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<blockquote data-quote="Celebrim" data-source="post: 6969600" data-attributes="member: 4937"><p>Here is where it gets somewhat heated, because I'm about to fire back at the 'mediocre DM' theory.</p><p></p><p>All GMs are not so great at improv. Every GM that thinks that they are great at improvisation is fooling themselves. There are reasons why novels and movies are composed and edited. Yes, a scene can be improvised, some times to very good effect. But even then, the scene usually stays in only because it came off well. </p><p></p><p>No one improvises well unless they've also prepared well. An improvised scene like the barrack rant in 'Full Metal Jacket' works because the guy improvising the scene is an actual DI, whose practiced scenes like that endlessly IRL. The marvelous improvised 'why are we in detention' scene in The Breakfast Club works not only because the cast is so talented because the director has asked and demanded the cast be in character on and off the set for weeks to the point that Judd Nelson was Bender. </p><p></p><p>I have no idea where GMs get the idea that they can improvise well. The same GM probably doesn't believe he can get up in front of a mike at the Comedy Club and improvise a stand up comedy routine cold. The same GM probably doesn't believe he can get up on a stage and improvise a one man play. Yet you see GM after GM trying to pull off the equivalent stunt of running a session cold and just hoping ideas will come to them. </p><p></p><p>In 32 years of gaming, as a player I've never once failed to enjoy an experience when the GM was well prepared, and invariably every bad experience I've ever had came down to (I soon discovered) a lack of preparation (or sometimes too much of the wrong preparation, that became immediately useless when the players went off script). The single most telling mark of a good GM is how hard they are willing to work and how much time they put into their games. </p><p></p><p>Improvisation takes more preparation to do well than scripting something. GMs that actually pull off improvisation from time to time do so because they spent more time preparing for the scene, not less time. Yes, every GM has to improvise all the time. But to pull this off successfully, you have to do so on the basis of preparation. You want a reputation of improvising well? Prepare harder.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Celebrim, post: 6969600, member: 4937"] Here is where it gets somewhat heated, because I'm about to fire back at the 'mediocre DM' theory. All GMs are not so great at improv. Every GM that thinks that they are great at improvisation is fooling themselves. There are reasons why novels and movies are composed and edited. Yes, a scene can be improvised, some times to very good effect. But even then, the scene usually stays in only because it came off well. No one improvises well unless they've also prepared well. An improvised scene like the barrack rant in 'Full Metal Jacket' works because the guy improvising the scene is an actual DI, whose practiced scenes like that endlessly IRL. The marvelous improvised 'why are we in detention' scene in The Breakfast Club works not only because the cast is so talented because the director has asked and demanded the cast be in character on and off the set for weeks to the point that Judd Nelson was Bender. I have no idea where GMs get the idea that they can improvise well. The same GM probably doesn't believe he can get up in front of a mike at the Comedy Club and improvise a stand up comedy routine cold. The same GM probably doesn't believe he can get up on a stage and improvise a one man play. Yet you see GM after GM trying to pull off the equivalent stunt of running a session cold and just hoping ideas will come to them. In 32 years of gaming, as a player I've never once failed to enjoy an experience when the GM was well prepared, and invariably every bad experience I've ever had came down to (I soon discovered) a lack of preparation (or sometimes too much of the wrong preparation, that became immediately useless when the players went off script). The single most telling mark of a good GM is how hard they are willing to work and how much time they put into their games. Improvisation takes more preparation to do well than scripting something. GMs that actually pull off improvisation from time to time do so because they spent more time preparing for the scene, not less time. Yes, every GM has to improvise all the time. But to pull this off successfully, you have to do so on the basis of preparation. You want a reputation of improvising well? Prepare harder. [/QUOTE]
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