{"id":2047,"date":"2016-01-08T08:00:34","date_gmt":"2016-01-08T16:00:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.theredactedfiles.com\/?p=2047"},"modified":"2016-01-12T10:11:23","modified_gmt":"2016-01-12T18:11:23","slug":"lessons-for-improv-gms","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theredactedfiles.com\/?p=2047","title":{"rendered":"Lessons for Improv GMs"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>I have to admit that in my time as a GM, I probably haven\u2019t put forth the sort of effort that many might expect. The thing is, that I think I\u2019ve done pretty well for myself and my groups by weaving the story as we go. That said, there are things that I\u2019ve come to learn are very important to consider when running games by the seat of your pants.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><em>Take Notes<\/em><br \/>\nThis should go without saying, but I\u2019ve often failed to take adequate notes. This means that in long-running games where there are extended gaps between sessions, you run the risk of losing track of important details or useful plot hooks. Continuity counts when creating a world your players can sink their teeth into. Also, it\u2019s one of the ways your world can seem more fair than it might actually be\u2026 \ud83d\ude1b<\/li>\n<li><em>Stay Vague, Until You Can\u2019t Anymore<\/em><br \/>\nIt\u2019s long been understood that any engaged group of players regularly comes up with more dire circumstances for themselves than their GM ever had in mind. Keep this always in your thoughts as you build toward where you think you want the story to go. Listen to your players\u2019 character dialogue, and you can transform the jump scare three encounters into the smugglers\u2019 hideout from a randomized event into a callback to something the ranger muttered about when the party first set off into the woods.<\/li>\n<li><em>Play Dirty<\/em><br \/>\nI\u2019ve often heard complaints from GMs about how their elaborate plans for their players demise were foiled by a decision to take the walking tour through town instead of the train full of cultists. When you\u2019re making it up as you go, you by definition don\u2019t have this problem. Let the players build the gallows, just keep the rope handy for when they step onto the platform.<\/li>\n<li><em>Play to Lose<\/em><br \/>\nWith wha I just said in mind, remember that this isn\u2019t a competition. Your opposition is supposed to give way, not to the players, but to the inexorable, inevitable force of the plot. Failure isn\u2019t only not fun, it\u2019s counterproductive. So, turn those failed die rolls into opportunities to make the story interesting. After all, who\u2019s to say what was supposed to happen if that trap was triggered, you and only you.<\/li>\n<li><em>Act Like You Didn\u2019t<\/em><br \/>\nAnd keeping what I just wrote in mind, don\u2019t ever let your players think you\u2019ve given them anything. Reward them with more challenges. They\u2019ve just overcome the cavern mazes of the Northern Highlands: reward, the sword that makes defeating the dragon that makes its lair at the heart of the subterranean labyrinth even remotely winnable. If you can sound like you\u2019re disappointed they got it, that\u2019s all the better.<\/li>\n<li><em>Keep the Spotlight on a Swivel<\/em><br \/>\nBecause you\u2019re scenario isn\u2019t foreordained you can easily adjust your narrative to allocate attention to whichever character has sort of been standing in the back, running things remotely. Everyone likes their time at the center of things, and keeping generic encounters for your tech guy and face in your back pocket. Waiting for the insertion of the right flavor text can do wonders for party dynamics.<\/li>\n<li><em>Be Prepared to Get Very Specific (or Cinematic) at the Drop of a Hat<\/em><br \/>\nPractice describing things. Look around the room you\u2019re in right now. Is it small? Is it well lit? Is it a train carriage with three rows of four seats split lengthwise by a narrow aisle with the California countryside slipping by the windows in the early afternoon glare? Does the masked assassin take a shot to the shoulder, or does her shoulder explode in a spray of blood and bone as the vector\u2019s slaughter accelerator fills the air with a cloud of needle-sharp projectiles. Just because your sketching in the picture as you go doesn\u2019t mean it can be without interesting details. In fact, adding just the right details to trigger your players imaginations can make for an even more memorable scene for each of them than a long paragraph read from a published module, even if every single one is seeing something completely different.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I have to admit that in my time as a GM, I probably haven\u2019t put forth the sort of effort that many might expect. The thing is, that I think I\u2019ve done pretty well for myself and my groups by weaving the story as we go. That said, there are things that I\u2019ve come to&hellip; <a class=\"continue\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theredactedfiles.com\/?p=2047\">Continue Reading Lessons for Improv GMs<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[41],"tags":[71,15],"class_list":["post-2047","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog-posts","tag-advice","tag-aser"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5r9Oo-x1","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":3321,"url":"https:\/\/www.theredactedfiles.com\/?p=3321","url_meta":{"origin":2047,"position":0},"title":"How a Blind Gamer Runs Games","author":"Aser Tolentino","date":"May 18, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Assistive technology is an amazing thing. I used to tell friends that for a large part of human history, careers for the blind were restricted to beggar, musician or soothsayer. That\u2019s a fair bit of hyperbole, but by and large a wide swath of everyday occupations and leisurely pursuits were\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Accessibility&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Accessibility","link":"https:\/\/www.theredactedfiles.com\/?cat=168"},"img":{"alt_text":"Screenshot on iphone of text from 'Our Ladies of Sorrow' adventure loaded in VoiceDream. You can see the text of the scenario, as well as the play\/pause button. ","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.theredactedfiles.