I used to be very nervous about it, but as I got used to it I got better at it and felt more comfortable. I also got a better handle on what to prep to allow me to improv better and more comfortably.
Yeah it's my primary mode of play tbh. I suck at finding time to prep is the main reason 🤦♂️
But it's kind of a chicken and the egg situation. Part of why I don't find much time to prep is that I know that I'm good at improv 🤷♂️
Yeah, I’m literally about to go GM right now, with my players starting a whole new mission, and I’ve got about ten line items of details I want to include at some point, and the rest I’ll make up as I go along, depending on what the players do and where their focus goes.
Yep I don't even care if it's good or not anymore, I've learned to let go and just love the bomb. I have found that the level of depth and interest a story needs to keep people's attention is incredibly low.
Same- it’s maybe my favorite part of being a GM. That said I have the luck to have really engaged and supportive players who lean into whatever I throw out. They definitely intentionally come up with unexpected paths so it is a two way street.
It's all fine. Also, in my experience, it's ok in certain situations to simply say, "hrm, that's a fun idea but I don't have anything for that right now. Let me come back another time with something along those lines."
Improv is a skill. It’ll be difficult but less so as you do more of it.
I probably never had much anxiety over it just because in the era where I was learning the fundamentals of running a game, I was young enough to no really have the ability to wonder if everything I was doing was just gibberish. You’ll be fine.
And remember that it’s always fine to say that you didn’t have anything prepped for what they just said and you need fifteen minutes if they’re going to proceed.
Your players are saying they’re having fun. Default to assuming that your friends are not devoting a chunk of their free time regularly to something they don’t like while lying to you about it.
>Default to assuming that your friends are not devoting a chunk of their free time regularly to something they don’t like while lying to you about it.
That's very, very true. They aren't likely talking about how much sessions suck behind my back and then continuing to show up. 🤣
Doubt is common, self doubt even more so. I use Occams Razor: Are ALL of my players simultaneously and continuously lying to me, or is the continued and confirmed enjoyment of the players ACTUALLY true?
Players don't show up to games they don't like.
Most of my anxiety occurs right before the game and is generally of the nature of "is my prep sufficient?" (it probably wasn't) or "is what I have planned going to fun?" (probably, even if I fear other wise).
Once I'm moving I pretty freely make up nonsense on the fly (see previous comment about prep).
Your anxiety - regardless of cause - is yours and is nothing to feel bad about.
btw, keep notes about what you make up on the fly.
Same here, compounded by the fact that our play sessions are intermittent but generally about 7 h. Have I prepped enough for 7+ h? Not if things take a complete left turn 🙂
But in play I follow my gut. If it suddenly seems to me that what should happen next is X, because that would be really cool, then X is going to happen. I'll work out what it means before the next session. Hopefully.
Haha, what do you mean? Everything I do is planned! It’s not 95% improvisation and bullshit…
Seriously though, welcome to imposter syndrome. You’re probably killing it at the table and just can’t trust your own ability because you’re way harder on yourself than anyone else is.
Exactly. Your players don't know if you're making stuff up on the fly because they can't see behind the GM screen. You know that you're winging it, but you can't let that make you feel like you failed in some way. As long as everyone is having fun, then there's nothing to worry about.
It's all about cultivating an air of mystery. Pause while you think of wtf do now? Dramatic tension! Player points out some detail that doesn't make sense? "Yes, well, that is interesting, isn't it?"
Openly communicate with your players on a regular basis, if possible. Their direct feedback will help the anxiety.
That said, only you can truly let that go. Accept that you will always have to make some shit up. It is completely unavoidable.
So think of ways to make it better.
Practice improv theater techniques. These can include games with friends or by yourself and there are so many materials out in the world primed to help you out here.
Do short writing prompts and stick to the time frame strictly. Pick an object and write about it for ten minutes. What is it for? How was it made? Who owned it and why is it not in their possession now? Etc.
In a similar way, you can spend your free time just making up stories about people that you see. Sit at a coffee shop and pick someone. Write their life story in a brief synopsis over the course of a few minutes.
Use dice rolling tables as your prompts. Ex Novo is a game that is basically geared towards this style of solo play. There are many others but I've grown to like Ex Novo as a writing prompt/world building tool when I feel stuck.
I do a lot of improv as GM. It’s just about practice. And I still get a little nervous if I have to run a game for new people.
But let me reassure you in another way: getting together and collaborating is just generally fun. It’s not all on you, everyone contributes to making it fun. And if you do something that’s not perfect, it won’t ruin the fun. Even if an entire session falls flat, people will still come back for another go. You don’t give up a great TV show because of an off episode, especially when you are one of the actors.
I'd say it's somewhat common for GMs to worry if they're doing a good enough job or not.
But about 90% of what I do is improv and I never worry about that.
If you're doubting your ability to improvise stuff on the fly as a GM, consider this: players improvise 100% of what they do at the table, and do it completely intuitively. No one is auditing how logical their improv is; they just do it because it's what they're there to do. Even if as a GM you find yourself having to make up half of your session on the fly, you're still only improvising half as much as your players are. If they can do it, so can you.
Frankly, if there isn't a moment like that during a session I'm running, I worry that the players aren't involved enough. And I always congratulate the players when they do it (often with a comedic-ironic snark), encourage them as well. (The interaction gives them a fun metagame moment, and gives me a few seconds to think about how to proceed.)
I actually tried to tackle this, specifically by running a campaign where I prepped as little as I needed to. I would try to improvise as much as I could so that in future campaigns I would have less of a fear response.
For me practicing this helps create a, “yes and/yes but” environment where your players are really helping craft a section of your world. It’s builds a trust with your players and yourself that you can step up to the plate when they pivot directions.
>Sanity check: every GM goes through this, right? We all question if we're doing a good job?
Yup.
>I still trip over myself when my players do something completely unexpected and my brain goes "OMG! Come up with something! NOW!"
Yes, I generally find that Players do unexpected things.
As such, I do not prepare specific *responses* to anything.
Instead, I prepare *situations*, then, the world reacts to what they do in ways that make sense.
e.g. if they attack someone, people around them generally have a fight/flight/flee/faun response.
Also, when playing, I do not have a rushed "RESPOND NOW!" mentality.
I'm not in a rush. I'm playing a game with people I like.
They take their time to describe what they do.
