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<blockquote data-quote="Ovinomancer" data-source="post: 8563558" data-attributes="member: 16814">Again, you're confusing ad hoc with improv.&nbsp; Improv is not just &quot;make stuff up.&quot;&nbsp; If that were sufficient for improv, then we all already do it to a pretty good degree.&nbsp; Your opening question isn't something that makes me say &quot;oh, yeah, that's improv&quot; because it's present in every RPG game there is -- players having the choice to try something with their characters.&nbsp; This is the fundamental level of agency in RPGs -- it must be present.&nbsp; Citing it as &quot;improv&quot; rather than &quot;what must be present for an RPG&quot; is odd, especially in a thread that's concept is to encourage improv in games -- why encourage something we're defining as always present?!No, ad hoc, random, and procedures are not improv.&nbsp; Improv is where every player is building and not blocking in play.&nbsp; These block.&nbsp; That's not a bad thing, mind -- blocking is a very useful tool in a lot of RPGs.&nbsp; In D&amp;D, it's essential for the GM to be able to block to enable the approach that D&amp;D is built upon.&nbsp; But blocking is antithetical to improv.&nbsp; There are other games that do not block.&nbsp; Those typically are games that do a better job of supporting and encouraging improv.&nbsp; To do improv in D&amp;D is hard, mostly because the system is so dense that some preparation is required and that prep is often rather specific (these monsters, that trap, this map, etc).&nbsp; If play heads in an unepected direction that could use that kind of prep but it wasn't done, there are no tools in the D&amp;D toolbox to bridge this.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Ovinomancer, post: 8563558, member: 16814"] Again, you're confusing ad hoc with improv. Improv is not just "make stuff up." If that were sufficient for improv, then we all already do it to a pretty good degree. Your opening question isn't something that makes me say "oh, yeah, that's improv" because it's present in every RPG game there is -- players having the choice to try something with their characters. This is the fundamental level of agency in RPGs -- it must be present. Citing it as "improv" rather than "what must be present for an RPG" is odd, especially in a thread that's concept is to encourage improv in games -- why encourage something we're defining as always present?! No, ad hoc, random, and procedures are not improv. Improv is where every player is building and not blocking in play. These block. That's not a bad thing, mind -- blocking is a very useful tool in a lot of RPGs. In D&D, it's essential for the GM to be able to block to enable the approach that D&D is built upon. But blocking is antithetical to improv. There are other games that do not block. Those typically are games that do a better job of supporting and encouraging improv. To do improv in D&D is hard, mostly because the system is so dense that some preparation is required and that prep is often rather specific (these monsters, that trap, this map, etc). If play heads in an unepected direction that could use that kind of prep but it wasn't done, there are no tools in the D&D toolbox to bridge this. [/QUOTE]

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