Winging It!!!!

[Psychotic Dreamer]

I have a hard time remembering the last time I did much in the way of planning. I usually come up with a few ideas, but in general I just kind of give the players a general direction. People always seem happy in my games.

 

[Madfox]

Personally I am not too good at winging it. Monte Cook once said that DMs who are good at making adventures on the fly, should spend some time preparing their adventures to even get better adventures. I agree with him. As a DM I make sure I know my players and their characters. While they do surprise me when it comes to details, I am quite good at predicting their general actions. This does not mean that I write everything down, most of the time I make the maps, NPCs/monsters, plot and summary. If I still have got time left I start making more detailed descriptions of the maps and NPCs. Descriptions I have got in my head anyway, because I tend to muse on adventures while riding to and from work. In the end, the more time I spend preparing an adventure the more fun they tend to be. I have never completely winged an adventure and knowing myself I will never do so either.

 

[Holy Bovine]

Does anyone know where a list of 'generic fantasy names' can be found?

You can download the Everchanging Book of Names (EBON) at

http://ebon.uni.cc/

It has just about every fantasy milieu in it and you can generate the lists in 1-200 item lists. i generate a couple hundred and cut and paste them into excel and alphabetize them. I have a 10 page sheet that is just names and keep it at hand everytime I game. If I need a quick NPC name I'll just consult the sheet I'm open at (note remember to switch pages regualrly otherwise everyone the PCs meet will have a name sarting with 'A' ).

The sheets also have a small space next to them so I can write quick details (ie where the NPC was met, his/her occupation, description and any other quirks I give him on the fly).

The EBON is a lifesaver for those DMs who find they are always winging it.

 

[Holy Bovine]

I'm not very good at making things up on the fly. In third edition, its just to complicated to write up a monster on the spot for the party to fight. If I want to challenge them with orcs, and they are above first level, I usually need to make up a couple classed orcs.

I keep a 3"X5" index card box handy with many, MANY monsters written out on them. Classed Orcs, Half-Fiend Gorgons, Yuan-Ti, summonalbe creatures. Extremely helpful (and also see my post above about the Everchanging Book of Names). I also make sure I give intelligent monsters names and have them use them during the fight. Nothing improves and encounter more than having Orcs shout to each other - "Hey Hurtack chop that mangy Dwarf in half and help me kill this stupid elf".

I have also found that writing out monsters in this fashion has really helped me be able to create creatures quickly and easily.

 

[SpikeyFreak]

It's the general consensus among my players that they have more fun when I have ideas but haven't written anything down. Looking stuff up in notes sucks.

And heaven forbid I try to use a published adventure.

It's strange. It seems like when I'm sitting down trying to come up with ideas before hand they are all really bland. But when I sit down and we start playing, my imagination goes into over-drive and everything just seems more life-like.

--Spikey-on-the-Wing

 

[StoneAxe]

I have notes on possible combats, to speed up play, but the rest comes from just sitting in the chair and seeing what happens. I biggest problem is NPC names, not the major characters but the faces in the crowd. A very successful recent session involved sitting down and saying "OK what are the characters doing?" and then running with their lead.

Has anyone seen a reduction in their prep work due to their success winging it?

 

[sotmh]

I've never been able to successfully improvise in D&D3e. But I almost always run my 7th Sea game on the fly. I have a story in my head, of course, but I always leave the ending open and dependant on what the players do and how they decide to react to the situation.

I also try to think of situations or encounters that I feel would be interesting or cool and try to encourage my players to head in directions where I can use them. If they don't, I simply modify the encounter or situation to use later on.

So far I think I've been somewhat successful, but there's still plenty of room for improvement. I don't think extra planning will necessarily help with that, though. Just practice.

sotmh

 

[BluWolf]

Originally posted by Stone Axe

Has anyone seen a reduction in their prep work due to their success winging it?

No, not really. I would say 70% of my prep work is real background material that effects the players and they may witness it but may not really understand it. So a lot of my prep work is "WHY is thre and evil cleric in the swamp or WHY do the Guilder have an interest in the city of Argos". Stuff like that.

AND

The more I wing it, the more work I have afterwords fleshing out the notes and ensuring this new stuff fits in and is accounted for in the setting.

 

[WSmith]

It's strange. It seems like when I'm sitting down trying to come up with ideas before hand they are all really bland. But when I sit down and we start playing, my imagination goes into over-drive and everything just seems more life-like.

I know what you mean and I can explain it. When I sit down, usually I have some kind of plan for the location based portion of the adventure planned out. It may not be too detailed, but sometimes it is just a slight overview.

The story-based portion is not prepared at all. Whatever the characters do, whatever decisions they make, will effect on how the adventure is paced. It is like the DM feeding off the players actions and imagination, and vice versa. And man is it fun.

 

[Ruined]

I'm still trying to achieve that happy balance between improv and preparation. I would love to prepare tons of material, but I never find the time, between work and evil things like Final Fantasy X. And improv works well in my games.

I think the only reason improv works well for my established game is familiarity. I _know_ the characters implicitly. I know how the players play them and the likely routes they are to take. Plus, the base city is well-defined in my mind (and hopefully in the players as well). So when they go looking for odds and ends, I can usually rattle off interesting details and roll with that.

The way is do most of my pre-game planning is by driving. I have a long commute to work (nearly an hour each way), and while listening to my music, I visualize certain scenes that I want to see happen. I plan out parts of important conversations. I bought a digital voice recorder so I could take notes (pen & paper became hazardous on the road). During the games, I play games of 'connect the dots', subtly guiding players to scenes that I've already imagined out.

It works out well, but I've started a second campaign and have found that I need to work a lot more until I get as familiar with the group.