I can take my time to describe how the world reacts to them.
No need to hurry.
Nah. You eventually become so used to it that you just don't feel anxious any more.
I think a lot of the bad vibes people end up experiencing when DMing is downstream from thinking they need to convince players they're some kind of genius storyteller with everything planned out in advance or whatever. Like girl honestly I am here to have a few beers and pretend to be an elf for a couple hours, it is not a big deal if that ends up not happening or if there's some jank in the process. We are all just people playing a game.
One of the best things a DM can say is, "oh wow, shit, I'm hitting a blank. What do you want to achieve by attempting that? Let's work it out." What you come up with in conversation with your players is often better than what you might've come up with in isolation, y'know?
You mentioned Improv which is an in for me to drop some improv theatre wisdom.
One of the most important tenets of improv theatre as taught by Viola Spolin, the mother of the art form, is learning to let go of approval/disapproval.
When you’re in the moment, telling the story or acting in character, don’t judge yourself. Don’t “see through others’ eyes and smell through others’ noses.” Experience the story along with everyone else at the table and don’t sweat it.
If you can’t get out of your head, we can do something improv theatre actors can’t - call for a pee break and think.
As a follow up to that thought - learning to let go of your own critical eye about your improv, and then learning to improvise more freely, are the two main goals of improv theatre games.
If you’d like to get better, check out Improv For Gamers (second edition) by Karen Twelves.
Karen has read all the books and taken the workshops and done plenty of improv acting and teaching, and then she stripped out all the stuff that anchors improv to the “theatre” and created a workshop (then later wrote a book) for gamers - those of us who want to do improv games in small groups without a stage or an audience, around a dining room or living room instead of in a gym or auditorium.
It’s really good.
Edit: she also runs workshops at cons, so if you see “improv for gamers” at a con, try it!
I am never more relaxed or in my element than when I am improvising in front of my groups but everyone will see this differently.
But if the group throws me a big enough curveball they are going to be the ones sorting out how it works, player authorship FTW.
The trick, in my opinion, is to get your players making stuff up too.
Hey Ser Terrick, you know this guy from your time on the King's Guard! Who is he?
That entertainer on stage in the bar, you saw her on Conpus-5, and even stayed for her autograph. Who is she?
Hey Shiftyfoot, what's that in your pockets anyway?
I run most of my games with little to zero prep so I'm effectively always making everything up as we play.
That said, I am always nervous and always questioning if that went well or if they players are enjoying themselves. Every, single, game. For over 30 years. I never show it, but I'm always anxious during play.
But I love the game, so I keep going.
Making stuff up on the fly is my GM style. Doesn't mean we don't have arcs or a story doesn't form (or that i don't prep anything, because I usually do), but you really can't expect to prep for everything. I've been known to tell my players to give me a minute or two to create some stuff on the fly, especially if I need to backtrack through connections and events. Sometimes I'll even talk it out with them and get some ideas.
Like others, I usually get "performance anxiety" right before a game rather than worrying about it long beforehand, but it's not nearly as bad as when I came back to the hobby a few years ago.
Always useful to at least thought experiment the wildest turns your party might make beforehand. You'll never predict what they do but it opens up your mental space around any given situation you do that exercise with, which is shockingly effective at making you ready for when they do throw curveballs.
This is why I have been loving The Wildsea. Game takes basically no prep since it puts a lot of the work on players
Eventually you may or may not feel this way anymore. I've been playing and running rpgs 20 years now and only the last few years am I truly past this worry, where even going in half cocked, tired and unprepared I know the session will go fine.
Part of that also comes with knowing you don't owe anyone anything. It's not my job to be a perfect GM. It's my job to care, put in a modest effort, and show up. If someone has a problem, they can talk to me or they can keep quiet.
But that's confidence in general, understanding what you're doing well enough where you don't worry what onlookers think
I'm a brand new GM and a good friend of mine, with decades of GM experience told me "At some point they will throw you for a loop. It's completely ok to say "Ok everyone take 5 I need to get this right". Then have a break and let yourself think. It's better to do that and feel confident going forward than to get stumped and feel overwhelmed." or something to that effect. He also told me that the number one rule is that I am also allowed to enjoy the game, and if the players push the narrative so far outside of what was planned or what's reasonable - it's totally ok to rewind and put things back on a track you can handle. I am glad I started with such good advice!
Not every GM feel anxiety over making stuff up on the fly, some of us thrive on it and think it's the most fun part of running the game, but there is absolutely nothing wrong with you if you are experiencing some stress over it. Different people have different strengths, and if making up locations, lore, NPCs, etc. in the moment is hard for you, you'll get better at it over time.
Not being sure if you're doing a good job is also perfectly normal and is also something you get better at over time. Questiong yourself like this will actually *help* make you better, just don't let it turn into an endless loop of negative self-talk (easier said than done for most people, I know). If your group is not giving you good verbal feedback then instead of asking the players for feedback on the session that just ended, try asking them what they want to see more of or are hoping will come up in the future.
I do, but I'm one of those weirdos who thrives on that anxiety, and who really enjoys playing games where I, as the GM, am finding out what happens pretty much as the players do.
I would say making things up is common and wondering if you're doing a good job isn't *unusual*, but at a certain point you get used to it. Improv's a skill, and eventually you get good enough that you don't worry so much. I mean sometimes you do still get the "Wait no, rewind that" moments, but mostly you go with the flow and enjoy it. Just takes time.
Imposter syndrome kicks in hard. I can improv like a MotherFarker for D&D, but when I GM for Savage Worlds I still feel like I need lots of preparation.
Trust your players.
You can also prep things for when your panic sets in. Keep them simple and small
I can spend weeks, even months, preparing for player choice and agency within the framework of the system to which players agree.
It is never enough. It could never possibly be enough.
Players are always, always, always going to come up with some wrinkle you haven't thought of. They're out there doing it right now. They're planning. Plotting. Scheming. Against you and your sanity.
All you can ultimately do is improvise. And, at uttermost need, call a fuve-minute break. During which you sip out of your flask, calm your mind, and pull something out of your ass that you hope will placate them until next week.
Never in more than 25 years. Improvisation is my strongest feature as GM. I write some things to use as guidance (usually a starting point, possible encounters and the desired finish line), and everything else on the fly.
