Roleplaying Tips Weekly E-Zine Issue #96

8 Tips To Help You Wing-It

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SENT BY SUBSCRIPTION ONLY With Compliments

From: Johnn Four, http://www.roleplayingtips.com
mailto:feedback@roleplayingtips.com

CONTENTS:
--> A Brief Word From Johnn

--> This Week's Tips Summarized:

1. Consider Two Approaches: Direct Or Indirect
2. Be Prepared
3. Planning Is Sometimes Irrelevant
4. Listen To Your Players
5. Don't Worry If You Run Out Of Ideas
6. React To Your Players
7. Be The World
8. Winging-It Is Like Being A Player

--> Readers' Tips Of The Week:

1. Rewards For Roleplaying
2. Fast Combat & Reducing Table Talk Tip
3. Adding Zeppelins To Fantasy Worlds
4. Dry Erase Boards & Battlemats Don't Mix
5. Make Success-Focused Players The Centre Of
Attention

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A BRIEF WORD FROM JOHNN

Request For Personal Campaign Web Site Tips

-------------------------------------------
I'm writing an article for Dragon on tips for making and
maintaining web sites for personal roleplaying campaign use.
Do you have any tips on the subject?

Once the article is published, I'll take your tips and links
and summarize them here for everyone to enjoy. So, if you
have any thoughts on what makes campaign sites useful as a
player aid, GM aid, or campaign aid, please drop me a note.
Links are welcome as well. Thanks!

johnn@roleplayingtips.com

D&D Web Enhancements

--------------------
Thanks to a reader's tip, I discovered this page of
enhancements to the various D&D 3E products produced by
WoTC. I thought I'd pass the link along for all the D&D 3E
GMs out there, as it took me a little while to find it:
http://www.wizards.com/dnd/article1.asp?x=dnd/we/welcome,3

My Favourite Gaming Time Of Year

--------------------------------
This is my favourite time of year for gaming, and I hope
you're taking advantage of it too. The weather is turning
and makes roleplaying inside, where it's warm and dry, very
comfortable and cozy feeling.

Also, for students the reality of another year of school has

set in, and for everyone the days are getting shorter and
Winter is just around the corner. Perfect reasons to seek
escape through roleplaying!

Finally, it's Halloween. Not only does cheap candy abound,

but costumes also fill the stores. And that means cheap
gaming props! So, be sure to cruise through your local
department store and pick up a few plastic swords, a mask or
two, and a wig. And then save it all for your campaign's
next villain appearance!

Have a great week.

Cheers,

Johnn Four
johnn@roleplayingtips.com

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MORE ROLEPLAYING ARTICLES & REVIEWS @ MY OTHER SITE

http://www.roleplaygames.about.com

New This Week:

* Five Steps To A Better Campaign

http://www.roleplaygames.about.com/library/weekly/aa102501.htm

* D20 Review: Akrasia, Thief of Time

http://www.roleplaygames.about.com/library/blakrasia.htm

* D20 Review: Felsentheim: Dogs of War

http://www.roleplaygames.about.com/library/blfelsentheim.htm

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8 TIPS TO HELP YOU WING-IT

This Week's Guest Tips Brought To You By Patrice L.

1. Consider Two Approaches: Direct Or Indirect

==============================================
What is "winging-it", and how do you approach it?
Winging-it is also known as improvising, and if you're a GM
chances are that you have already improvised something.
Battles are an excellent example of winging-it. Except for a
few notes in the module or your own pre-planned adventure,
you don't know how things will turn out. It's left to the
dice and the players' ingenuity. Every move can have an
unexpected consequence, and the GM has to deal with it and
weave it into a encounter.

This is what winging-it is, but at different levels:

* Perhaps it's a single encounter that is suddenly needed to

relieve the tension or to build some suspense.

* It might be a whole section of the session that you hadn't

had time to plan.

* Or, it might be the whole adventure itself.

