The secrets of winging it

[ThoughtBubble]

kigmatzomat pretty well hit my technique "The mook binder" I basically keep every NPC in a shorthand format that can be retrofitted on to most characters with a quick whirl and a weapon.

It also helps that my games level slowly and loot upgrades are more relationship/favor based than looting. Dungeon/buyable/sellable loot tends to be of the expendable kind.

I also tend to try to do some big 'broad brush' planning in advance to give myself a board to work off of. Simple stuff like, North = Cold with ice trolls, polar bears, and goblin tribes. So, just in case they head into that region, I'm set with the big picture, and the details usually sort themselves out.

Also, have a bunch of names and personality quirks handy. Even a change in tone of voice can help pull an NPC out into the 'obviously not made up on the spot' category.

Don't worry about letting the PC's win. Not everything has to be a challenge. So, the 5th level party headed out into bandit territory, and you've only got stats for 3rd lv bandits. Let them win. If the charming bard is using his maxed out diplomacy on an NPC who doesn't have any particular reason to be able to resist, make a roll on what you think is reasonable, and if the NPC has no chance, than the NPC has no chance. You won't always be able to offer a 'proper challenge' and that's ok.

Also, the big things are mutable. So, the Black Knight is involved in a protection racket and the players obviously hate him, but head into the spider cult's domain, and you really wanted a showdown with the Black Knight, you can put him in there anyway, and run with it. The more the important stuff can be shifted around or re-used, the more you can use it.

And yeah, prepwork helps. The more you know about the major players involved in whatever's got the player's interest, the more you can guestimate what seems reasonable for them to do.

 

[Snowy]

don't forget the flavour text change.

Same NPC different description of their clothes.

Different flavour text for their spells (same list as before but use them in a different order and describe them as something else)

e.g. magic missile the black clad stealth assassin that appears in their room and fires magical darts at them that track their movements and burrow into them before disappearing as opposed to the noble mage supporting the paladin that wears gold and white who calls upon his god before blasting them with shards of sunlight that travel so fast they don't even have time to dodge.

smoke and mirrors its all about smoke and mirrors

 

[Ry]

I wasn't a big fan of Monte's method... it seemed more like "prepare during, but don't let the players know it" rather than really advice for "winging it" ("Winging it for the prep-heavy DM" rather than minimal prep and winging it as a DMing style unto itself.)

 

[Dagger75]

I make up tons of stuff on the fly. The hit points I usally do VERY close to max. My players have high hitpoints so this is no big deal. I pretty much know the BaB for the each class and can fake a spell list.

Last week the players decided to rob and steal a rich noble who caused the death of some comrades.

Okay, I made him a 6th level fighter.

Gave him 60 Hit points (he had a highish con)

Stats: -Fighters 16 Str about 14 Dex, 14 Con. Spellcasters -Clerics 18 Wis, 14 Str, -Wizards will have 18 Int, 14 Con, - Rogue 12 Str, 18 Dex, 12 Con. Thats my rough stat block. Assume everything else is 10.

AC: 14 +2 Dex and +2 Cloak of Protection (like the ring except a cloak) He wasn't in armor.

Bab + 6, Str +4, +2 sword and Weapon Focus = +13 They were a little surprised he was a competent swordsman

Damage 1d8 + 8 Str +4, +2 sword and +2 Weapon Specialization

Feats: I knew he had Weapon Focus and Weapon Specialization, I think he had improved inti. Didn't stat out the rest.

Skills: Didn't even stat these out. My rule of thumb, if a rogue MAX ranks in Hide, Move Silent, Listen and Spot. Spellcasters MAX concentration, spellcraft. Rangers have Survival maxed, hide, move silent.

The little stuff like Knowledges and professions is not really important. These on fly NPC's are used for combat 99.99%. The skills in comabt I see are bluff (this time), tumble, spot, a balance maybe, same with climb.

If they survuve the encounter THEN after the game I fully stat them out. They usally get tougher and nastier. Not to mention ticked off at the party. Just keep notes. My fighter had a 16 strength so when I stat him out he will have a 16 Strength.

There is my thought process on making an NPC on the fly. Hope that helps.

 

[Steverooo]

Sats: I use the 2300 method. NPCs are "Physical" or "Mental". Their bonuses are +1/+2 or +2/+1. "Physical" goes to STR, CON, & DEX. "Mental" goes to INT, WIS, & CHA.