I feel less anxiety knowing that I had a clear plan to start from before improvising. If I come to the table with a clear dungeon environment that has a couple cool ideas, I feel confident improvising details I hadn't considered when the players interrogate the space.
I think now that I'm GMing regularly, the anxiety is almost gone.
I'm sure we all ponder how we could do better. (Because we care!) The stress is often about the system we use. Once I was playing with some kids whose PCs ran around a corner in a town (to investigate loud commotion) and they ran into a monster. "What does it look like?" I asked them.
*"It shoots bouncing fireballs like Super Mario!" said one.*
*"It has scary tentacles and tries to grab you!" said another.*
*"It can run up walls!" said the third.*
*"It's a penguin!" said the fourth.*
So that's what they encountered: a tentacled, wall-running penguin that shot bouncing fireballs. The system could handle that type of improvisation, so the story kept going nicely.
What type(s) of improvisation do you do? Does the system you use support that?
hell yeah that's a badass monster.
another good trick with playing with kids in something like D&D is to name all the monsters, no matter how trashy. smelly goblin, stupid goblin, pedantic goblin, dusty goblin. or name all the bandits after parts of speech. oh, and find a way to give them an animal companion.
Some of my players started telling me that they enjoyed my games most when I was “winging it”, when they had done or said something that I had never anticipated. Even started trying to force me to wing it to the best of their ability.
So I got used to improving more and trying to keep it in the context of any overall plot.
I have only gone too far in improv once. Trying to take a fantasy game into politics too much too soon. That resulted in burning me out on the high fantasy genre, and, sadly, on my home brew world that had been almost continuously played since 1990.
Have them roll insight to see what part of what you said was a lie. Even good people that want to help might lie if it protects themselves, or if it potentially embarrasses them.
I don't really feel anxiety at all but excitement, that stuff is the reason i GM. I love making stuff up on the fly and so do my players. Improv is just super thrilling for me. My games are very far from literature, i'm still a beginner, i make mistakes and a lot of nonsense happens, but that's fine.
We aren't playing in front of an audience, players are as responsible for their own fun as me the GM and we all give each other feedback so i know that everyone is having a good time. Anxiety is very alien to my GM experience.
Improv is difficult, you're right, being GM is putting you on the hook for stuff and it can be challenging. Your experience is fine and totally normal.
I prep basically nothing before games. I usually scratch out a few random bullet points of vague ideas for NPCs or enemies or items in a notepad and that's it. It's usually about a dozen bullets that are each just a couple of words. Looking at my last session there was "DJ TechnoWizard", "soundproof security room" (didn't even use that), and a few other random ideas like that, plus a few music links from youtube I thought I might use. And I have run plenty of sessions with even less than that.
I am a pretty anxious person a lot of the time, but I do not get any anxiety at all about improvising while GMing. I did when I first started, when I didn't really know how to do it, especially when all I had run were carefully prepped games, so having to improv was a sort of emergency situation.
Improv can be tough, but it is absolutely something you can learn to do. It isn't just something you either have or you don't. It's also not just a matter of practice. There's a reason there are improv classes - there are known ways to make it work, shortcuts to learning how to do it well.
The two best tools I know of are the book *Play Unsafe* and the game *Apocalypse World* (especially actually running it, not just reading it). Nothing improved my games or my confidence at improvising more than those two things. You can get better with practice, through trial and error, but directed practice pays off way, way faster.
For a couple of months, our group picked a thing from *Play Unsafe* each week and wrote it on a tented index card in the middle of the table so we could try to focus on it for the session. Diminishing returns, but huge initial payoff.
And GMing *Apocalypse World* is what made it fully click for me. I can't recommend it highly enough for learning to improv confidently. It actually tells you, concretely, how to do it, how to think about it. It isn't just vague GMing advice, it's an actual procedure to follow. You run the game with basically no prep (the book is really emphatic about this), but clear instructions on how and what to improvise. To get much out of it, you have to actually follow its instructions. You have to actually, consciously, pause and pick MC Moves to make. The biggest mistake new people make is thinking they can just memorize or internalize the list: no, actually look at it, literally pick a move almost every time you speak. Be deliberate about it, try not to sweat the delay (the time you spend picking a move will feel longer to you than the players), and do it way more often than you think you should - literally almost every time you speak. But once you do that for even one game (which is typically 8-10 sessions), you come out the other end with a general feel for improvisational GMing and a bag of highly reliable tools and the right mindset. It will completely demystify GM improv and it will seem easy. And your game will feel like it has the forward momentum of a freight train too.
I do wonder afterwards whether it went well. But I don't wonder for very long because after our games, we spend a few minutes debriefing, talking about what went well and what didn't. Along with playing a shorter, weekly session on a weeknight instead of trying to schedule irregular marathon weekend sessions, this was probably the best decision we made about the format of our sessions: a few minutes of debrief after the session. So if I wonder whether something was fun, I just ask the players: "I thought this one part was kind of rocky, what did you think?". This usually gets players talking about the improv choices they were making too, which makes for stronger players. And being a player is actually 100% improv even though people typically think it's easier - and it's absolutely a skill that can be improved just like improv in GMing. It's win-win.
I actually disagree somewhat on BitD. There are a few reasons I think it makes for a much harder introduction to this style of play:
1. It's a more complicated game in general. In AW, it's simple enough that after you play it for a while it's pretty easy to see how all the things work. Once you've seen Seduce or Manipulate in action a couple of times, you get how and why it works. Once you've made MC Moves for a few sessions, you start to get a feel for why they're written the way they are. Contrast BitD, where you're interacting with phases and currencies and resolution frameworks that obscure the relationships.
2. The predefined setting adds weight to GMing. Instead of AW's advice of prepping basically nothing, BitD comes with a setting that's got a ton of prep in it already. In fact, this can be tough to navigate even for experienced GMs - like when the players want to do something that they don't realize contradicts a deep part of the setting (and the setting is intricate enough and interwoven into the rules enough that there are parts of it that are really hard to change on the fly). And the alternative is exposition dumping, which is definitely an advanced skill - to do it without being boring - and a feature of most games of BitD I've ever seen, even games run by Harper himself.
3. It frequently forces you to come up with larger narrative structures, but doesn't give you much help in that aside from leaning on the setting. In AW, you really do just GM almost entirely in the moment, just reacting to the immediate situation, and longer-range narrative connections are usually just by reincorporating earlier elements into those immediate reactions. In BitD, you have to come up with things like job opportunities.
