GMs: Issues with Improvising During Sessions?

[Tarin Greenflame]

While running a game session, what are your most frustrating issues relating to improvising or otherwise responding to unexpected things at the table? The sorts of issues that cause things like:

* The play session stalls out
* You get worried about maintaining a good play session
* People get bored
* Negative after-game feedback
* You wish the players would just stay on the rails

This does not include responding to interpersonal conflicts at the table.

Feel free to comment with more info or standout stories, examples, etc.

 

[pemerton]

What system(s) do you have in mind? Different systems put different demands on the GM.

 

[Man in the Funny Hat]

If players go outside the envelope I can almost always come up with something on the fly to keep moving things forward or even getting them back inside the perimeter. I've never had need to make up handouts on the fly and that would be something I'd want to be able to spend time on anyway. Also, a complete prep-killer like switching sides or just wasting the quest provider is the sort of thing that I probably wouldn't even TRY to improvise dealing with. I'd either fess up to the players that if they do that I've got nothing else prepped for them to do, so it's either a short session or they find an alternative. Or, if I just let them do it anyway, the rest of the session would indeed be improvised - but would not be an improvisation meant to perpetuate the ongoing events, but to simply provide a diversion for the rest of the session so I can figure out LATER what direction to really go in after they've thoroughly killed the adventure before I was ready.

 

[Immortal Sun]

Generating quality NPCs hands down. Sometimes you strike gold, or black gold, but there's definitely a quick depreciation on my ability to create quality NPCs if the first couple (I can usually hit out 2-3 without much trouble) don't catch the player's attention. If I get lucky, the players really like the first one or the second one and keep coming back or keep wanting to deal with them above others. If I don't catch their attention then they just go door-to-door expecting me to keep generating NPCs until they like one, which pisses me off.

Like, at some point they need to get it through their head that most folks are just folks.

 

[ccs]

Probably looking up rules. When I'm in improv mode I'm just making S*** up, so you get what you get....

 

[S'mon]

I think generating encounters & pacing on the fly can be an issue, especially when I may have a limited pallette of minis and encounter maps (or no pre-drawn maps). It's definitely easier in theatre-of-the-mind than in minis-centric play.

I'm planning to run an adventure which includes an epic journey of a couple thousand miles - and there are at least three viable routes, and I want the players to be able to choose their route. This looks likely to be a GMing challenge with the campaign resources avalilable (Primeval Thule). In Wilderlands it'd be a lot easier due to the pre-statted hexes.

I'm generally fine with generating NPC personalities on the fly - give me a character pic or mini and I can easily create an NPC around it. If in doubt I just roll some dice.

 

[MNblockhead]

Strangely I find I often do a better job portraying NPCs when improvising then then I spend too much time thinking ahead on how to portray them.

Looking up rules on the fly is pretty easy with DnD Beyond and I really only need to look up less-used rules like door and wall HP and AC. I expect players to know their spells.

I chose setting up combats. Even with tools like Hero Lab it requires a pause in the action to set things up. Also, unless the adversaries are simply or I'm very familiar with them, it is hard to run the combat smoothly without overlooking some of their abilities. I feel like I'm so focused on looking over the upcoming monsters abilities and spells that it is hard for me to be in the moment and really pay attention to what the players are doing.

 

[pemerton]

I think generating encounters & pacing on the fly can be an issue.

That's nearly the whole of my GMing for the past 4 or 5 years!

 

[Blue]

The way the questions are worded it looks like you're actually polling for what suppliment would be most helpful. Not saying this is the case, just how it comes across to me. (And it's not a bad thing.)

Sometimes what I want when improving is a meaningful and creative time-waster. I know "time-waster" sounds so negative, let me explain.

My players regularly go off what I expected from them. I'm fine with it - I intentionally throw more plot hooks at them then they can deal with. But pulling up a "hey, six sessions back X happened, and now we're in a place relating to X so let's investigate". When I don't have anything prepped for this city/whatever outside the general "why X happened". i can easily improve RP, and can throw together combat, but often to get to a meaty next step I need to work on it between sessions.

So having a bunch of things outside RP and combat that I can quickly find developed twists, puzzles, intrique room traps, random events (funeral parade!), and the such that will be of memorable interest to the players but really buy me the time to the end of the session so I can work out next steps better would be good.

Not that I always need them, but having it as a handy resource for when I do.

BTW, the other thing I could use, improv or not, would be lists of local color for different types of areas. Being able to throw in descriptions of a puppet show with children when walking down a street, or a glade filled with orchids in the middle of a forest, or whatever. Even one page per different types of locations with a d% chart would be fantastic.

 

[jasper]

Some this same poll on BGG. Looking up the rules. I been dming for about 40 years, I can generally wing it. IF I running a module, I can always screwed by box text and force them to do what I want.