People have a great ability to improvise. In fact, living in

this world should be practice enough, since you never know
what's going to happen from day to day. To apply it to
roleplaying however might be a little more difficult. I
wrote these tips based on my own experience, hoping it will
help others.

Now, how do you approach winging-it? It might seem scary or

a big task. I've had experience with two approaches: the
direct and indirect approach (sometimes known as the hard
and soft approach).

The Direct Approach

-------------------
The direct approach is the first one I tried many, many
years ago. It probably worked because I had only one player
at the time. It was easy to react to the player and adapt to
him.

This approach consists of bluntly saying "The next adventure

will not be planned. It will be completely improvised." It
will probably work best for you if you choose one of your
players and ask him if he wants to try an improvised
adventure that is not connected to your current campaign.

The Indirect Approach

---------------------
The indirect approach is generally more effective for
groups and involves a gradual move towards improvisation.
It's the second method that I tried after a few years of
gaming and after many planned sessions that weren't always
as good as "the good old days".

I didn't know back then about "winging-it" or "improvising".

But I started thinking about it and what I could do to
regain the glory of the past. So, I started planning less
and less. Instead of a whole page for each section,
encounter, etc, I began writing only paragraphs. Only the
important points. I would use this info to build the
adventure during the game. Then I wrote less and less, until
I wrote only just a sentence or two for each section, plus
some detailed info for places, characters, etc. This worked
well and my players enjoyed themselves - so much, in fact,
that they started demanding improvised adventures rather
than planned ones.

Once you're comfortable with the indirect method of secretly

planning less for each adventure, you can warn your players
that you'll use the direct method. As long as they agree you
can go ahead.

The important thing, regardless of which method you start

with, is to not be afraid. As I said, improvising is
something we do every day. Unless your players are really
insensitive, they'll understand if you make mistakes.
They'll even help you, tell you what they would have liked,
why it went wrong, etc. They're your best allies.

These tips are based solely on my experiences. I've rarely

been a player and I haven't met a lot of GMs, but they'll
hopefully be of use to you and your campaign.

2. Be Prepared
==============
This sounds like a contradiction to winging-it, but you
should be prepared in a couple of ways.

First, it helps to have a clear campaign goal in mind. How

you get to it during play is irrelevant as long as it's fun.
And if you don't get to it, well, at least you're not
railroading your players and they'll feel more free.

Be prepared for that situation too - if the PCs don't kill

the super-villain before he invokes the demon that destroys
half the world, well, let half of the world be destroyed
then. But also let the player characters live (or some of
them, mwahahha) and in the next session they can try to find
a way to fight that demon and stop him from destroying the
other half.

And, most importantly, be prepared for your players. Make

sure that you'll be accommodating their different needs
during a game. They're your audience and your main
characters.

3. Planning Is Sometimes Irrelevant

===================================
One law of the universe I have observed over my last 10
years of gaming states the following:

"The GM thinks of everything, plans for every contingency,

except for what the players think about."

No matter what you prepare, your players will find a way

around it, or just completely ignore it. Don't worry, simply
go along with them and see where this new route will take
the game. There's no real need to bring them back into the
main plot hook. Read tip #4 for more.

4. Listen To Your Players

=========================
"2 heads are better than 1" says the old proverb. Now
imagine *four* players trying to find clues about something
you thought of on-the-fly. They're bound to come up with
multiple solutions, and they might not even come up with the
one(s) you thought of.

So, listen to them. If they're really involved in the game,

they might think up better ideas than you had, and if you
incorporate these ideas into your game, they'll enjoy it
even more. If you changed the clue based on what a player
said, he'll be overjoyed because he "figured out the GM's
plan!"

I used to have a player who understood that, and he also

understood that I improvised a lot. He said everything that
crossed his mind during a session to give me ideas. In a
sense, he was co-GM, but also a player. :)

But, you're not forced to use your players' ideas exactly

as they thought of them... Adding some twists helps.

