Be honest, DMs: how much do you ad lib?

[Altalazar]

I have ad-libbed entire adventures, even series of them, though usually after being inspired by a concept, which I then run with.

As long as I have a firm idea in mind to germinate, I can ad lib all day.

And even where I have lots of prepared materials, I'm always ready to ad lib if the players go in an unexpected direction. I just keep copious notes of locales and NPCs and certain other things of interest and build on them - many of my ad libs have become permanent fixtures of my campaign world.

 

[Thornir Alekeg]

Ad-libbing has always been my weakness. I'm a very logical, structured person (my brother got the creative artistic genes), probably why I ended up in science. I try and prepare, but I too have found that over preparation leads to stiff games that aren't as much fun. I've been working at improving my ad-libbing when needed (mostly unexpected player decisions). Lately it has gone pretty well, but it definitely is related to my mood that day. Some days I just know it will all click, others I know my ad-libbing is weak and uninspired. It is the hardest part of DMing I think, but it also is often the most rewading for both players and DMs

 

[Cor Azer]

I figure out the main plot points I'd like to touch on, maybe do up some stats for encounters that might make snese given the current game state, but beyond that, all the specific details are ad libbed. Partly because I don't have the time to plan everything out, and partly because I enjoy seeing where things are going at the same time the players are seeing where things are going.

 

[Henry]

Be honest, DMs: how much do you ad lib?

Ad Lib?

heh.
ah-heh.
a-ha. A-ha ha ha ha HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

far too much.

I usually plan out at least the basic plot, and I keep EXTENSIVE notes on what has gone before in the campaign (currently about 14 pages, 8 point type), and I keep a few monster statistics in an easy-to-read format for whatever region they are in. The rest I leave loose and unstructured.

Why? Because my players' adventuring company in the Forgotten Realms is named the Company of the Endless Bridge, self-named because they recognize their own penchant for starting projects, and leaving them in the dead middle and moving on to other things. Needless to say, they don't give this explanation of the name to their respective employers.

 

[diaglo]

all of it.

that's what great about this game. you can feed off of the "vibe" your players give you.

rough outline of ideas, names of characters, and a few prerolled scores.

after that it is all ad lib.

edit: besides i loved those small booklets. OD&D (1974) is the only true (noun). All the other editions (verb) just (adjective) imitations of the real thing.

 

[Hand of Evil]

A good bit, when I DM, what is played is really just a basic outline and job flow. If something happens or the players go off down a path I overlooked no problem.

It is about fun.

 

[Wombat]

I am often forced into long ad libs when players take a weird turn in my games. I have gotten used to this over the years and, as such, keep a LOT of notes. One of my players gets worried that I don't "force" the other players into my set adventure, but eventually they get there.

Indeed, one game session was spent entirely on one sentence in my game outline for the week...

Oh well, they get there eventually, and improvised adventures are often as exciting and interesting as the planned ones.

 

[Gothmog]

I prepare about 25% of the material I use, and improvise around 75%. My prep consists of a one-page description of the pre-existing situation, the key characters involved, their personalities, and how they relate to each other. Then I put down a basic idea of what is going on, and what the situation is when the PCs arrive. Past that, its all in the player's hands as to how they handle it. I do try to stat out the major characters in the adventure, but not much past that. I have tons of old maps and drawings to use if I need them, but not many of my adventures are dungeon-based. I keep TONS of notes during the session to make sure I don't get tripped up in the details I make up, and for further plot hooks in the campaign. I have found it keeps the adventures more interesting and fun for the players, and keeps me on my toes to come up with possibilities I couldn't have foreseen during the prep work.

 

[kigmatzomat]

I find one major thing helps when ad libbing. It was perhaps best put by the title of an old Dragon article:
If you are going to wing it, at least make a flight plan.

I don't know if I read that article, but I definitely live it. I've stopped having strict plots and instead assign each major NPC a couple of goals and motivations. All too often the players do something so unbelievable that it totally alters the socio-political powerbalance of the major players. Everyone scrambles to regroup and what was a great idea last week is now an effort in futility.

Most of the time the PCs are totally clueless, which makes it even more entertaining to me because several NPC enemies are certain this is part of some master plan while the NPC allies are going crazy trying to *save* their master plans.

Even in combat the entire battle can go sideways when one of the players decides to up the ACD (acceptable collateral damage) value or pulls out a truly inventive plan.

Of course, I learned ad lib in the furnace of a game with a dozen players; cities were nightmarish romps of alchohol, excess, and minor pranks that rapidly spiraled into riots and/or parties. On more than one occassion, the party was regarded as heroes for stopping riots that a select few members had caused but none of the witnesses had survived. They were jailed on other occassions for doing something heroic in towns ruled by despots so it balanced out.

 

[Henry]

Oooh, let me play!

edit: besides i loved those small booklets. OD&D (1974) is the only true vasectomy. All the other editions cook just blue imitations of the real thing.