What are your indispensible "Hand Waving" tools for coming up with stuff on the fly?

[Rel]

Today was a great example of this type of thing.

I'm running a Savage Worlds fantasy game for my wife and daughter. For the next portion of the campaign I'm running a converted version of Forge of Fury (the 3e module) and was expecting them to assault the front door.

Instead they followed a very vague hint that there might be a back entrance through a filthy bog. I knew that would involve them having to find an underwater entrance in murky water that would basically take them right directly to the lair of the BBEG. So of course that's the way they went.

I didn't want to railroad them back into attacking the front door. But I also knew that it would be nearly impossible for them to find the underwater entrance and didn't want them to feel like they'd wasted a trip so I decided to have a single Rat Man guard stationed to watch over the bog (I'm using the Rat Men in place of some of the standard bad guys in this module). This turned into a rather harrowing encounter with the Rat Man managing to snipe at them with a bow while remaining unseen for a couple rounds.

I really like stuff like this where the session turns out completely differently than I'd have suspected. I'll also say that systems with lighter rules are easier for me to manage in these kinds of circumstances than ones where the monster stats take up a full page.

 

[pawsplay]

Real Simple: You're at the game table, and your players want to do something unexpected, like fight an NPC you had no intention of them fighting, or they explore some section of the city / town / dungeon that you really hadn't thought through all that much.

What books / tools / modules / supplements do you use to come up with good stuff on the fly?

(And maybe question #2---WHY ISN'T PAIZO writing a "Make Good S*** Up On the Fly!! for Pathfinder!!" Book right now?)

I tend to labor under assumption this could be absolutely any session. Off to the slay the dragon? Cue three sessions of trying to figure out if they can assassinate the evil high priestess that ticked them off.

My top three:
1. Using the Monster Manual
2. Stealing stories and characters from video games and movies
3. Stealing names from obscure sources

Of course, it's possible to backfire. I once had to name a bunch of dwarven guards in a hurry, so I named them all after early English monarchs. For the next couple of sessions, one of my players would constantly inquire whether Aethelred was ready.

 

[Krensky]

Many of my tricks are specific to my game of choice (Spycraft and Fantasy Craft) and relate to that systems action dice, NPC, and sliding DC system.

That said:

+/-2, Tool Box, Ultimate Tool Box. I just picked up Eureka, which I hope to get some use out of.

 

[luckless]

I think this is absolutely dreadful advice for all manner of reasons. Killing their characters arbitarily because they don't follow up on the traintrack you've laid out for them? Shameful behaviour for any GM.

Yes, it was a joke. Like I said at the bottom of the post I've only ever had need to GM a handful of games, and those were for testing different aspects of mechanics in play.


However, the near TPK from the city gate was used on a party in a game I played in. The city was cursed and it was the entire basis of the campaign: Solving/lifting the curse. A friend playing a dwarf, third session or so into the game, decided that we should just do our best to get free and leave the city to itself. Dwarf charged through the gate, and the GM had pity on him so cut him some slack on the first 'attack'. Besides the Dwarf, I was the only one to not roll a 1 to get out of the way of the falling rock. To be fair the GM let them all reroll to take half,... they all rolled 2s and 3s. Then everyone caught all 6's on the damage roll,... which surprisingly killed everyone. Apparently a troop of mages doesn't fare well against massed rock.

Dwarf only had a 10 DC jump,... which he botched.

And yet, it was still one of the best sessions. Having most of the party die isn't a bad thing, as long as everyone is laughing. (To keep things moving, the GM just called it as a nightmare of the dwarf, and we teased him about it for the rest of the campaign.)

 

[TarionzCousin]

I didn't want to railroad them back into attacking the front door. But I also knew that it would be nearly impossible for them to find the underwater entrance and didn't want them to feel like they'd wasted a trip so I decided to have a single Rat Man guard stationed to watch over the bog (I'm using the Rat Men in place of some of the standard bad guys in this module). This turned into a rather harrowing encounter with the Rat Man managing to snipe at them with a bow while remaining unseen for a couple rounds.

Did you have them find a "new" back door that leads to the upper level of the dungeon? Or are you going to throw them at the BBEG right away? Or do they still need to find the front entrance?



One thing I have in reserve is semi-planned events relating to the characters' history/backstory. So if they get stuck, or things bog down, I can pull something semi-relevant into the fray.

 

[Rel]

Did you have them find a "new" back door that leads to the upper level of the dungeon? Or are you going to throw them at the BBEG right away? Or do they still need to find the front entrance?

I think I'm going to let them find the back way in but maybe have the BBEG located elsewhere for the time being so that they don't shortcut directly to the climax of the adventure in the first encounter.

 

[Shades of Green]

A few tips:

1) Have a list of 'things' at hand - names, random monsters, encounters, randomly-generated treasures, disposable NPCs and so on.
2) Prepare a few generic lairs (small dungeons) that could be dropped into varied locations if the players go in an unexpected direction.
3) When in doubt, roll 1d20, 1-10 is a negative result, 11-20 is a positive result.

 

[Wik]

NPC names: Sometimes I'm good, sometimes I'm not. Today, I actually took a word I saw in front of me and rearranged the letters. For another NPC, I actually thought of a related word to the character's personality.

When things go astray: Generally roll with it. Most of my campaign exists because I rolled with it. It's how I prefer to GM.

When fights occur: Open Monster manual 2. Pick a monster of PCs level - there are three of those. Open Monster Manual 3. Pick a monster of PCs level - there are two of those. Reskin monsters appropriately. You'd be amazed how often it works (I throw in encounter powers relvant to the actual species as I see fit).

When PCs try to do something cool that takes time: Try to figure out a way I can turn it into a skill challenge, so that all PCs will be involved.

Plus, I also use the "bathroom break" mode of thinking.

 

[Mesh Hong]

I think your reaction to a “Random left turn” your players make probably defines what sort of DM you are and the sort if game you are running.

Personally I think that some of the best stories are created by one or more characters doing something that is both perfectly reasonable, but also completely unforeseen (by the DM). My advice really would be to embrace it when it happens, and learn to improvise and follow the players lead. If you remind yourself that it is your players story as much as yours then you are already in the right frame of mind.

Now just advising “improvise” is a lot easier to say than do. Like anything it is a skill that develops with experience. The key to good improvising is having a reasonable working knowledge of the world you are running, the broader your knowledge the more strands you have to draw on.

Instinctively I would like to say that consistency is also important when improvising, but you would be amazed at what you can get away with. Again sometimes a few inconstancies (or even factual errors) can lead to a more interesting story!

This is my basic advice list:
- Have a working knowledge of the world/area the PCs are in
- Have some generic threats appropriate for the region written up. This sort of resource is handy when developing an area anyway and should really be part of your world/adventure building process.
- Remember to be open to the PCs goals. (be aware that it is a perfectly natural psychological response to try and stop the players getting side tracked or moving away from the story. Remind yourself of this so that you can remain impartial and concentrate on making the best of the situation rather than being negative about it!)
- If all else fails (which means that you have messed up big time, don’t worry it happens to everyone) get out the giant plot crowbar. Invoke the greater power of coincidence to introduce an event/clue/NPC that gives the PCs an option to get back on mission (but remember that is your mission, not theirs), if your PCs refuse one or more of these giant plot crowbars then that means that they either are not interested in or do not understand your plot and it is time to go back to basics and change your plot, because changing your plot is easier than changing your players!

 

[nedjer]

Children mainly - they're very spontaneous given half a chance. Though it's inadvisable to wave them around as they tend to break easily