Players are also good at coming up with little details. In

our last adventure (sci-fi), one of the PCs was a bomb
expert. At a research base on the moon IO, he had a vault
full of explosives. Near the end of the session, when that
vault was becoming important, he added the detail that there
was an auto-destruct sequence that activated if someone
tried to open the vault - someone other than him. This
hadn't been discussed before, but that was OK. I instantly
seized the opportunity to make a much cooler ending for the
adventure than the one I thought of.

Players, of course, view the game-world from the perspective

of their characters. They'll always see some little details
about their PC's life that you don't notice or think about.
Implement these details. The world will become more real for
your players, and more enjoyable for everyone.

5. Don't Worry If You Run Out Of Ideas

======================================
Take a break, talk to your players. This goes hand in hand
with tip #3. At least one player will always have an opinion
of how things will go from here. They'll appreciate that you
asked for their opinions, and that you actually incorporated
their ideas into your game.

Remember, this is their game too. It's not like a movie

where the audience pays to see it and only plays a passive
role. Your players are a well of ideas that's waiting to be
tapped. Never underestimate their creativity or their
opinions. In fact, encourage them to have ideas about how
things will evolve. Talk to them between sessions about how
their character feels, what they feel is to come. This is a
gold mine of information that will keep you winging-it for a
long time.

For example, in one of my games (that I wasn't completely

improvising), a centaur army was about to crush all six
characters because they had given them a false statue of
great importance to them. One of the mages in the group
decided to teleport himself and the other mage to a great
city, leaving the other four behind without any magic.
This wasn't what I had planned. Since it was almost supper
time, I called for a break, which was ok because this was a
really tense moment.

As the break began I talked to the players and asked them

"so, how could this go on from here? You all know I hadn't
planned for this..." We discussed this for a few minutes and
some very good ideas came up. When we returned after supper
things went well and I incorporated many of their ideas
successfully.

6. React To Your Players

========================
One great thing about winging-it is that if you notice your
players are bored with what's happening, you can just throw
your current idea out the window and start anew. No long
hours of planning gone to waste. You can even prepare, in
your head, a few alternate plot lines in case this happens.

During the middle of one session, where I had a whole

plot line that I had planned for almost a year and that night
was to be the climax of the story, I decided to throw the
whole plot out. I knew my players were tired of this kind of
plot and it showed. They knew they were going to meet the
bad guy, have a fight, and prevent him from doing whatever
he was doing (they didn't know yet what it was).

That's when I threw out my plot and used an alternate one I

thought of the night before. The bad guy cast a powerful
spell and they all went back in time to relive the last
moments of the city that now lay in ruins. But there was a
reason for this, one that explained many events of the last
three thousand years, and once they came back the
players/characters had a different view of the world.
Suddenly the bad guy wasn't so bad after all. They even
helped him, and only at the end did they realize they had
destroyed magic (even though they were told it could return,
one day). They thoroughly enjoyed it and they even called
this game a "legend" (we call games that we still remember
after 5 or 10 years "legends" because we had so much fun).

Reacting to your players also ties in with the above tips.

You have to know what they like and try to incorporate that
into your sessions. They will generally react favourably and
will like it. They'll also notice that if they're more
involved, if they give ideas, things will be more fun.
7. Be The World
===============
This might be the hardest tip of all, but I think it's what
kept me afloat in the winging-it game over the last many
years. I "was" the world. Let your game universe be alive
inside of you. You are the creator and the people living in
the world are your creations. Live in that world. Meet the
people, visit the places. Put yourself in the shoes of these
people.

I found I've had much more success as a GM, winging-it or

not, when I was in that mind frame - and not only during
gaming sessions. The world is constantly alive. Feed it with
your imagination, let your subconscious be the canvas where
the world comes alive. Think about what could happen next
when you're on the bus coming from work, before you sleep
(this is actually one of the reasons it usually takes me
quite a while to start sleeping ;), etc.

