From: wade@nb.rockwell.com (Wade Guthrie)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
Subject: Re: Improvisation!
Date: 25 Aug 92 20:21:03 GMT
Organization: Rockwell International



Foist, let me say that as a GM, I do not improvise -- I refrain from this not because
I feel it is bad; I refrain from improvisation because I suck at it.  

That said, it is the GMs job to establish a world inside which the characters can operate.
It should seem as though the world is real and tangible, no matter how the GM arrives at it.  
The characters (and players, for that matter) should be thinking to themselves "why did that
guy do that?" rather than "why did the GM have that guy do that?" -- in the same way that in
a good movie one wonders about the characters' motives rather than the screenwriters' 
motives for making the character do something. 

Given that frame of mind, the GM has another roll: that of entertainer.  If the world is too
hard or too easy the players will become bored -- the GM will be marked as a bad GM.  If the
world is full of puzzles, but the players like hack-and-slash, it is up to the GM to modify
the world a bit to help the players enjoy the game more.  I have enjoyed providing an 
atmosphere where the players think that their characters are in massive danger most of the
time; I do this without killing characters every day -- I do this by slightly adjusting
the fighting (some wounded monsters run away when the party is doing badly, etc.) and other
aspects of the game.  This adds to the enjoyment of the players -- I'm doing my job.

In article <1992Aug25.011821.58379@cc.usu.edu>, sl9b4@cc.usu.edu (Deep Six) writes:
> In article <66771@hydra.gatech.EDU>, gt9405b@prism.gatech.EDU 
>  (Lord Goodgulf the Ma-a-a-agical Wizard) writes:
> > In article <1992Aug24.133937.58351@cc.usu.edu> 
>  sl9b4@cc.usu.edu (Deep Six) writes:
> 
> >       As far as I can tell, the main attack on improv is "The GM is too much
> > influenced by the players."  I have yet to see any proof of this.

That depends on the GM.  It doesn't matter how the world is created; if the players are
having fun, the GM is a good one (it IS a game, after all).

> 1. Improv GMs cannot create detailed maps, written portions and physical
> props.

Some GMs can improvise a map as well as he can prepare one.  As long as the world
SEEMS seamless, it's okay.  Besides, even if a GM has every last thing planned out,
(s)he HAS to be able to improvise.  For example:

Character: "My character takes everyone's sword, pounds them through this here 
chest (after Fred the mage, here, casts a silence) and drops it down the stairs"

GM: "Well, f*ck, I didn't think of that. . ."

> 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).

This is always bad.  The players should feel that the GM is just telling a
story -- one that is currently happening.  The GM is not making things happen;
(s)he is just relaying what is happening all by itself.  I have found that I
like to talk too much (maybe I should stop the sentence here) about the things
that I did to create a dungeon or about why I did things a certain way.  It takes
away from the illusion that my D&D world is a real place with real people who feel
real emotions.

> 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?

The GM does not have to know what is going on so long as he APPEARS that he
knows what's going on.  

> 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.

Lets face it.  GMing is vulnerable to the capriciousness of the GM.  If I had
a bad day, (unless I overcome this -- which I try to do, by the way) my planned
scenarios become harder and my decisions tend to bite a little more.  I DO like
to use bad days to my advantage with comments like, "Well, it's been a crappy
week [we play on fridays], hope you guys all brought your d6's [to roll new
characters]".  Now, this is GMing with an attitude.

> 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.

That is the GMs problem.

Wade
wade@nb.rockwell.com