tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1389986049507804094.post6335046628290878457..comments2024-03-25T21:52:03.310-05:00Comments on Hill Cantons: The Fickle Art of GM ImprovChris Kutalikhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01414743509426875792noreply@blogger.comBlogger13125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1389986049507804094.post-48377009606985751152012-01-14T22:53:52.337-06:002012-01-14T22:53:52.337-06:00Why would that spoil it? I find just the opposite ...Why would that spoil it? I find just the opposite - it lets the players know they are free to contribute and that their every action moves the world in some way.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12508594597349248576noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1389986049507804094.post-69348713408431191972012-01-14T11:13:50.216-06:002012-01-14T11:13:50.216-06:00Looking through my notes it's shocking how muc...Looking through my notes it's shocking how much of the Hill Cantons campaign dress was created by "yes and". We riff a lot at the home table based on the campaign logic (or lack thereof), absurd religious doctrine in particular. <br /><br />"I've seen plenty of old schoolers imply that a world made-up on the spot via improv (or player incorporation) is too new school, and then pull out a sheaf of random tables and proceed to generate content on the fly"<br /><br />I've run into the same. I have started to come to the realization that there are two souls (camps?) of people attracted to old school: 1. those who were attracted to recreating the free-wheeling, experimental, rules-lite feel of gaming back then, and 2. those who have some kind of ossified neo-con image of a game frozen in time. <br /><br />Fooey on the latter.Chris Kutalikhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01414743509426875792noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1389986049507804094.post-45259943140487034882012-01-14T10:51:51.972-06:002012-01-14T10:51:51.972-06:00I have done two a few more times that I normally w...I have done two a few more times that I normally would care to admit. In fact a whole mini-dungeon, the Frog Demon Temple, was generated with nothing more than a few rolls on Jeff Rient's Frog Demon chart in Cinder for guidance. <br /><br />Agree that every GM should try it at least once as it really cranks up your thinking on your feet level to 11.Chris Kutalikhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01414743509426875792noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1389986049507804094.post-70045838897494567662012-01-14T09:13:34.705-06:002012-01-14T09:13:34.705-06:00Good, solid advice. The part about writing it dow...Good, solid advice. The part about writing it down is key; a hallmark of good improv is <b>incorporation</b>, or reincorporation, making sure that details are relevant later on in the campaign. Especially if you're playing the Yes, And game and things are being created whole cloth. Wifey acts and directs improv shows (time permitting) so I have no lack of practical advice on the home front.<br /><br />Improv does present an interesting phenomenon; I've seen plenty of old schoolers imply that a world made-up on the spot via improv (or player incorporation) is too new school, and then pull out a sheaf of random tables and proceed to generate content on the fly. So there's funny ideas out there about what's actually going on.<br /><br />It pains me to say it, because I grew to loathe everything else about the system, but the 4E DMG had lots of good improv advice (and the 4E DMG 2 followed it up with more sophisticated techniques).Johnhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18031181424520125213noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1389986049507804094.post-10693308043979793602012-01-13T21:02:10.490-06:002012-01-13T21:02:10.490-06:00Great post.
One of my biggest problems is I can...Great post. <br /><br />One of my biggest problems is I can't keep secrets and I'm too honest. So, I always (well too often) reveal I just made shit up, or that I'm unprepared, etc. Which really spoils it.Norman J. Harman Jr.https://www.blogger.com/profile/01319655075997712313noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1389986049507804094.post-90280789188953176052012-01-13T18:20:42.382-06:002012-01-13T18:20:42.382-06:00There are two major ways that I practice improv.
...There are two major ways that I practice improv.<br /><br />1. Run games for kids. I especially like TOON since it has no limits on what kind of character can be made. You simply cannot prepare for a game with kid players. It will be a constant barrage of the unexpected.<br /><br />2. Be lazy and don't do shit to prep for a game session, then just pretend like everything's normal and run it anyways. Get some meaningless paper in front of you with meaningless stuff on it to help pretend like you are actually going off notes. This can be stressful at times, and you have to be in the right frame of mind, but amazing games can come out of this as well. I recommend everyone do this once in a while.Jeremy Deramhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13166744272459044563noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1389986049507804094.post-13253402983187559732012-01-13T15:24:51.684-06:002012-01-13T15:24:51.684-06:00"Self-consistency helps the illusion of being..."Self-consistency helps the illusion of being in an alternate reality no end, in fact it IS the illusion." <br /><br />That's a key point, hinted at obliquely in the "write it down" point. <br /><br />Certainly the longer I run any setting the easier improv becomes in general , not just because of comfort but because I think I start to slowly understand the dynamics and logic behind it with each session. <br /><br />And definitely my homebrew settings are easier for me to improv in than the published ones--even those that I have a relatively high and silly amount of canon detail mastery of--because I've been forced to think about what makes it tick deeper. <br /><br />I would imagine that the big name world creator GMs like Barker and Stafford find it pretty easy to pull out spontaneous things at the table based on how it would logically "feel" in their worlds.Chris Kutalikhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01414743509426875792noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1389986049507804094.post-87739569018361811822012-01-13T14:57:10.955-06:002012-01-13T14:57:10.955-06:00I'm going to try and do better on the theatric...I'm going to try and do better on the theatrics. Zak rightly pointed out that my Griffin Mountain game sounds like what would happen if everyone in the world died out apart from the Cockneys (though if you have been to Balham you see that it is not so far from the neolithic world of Balazar to modern South London). I am therefore deciding that while Trilus is definitely still just east of Woolwich, Elkoi is going to be Birmingham, Dykene is in Cornwall, the Sartarites are Scotsmen and the Lunars are 'posh'.<br /><br />Key to GM improv, IMO is know your game world. Self-consistency helps the illusion of being in an alternate reality no end, in fact it IS the illusion. If you make some random detail up one session (Goblins use their own teeth as currency, hence the frequency of fist fights trying to knock them out) you can't go back on it in another. You cannot know ALL the details of your world, but you need to know how it 'feels' so that it never takes more than a couple of seconds to come up with an answer to fill in a blank.Davehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04631136220399968633noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1389986049507804094.post-10927992900774061192012-01-13T13:58:09.287-06:002012-01-13T13:58:09.287-06:00I'm lucky in that everyone in my 8 strong real...I'm lucky in that everyone in my 8 strong real life group is in professional or amateur theatre. This is also why half the group want to GM... Bloody directors! :DAnonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10678503778316350427noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1389986049507804094.post-24148022519094534132012-01-13T13:44:02.632-06:002012-01-13T13:44:02.632-06:00It was a win-win situation for Xhomar really. Luck...It was a win-win situation for Xhomar really. Lucky for the rest of the party they let us in without your bondage.Chris Kutalikhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01414743509426875792noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1389986049507804094.post-90644745515873963842012-01-13T13:42:53.915-06:002012-01-13T13:42:53.915-06:00And nothing says improv like the Service.And nothing says improv like the Service.Chris Kutalikhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01414743509426875792noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1389986049507804094.post-1461266168704165282012-01-13T13:39:34.213-06:002012-01-13T13:39:34.213-06:00I liked how you tried to improvise your companions...I liked how you tried to improvise your companions into coinage by telling the guards to let you into their keep because you had slaves to sell.Toddhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04921387967662542436noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1389986049507804094.post-92102552240220620632012-01-13T13:03:41.594-06:002012-01-13T13:03:41.594-06:00Good points all, I was also an actor in
high schoo...Good points all, I was also an actor in<br />high school and college and to add to that<br />I used to work for the government so I'm "absurdly silly" friendly...)Don Mhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07230631364253238804noreply@blogger.com