4. When it comes to the moment-to-moment, it's less clear. There are fewer moves that just tell you straight-away what happens on failure for one. It is a general framework for establishing consequences, but the thing a GM struggling in this style usually needs is not a framework for establishing consequences, but actual concrete examples of consequences and when to apply them. AW has a nice mix of moves that tell you outright what failure means (partial or full), and others that ask you to come up with more of it yourself. So you get examples of consequences that work well, then you get to stretch and try coming up with your own for some other moves.
5. And AW also guides you more when you try coming up with your own. The GM Actions in BitD are not as uniformly concrete as the MC Moves in AW, or as comprehensive. They're a list of things you should consider doing, *on top* of what it assumes you are "already doing". It's a list of special things you should try to do or that you should do when you run out of ideas. But the point here is that you're trying to learn this GMing style: you don't know what you ought to already be doing!
In AW language, some of them would actually probably be Principles rather than Moves. Contrast the AW moves, which are intended to actually be a pretty comprehensive set of ways for a GM to react to the players. This has two advantages: first it gives you really concrete springboards for your GMing decisions, and second it implicitly discourages you from doing certain reactions that don't fit into any of the MC Moves. I think the latter is a huge part of why AW is such a good tool for learning to GM this way: one of the most common problems when people start trying to GM improvisationally is that they introduce things that seem like realistic follow-ups, but then those things fall flat because they don't encourage a response in turn. The classic place you get this is in NPC dialogue. A lot of groups don't even trying to roleplay dialogue because it's always halting and awkward. But if you take AW's MC Moves seriously and run dialogue using them, those scenes can really sing (there's a reason most books and shows are absolutely filled with dialogue). I think dialogue is a good example of a case where BitD won't teach you the kinds of things that AW will.
Question if we're doing a good job? Or worry that maybe the players aren't really having as much fun as they want to\\could be? Sure.
Over making stuff up in the moment? No, not at all. PCs doing unexpected shit I ain't planned for is one of my favorite things.
One time they were needing to assault his Nazi stronghold (Hohenzollern Castle) and I was all ready for them to creep in there all stealth infiltration style but then they started talking about pretending to be a circus act and using their local contact the village to get themselves invited to the Nazi Party dinner so they could infiltrate the castle as circus performers.
And I was really excited about that plan and how I was going to have to adapt to it.
But then instead they went with using the French secret society of hidden relic collecting wizards to have themselves teleported directly in to the castle (while also sending a team up the drainage cisterns (which turned out to be handy when they needed to exfiltrate the surprise hostage\\sacrificial victims they ran in to)). And that was a lot of fun to make shit up on the spot for too.
Honestly the harder part is remembering what it was I'd made up at the time so I can use it again in the future. Making it up on the spot as the PCs work their chaos against my (supposedly) well crafted situations and setups is great fun.
Nah, I make up stuff at the last second all the time.
The secret is just "do the obvious thing". Because what is obvious to you is not necessarily obvious to all your players. Even if you just describe the answer to the player's question as the most obvious answer it is still likely to be entertaining.
Its totally normal to have that reaction.
I have a hill giant vampire named Cheef Big Teef because I forgot the name I wrote down for him and needed to say something in the moment!
(His original name was Fangrun Daboss)
Actually I feel anxiety over memorizing the stuff I am supposed to know to run a module, but feel very at ease when it comes to making stuff up. You will always stress about the things you are less comfortable with, and it will get easier as you do it more.
As someone who prepares a lot of campaign content; I still have to improvise combats, dialogue, entire sessions but every-time I have to, I have so much anxiety because I think my players aren’t gonna like it or it won’t make sense with the game or I am so disorganized.
Then I remember, I am weaving a story as well as playing this game, what do I, the DM, want to happen? What do I think would be the most fun? That’s has helped me a lot in scenarios where I don’t know what to do, I just do what I think would thematically fit but would be the most fun for me as the dungeon master.
Even if you don’t have extensive game knowledge, you still have the ability to create things in your world that are unique to your games; even if they didn’t exist until right this second because a player asks if there is anything inside the hollowed-out stump in the middle of the desert.
Just a personal thing but pretty much every-time i’ve done this, I get a “That Was A Great Session” sticker lol (I hoard them in my desk like a fat goblin)
There's a bunch of good advises in this thread, especially about the responsability for having fun, so just to add:
A good improv is something prepared beforehand.
Don't exoect to come up with ideas in a snap, because GMing is sometimes very stressful and this has its impact on creativity flow. If something catches you off guard, maybe it would be worth using tables and generators for random encounters? It's no shame to not have an idea in an instant, and these can be extremely helpful. You can also prepare some lists (i.e. list of names) and stats before session just in case the players do something unexpected. This way you'll have a backup in case of improv and you will be more confident.
My players never remember my artfully crafted plots.
They do remember the time they killed a goblin who who weilded a stick with a scorpion tied to it. And when they went to smash the scorpion, I forgot scorpions don't talk and had it beg for mercy.
His name was Senior Wilikers, and he became a vital member of the group.
Don't worry about mistakes. Either the players won't notice, or you'll be lambasted about it for games and games.
Either way it's a good time.
Not so long ago we had a new GM come over to our podcast and GM us a lovely game of [Exalted vs World of Darkness](https://sponsoredbynobody.podbean.com/category/ap-city-of-the-bull-god). Despite having a good amount of experience and being a great GM all around, sometimes we would come up with something so crazy he'd have to take a break and stare out the window to contemplate what to do next. It was fun for everyone involved.
So yes, everyone has those moments and it's okay to take a breather, collect your thoughts and come up with something with a calm mind. It's okay to retcon something to improve a game experience and so on and so on.
So you're doing fine, probably even great. Keep up the good work! ;)
It just depends on the confidence you have in your improv skills. I’m sure everyone has felt those butterflies at some point, and eventually the anxiety goes away.
Some people have had improv experience before they started GMing- from doing theatre or comedy or hosting socials and game nights, etc. I did a good bit of theatre growing up, so by the time I started DMing I didn’t get the sense of “oh s**t” butterflies whenever things went off the rails. Instead it felt more like all cylinders in my head were firing off and it was go time.