No need to write down every idea. As long as the world is

alive within you, you'll have an almost infinite resource to
draw on new ideas while you improvise. I can't really
explain it in more concrete terms; it's just something that
I've done for as long as I can remember GMing. And I've
always had this notion that the world I created was alive
inside me, and that we ourselves are NPCs in a super-GM's
world.

8. Winging-It Is Like Being A Player

====================================
Whenever I read a definition of roleplaying games, there's
often mention of "interactive fiction" or similar terms.
Along similar lines, I think that being a GM should be like
being a player.

Think about how your players play for a moment. They

certainly don't plan ahead what they'll do, who they'll
encounter, what monster they'll kill, etc. When I GM, it's
similar. I don't know who the players will meet, where
they'll go, etc. I react to them just like they react to my
descriptions of events, battles, places, etc. Now it really
becomes interactive fiction.

Of course, nothing precludes that the GM might have a plan,

an objective. But don't force players into it. As I said, it
doesn't matter how you get there, as long as you do.
Regardless of whether you throw a ball or if you throw a
brick at the window, it still gets broken.

Summary
==========
Looking back, it seems like a lot of my winging-it tips
revolve around the players, and it's very true. They are
your audience and your actors. You are their audience and
their world.
Listen to your players' ideas and plans. They might come in
very useful when you run out of ideas. React to your
players' actions just like they react to your world. Nothing
is predetermined and players always find a way to go
around what you planned, so let them succeed and your games
will become more interesting. If you run out of ideas ask
your players for input during, before, or after the game.
Let the world live inside you: know it, breathe it. Avoid
railroading the PCs into something they don't want to be
part of, unless you're sure it's better this way and that
they'll enjoy it.

Patrice L.

[Johnn: feel free to send me any feedback you have about

this week's tips and I'll be sure to forward them to Patrice.
Thanks. johnn@roleplayingtips.com

For additional articles on winging-it, check these out:

"Running on the Fly: Tips on running an unplanned RPG session."

http://www.roleplaygames.about.com/library/weekly/aa111700.htm

How To Maintain Game Consistency, While Winging-It, For Left-Brain Game Masters"
http://www.roleplayingtips.com/issue43.html

"How To Maintain Game Consistency, While Winging-It, For Left-Brain Game Masters,
Part II"
http://www.roleplayingtips.com/issue44.html

"How To Maintain Game Consistency, While Winging-It, For Right-Brain Game Masters"
http://www.roleplayingtips.com/articles/how_to_maintain_game_consistency_for_right-
brain_GMs.php

]
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READERS' TIPS OF THE WEEK

1. Rewards For Roleplaying

From: Ted O.
==========================
People talk about rewarding roleplaying with this or that...
Two key points are:

1) The reward has to be something the player values. If the

player values experience points or story points (and who
doesn't?!) then roleplaying has to be worth more XP to them
than combat (or a combination). If they value items,
spotlight-time, a sidebar in the newsletter... whatever it
is, that should be the reward.

2) The reward for "desired" behaviour has to be better than

the reward for "undesired" behaviour. If my DM gives me
800XP for totally disrupting the game (and the campaign) by
completely wiping out an entire inn and all the NPCs,
including the plot-hooks and the guy who hired us, but only
gives the player next to me 50XP for a nice chat with the
tavern-owner, afterwards... see the message there?

2. Fast Combat & Reducing Table Talk Tip

From: Alex J.
=======================================
How often have you had this happen? "You stay with the
Caravan for four days. One night, as you're standing
sentry, an arrow whizzes past your ear. Make a spot check,
roll initiative, and tell me what you do." The player makes
his spot and initiative checks and then starts discussing
tactics with the other players.

Ambushes, sudden brawls, and heavy combat are not intended

to afford their victims with the chance to make a rational
plan that will take the best tactical advantage of a
situation. Too many players will take an initiative check
as a cue to discuss strategy and tactical positions with
other players before doing anything.

