IMPROVISING RULES
Two kinds of improvisation pop up within games, and always in response to player actions. The first is where a player asks a question about whether they can accomplish a particular task. “Can I use my fire magic to set the pond alight?”. “Can I throw my knife to smash the broach that we now know is being used to inflict mind-control on the countess?” In such cases, where there is no clear rule to apply, you need to improvise to arrive at a ruling. Remember, the rules are all optional. They are tools to help you run a good game. As such, you can make and add your own rules to supplement or even replace the existing rules as written. Just remember that once you decide that the situation should be handled a particular way, you should be bound to continue handling the situation that way until the situation is altered or a story-driven reason to do otherwise emerges.
When you create a new rule to govern your players’ actions you need to assess how often it is likely to be needed, how often the players will want to take advantage of it, and how NPCs and monsters might take advantage of it. You can create major problems for yourself if you introduce a rule that unbalances the game by giving the players (or their enemies) an unfair advantage. If the rule will only be called upon rarely, then it won’t necessarily be a problem.
Likewise, when creating a rule you need to consider how well the rule fits into the world you are playing in. Is the action believable/possible? Does it violate the laws of physics (and/or magic) that apply in this world? Is there a good reason to believe this action would be impossible? Is it prohibitively difficult to accomplish?
Lastly, consider how it feels. Sometimes the action the player wants to undertake is possible (within the framework provided by the world), and doesn’t create unfair outcomes (with regard to the balance of the rules), but is tonally wrong. A player in your realistic police procedural game may decide to attempt to play soccer with the head of an enemy. If that feels wrong to you, then you should probably trust your instincts and veto the action (or warn of some really significant negative consequences that will follow – perhaps being taken into custody for psychological evaluation, for example).
Sometimes these three things will all line up (tone, balance, realism) but sometimes they won’t. Where you encounter a conflict you will have to decide which is most important for yourself.
Tip: Always record your rulings. The ruling you improvise today creates a precedent for your rulings tomorrow. In order to maintain the consistency of your world you need to write down the rules you add to it and keep them for future reference.
IMPROVISING STORY
The second kind of improvisation occurs where the players want to interact with an element of the story that hasn’t been invented (an NPC for whom you don’t have notes, a location or scene that hasn’t yet been defined, an object or prop that was originally just ornamentation but a player suddenly wishes to use).
When you improvise these elements of a story, you are engaged in design. You need to prepare all of the things that the game designer would prepare as part of the design process, only at the table while under extreme time pressure. As such you need to identify the minimum key requirements of the design of each thing.
An NPC must have their own goals and reasons for cooperating/resisting cooperating with the player characters as well as an attitude, look, and any props. The NPC also has to have resources, information, and/or clues that may be useful to the players
A scene must either be a space to explore (with items of interest scattered about it), or it must have a clear goal with an obstacle or obstacles to overcome. All improvised scenes must have exits that lead back into the game. The scene must also contribute something valuable to the rhythm of the narrative (convey information, provide a moment of tension and excitement, or allow an emotional reaction).
A prop or object must have a use/purpose and a means of operation as well as a look/description.
When you improvise, you must make sure that the things you produce have a purpose and contribute something to the story. This means you MUST know your story, and your world, well enough to make a judgment about how to integrate your improvisation into it.
You must also beware of introducing anything to the game that will invalidate or mess with the planned elements of the story. Work to make sure your improvisation will serve the story rather than sabotage it.
Tip: Just as with rulings, record everything you improvise for the story. You never know when this location, character or object may come in handy further down the track. Once you have created a story element it becomes a persistent part of the world and, regardless of whether you would ever have reason to return to it, your players will remember it and will want to know it is still there should they decide they need to access it again.
Tip: Keep tools and aides on hand to help you with things you aren’t good at. If you struggle to come up with names, be sure to have a pre-generated name list on hand for those times when you create a new character for the players to interact with. If you don’t draw maps well on the fly, then have some pre-generated generic maps on hand Likewise, if you need some generic stat blocks and abilities to give some thugs you just created to kick down a door, keep some lists handy.
DONT WORRY ABOUT THE QUALITY OF YOUR IDEAS WHEN IMPROVISING
An improvised scene only becomes necessary where the players have wandered off the edges of the map prescribed by the planned adventure. As such it will rarely be the case that what you are generating on the fly will have more than a minor impact on the plot. As such, don’t obsess over the quality of the ideas you are coming up with. The fact is, when you are improvising, the okay idea you can make use of in-the-moment is more important (and more essential) than the great idea you might come up with next week.
This volume relies heavily on the work of Scott Rehm, Justin Alexander, Brian Christopher Misiaszek, Mike Bourke, Blair Ramage, Saxon Brenton, Robin Laws, John Wick, Wolfgang Baur, Ken Hite, Monte Cooke, Kevin Crawford, Phil Vecchione, and Walt Ciechanowski.
This chapter of the Host Your Own Old Time Radio Drama RPG and all associated content (except where noted above) is © copyright weirdworldstudios.com and Philip Craig Robotham 2016 and may not be reproduced or distributed without the written permission of the author.
HYOOTRD Roleplaying Game – Game Master’s Guide – Part 1 – Running a Game
- Chapter 1: The Job of the GM (gathering a table, player types, and ensuring fun)
- Chapter 2: Preliminaries (the three fundamental skills, and your first session)
- Chapter 3: Advanced skills – Part 1 (the opening scene and narration)
- Chapter 3: Advanced skills – Part 2 (querying and adjudication)
- Chapter 3: Advanced skills – Part 3 (resolving actions, managing tropes, transitioning, concluding, and preparing future sessions)
- Chapter 4: Managing the Mini-Games (combat, chases, and social actions)
- Chapter 5: Maintaining Pace and Tone (managing time and policing the tone)
- Chapter 6: Improvising (improvising the story and the rules – for all the times the players do something unexpected)
- Chapter 7 & 8: Getting Feedback and Conclusion (improving your game)
HYOOTRD Roleplaying Game – Game Master’s Guide – Part 2 – Designing Games
- Chapter 9: Scene Design
- Chapter 10: NPC, Monster, Faction, and Villain Design
- Chapter 11: Dilemmas, Obstacles, Exits, and Clues
- Chapter 12: Plot (scenario, sandbox, critical path, and the interaction between story and choice)
- Chapter 13: Structures: The five-room dungeon (and variations)
- Chapter 14: Structures: The sandbox (the town or city)
- Chapter 15: Structures: The sandbox (the wilderness)
- Chapter 16: Structures: The Scenario
- Chapter 17: Structures: The Campaign