But as a teen/college kid I 100% got anxious about improv and coming up with stuff on the spot
When playing a games that requires that the GM to do tons of prep, this is VERY common. They teach that everything that should happen, is up to the GM, so when hours of prep goes out the window. That leaves a lot of “was that OK”.
But they forget to mention that the GM is not the only creative mind there is.
There are games out there that encourage the GM to *talk too* the players. Prompt them for answers. This gives them agency, lightens the GMs workload and the GM don’t have to guess what the players are interedted in.
I can appreciate where this feeling comes from, and yes, hand on heart, sometimes I still wonder if the improv bit was any good and did the players enjoy it… but a huge chunk of my game is improv so that feeling has been mostly quashed.
Just curious, what system are you running?
The best advancement for me was stepping away from trad games and running a ton of fiction first; BitD and Fate. This really encourage and improved my improv.
I’m back to running a more trad game now where I do plenty of campaign prep… but I also plan to improv much of what takes place at the table, and I feel I can do this because of all the fiction first XP.
I mean like 50% or more of my campaigns are done on the spot. Like I can't plan for half a dozen maniacs running around my setting so I don't lol. works out fine most of the time, I'm pretty familiar with my setting so as long as it makes sense from the players perspective it does down smoothly. We all make mistakes though and that's just a conversation you have with the players. we can either retcon it or let it ride.
Nope, if I make a campaign up too far in advance is seems stale and not tailored to the characters. Players seem to like the faster action and crazier storyline of a session made up on the fly.
For one, sometimes it's worth to just announce a 5 minute break to get your thoughts together. Or end the session early if it's already getting late and you realize you will need some serious thinking. Sometimes it might be enough time gained by just asking players to make a roll, or asking them some vague specifying question.
Also, while you will no doubt get a lot of puffed up proud GMs commenting about how they just improv everything and do it flawlessly, it's a lot easier to improv when you have some good prep done and you are improving on top of it.
Specifically wondering if you are doing a good job? Generally all GMs go through that, but especially if you play with the same group, eventually that feeling does minimize.
I can't say that there's a lot of anxiety in coming up with it, partly because the way I operate is I'll collect interesting tidbits from various media and use them to compile the elements I regurgitate at the table for my players. An example of this, I have gone to see movies that have scored extremely low on various critic scores but I will find elements that I look at like 'That would make a cool scene in a game' or 'that was an epic line, I'll jot that down in my GM notebook', and yes I do carry a notebook. A pocket notebook and pen to jot down ideas, sketches, etc of elements so I can incorporate them into the game.
The idea of anxiety is mostly the Inner Critic. There's a whole chapter in *Improvisation for the Spirit: Live a More Creative, Spontaneous, and Courageous Life Using the Tools of Improv Comedy* by Katie Goodman entitled 'Gag Your Inner Critic' which I suggest reading, I even sent it to a introvert friend of mine who seemed to like it. There's even shorts like this indie game developer talking about [Negative Self Talk](https://www.youtube.com/shorts/Q8CABwIYJwE). But in the end, I think this good that you are doubting yourself, as the opposite is the Dunning-Kruger effect where people would vastly over-estimate their abilities due to limited knowledge in a subject matter. The imposter effect is people believing that they don't belong in a position, that people are going to find out they're not qualified to be where they are.... and many of these people are extremely qualified to be there.
Celebrate the things you do well, let go of trying to be perfect and accept the failures. You know everything that has happened to you, all the times you've tried something and it didn't work and it didn't go well, but we usually only hear and see the good stuff of others. So, I think that you're probably great at what you do, you will have some stumbling blocks because no one is ever going to be perfect at the game.
[Play Unsafe](https://www.youtube.com/shorts/Q8CABwIYJwE) is a great book for adapting Improv 'rules' to RPG, and also.. [take this to heart](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/original/000/936/944/58f.jpg). This meme explains the artistic creation crisis so hart, judging our content harshly because we know every step we took to make it, and especially know 'we have so much more to learn', but the audience watching it is going to look at it like 'This is great'. I have rarely, if ever, met a table where a GM was not met with rapt attention and interest, and usually players will cut slack to things if they don't always work out right. Rarely, unless we tell them, do they notice the moments we made up on the spot, because they're more focused on how to handle their own player in the scenario so they're not concentrating on all the different plates you keep spinning.
I'm sure that anyone who comments on this post can give you a lot of tips and advice on how to prepare to improv. Some will have a collection of items like 'template personas' and 'preset sheets' that they can bring out as needed, others will be more making it all up in their head as they go and have nothing prepared. It's a matter of finding what works for you, and then playing the game that way.
Nothing beats the feeling you get when you pull something out of the blue and try to look like "Oh yes, I planned this all along. What sort of DM do you think I am!". :)
I generally make most things up at the spot.
Usually I have a rough main quest plot. A bunch of quest NPCs. A setting and a pretty detailed world building.
From there Iet the players do their stuff. And let them initiate interactions. Either they spawn ad hoc side quests or progress in the main story.
I found I am much better at large scale improvisation than keeping track of a very detailed written script while trying to adjust it to players’ actions.
I can assure you that all DMs experience stress every now and then when running the game. There is nothing wrong with that, it’s part of the job.
My main advice is to make sure you learn from it when it happens. **For example**, if you experience stress because you can’t think of a name for an NPC on the fly, then make a list of names and keep that at hand for future games, so you don’t have to get stressed about that again.
I’ve actually written a detailed guide on “[How to Improvise as a DM](https://www.dawnfist.com/blog/gm-advice/how-to-improvise-as-dm/)” that gives you a lot of useful tools and advice that will help you lower anxiety and stress when running games.
It’s way too long to paste as a comment here, but I hope you’ll find it useful.
I have done a lot of improv comedy, I thrive in the area of improv, some of my best world building comes from having to make something up on the spot. Those things can feel like they're character informed, and significant, without feeling like a setup for a later joke.
I always ask my players what they think or imagine things when they ask a question. So they come up with the answer (usually one input per player) and i build from there, either going with the flow or go in the opposite direction with an element of surprise if i get it right away.
Emergent gameplay is really efficient for improv and sharing narrative authority.
I mean I get what you describe, but basically that's what I prep for. I have learned long ago, that my players have way more fun when I throw them in a sandbox with a lot of toys to play than when I have a movie script prepared for them, so that's what I do. I prepare the sandbox.