I have instituted a rule that, when a player's turn comes

up, they have six seconds to declare what their character
does (six seconds was chosen because it is the length of one
round in D&D 3e, which we play). Nor are players permitted
to speak to each other, except whatever they can say in
their six seconds (usually, "Go there!" "Fight him!" etc.).

3. Adding Zeppelins To Fantasy Worlds

From: Johnn F.
=====================================
I know, you're saying to yourself "that Johnn Four has got a
lot of nerve posting a tip of his own in this section of the
newsletter", but I thought that this email, which I recently
sent in response to a roleplaying question, might be of
interest to you too. Even if you're not thinking of adding
zeppelins to your campaign, you might find the questions
below applicable to any technology you'd like to introduce.

--- In a message dated October 24th, Johnn Four wrote: ---

Hi Sean,

Here are some things to consider when thinking about adding

zeppelins to a medieval style fantasy campaign:

* How can they be used as a weapon (by good and evil)?

* How can they be used as a defense (by good and evil)?

* How do they work?

* Who has the technology (mechanical or magical) to build them?
* If they become important to the game world's powers, what
kind of struggles/conflicts would ensue?
- i.e. sabotage, create a manufacturing monopoly, guarding
their construction secrets and spying, etc.
* How would they affect communication?
* Are there competing methods of communication that are better?
* If not, then they'd become quite valuable
- note: anything that speeds up communication makes your
game world more complex, and therefore makes GMing a little
tougher

* What are the zeppelins' major weaknesses?

* Who knows this?
* Who would want to take advantage of this?

* What are the zeppelins' strengths and capabilities?

* Who would want to take advantage of this?
- i.e. merchants (business opportunity), nobles (privilege
of the wealthy), military (weapon, defense, information
gathering), fanatics, villains

* What do the clergy/world's religions think of this?

- i.e. heresy, competition

* Most power groups (at least those currently experiencing

good times) dislike change and always seek the status quo.
* Would there be a potential shift in influence or power?
* If so, how would the power groups react?
- i.e. destroy, absorb or control?
* For example, dragons may control the airspace over cities
in your world. Would they relinquish that to zeppelin
pilots?

* What natural threats to zeppelins would there be?

- i.e. monsters, weather, magical
* How would the builders compensate?

Hope this helps.

Cheers,

Johnn

4. Dry Erase Boards & Battlemats Don't Mix

From: Ted O.
==========================================
I used to swear by dry erase boards -- I still love them for
everything except gaming. Can't you just guess why I hate
them for gaming? Because I ruined my brand new battle mat
with dry erase markers. It's just too easy to grab the
closest marker, or the one you're fiddling with, and start
drawing.

On the plus side, I ruined the "squares" side of my mat, and

really-really liked switching to hexes (even though all the
D&D 3e rules are in squares, I prefer the way hexes handle
diagonal movement -- I just like them).

Then unfortunately, 3 sessions later, I drew 4 long lines --

a full-mat-length T-intersection -- on the hex-side with
*dry erase markers*!
Now I have a new mat, and dry erase is not allowed in the
gaming room on gaming days. Like I said, I still love the
dry erase board for everything else, but it's not allowed
near my battlemat.

By the way, does anyone know how to get dry erase off a
mat? So far, everything that dissolves dry erase also wipes
the lines off the mat -- not very helpful.

5. Make Success-Focused Players The Centre Of Attention

From: Rob E.
=======================================================
This tip applies both to increasing character 'heroism' and
to making a difficult player work better in the game.

To have fun while playing is naturally the most important.

But I have a player that doesn't necessarily think so. Most
important for him is success and to be better than the other
players. This is really annoying, especially since he has
quit playing one or two times when his character wasn't the
best. He did have his splendid moments though, so I still
want him in my group.

So, what I did was put him in the center of the play. His
character in the current game is the King. Even though his
kingdom is occupied by an evil villain, still, he is the
King. That his character is far from the best now is
suddenly not so important to the player any more.

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That's it for this week's issue.

Have more fun at every game!

Johnn Four
mailto:johnn@roleplayingtips.com

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