Prepare to Improv

Preparation is an important thing for a DM. Prep is basically the mini-game the DM inflicts on himself so he can inflict the fun of the game on the players. He crunches the numbers, builds stat blocks, prepares adventures and NPCs and makes notes about stuff.

Some DMs are Fanatical Preparers. These are the guys who keep copies of their world in their back pocket, have maps for every major city, maps for dungeons, complex treasure charts and the like. These mythical unicorns are like Batman, with a plan for everything written down somewhere.

They’re also wholly fictional.  No DM, anywhere has the time or inclination for this level of exactly insane preparation. Any good DM will tell you that ultimately, no plan survives contact with the enem..err, players.

Now, some DMs do prepare more than others, or they rely on the prep work of other DMs. Adventure Paths allow for DMs to limit the amount of preparation they have to handle, although it’s far from freeing them of it entirely.

Some DMs go for the entirely improv’d situation. These DMs are not fictional, but what these DMs tend to be, is horrible. Not in a single session of course, but over time, the improv-only DM begins to turn into the snake-oil salesman who hasn’t left town soon enough. Details start to not add up, holes begin to show in the narrative. Either he has to start recording stuff and planning for things, or things fall apart.

A lot of people look at tournament play, or one-shots and marvel at the skill of the Improv Only Guy. But the Campaign is where the real GM lives. Recurring sessions with recurring players, who almost demand that things begin to be adapted for them.

Thus, at the fear of sounding like I’m a proponent of the golden mean fallacy, the ideal path lies between. The DM must make sufficient preparation that then allows for him to pull details and events out of his butt, think of it like the random encounters you get in Bethesda games.

Now, this is just random puffery. Of course Spook, we know all of this, why are you wasting our time? This is just to fill in a post, isn’t it?

Well, yeah, but there’s more.

I’m going to give some of my tricks away.

1.    Nobody needs a name until they do. Everyone needs details.

Many other GMs keep lists of names around, random generators for Inn names, people names, etc. This is a good trait, but you don’t need to throw a name around instantly. If the party wants to head to an Inn in town, tell them they found it. Give details about the Inn. The party wasn’t looking for names, and maybe the name wasn’t even listed on the sign outside. But if the place serves pan-fried Ankheg sandwiches, or is renowned for its crab even while the chef is clearly fighting off early stages of anaphylaxis well, that’s going to help set the scene. The name can come later.

2.    Recognize why you’re shooting from the cuff, and adapt for that.

Players will go off into ‘thou didst not prep’ land frequently, but they always have a reason. Exploration, wanting to find an item, looking for info, or even pursuing leads that you unintentionally gave them. This changes what they want to find, and what information they expect.

If the party druid decides he’s going to slip into the sewers to commune with the rats for info about the goings on above, you don’t need specific names, locales or the like, you just need to figure out what a rat would know, for example. That brings us to 3.

3.    Recognize that your players don’t expect you to know everything, but they don’t want to wait.

I call this a ‘Loading Screen.’ Players, good ones anyway, recognize that their GMs have enormous amounts of material they have to sort through. Maps. Character details. NPCs. Campaign information. Historical documents. Pepsi cans and miniatures. And so on.

A relatively quick loading screen while you shuffle is perfectly acceptable, and keep in mind that time without is far longer than that time within when you’re struggling to think something up.

But don’t take too long. Relax. Let the ideas click, and go with them.

4.    The Bluff

Your players will often think courses of action they take are stuff you haven’t planned for. As you know, this isn’t always true. Act like you’re improv’ing the material, even though you have it written down in nice black pen and the NPCs they’re meeting you stat’d up two months ago. This will buy you credit when you actually need to do off-the-cuff stuff. It also means that they always feel like their actions are accounted for, one way or the other, and they aren’t riding a railroad (which ideally they aren’t). You’re not lying to them. Don’t lie to them. But don’t tell them when you check your notes for actual details you had prepared or when you’re writing the new details you just invented into them.

5.    Toss A Distraction Grenade

If you don’t have enough time to take advantage of point three above, figure out some good distractions. Distractions can also present really good game play options their own. Throw minor dilemmas at the party. How are they going to deal with new information? Which way will they go? Which of two inns are they going to? Make sure to include little details like one being near a road, or by the docks, or the like (and remember these details) and make sure to listen in while they discuss.

Make the distraction something that can engage the players, ideally all of them. If they aren’t all engaged, they aren’t distracted. Also, while they have their discussion, you can use that as jumping off points to find out what they’re worried about or what they’re looking for in this situation you’ve ended up in. Avoid making these things combat scenes. If you’re busy with adjudication, you probably don’t have a lot of side time for cogitation.

6.    Know your world’s ‘voice.’

Know enough about your setting, your AP, or the current environment that when you make something up, it sounds similar to what the rest of the stuff is. I can’t really expound on this one. You just need to have your own stuff internalized, and that, surprisingly enough, requires a bit of preparation on your part.


7.    Be sodding consistent

Chances are good that stuff you make up won’t matter twenty minutes after you make it up. But sometimes it’s vital, absolutely vital to remember it. I say this because everything you say, every bit of information that comes over that screen is ‘real’ to your players the second air touches your damn vocal chords. To you, it might seem like nonsense you came up with half a second ago, to the players its now information, and by thunder they will use it.

So again, try to record stuff. And this is why I said that details are more important than names. See, I suck with names. But I remember details, relationships and personalities far more.


Well, there’s some advice. I hope it’s useful!

And remember, you aren’t lying to your players, you’re preparing on the fly.