The Art of Improvisation
The Art of Improvisation
“Okay, this is stupid. I’m jumping the pit,” raves the fighter, pushing past the group to get settled for a running jump.
There’s suddenly violent coughing as the Dungeon Master sharply sits forward. “You’re going to try and JUMP a twenty-foot pit?!” He made no effort to sugar coat how unlikely he thought they could accomplish it.
“Yes. I’m not walking the edge of a cliff which, to me, screams ambush when I could just leap across with a rope and make an easy path for the party.”
The DM stared at the player in disbelief. He watched as several other players nodded in agreement, saying they didn’t mind the fighter trying. “What— guys, come on. Are you sure you want to do this?”
A collective wave of nods spread around the table much to the DM’s dismay.
With a sigh, head resting in his hands, and the pain of their stupidity weighing heavily on him already the DM wheezed, “O-kay. Roll athletics….”
If you want a great way to torture your Dungeon Master, fit the easiest ways to derail the entire session. The little story above is a perfect example of this. All you DM’s out there know the terror of “oh GOD what are they doing???” when the players suddenly decided to do something completely unexpected. The fear comes because the players have chosen to take a route of the story you didn’t plan for.
You could be thinking about how it is impossible to predict and prepare for every scenario of a situation and you’re right. We’re only human, it’s very unrealistic for us to figure out every answer to a situation you’d be putting your players through. Fortunately, there is a skill every Dungeon Master can learn to combat these surprise encounters. It’s called improvising.
The act of improvising means you play off the other character's action. When a player makes a choice and it’s not the decision you intended them to make, mentally process their move then formulate a plan of how to get the story back on track. Once you have an idea of how to play things out, lead the player’s along like you’ve always done until you’re back to your original storyline.
An easy way to do this is following the role: “yes and”. The “yes and” role means you never say no. By no, I mean you silently agree to the player’s actions by adding on your own response to their choice. This can be hard to understand so I’ll put it into simpler terms using the example above. The player’s decision was when the fighter decided he wanted to leap across the twenty-foot rift. Now, obviously, anyone knows that in real life that would be impossible but in Dungeons & Dragons completing the impossible isn’t unheard of. Of course, any DM would know to pass this certain ability check (that being athletics) the player would have to roll super high; most likely between an eighteen and a twenty.
Rather than saying “you can’t do that, it’s not possible” to the player, the DM asks, “Are you sure you want to do this?” I believe it’s important to clarify with the players to make sure what they're about to do is a choice they really want to make. Sometimes they’ll say things before thinking it through and if you make it clear this probably isn’t a good idea, it helps them give a deeper thought over what choice they just took. Most of the time, players stick to their decision, believing they can complete the task. If the do, just like the fighter above did, proceed to the next step.
Since the DM wasn’t planning for this to happen, they had to quickly set a certain DC ability check for the player to pass in order for the player to succeed (that’s where the DC 18 ability check comes in.) By doing this step, depending on whatever situation it is, you’d be following the “yes and” role. The DM was following along with the choice the player took, even though it’s not the greatest idea. Rather than immediately shutting them down, he agreed to the decision and played it out in-game.
When a player throws a wrench in your plans things get stressful fast. We all want the story to go one way and when things are suddenly being derailed panic ensues and all we want is for things to go back to what was originally planned. We can’t expect that though. The players will grab the stories wheel sometimes and do a complete one-eighty with several choices they decide to make. That is completely okay and actually deepens the story so much more I think. Whenever this happens remember to breathe, remember where the session is supposed to end, and follow the “yes and” role.
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