When improvization fails. What do you do when you 'got nuthin'?
stefoid:
So last nights game I GMed petered out a bit early when I basically admitted 'I got nuthin'. GMing by improvisation is a skill I am still learning, and whilst the session before was good, this session was not. There were factors - circumstances conspired to rob me of any time to prep the session, even by refreshing myself about my notes, so I went in cold. Plus I was kinda tapped out from being in meetings all day at work.
Now I know about the concept of bangs. I was sitting there thinking, hmm, what I need to do right now is drop a bang on these guys. But what? I couldnt think of anything that wouldnt seem lame and contrived. I tried writing down a list of the unanswered questions that had been raised by play so far, and stared at it for a while, whilst the players talked about non-game stuff. I couldnt think of anything coherent to answer those questions right then on the spot.
Still, I feel that there must be some kind of best practices that a an improvising GM can fall back on in these situations. What are your thoughts? What do you successful improvising GMs do when you you come to the realization that you have absolutely no idea what happens next?
Ron Edwards:
Hi Steve,
What game are we talking about? What sort of improvisation: about little things, big things, everything, or what?
Best, Ron
Frank Tarcikowski:
Uh, not to shortcut Ron's questions, which I'd like to know the answers to as well, but here is a one-liner I just needed to get out:
Quote from: stefoid on March 11, 2011, 04:12:08 AM
I feel that there must be some kind of best practices that a an improvising GM can fall back on in these situations.
There is. It is called "toilet break".
One more remark. I've tried to run games after a long day at work and it's really hard. I work in a job where I mostly get paid for using my brain, and after some 10 hours at the office I tend to feel too drained to do anything that requires creativity. Sad but true!
- Frank
Judd:
Quote from: stefoid on March 11, 2011, 04:12:08 AM
Still, I feel that there must be some kind of best practices that a an improvising GM can fall back on in these situations. What are your thoughts? What do you successful improvising GMs do when you you come to the realization that you have absolutely no idea what happens next?
In ye olden days I would either fall back in character histories or consequences to character actions.
Nowdays, with Burning Wheel I think about consequences to their actions and look at their Beliefs and Instincts, relationships and such. Hopefully, that will be enough to inspire me. If not, we need to stop the game and re-write some Beliefs.
With Apocalypse World, I look at the moves, at the Fronts and Threats and go from there. I think about NPC's who might feel threatened, might feel that their resources or livelihoods are being stepped out by the PC's and what they might do about it.
Chris_Chinn:
Quote
Still, I feel that there must be some kind of best practices that a an improvising GM can fall back on in these situations. What are your thoughts?
So, there's a simple trick I do if a game doesn't support me already: I write down the major NPCs and write a motivation or two for them.
During play, I simply go down the list and ask myself, "Who would do something interesting? What would their response be to (previous action)?" Then I start a scene either with it about to happen, in the middle of happening, or the after effects.
In this way, you simply end up playing your NPCs the same way a player plays their PC- you don't have to pre-plan a lot- you just play the characters, picking the ones who you think would have the most relevant actions to hit the situation.
The one trick to this is that you have to have decent motivations and realize that an NPC could go about things in a LOT of ways.
An enemy need not always ambush the party- maybe they decide to see if they could bribe the PCs or cut a deal. An ally might withhold aid, or demand conditions, "You just let that village burn after you were done fighting. We're going back and helping those people. Yes, it'll take a days. But then, and only then, will I show you the path to the Lost Citadel" etc.
Also be willing to change a motivation based on things that happen. And in this way the NPCs become more fleshed out and interesting.
Chris
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