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<blockquote data-quote="D'karr" data-source="post: 5756995" data-attributes="member: 336">That, unfortunately, is par for the course on internet forums.It is an interesting way of doing things.&nbsp; I have a good friend that does improv comedy.&nbsp; I was talking to him one day about it and how he handled hecklers, because he was a master at it.&nbsp; What he told me was that everything that looks &quot;natural&quot; in his comebacks has actually been thought about hundreds of times.&nbsp; He takes time specifically to think about comebacks, and the more he practices them in his mind, the better he gets at them, and at &quot;improvising&quot; new ones on the fly.This method is a way to have a flexible plan.&nbsp; A plan can be more easily altered than trying to come up with a plan on the fly.&nbsp; It allows you to more easily improv an &quot;unexpected&quot; outcome.&nbsp; It's also very possible that the &quot;unexpected&quot; outcome is already in you plan. There used to be a series of threads here on ENWorld that took the &quot;classic&quot;, and some of the &quot;not so classic&quot; adventures, and mapped out the possibilities of outcomes.&nbsp; It was incredibly surprising to see that some of the most &quot;railroady feeling&quot; adventures actually had quite a bit of options.&nbsp; It was also interesting to see that a lot of the &quot;classics&quot; had a structure that promoted the &quot;illusion of choice&quot; and still provided very good playability. Each node in the adventure thread its way through multiple subsequent nodes.Just because you have in mind who your villain is, and where he's located, does not mean that the adventure is a railroad.&nbsp; That is taking the idea to an extreme.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="D'karr, post: 5756995, member: 336"] That, unfortunately, is par for the course on internet forums. It is an interesting way of doing things. I have a good friend that does improv comedy. I was talking to him one day about it and how he handled hecklers, because he was a master at it. What he told me was that everything that looks "natural" in his comebacks has actually been thought about hundreds of times. He takes time specifically to think about comebacks, and the more he practices them in his mind, the better he gets at them, and at "improvising" new ones on the fly. This method is a way to have a flexible plan. A plan can be more easily altered than trying to come up with a plan on the fly. It allows you to more easily improv an "unexpected" outcome. It's also very possible that the "unexpected" outcome is already in you plan. There used to be a series of threads here on ENWorld that took the "classic", and some of the "not so classic" adventures, and mapped out the possibilities of outcomes. It was incredibly surprising to see that some of the most "railroady feeling" adventures actually had quite a bit of options. It was also interesting to see that a lot of the "classics" had a structure that promoted the "illusion of choice" and still provided very good playability. Each node in the adventure thread its way through multiple subsequent nodes. Just because you have in mind who your villain is, and where he's located, does not mean that the adventure is a railroad. That is taking the idea to an extreme. [/QUOTE]

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