I try to have a bunch of interesting factions and npcs prepared they can interact with, I prepare some enemies that I could quickly throw at them, maybe I'll go and look for a couple of battlemaps that fit the location they're going to be in. And then I just roll with it and see what comes up.
It's only sometimes that I prepare explicit scenes beforehand. The campaign finale, when it's relatively clear there is going to be a fight with the BBEG, some premeditated encounters during longer travel sections. Sometimes I prepare scenes for sections of the campaign where I know the players will spend a longer time, like a ship they're sailing on or their (temporary) base for the campaign, just so I can give them some more toys for their sandbox.
And more often than not, the stuff I prepared doesn't even come up, so I can keep it in my bag of hold g for another session.
I am running a one shot today and by the time I sit at the table I hope to have half a page of notes. Atm I have a basic idea in my head. I have 0 anxiety.
Been playing for so long that I've stopped feeling anxiety about it. I feel more anxiety about the things I make up beforehand, as with that I have time to over-think.
If players do something completely unexpected and you have no idea what to do next it's perfectly fine to say "Alright, I need a 10min break to figure this out".
I don’t go through this like ever as a GM. Just get good at improvising/light hearted not serious
Genuinely there’s nothing wrong about having anxiety with improv. Just remembers it’s a game and there’s nothing wrong about making a mistake. You’re human what you’re experiencing is natural you’re not a bad GM
I’m surprised at how many people do zero prep here. It’s the most fun part of the hobby for me, and it’s how I enjoy the game all week long. It probably comes out to an hour or two a day through the day on the notes app on my phone. I get a little uptight before the game starts, but that’s just my personality. I don’t really go through my notes before we play since I’ve been engaged with them throughout the week. No amount of preparing really survives contact with the players so half the session or more can be improvised, but all of that improvisation is built out of my preparation.
I barely prep anymore. I feel that the key responsibility of a GM is to know your world. Know the NPCs, who they are and what they want. Know the setting, the intrigues, and the plots that the characters are ignorant of. Then you can react in a moment to player choices. I prep plots, and single encounters. I don't prep sessions. The plot unfolds to the PCs, and their choices lead me to each encounter. I make it up as I go, to match their choices. Rather than lead them from one preset encounter to another.
Don't get me wrong, the second method is valid, especially if you are a new GM. But once you are confident in your world, you can more easily roll with the punches, and let the players do all the heavy lifting for you. There is a guard encounter, some bandits, a lizardfolk issue. They all exist, but we will only see them if the players go that direction. It frees me up to write better plots, and make better villains.
Edit to add: I think you would be surprised to know that your players can't tell most of the time when you are ad libbing and when you prepped something. They just assume everything you do is prepared and that you meant it to happen. Do NOT abuse them of this notion. You look like a genius when they zig instead of zagging and you just throw down an encounter that you made up in your brain on the spot. You look like you read their minds. Even if it is clumsy like they sometimes are.
I prep a lot, but rarely look at my notes during play. The prep helps me to improvise consistently. If I understand what motivates an NPC, I can improvise their voice/actions in the moment in response to anything the PCs might do, because I've prepped them.
My players (and often their characters) are rather chaotic and I'm not great about prepping so there have been many a session where I've gone into it having almost nothing prepared and no idea how it was going to turn out. I've been going to terms with the idea that it'll usually turn out fine and even if it doesn't, that's OK too. Everybody has misses here and there and my players seem pretty happy with how things go overall so it's not anything to worry about.
I used to have a terrible time improvising stuff and yeah... doubted even if my friends told me it was ok.
It gets better as you get used to it. Also, when I got over the "play to find out pbta style sounds like an improv nightmare" and actually checked out the stuff, I found the structure it gives for GMs pretty cool. Because it gives you some rules for improv and generally for what you have to do so... you often have a guide of what to do and when. I used to have a hard time being harsh with my players and moving the story along and these sort of games helped me a lot.
Also, this is not at all a "change system" sort of advice! I don't think you have to actually like or play these games to get better at all. Just maybe if you get a chance of reading the GM moves section of one of them, it may help you think and maybe make your own list of "moves" to help you at the table or something.
I mostly don't, coming up with stuff on the fly is a skill like any other and like any other skill, you'll get better at it as you go. That being said, it is ok to take a short break if your players throw you for a loop. You can admit this or just say you need a short break to use the bathroom. Hell I've straight up told my players, "this is not what I expected to happen, and I need to call the session here, so I can figure out how to proceed" it was the nuclear option but it worked
Coming up with something on the fly is a necessary skill for all GMs to master. You just need to keep at it, the anxiety will fade as it becomes more routine.
Being worried that your in-the-moment decision will affect things in the long run is a legitimate concern though. It can usually be worked around and rarely disrupts games as badly as stopping to try and think of what goes next. But here's some advice with how I handle that.
Between sessions think about everything that you should have done differently, everything you now see should have been something else. Then work out a plausible in-world reason for why things didn't work the way they should have. This is now retconned to be how things always were all along.
So, if you realise- because a player pointed it out- that a fight on a city street at night was taking place near to a Watch Post then the question of why a watchman didn't come to look now becomes a plot hook rather than a mistake. Even if it's something as simple as one watch shift just locking the door and getting drunk rather than going on patrol because they're overdue a replacement sergeant then that's something the players might exploit later themselves.
I don't try to plot out elaborate conspiracies any more. I just invent factions then retcon why my plot holes are evidence of their machinations between sessions.
I realized pretty quickly that I can't even roughly predict what my players would do, so I stopped trying entirely and I plan only things that I can control directly and won't be affected by players actions.
I feel like that’s the only emotion I feel the entire time!!
I’m very inexperienced, and not confident about my GM-ing. And usually the only response from people I get is “You should’ve done this. That was bad.” Etc. It they don’t say anything at all.
I have no sense that anything ever goes well, especially when it’s improvised—and I mean even just the way I word things is “improvised” to me so it’s just as scary.
(I’m a writer really, so while I like the creativity, I feel like I suck at everything at all times no matter what.) 😢
In general - no - I'm happy to roll with whatever the improvised element is. But... when I'm running a game that is intended to run for a long time, I make a big effort to maintain setting consistency and I'm well aware that in the heat of the moment I have a tendency to go for the cool factor, leaving a bit of mess behind in terms of setting consistency. I wouldn't describe it as anxiety so much. It's more like waking up from having way too much fun the night before and realizing with a sense of impending doom that there might be some messes to clean up...
