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General Tabletop Discussion
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Should the DMG suggest improv and acting classes?
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<blockquote data-quote="DEFCON 1" data-source="post: 7203797" data-attributes="member: 7006"><p>I think the main difference between improv and roleplay is more based upon the RPG that is being played than it is the entire genre of RPG in general. The biggest disconnect of course is that many RPGs have the Game Master-- the person who has a story and meta-knowledge of what is happening in that story so that the story can be directed, whereas in most improvisation all the participants go in with virtually no information whatsoever. All background is created on the spot, all characters are created on the spot, and the story is "found" by the participants based upon what each of them offer as a truth and is then built on.</p><p></p><p>However, there are many RPGs that have come to the fore in the last decade or so that are basically built for structured improvisation. There are no GMs involved, and there is little story "pre-plotted" beforehand... the games give you a series of basic dollops of information to use, the same way an improv troupe would ask for a suggestion from the audience in which to base their scene. So something like Fiasco gives the participants a genre for their story, a character for each player, and a series of way those character already know and relate to each other. But after that, the story is found and discovered through play... and not because an outside player has a world already crafted and has storylines set up to narrate the other players through.</p><p></p><p>That doesn't change the fact though that the techniques improvisation teaches people about listening, making choices, and reacting are all fundemental parts of communal story-telling. And the more you can do those things naturally and without even thinking about them, the less chance fear has to take hold and the less chance you are going to put up blocks because you're afraid of not being ready for where you all are going. It's a really hard and counter-intuitive thing-- to care enough about a character to want to see it move and grow and really push it forward... but at the same time be perfectly okay with letting it go-- having it make bad choices, or embrace its failings, or accept when things have gone wrong. To not give in to the fear of seeing your "baby" fall and desperately working dishonestly to keep it from happening.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="DEFCON 1, post: 7203797, member: 7006"] I think the main difference between improv and roleplay is more based upon the RPG that is being played than it is the entire genre of RPG in general. The biggest disconnect of course is that many RPGs have the Game Master-- the person who has a story and meta-knowledge of what is happening in that story so that the story can be directed, whereas in most improvisation all the participants go in with virtually no information whatsoever. All background is created on the spot, all characters are created on the spot, and the story is "found" by the participants based upon what each of them offer as a truth and is then built on. However, there are many RPGs that have come to the fore in the last decade or so that are basically built for structured improvisation. There are no GMs involved, and there is little story "pre-plotted" beforehand... the games give you a series of basic dollops of information to use, the same way an improv troupe would ask for a suggestion from the audience in which to base their scene. So something like Fiasco gives the participants a genre for their story, a character for each player, and a series of way those character already know and relate to each other. But after that, the story is found and discovered through play... and not because an outside player has a world already crafted and has storylines set up to narrate the other players through. That doesn't change the fact though that the techniques improvisation teaches people about listening, making choices, and reacting are all fundemental parts of communal story-telling. And the more you can do those things naturally and without even thinking about them, the less chance fear has to take hold and the less chance you are going to put up blocks because you're afraid of not being ready for where you all are going. It's a really hard and counter-intuitive thing-- to care enough about a character to want to see it move and grow and really push it forward... but at the same time be perfectly okay with letting it go-- having it make bad choices, or embrace its failings, or accept when things have gone wrong. To not give in to the fear of seeing your "baby" fall and desperately working dishonestly to keep it from happening. [/QUOTE]
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Should the DMG suggest improv and acting classes?
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