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/unnamed.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1757,"url":"https:\/\/www.theredactedfiles.com\/?p=1757","url_meta":{"origin":2047,"position":1},"title":"Finding the Best System for Your Horror One-Shot","author":"Mike Goldrich","date":"October 10, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"As I prepare my horror RPG one-shot for a local convention, I\u2019ve been reflecting on the Halloween themed games I\u2019ve run over the years and what I\u2019ve learned from those experiences. Working with the Redacted Files, I\u2019ve seen how much they are aligned with the genre. That in mind, I\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Blog Posts&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Blog Posts","link":"https:\/\/www.theredactedfiles.com\/?cat=41"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1419,"url":"https:\/\/www.theredactedfiles.com\/?p=1419","url_meta":{"origin":2047,"position":2},"title":"News and Advice Round-Up","author":"Megan","date":"July 24, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"News and Advice Pour Over Lovecraft's notes for At the Mountain's of Madness Lovecraft's notes have been posted by Author Paul Tremblay on Instagram. It looks like you might have to sacrifice some sanity to decipher them. Just don't stare at it for too long... NASA Discovers Earth's Older Cousin\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Blog Posts&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Blog Posts","link":"https:\/\/www.theredactedfiles.com\/?cat=41"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/lovecraftzine.files.wordpress.com\/2015\/07\/madnessplotoutlinefinal-crop-article920-large.jpg?w=350&h=200&crop=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1888,"url":"https:\/\/www.theredactedfiles.com\/?p=1888","url_meta":{"origin":2047,"position":3},"title":"How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Game","author":"Brian Wille","date":"November 26, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"I discovered role-playing games when I was 10 and my friend was given a Basic set of Dungeons and Dragons on his birthday. I waited impatiently while he read the rules and we got started playing around midnight. I made a character and he ran the included dungeon all night\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Blog Posts&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Blog Posts","link":"https:\/\/www.theredactedfiles.com\/?cat=41"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4006,"url":"https:\/\/www.theredactedfiles.com\/?p=4006","url_meta":{"origin":2047,"position":4},"title":"Aser and Megan Go To GenCon (2018 Edition)","author":"Aser Tolentino","date":"August 7, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"It's August once again and the TRF braintrust's credit score has just dropped precipitously. This can mean only one thing: Aser and Megan are back from GenCon! Once again, we've returned with a suitcase full of new games to try and new scenarios to run. We've also made a bunch\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Blog Posts&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Blog Posts","link":"https:\/\/www.theredactedfiles.com\/?cat=41"},"img":{"alt_text":"Aser runs delta green for 8 players in Lucas Oil Stadium","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.theredactedfiles.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/unnamed-3.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.theredactedfiles.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/unnamed-3.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.theredactedfiles.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/unnamed-3.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.theredactedfiles.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/unnamed-3.jpg?resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.theredactedfiles.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/unnamed-3.jpg?resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1092,"url":"https:\/\/www.theredactedfiles.com\/?p=1092","url_meta":{"origin":2047,"position":5},"title":"Modules and \u201cHome-Brew\u201d Adventures","author":"Patrick West","date":"April 29, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"A friend of mine recently began to run his own Pathfinder RPG game and opted to use a prebuilt module from Paizo rather than craft his own adventure. Now this was a bit foreign to me as I have never run from a module, instead choosing to free form the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Blog Posts&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Blog Posts","link":"https:\/\/www.theredactedfiles.com\/?cat=41"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theredactedfiles.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2047","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theredactedfiles.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theredactedfiles.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theredactedfiles.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theredactedfiles.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2047"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.theredactedfiles.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2047\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2062,"href":"https:\/\/www.theredactedfiles.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2047\/revisions\/2062"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theredactedfiles.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2047"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theredactedfiles.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2047"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theredactedfiles.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2047"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}