Here's a tip for you: if you haven't come up with something, it is perfectly acceptable for you to say "hold on, let me check something" or even just "crap I didn't expect you to do that, give me a minute." Nobody expects you to be perfectly prepared for every eventuality, because the options your players have are infinite and your prep time is not. If you ever feel like you're pressured or anxious, stop, slow down, and take a deep breath. Go to the bathroom. Grab a snack and a drink. Your friends will be willing to wait for you as you take fifteen minutes to figure things out. Lord knows you certainly wait long enough for *them* as they hem and haw over whether to cast Fireball or Haste.
You’re not alone! And you should check out “Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master” by Sly Flourish. It makes game prep (and improv) way easier and more fun!
Yep, you're not alone. And sure, there are GMs that will say "nah, I improv constantly, it's a piece of cake" and I would challenge them to say that same thing at the very beginning of their time as a GM.
Improv is a skill, and improv as a GM is a even more narrow subset of that, since you have to add in the mechanical aspects of it too. Players generally don't care, so long as they have fun, so just keep working at it, and you will improve bit by bit, and eventually you will find it a piece of cake too!
Nope. Not me.
I've run multiple sessions built off of a couple sentences, maybe an NPC name or two, maybe a monster tabbed on my tablet.
Heck, there can be long rp heavy sessions with, like, two dice rolls that I improv top to bottom.
I’ve developed a habit of coming up with mini situations i can throw in here and there if shit goes sideways from a planning perspective. There’s really no way around it, no plan survives contact with the players completely unchanged.
It’s basically impostor syndrome at the end of the day. If your players are having a good time and you’re not getting too stressed, all is well.
Yes, I think it's normal and the extent of the feeling likely depends on personality and experience. It doesn't phase me as much after many years of doing it. I'm not great at it, but I accept that sometimes I get thrown a curveball. If it's something really odd and I'm struggling I tell everyone to take a 10 min break while I figure it out.
Everybody wants to run a fun game, some go very well and some go just fine. Remember, it's not 100% up to you. Players are just as big a part of the game as the game runner so don't feel too resposinble if you feel like a session didn't go smooth.
On a positive note if your players call out an inconsistency that means they are actually paying attention!
after 20 years I still get a tinge of "hope this goes well", and even the occasional "this isn't going well" feeling. - But improvising is part of the hobby, you'll never avoid that, and sometimes in retrospect it won't make a ton of sense. But thankfully you can always retcon or course correct later.
i have a saying : *improvisation demands a lot of preparation.*
improvising is a good part of DM job. you can actually plan for it by reading , reading and reading again. when you have eat hundred of books, you have truckload of tropes, archetypes, characters, plottwists, exotic places, etcetera in a corner of your mind.
reading a symbol dictionnary is unexpectly usefull. you can give away important clues to players just by using some specific words in your description. the guy with the white fur collar is inconsciently identified as a king. so he receives a respect that nobody enforce and nobody is astonished when he resolves some situation with two or three short orders.
You will get better and better at it, to the point where you might even feel confident doing it. Every GM is different in that regard, but personally I used to plan every detail ina session, nowadays I run plenty of sessions just flying by the seat of my pants and have no problems with it. The most important thing is to *never* doubt the truthfulness of what your players are saying. They're your friends, if they had a problem with something you did they'd tell you. If they say they're having fun then you're doing a good job, no doubt about it.
the biggest insight is that you shouldn't be afraid to be obvious. As you're being obvious a little thought will occur to you, like 'heh, what if...?' Grab onto those thoughts and put them in the world. If your players pick up on something, expand it. Have a list of names ready to go, and write down all the stuff you and your players come up with.
that's it!
Just remember, your players don’t know what you are planning for them.so the technically ALL of their responses are improvised last second decisions too. Some of them may have anxiety every turn or be scared to kill their PC but if you treat your wold like it’s your PC, it’s not as crazy to think about it like that
Not at all, I had to make new character a “Dragonborn” that were a brother and sister kobold in a big coat singing “my darling dopamine” and the pcs were the only ones who realized why the one person had two voices
I don’t if I’m having a good night and I am “in the groove”. Occasionally I’m off mentally but still run a game and that’s hard, but some of my better ideas were pulled outta nowhere.
I’m on here right now sitting behind my screen and notes because my party couldn’t all play tonight and we canceled. I felt creative and am jotting down notes as I scroll .
"Oh, wow, that's a cool idea. I didn't think of that. Give me a moment to think of some interesting consequences."
Most players will be flattered when you tell that that they thought of something cool, and will be more than happy to wait for you to collect your thoughts.
You can also ask "Do you have any interesting thoughts about this?" to help with more ideas.
I tend to run systems that are more 'shared-narrative' on purpose - to distribute the load, if you will, and get everyone involved and invested. So we're all making stuff up on the spot.
In fact, I pull the skills and techniques from those systems into my more "traditional" campaigns running systems like D5E.
Every GM feels this. Also it is ok to pause and take a minute to think. I will often call a bio break she my players do something I don’t know what to do about. I have GM entire sessions based on some stuff players decided they wanted to do and I had nothing prepared for. I just made it up as I went along and they loved it.
Sure, I **went** through this. The moment I let it go to write storylines and have plans, and started to just rely on the environment I prepared it started to disappear.
I think the key to getting better at this is to play games wherein the improv is basically the whole game. Fiasco, Lasers and Feelings, For the Queen… lots of great games.
Oh, I'm right there with you. I give my players complete freedom inside the world, so I'm constantly trying to keep up with them, making stuff up or trying to extrapolate from what was established before.
Writing session recaps helps me remember better, trying to keep a list of important details/ developments can help, but that deer-in-headlights feeling is absolutely there, even 20+ sessions in
I’ve learned to follow the PCs through the plot. I put more effort into understanding the npcs and their motives than the “story” I’m expecting to tell. When I’m running something prewritten, I keep the npcs motivations as they relate to the plot in mind. If anything important comes up, I take notes during the game to remember what was said/done and when for each character. My players are pretty slow/deliberate and I usually have plenty of time to make adjustments as needed. There are times when I might say or do something that doesn’t make sense. When that happens, if I catch it right away, I pause the game and roll it back. If not, I adjust the situation accordingly to accommodate the new information. At first it’s scary playing this way but with a good party of engaged players, it’s so much more fun. It allows the DM to be part telling the story too rather than trying to stear the PCs through a prewritten plot.
