What, Where, When, Why and How. They are called Five Ws (or as I knew them in the UK, 5 bums on the rugby post) and are commonly used in nformation-gathering. This is the exact formula I am using when I need to come up with something on the spot.

Let's say I need to introduce a NPC. I will ask myself few questions about him. How does he look like? What is his agenda? Where do players meet him? I go trough the same process with places, items, even with players questions: "What's in this castle?"

You don't have to answer all the questions that come to your mind. Answer the ones you can and go from there. Keep your answers within the boundaries of the setting. The castle might be owned by a baron who dabbles in necromancy in a dark fantasy, or it can be overrun by monsters crawling out of a portal in the dungeon in a heroic game. Each answer should lead you to a new question. Why does the baron want necromantic powers? Where does the portal lead to? Don't be afraid to introduce details from the PCs past. The baron has gone corrupt after you cleared out his black market and killed his lover, he wants to bring them back. The portal leads to a dimension where you banished that demon - he plots revenge by opening it near you. With a little practice you will be able to create content for your game like that in seconds.

Bottom line, to be good at improvisation you need to “Ask questions and use the answers”. Just remember to take details for your answer from the setting and the player characters' past - this will create truly memorable encounters.

Oh, one more thing - if you can't think of a good answer for your question, don't be afraid to ask the players. You can do it either "out of character" by just saying - "what do you think is in there?" or root it in the game world by connecting it to the player characters - "You used to serve under barons in this kingdom, do you remember anything about this castle?"

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It is getting late and the post is getting long, so I will split it in two. Stay tuned for answers to such mind-boggling questions like: "Where to Start?" and "What and When to Improvise?"
Edit: Now you can check out Part 2!

Procedural tabletop RPG content?

I have a soft spot for random generators. Random encounter tables help me design adventures on the fly, random critical hit effects add flavor to the battle scenes... and so on.

My obsession with random generator really started when I discovered rougelikes in the late 90s. It was when I learned what procedural generation is and I got hooked. There seems to be something magical and intriguing in the way a simple man-made algorithm can create a variety of content from random ingredients and formulas... and it seems that I am not the only one. This aspect of digital gaming seems to be quite popular nowadays. More and more developers are jumping on the random generation train. Either creating rougelike-like games (Spelunky, Binding of Isaac) or just adding randomized elements to their creations (like equipment in Borderlands and Skyrim).  Random dungeons, random loot, random enemies. It's everywhere! Even on a tabletop...

Tabletop procedures

Randomized board of Settlers of Catan

Random elements where always present in tabletop games. From simple random number generators (dice!), through randomized elements of board games, to the (in)famous random tables from the RPGs of yesteryear. While the RPG fandom moved away from all this randomness, preferring pre-made scenarios, a bunch of players (mainly those involved in the OSR movement) continued using random tables. With time, this practice evolved from simple random encounters with a fantasy critter corresponding to a number to fully fledged adventure generators that will create a hook, twist and nemesis for your session. On a Savage Worlds side of roleplaying games like Savage Worlds of Solomon Kane or Shaintar have good examples of such.

While random tables are being sort of a niche within the RPG niche they seem to thrive. There are whole websites dedicated to them that help inspire GMs. You can find a random generator for everything, from strange fungi consumption to city generation. Internet seems to be the right medium for those, as whole generators can be scripted to work in your browser and they don't get lost in a humongous binder full of printed tables. This, however, comes at a price - we have taken it away from the tabletop. Many GMs that I know use them exclusively to create adventures before the session and not taking advantage of them "on-the-fly".

Now, years after the birth of online random generators we see next step of this evolution - decks of cards that aim to help and inspire game masters in the art of improvisation. You probably seen some of them on Kickstarter in recent past. I am talking about projects like Concept Cards, Creature & Encounter Decks, Combat Description Cards, The GameMaster's Apprentice (this one is quite cool!). If you think about it, cards are a great tool for this sort of thing. Portable, quick and big enough to pack a good amount of content. When used by a skilled GM those can make for an amazing experience.
If you are curious about improvisation, I would encourage you to check some of them out. Each of those decks has a different flavor and different uses, so shop around to see what suits you.

What do you think about those card aids? What kind of info would you like to see on them? I am toying with an idea of creating some decks like that under CC license so people could create their own - would you be interested in such a template so you could create your own cards? After all, roguelikes survived and had their re-birth thanks to Open Development, why can't random "tables" have the same?

Spice up your Savage Narrative!

I just finished listening to another Savage GM Hangout (in which I got a shutout to the "Explaining Shaken in Savage Worlds" post), where the guys discuss adding and interfacing the narrative with the Savage Worlds system. There's a lot of good tips here - You should give it a listen!

