From: oakes@nmt.edu (David Oakes)
Subject: Re: Improvisation!
Organization: New Mexico Tech
Date: Tue, 25 Aug 1992 22:34:25 GMT

In article <1992Aug25.011821.58379@cc.usu.edu> sl9b4@cc.usu.edu (Deep Six) writes:
>1. Improv GMs cannot create detailed maps, written portions and physical
>props.

no prep GM can create a map so detailed that a player cannot find something
to do on it that the GM has not prepared for
long written portions, yes - a few short lines? no problem
true, though i usually have something on hand (dice, pizza, other players)
that can represent the item, and personally, i can never prep the item to 
be as "real" as i want, and still convey game important info

>2. Players dislike the feeling that the GM is altering the scenario to 
>make the party successful. The ``spoon feeding'' argument (players have
>posted about this).

players dislike thinking that the game is going to go where the GM has 
ALREADY planned, no matter what they do, or how they do it

>3. Players dislike the feeling that they are bouncing around in a world
>which is unplanned by the GM -- if the GM doesn't know what is going on, 
>who does?

players dilike being run through a preformed maze, living lives planned
to the last detail, with all actions known before hand
the GM cant know what is going on without the players informing him of 
their actions, cant decide what happens next before they do

>4. Improv GMing is vulnerable to the capriciousness of the GM -- GM has a
>bad day, players have a bad day. With prep, the sceanrio is planned over 
>time, which has a leveling effect on the GM.

a scenario planned on a bad day will give the players a bad day,
no matter what the feelings are at the time of the game.
a party is not static - a scenario planned over time is easy outdated
by the time it is done, having been prepped for something else

>5. Improv GMs are more likely to throw in an insignificant detail on the 
>fly with could come back to haunt them as a logical hole in the game world.

prep GM are more likely to through in hundreds of insignificant details,
all in the name of completeness, which waste the players time, and are
just as likely to be illogical in the minds of the players, unless they
think and react exactly as their GM does

>Understand me here. I am STILL not saying my way is better or whatever. And
>maybe you (whoever you are) think you HAVE asnwered the above. I may not
>agree, but that's okay. Just pointing out some things I've noticed, that's
>all. This has been one cool thread, and I am not going to ruin with any 
>flames if I can help it.

wow, someone who would rather talk than fight!
but i hope that the above has proved that hasty generalizations can be 
made about either side, one no more right than the other

as a mtter of fact, making up these counterpoints instantly are exactly 
why i am an improv GM - the challenge of looking like you know what you 
are doing, and seeing where such certainly leads.
i find that if i have prepped the adventure, i am less likely to change it
in any way, even when the players try something else - i end up railroading
them into my prepped adventure, exactly what i dont want in a GM

>Okay,
>^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>Chadd VanZanten SL9B4@CC.USU.EDU + ``Gentlemen!  You can't fight in 
>here, this is the War Room!''   --Stanley Kubrick's Dr. Strangelove

dave "if you arent having fun, you are doing it wrong, prep or improv" oakes