Off The Cuff GMing

[Psion]

Almost every session of mine has some degree of "winging". But I find I do better if I have some idea of the challenges before the players ahead of time. Like one session where the PCs didn't do things in the order I expected them to and I had not planned for them to go after the kidnapped and sequestered prince. I already had some peices in mind -- psionic villains in a castle in a distant land, rebel allies with access to the plane of shadow, one related to the players, and the like.

So I just ran from there, using what I knew. I made up some quick castle encounters -- the party snuck into a basement storage room, where they found a princess fooling around with a guard, which proved a great source of amusement for the party. Threw in some creatures, some servants, and some stock NPCs (side note: anyone annoyed that they didn't put stock psion NPCs in XPH! Grumble) and I was golden.

The players had no clue it was mostly unplanned.

 

[Ant]

Most of my 2ed campaign was almost entirely off the cuff (in fact about the only thing written down was the overall campaign synopsis and stats for the nefarious Thayan Tree Squid). While this saved me heaps of prep time it caused major continuity problems. As a result I had to keep things fairly simple which I guess probably wasn't a bad thing, overall, but meant the campaign didn't have the depth I was looking for.

With 3ed I've progressed to a core adventure (written down!) each session but with enough give to allow ample impromptu DMing fun.

Now my problem is that I'm over-preparing. Last session I slaved over tomes macabre to devise a dungeon-delve most insidious ... and had to cut 60% of it out because I'd grossly misjudged how long the first part of the night's adventure would take.

Still, these little challenges are what makes DMing such a pleasure. And the players had fun to boot! Let me say that there's nothing quite like having a PC unwittingly quaff a phylter of love and then cast their gaze upon the BBEGal.

 

[4everdm]

I would have to say that 70% of my 1st Ed & 2nd Ed games I use to "wing-it", however somewhere in the recesses of my mind I kind of had an idea what I wanted to do. And, yes some of those where the best & most memorable games I ever had the priviledge to DM. As for 3rd Ed, since I don't play as much - I moved far away from my group - I find myself preparing a lot more and now my games are only about 20% of the cuff, still very enjoyable, but I think there is a lot to be said for "living in the moment"

 

[HellHound]

I used to be better at 'winging' games than I am now. It also depends on the system, IMO.

I find it hard to 'wing' d20 games because, as a designer, I like to have the badguys statted out properly instead of just pulling numbers out of my posterior (or as we call it - IPTOOMA Villains - *I* *P*ulled *T*his *O*ut *O*f *M*y *P*osterior). But I have run HUNDREDS of sessions of CyberPunk without once refering to notes, a module or anything of the sort. But then again, CyberPunk is my thing.

 

[kengar]

I used to keep very detailed notes (for me, at least). I would try to predict all the main directions the PCs might go and have at least a skeleton of an idea of how to handle it. Inevitably, they would go in a direction I never expected and leave me fishing through pages of notes for what to do next.

My current D&D campaign is online Moldvay Basic, so it's a bit different from sitting at the table with 3e, but other than laying out a goodly bit of setting info, I usually just have a loose "plot point" in my head and let the players take things where they will. There are several hooks dangling out there for them to choose from, but I am slowly learning to just go with the flow as evetns unfold. This can lead to interesting problems for me when I'm not sure why I did something ("Dang! Where did that bronze dagger come from?? Oh well, I guess I ought to make it something interesting."), but it tends to work out ok.

I'm not totally free-forming it, though. I know what outside events are coming down the line for the party over the next several months of setting-time, but how or if they deal with it is up to them.

 

[Inconsequenti-AL]

I think DnD becomes harder to completely wing as you get up levels.

The roleplaying/plot elements can work just as well when winged - and are going to need to be in most good campaigns - after all I've not met the gm who can predict everything the players will do. Although, the range of abilities and spells available to the PCs can make challenging winging more difficult.

I think winged 'serious' combat challenges work less well. 'Bashing a few mooks' is easy to do on the fly, but main encounters are more of a problem. I've seen 'IPTOOMA' having some very bad results. 'CR <> apropriate challenge' in all cases - (like that 'winged' fire elemental I inflicted my last unintended near TPK with). I also need time to digest the abilities of more advanced monsters and NPCs - otherwise they tend not to work very well.

To get round this, I find a folder of generic/stock NPCs and knowledge (notes?) of my players abilities goes a long way.

Having said all this, winged encounters have been some of my very favorite memories from games I've played in or run.

 

[hong]

I've seen 'IPTOOMA' having some very bad results. 'CR <> apropriate challenge' in all cases - (like that 'winged' fire elemental I inflicted my last unintended near TPK with).

I don't see what's so tough about a winged fire elemental.

WINGED FIRE ELEMENTAL: half-fiend huge fire elemental; CR 10; Huge Outsider (native, fire); HD 16d8+80 (152 hp); Init +13; Spd 60 ft (fly 60 ft, average); AC 22 (touch 17, flat-footed 13); BAB +12; Grap +24; Atk +19/+19 melee (2d8+6 plus 2d8 fire); S/R 15 ft/15 ft; SA Burn, spell-like abilities, smite good 1/day (+16 damage); SQ DR 5/- and 10/magic, resistances, SR 26, fire immunity, cold vulnerability, elemental traits; AL NE; SV Fort +10, Ref +19, Will +7; Str 22, Dex 29, Con 20, Int 10, Wis 11, Cha 13.

Skills and Feats: Listen +11, Spot +12, Alertness, Combat Reflexes, Dodge, Improved Initiative, Iron Will, Mobility, Spring Attack, Weapon Finesse.

SA -- Spell-Like Abilities: 3/day -- darkness, poison (DC 15), unholy aura (DC 19); 1/day -- desecrate, unholy blight, contagion (DC 14), blasphemy, unhallow, horrid wilting (DC 19).

SA -- Burn (Ex): Creatures hit by the half-fiend fire elemental's slam attack must succeed on a Reflex save (DC 22) or catch fire. The flame lasts for 1d4 rounds.

SQ -- Resistances (Ex): Acid, cold, electricity and fire resistance 10.

SQ -- Cold vulnerability (Ex): +50% damage from cold attacks.


... okay, the 1/day blasphemy. Right.

 

[Ghostwind]

It depends on the players and the campaign. In my beginners campaign, I am taking them through Rappan Athuk so there is very little winging needed. However, in my 'advanced' campaign that Buttercup plays in, it's 100% off the cuff. Only the basic story and plot is thought out ahead of time with more twists and turns than you can shake a stick at. It won't be long before paranoia sets in. <hehehehe> My epic level campaign is about a 50/50 split. The story and events are off the cuff, but the opponents have to be stat'd out ahead of time (45th level pretty much requires that).

 

[med stud]

I think I must be strange in that I never perform well when I prepare a session in advance but I almost always get compliments for my games when I wing them. I dont know why but since it means less work for me it's alright

The NPCs are never statted out in advance, though. I have a general idea how tough they are. By some strange coincidence there are far more sorcerer bad guys than wizards and clerics in my campaigns ~~

 

[EricNoah]

I'm not good enough with 3E to wing it yet. It will take some time to be able to come up with NPC stats on the fly. In the old days, since you didn't have much customization, it wasn't hard to come up with AC 4, THACO 14, dmg d8+4 and just go with that.