Anyway, as a fan of narrative/story games, I usually try to sneak in some narrative flavor to my sessions, no matter the system. I am aware that it's not everyone's cup of tea - some people prefer rock solid rules and playing by the book - but, I think everyone should at least give it a try. In this post I will focus on ways of introducing small narrative mechanics on unsuspecting traditional roleplayers. Treat it as a narrative gateway drug. If your players like it,  add some more roleplaying-hippy-dippy-story-gamey mechanics to your sessions. Anyway... back to those narrative gateways.

Encourage Narration

First of all, you need to encourage your players to narrate more of their actions. A simple flat bonus (+1 or +2) is a good way to go around it. Don't tell them about the bonus beforehand. If you do, and the player will try for a descriptive narration, and not receive a bonus, he will feel cheated. Keep the bonuses for times when someone narrates something really cool or witty - tell them that the narration was awesome and give them a bonus to their roll. Soon other players will start narrating their own actions with more detail. I personally had a player narrate a blow by blow duel between him and a beastmen (it was Warhammer setting), by getting up and showing how he cuts and blocks each attack. In the midst of the combat he even forgotten about his small bonus and just enjoyed himself. This made me one happy GM. But, I digress...
While flat bonus is good, an even better approach is to give them a Bennie for a cool action. Savage Worlds is all about cinematic action and Bennies reinforce that. If your players have more of them at their disposal, they will use them more, generating more awesome, movie worthy moments.

And, But...

Ah, the (in)famous "And" and "But". You probably heard about the first move of improv - "Yes, and". Whatever the first person states, you should follow with "yes, and...". Well, roleplaying games can benefit from this as well: Yes you struck him, and he has lost his balance. Yes, you sneaked past the guard and found a good vantage point. But, wait! That's not all! In gaming you are free to use "But" as well: Yes you picked the lock, but broke your lockpick. Yes, you managed to snatch that idol unnoticed by the guards, but you set the trap off. Yes and But can be powerful tools and add a lot of variety to the action.
Most of RPG systems have a binary success/failure mechanic. You either managed to achieve your goal or didn't. After using those two words on the simple Yes and No, you get 6 outcomes:

• Yes, and... - a splendid victory. You achieved your goal and gone beyond. This usually kicks in when you succeeded with a Raise in Savage Worlds. Even simple Raise on combat roll works like that - Yes you hit him and dealt extra damage!
• Yes - a full victory. You managed to achieve your goal, without any setbacks. Standard success in Savage Worlds.
• Yes, but... - A success at a cost. You achieved what you wanted, but you also got a setback. Maybe a guard noticed you when you picked that lock, or your weapon is stuck? I usually give that when a player met his Target Number (so rolled a 4 on Difficulty of 4) or gone one over on a difficult task.
• No, but... - Failure with some advantage. You didn't pick the lock, but noticed an open window, or you missed, but thrown your enemy off balance. This usually happens when the players misses the TN by 1 (or 2 on difficult tasks).
• No - just your normal failure, nothing to see here, move along.
• No, and... - a critical failure. You didn't pick the lock and broke your tools, you missed him and dropped your weapon.

Interpreting your dice rolls this way open a great narrative door. If you think about it, pieces of this system are staples of RPG systems. "Yes, and" is basically a critical hit, while "No, and" is critical miss. Introducing those "buts" only adds to the experience. Creating this sort of half-successes and half-failures makes for a great roleplaying opportunities and adds flavor to even mundane tasks.
If you are not what advantages or disadvantages a character should get from rolling those "Ands" and "Buts", ask yourself (or even the player) a question - what is the ultimate goal here? Picking a lock - I want to get inside. Attacking enemy - I want to kill/capture him or loot his body. Once you have those underlying motives the dis/advantages will come to you easily.  

Writers Dice

This is a bit more hippy-dippy and experimental kind of thing. Some time ago, I discovered the great blog of +Daniel Solis and, by extent - his writer's dice. Basically it is a d6 with the  BUT, SO, AND, AS, OR, IF words etched on every number. On his blog he hosts a free pdf that explains their use in both, writing and roleplaying. You should check it out - it is great!
Now, what if we use a writers die as a wild die? This can create some interesting narrative. I haven't tried it myself (yet), but I wouldn't make it obligatory for the player to use the word. If he/she does however, they would get a Bennie in exchange? That's something worth brainstorming (ideas from you guys are welcome), but even as it is now, the free pdf gives a great insight into using those Conjunctions in narrative creation - definitely worth a read!

Everyone is John - microReview

Every now and then I delve into an indie game and report back with musings about what I found. Today I look into a small story game from 2002 about a person who hears voices in their head: 

Everyone is John 

Free pdf, by Michael B. Sullivan

I kept hearing about (pun, not intended) Everyone is John around the internets for quite some time, but I didn't have the chance to check it out until last weekend. In this game, both the players AND the GM are John - an insane man from Minneapolis, who hears voices in his head. Players take the role of those voices and fight among themselves for control over John. Each voice has its own secret agenda (obsessions) and will try to steer John to do its bidding. GM is responsible for the world, same as in traditional RPGs, but also plays the role of John himself.


