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Winging it! Whether you love it or hate it, every GM needs to do it at some point. Indeed, to some degree, you are expected to wing it. It might be some casual conversation with an NPC that goes ina completely different direction, or it could be your PCs abandoning all of your plans for the current session and striking out in a new direction. At some point though, you will need to make up some stuff on the fly. So how do you not only survive those times but excel at them?
Preparation
Yes, I know this is about winging it and that seems completely counterintuitive to preparation. But if you want to be successful while winging a session, you need to be prepared.
First of all, you want to create a GM's notebook. The full fledged contents of a GM's Notebook would be a great idea for a new thread (hint, hint) and we won't get into it here. Right here, we will focus on the important aspects of winging it that need to belong in your GM's notebook.
When you have time, drop in a couple of generic maps into your notebook. You will want a generic dungeon, maze, tower, keep, home, bar/tavern/inn and possibly an outdoor location. If you have time and resources, add more locations like ships, mines, etc. The point is that you want to have one generic location that you can whip out of your notebook and populate on the fly if you need to. If you ever need to use one of these, be sure to reload your generic location before the next session.
Generic NPCs. Always have a couple of generic NPCs. If you like PDFs, I would suggest Everybody Else as a good PDF to pick up. (Note to self, add relevant links so people can click to find some of these things.) You will also want some names. A good name list so you can just pick one from the top, associate with your NPC and *bam* you have an NPC to work with.
Generic location names. If you don't already have a rich depth of place names to call on, at least have some generic names. Heck, maybe the GMF should start another thread to come up with a three column location name generator. (Another hint - run with it!)
You can obviously add more to prepare even further. But these basics should carry you pretty far with your notebook.
Second of all you want to have good notes on the current plans of a few major NPCs. Keep in mind that your PCs do not need to be aware of who the NPCs are. These are the people that will be movers and shakers in the game. You need to know their plans and motivations so you can quickly and easily pick up any story and insert the PCs if you need to.
It doesn't matter how you keep your notes. But you do need to keep them! This is the type of thing that causes many GMs the most heartburn. When the PCs derail the story and go in an unexpected direction, the GM might not know how to react. Without your notes, your wining it becomes haphazard and pointless. Then your game starts to get mired in mud.
Know where your NPCs plans are moving, and have some basic prep materials in your GM notebook and you can carry a game for quite a while when the PCs do the unexpected.
Consistency
It is important to be consistent as a GM. Rule judgments are the obvious area to be consistent, but it is vitally important to be consistent when you start winging it. If the PCs head down a road, come to a crossroads where theives have been hung from the towering oak, you had better be sure the Oak is there the next time the PCs walk by. Oh, and you need to be sure the remains of the thieves are there as well.
If you don't maintain this consistency, the game will suffer. In a best case scenario, the players will be a little disappointed that they remember these details better than you do. In a worst case scenario, they will detect inconsistency as a clue to something. This is where your game will take an unexpected turn once again and you will end up winging it once again.
When you wing something new into the game, take a few minutes after the game to add to your notes so you remember it next time.
This is a decent start for the thread. I am interested in hearing what everyone else has to say on how you wing it successfully.
This is a great post! I could comment on every point you make, but I'm just going to pick a couple to reinforce ...
Quote:
Originally Posted by BardStephenFox
Generic NPCs. Always have a couple of generic NPCs. If you like PDFs, I would suggest Everybody Else as a good PDF to pick up. (Note to self, add relevant links so people can click to find some of these things.) You will also want some names. A good name list so you can just pick one from the top, associate with your NPC and *bam* you have an NPC to work with.
NPC preparation is even more important in 3e, I find. It was one thing to be able to throw out a random class (and/or kit) and then just focus on personality traits, but now I find my players want to see more; like what skills the NPC has, etc. Some people might be better winging names than I am. My players have learned not to giggle when I introduce the travelling merchant as 'Clumberflum' or something equally clumsy.
The internet is a great source for names. Some of the links I use:
Unfortunately the second one became a subscriber site, but you can still get access to a vast database of names to print out for much less than a new book from WotC.
Quote:
If you don't maintain this consistency, the game will suffer. In a best case scenario, the players will be a little disappointed that they remember these details better than you do. In a worst case scenario, they will detect inconsistency as a clue to something. This is where your game will take an unexpected turn once again and you will end up winging it once again.
Absolutely. I found early on that I'd remember the 'important' NPCs but not the 'throwaway' ones. The players, on the other hand, wouldn't know who's supposed to be important or not and I'd suddenly find them wanting to question a certain merchant, or follow up on the background of the Duke's senechal and I wouldn't even remember who they were talking about. That's when I started keeping a database of every NPC the players meet, where and when they met them and if anything memorable event happened.
And this works two ways ... I've dredged up NPCs they've met years ago and have them run across each other in the tavern, on the road or at the latest festival. Especially if they're also adventurers it's fun to be able to have a bit of a rivalry ... (oh, you're going after Grenlaar the Frost Giant? You can forget that, we dispatched him last month! Look at my new axe!)
Preparation
Yes, I know this is about winging it and that seems completely counterintuitive to preparation. But if you want to be successful while winging a session, you need to be prepared.
I just wanted to reiterate that preperation can be a huge factor in being able to "wing it". There have been a few times over the years in my weekly game that work/RL kept me from doing any prep work on the current game, but thanks to my game folder *caugh* notebook I was able to wing it without a second look from the players.
In fact, some very memorable moments and NPCs came out of those "on the fly" games.