 

[Flexor the Mighty!]

The only advice I can give on winging it is to know your players and trust yourself.

 

[shilsen]

For me, a crucial aspect of winging it which has been alluded to in passing but not emphasized in this thread is the importance of practice. The more often you fly by the seat of your pants, the better you get.

I'm pretty good at winging it, I think, and one of the primary reasons is that I've consistently been doing so over the last 1.5 years in two campaigns, even when I didn't need to. Sometimes I'd throw in a new NPC without having planned for it. Sometimes I added a little something to a combat on the spur of the moment. Usually it was because it seemed appropriate, but part of it was to intentionally give myself some practice at winging it (I have only been gaming for 7 years, so not much practice at DMing). Since both campaigns are primarily city-based and I like players to be able to do whatever the heck they want, a lot of the time I'm also winging things with them going off to talk to somebody or the other that I had no preparation for.

With all of the above, I'm very comfortable winging things now. Which worked out really handy when I forgot my notes a couple months ago and had to run a 5 hr session with heavy roleplaying and multiple combats with nothing but my memory and whatever I could pull out of my ass of holding.

 

[Steverooo]

Instaplots!

Anyone use a particular product to help them with "insta-plot" or "insta-encounter" type situations?

This gets asked so much, I really need to go dig out the Fantasy version of this, published in the now-defunct Lejends magazine, but here are 70-or-so quick plots, slanted more towards Sci-Fi:

5-Minute Adventures

Might not be much help to an experienced GM, like you, Eric, but it's free!

It includes:

Introduction
The Ideas:
Ambush (5 minutes)
Arson (One hour)
Assault/Raid on a Fortress (Two hours+)
Assault/Raid on a Ship (One hour)
Assaulting/Raiding a Town (Two hours+)
Banditry (One hour)
Body-snatch (Two hours+)
Bounty-hunting (Two hours+)
Brawl (5 minutes)
"Cattle" Drive (5 minutes)
Chase (5 minutes to one hour)
Convoy Escort (Two hours+)
Coup d'etat (One hour)
Courier (5 minutes)
Deputized (Two hours+)
Duel (5 minutes)
Exploration (5 minutes to years)
Feud (One hour)
Frame (5 minutes+)
Gadget Test (One hour?)
Hijacking (5 minutes+)
Holiday (5 miutes+)
Hunt (One hour)
Impossibility (Two hours+)
Infiltration (1 to 2 hours+)
Intrigue (Two hours+)
Jailbreak (One hour+)
Kidnapping (One hour)
Lawsuit (5 minutes+)
Love Interest (Two hours+)
Madman (5 minutes+)
Madmen (5 minutes+)
Mob (5 minutes-)
Mugging (5 minutes)
Murder (5 minutes)
Narcotics (5 minutes+)
Native(s) (Two hours+)
Operation (5 minutes+)
Personnel Escort (5 minutes)
Piracy (One hour+)
Posse (Two hours+)
Prison Camp Breakout (One hour)
Quest (5 minutes+)
Race (One hour)
Recovery (One hour+)
Rescuing Prisoners (One hour?)
Rescuing Disaster Victims (One hour?)
Revenge (5 minutes+)
Robbery (One hour)
Rumble (One hour)
Sabotage (One hour?)
Salvage (5 minutes+)
Scam/Sting (5 minutes)
Search and Destroy (Two hours+)
Skirmish (One hour)
Smuggling (Two hours+)
Special Forces (Two hours+)
Spying (One hour)
Tax (5 minutes)
Tax Refund (5 minutes)
Tournament (One hour)
Trailblazing (5 minutes)
UFO (5 minutes+)
Vandal(s) (One hour?)
War (Two hours+)
Whodunnit (Two hours+)
Xenomorph(s) (Two hours+)
Yank (Two hours+)
Zoogeographical Survey (Two hours+)
Examples
A Few Helpful Suggestions

 

[EricNoah]

That's really spiffy, actually. Thanks!

 

[Pbartender]

This gets asked so much, I really need to go dig out the Fantasy version of this, published in the now-defunct Lejends magazine, but here are 70-or-so quick plots, slanted more towards Sci-Fi:

5-Minute Adventures

Might not be much help to an experienced GM, like you, Eric, but it's free!

That's pretty cool... I might have to talk to the other Rat Bastard DMs, and see if we can come up with a similar list more geared toward D&D and other fantasy games.