It is a interesting experience for everyone around the table to play the same person. GM is there purely as a moderator. He gets to play John and talk to the voices in his head, but the game revolves around the players. They are the ones who create the story. Each player has their own goals and will try to fulfill them to score the most points at the end of the game (yes, this story game has winners and losers). The game ends when John dies, usually because one of the voices told him to do something that leads to death. This ads a layer of gamism to the experience - do you think you have fulfilled enough of your obsessions to guarantee victory? Then, why not kill John now? The other voices might do it any second.

The game uses a very simple 1d6 mechanic, but introduces some board game elements into the mix - scoring and blind bidding to be precise. Because of that it can be used as a RPG/Story Game gateway for your board gaming friends. To be honest, I don't think the game would benefit in any way from a more sophisticated system. The mechanic, as is, feels chaotic and out of control. Just as one would feel if they were to loose their minds. 

This is another great pick-up game. It can be played while waiting for the other players to arrive for your scheduled session. Even if you are not familiar with the game, you can grab, read it (it's under 1000 words in length) and start playing in minutes.

P.S The game's official website got shut down this winter, but the game itself can be found on the internet (so can the website, thanks to internet wizardry). I wish the author would grab his old designs and release their updated/streamlined versions as "Pay what you want" pdfs.

What makes The Old Ones so incomprehensible?

Have you ever struggled with explaining why just a glimpse of Eldrich monstrosities shatters the mind of a player character? How a giant squid-dragon makes your mind switch off? Well, until today, so did I. Just minutes ago, I found a great resource, that will help you describe this madness, on Reddit of all places (coincidence?).

User mikekozar_work does a great job in describing why human mind just can't handle the sight of a great old one. I am coping it over here for your delectation, but make sure to check out the whole thread for more info. It is a mine of great eldrich ideas!

"Big ugly squid." I wish I was still that innocent, still unaware of what...they really are. Once you know, once you really understand - or if you are among those damned to witness it yourself - once you know, you will never forget. It keeps me up at night, and if not for my physician's pity I would never sleep at all.

Squids. It's charming, frankly - the Old Gods, with bloated and frowning faces writhing with tentacles like the beard of Neptune. Like a God of Egypt, with a man's body and an animal's head. A curiosity, and little more.
The truth...well, I cannot tell you the truth, not properly, as a man of science should. These things are beyond our science. Still, I understand things about them that explain some of the reports, and perhaps you can carry on my research now that I can no longer pursue it.

It comes down to dimensions. We possess three - height, width, and depth. Grip a billiard ball, feel your fingers wrap around it, and you will understand. Now imagine a creature that existed in only two of those three dimensions, in a universe that described a simple plane through our own. To that creature, the billiard ball would appear to be a simple circle, growing and shrinking as it passes through the plane of the creature's universe. Imagine how our hand would look - strange fleshy circles filled with pulsing fluids, shards of bone, glistening meat. The creature could never understand what it was really seeing, as it could no more conceive of a hand than it could imagine a creature like us, moving freely in three dimensions and gripping billiard balls on a whim.

The Abominations, as you aptly described them, are to us as we are to that benighted creature. They exist in dimensions beyond our own, whose nature we can hardly guess. When they appear to us, we see only fragments of their bodies - long stretches of writhing flesh, glistening with juices that should not exist outside of a body, which whip through the air and vanish back where they came from in a way that our minds simply refuse to accept. Witnesses have tried to describe these as great tentacles, words failing them in the presence of such incomprehensibility. Those who heard the stories seized on this, and explained them as resembling cephalopods. This is a comforting lie, as there is nothing in the most stygian depths of the darkest sea that is not our beloved brother compared to the horrors of the Abominations.

This is a creature who is incomprehensibly alien, and our only glimpse is a sickening flash of writhing, elongated flesh that slips into our world and back out. Worse than the appearance of the creature, though, is its disappearance - your mind knows, on some level, that this creature - this hateful, hungry god of a creature - is not moving it's body between "here" and "away", but between being a glimpse of a writhing horror, and a horror that watches unseen.

Imagine our two-dimensional creature again, and imagine yourself to be a cruel child. If you chose to torment the creature, it would be powerless to resist. It cannot perceive you unless you chose to intersect its plane - you can watch its every move, and it cannot hope to escape your gaze. It would be the simplest thing in the world to push a pin through it, like a butterfly on a card. Take a glass of water and push it into the creature's plane and it will find itself trapped, drowning, in an inescapable sea. The creature is entirely at your mercy, and always will be.
Same as you. Same as me