Quote:
The full fledged contents of a GM's Notebook would be a great idea for a new thread (hint, hint) and we won't get into it here.
After work, I'll see about getting my notebook out and getting that thread going (unless someone beats me to it)
Location: Ghetto D-A Pocket Dimension in the ruins of Post Appocolypse Detroit MI
Posts: 62
Winging it continued
My old Dm was in town last week...and we began talking about D&D (he doenst play anymore?!?) any how....I asked " Dude we played for like 14-16 hour sessions everyweek. How did you come up with so much material?"
"Oh. I improvised. I'd have few things down that I needed/wanted to do. Everything else was done "on the fly"..
As a player I never even noticed this...We played this campaign from (1989-2000) and it was "awesome". So if its done well, they'll never know...Thinking on the fly is a key core trait to DMing..
A few extra points...There are maps galore in "dungeon" and I keep new and old issues in my bag. There are also developed NPCs that you can "snag"...
Gary Gyax just came out with a "world book" that has all the basic D&D sites, tmeples, inns, keeps etc....I have found his resources to be really good.
NPC NAmes-I keep a "name your baby book" near by ....I routinely find cool names instantly.... The last was "Zebulaon of the Horn" a 12th Lvl Druid...
Picking a "bad" name is a drag, because the players will always giggle laugh etc....But my players seemd to find it funny when I said "flying butresses".... WE ARE ALL 27-32 YEARS OF AGE..."you said butt!'
Preparation: Im always 2 sessions ahead of the players on my "Event timeline"....before every session I spend hours trying to anticicpate how far the palyers will make it...
They NEVER get that far...
You can prepare too much though...I prepared an entire Inn with NPCs and 1-12 random rumors, and a Bard....The players bypassed the whole thing... You may consider this a waste, but I'll just use it somewhere else..
Overpreparation is one of the things that leads to burnout for me. I ry to stay 1-2 sessions ahead of the players. I do OK with my high level planning, but my detail planning is lightweight.I end up winging a lot of things.
Morbag brings up an excellent point with his prepared Inn. It didn't get used that session. It should go into your DM Folder for future use. Perhaps even as something that is "improvised" when your PCs teleport halfway around the world and stop by a tavern for the night.
PC Integration
OK, in theory every PC has some sort of background. I certainly encourage my players to write backgrounds. One thing that is an interesting improvisation experience is to pull something out of a PCs background. Look through the PC backgrounds and look for features that you can use. Make some notes on these. NPCs, events, locations and items are all key features. Heroic fiction has many examples of unlikely background events coming back to help/haunt the characters. When you are floundering for something to run, PC backgrounds are fair game for inspiration on what to wing.
It is important to remember that pulling stuff out of a background will almost assuredly pique the players' interest. This means you should not do this too lightly because your players will be looking for the importance of the encounter. So if you do this, make it important somehow. The fun thing about this is that your players will probably become very engaged in whatever diversion you are improvising.
OK, this is true whether you are winging it or have a fully planned out story that uses PC background elements. My point is that PC backgrounds are a valid place to look for improvisational inspiration.
One of the best games I ever ran was totally "winged". We were sitting around my apartment in college, and someone says "Let's play D&D". So, a die roll to determine who'd DM was called for, and I lost... lol... The game started at midnight on Saturday, and ran until 3 pm on Sunday. We took a three hour break, then came back and played 3 more hours. The whole time I was making it all up as I went along; completely reacting to the players' reacting to what I put them up against. I'm only in contact with one of those guys from those days, and while he no longer plays, this game is the one he always brings up when we tell old war stories.
__________________ <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><> <><> "Dad, I love you. But I'm not sure if it's because you're my dad or if it's Stockholm Syndrome." --my son at 12 years old.
Quote of the night last game session: "Want to come to my prepaid hotel room? Bouncy bouncy!" October 25th, 2008
One of the best games I ever ran was totally "winged". We were sitting around my apartment in college, and someone says "Let's play D&D". So, a die roll to determine who'd DM was called for, and I lost... lol... The game started at midnight on Saturday, and ran until 3 pm on Sunday. We took a three hour break, then came back and played 3 more hours. The whole time I was making it all up as I went along; completely reacting to the players' reacting to what I put them up against. I'm only in contact with one of those guys from those days, and while he no longer plays, this game is the one he always brings up when we tell old war stories.
I remember doing a few 1st edition Adventures that way to. Ah, the magic of going rules lite!
I remember doing a few 1st edition Adventures that way to. Ah, the magic of going rules lite!
Good to see you back around DMC!
Thanks... There's a lot to wade through in the GMF--lots of catching up to do. I'd have been more active on the GMF forum, but only just found the password a day or so ago... LOL... like I said... Tons of stuff to wade through!
__________________ <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><> <><> "Dad, I love you. But I'm not sure if it's because you're my dad or if it's Stockholm Syndrome." --my son at 12 years old.
Quote of the night last game session: "Want to come to my prepaid hotel room? Bouncy bouncy!" October 25th, 2008
1. Study everything BardStephenFox said in teh first post in this thread.
2. Go to Nightcloak's GM notebook thread and shamelessly steal everything from there.
3. Have at it! You will be surprised how easy it is to make things up on the fly if you have those resources to hand. Pick and choose, roll randon dice, whatever. This makes for great one shot "diversion" games where everyone wants a break from the deeply involved story that you've all been involved with
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Mission continues..
__________________ derbacher
The old bald sage of the north. Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they're not out to get you.
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