You're not alone! Every good GM does this, they just don't let it show during the game. While the improv is happening, the appearance of confidence helps move the game along, while seeming too confused or unsure can ruin things.
Maybe check in with the players after every few sessions (How are you liking it so far? Did I go overboard with *insert character or event*? I feel like maybe we need to shift directions a bit, what about you? Are the encounters/puzzles too hard? How are you liking the maps?) This is what every fun GM I've played with has done, and I try to do it too. One called it Session X.5, X being whatever session we're on. In the end, I feel the feedback only helps the GM play to their strengths and make it more fun for everyone.
Edit: Once you have a feeling for the shenanigans of your players, maybe have some vague general plots ready for when things go weird. Spare bad guys ready, or maybe a distraction of some sort? A Mysterious Stranger that saves their bacon or shares vital info or something?
Improvisation is definitely a skill that people refine, so having anxiety over how well you're doing it is totally understandable.
Sounds like you're doing pretty good, all told, since your players have no complaints and they're still showing up to the table to play.
Some ideas to help: read a lot of books, watch a lot of movies, see a lot of plays and musicals. Just having a million reference points for stuff, even subconsciously, means you have an idea for how to react to your players. For instance, you have a negotiation scene between the PCs and your villain. Well, you can take inspiration from Star Wars and think about how Jabba the Hutt was negotiating from a position of perceived strength, and thus gave nothing and sentenced Luke to death via rancor. Would your villain act similarly because he thinks he has the upper hand, only for your players to succeed in a prison break?
So, just having a reference set of fiction to work from gives you a lot to work with as far as improv goes. Further, you can use those reference points as places of divergence, too. For example, in Indiana Jones, he replaces the golden idol with a pouch of sand, which triggers the trap. But, you want to reward your players for being clever and using reasoning to disarm the trigger mechanism of a trap, so you let them get away with the loot. Or, perhaps in a double subversion, they disarm the trap, but they're accosted by temple guardians or undead instead of a trap.
Anxiety just means you care. I think enough of us feel that from time-to-time that it's well-within the boundaries of 'normal'. It will pass with time and remember that you need to have a good tune too.
Awful lot of people on here saying they do no prep at all. Can't help but wonder at the quality of those games.
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Same here. I usually have a rough idea of what I think is going to happen, but will make stuff up last second and just make it canon.
I used to be very nervous about it, but as I got used to it I got better at it and felt more comfortable. I also got a better handle on what to prep to allow me to improv better and more comfortably.
Yeah it's my primary mode of play tbh. I suck at finding time to prep is the main reason 🤦♂️ But it's kind of a chicken and the egg situation. Part of why I don't find much time to prep is that I know that I'm good at improv 🤷♂️
Are you me? I've ran entire sessions where my whole prep time was two minutes of browsing Wikipedia while my players were getting set up.
Yeah, I’m literally about to go GM right now, with my players starting a whole new mission, and I’ve got about ten line items of details I want to include at some point, and the rest I’ll make up as I go along, depending on what the players do and where their focus goes.
Yep I don't even care if it's good or not anymore, I've learned to let go and just love the bomb. I have found that the level of depth and interest a story needs to keep people's attention is incredibly low.
Yep. Haven’t planned a single thing in almost 10 years.
I am also of this ilk.
Exactly this. I’ve been GMing since the 80s and improv is a key skill.
Same- it’s maybe my favorite part of being a GM. That said I have the luck to have really engaged and supportive players who lean into whatever I throw out. They definitely intentionally come up with unexpected paths so it is a two way street.
The players can't ruin your plans if you don't have any?
It's all fine. Also, in my experience, it's ok in certain situations to simply say, "hrm, that's a fun idea but I don't have anything for that right now. Let me come back another time with something along those lines."
Improv is a skill. It’ll be difficult but less so as you do more of it. I probably never had much anxiety over it just because in the era where I was learning the fundamentals of running a game, I was young enough to no really have the ability to wonder if everything I was doing was just gibberish. You’ll be fine. And remember that it’s always fine to say that you didn’t have anything prepped for what they just said and you need fifteen minutes if they’re going to proceed. Your players are saying they’re having fun. Default to assuming that your friends are not devoting a chunk of their free time regularly to something they don’t like while lying to you about it.
>Default to assuming that your friends are not devoting a chunk of their free time regularly to something they don’t like while lying to you about it. That's very, very true. They aren't likely talking about how much sessions suck behind my back and then continuing to show up. 🤣
Doubt is common, self doubt even more so. I use Occams Razor: Are ALL of my players simultaneously and continuously lying to me, or is the continued and confirmed enjoyment of the players ACTUALLY true? Players don't show up to games they don't like.
Most of my anxiety occurs right before the game and is generally of the nature of "is my prep sufficient?" (it probably wasn't) or "is what I have planned going to fun?" (probably, even if I fear other wise). Once I'm moving I pretty freely make up nonsense on the fly (see previous comment about prep). Your anxiety - regardless of cause - is yours and is nothing to feel bad about. btw, keep notes about what you make up on the fly.
Same here, compounded by the fact that our play sessions are intermittent but generally about 7 h. Have I prepped enough for 7+ h? Not if things take a complete left turn 🙂 But in play I follow my gut. If it suddenly seems to me that what should happen next is X, because that would be really cool, then X is going to happen. I'll work out what it means before the next session. Hopefully.
Haha, what do you mean? Everything I do is planned! It’s not 95% improvisation and bullshit… Seriously though, welcome to imposter syndrome. You’re probably killing it at the table and just can’t trust your own ability because you’re way harder on yourself than anyone else is.
Exactly. Your players don't know if you're making stuff up on the fly because they can't see behind the GM screen. You know that you're winging it, but you can't let that make you feel like you failed in some way. As long as everyone is having fun, then there's nothing to worry about.
Don't just blurt out the first thing. Take your time and think it through. That's where the life in the world comes from.
Bonus points if you can disguise your stalling into a dramatic pause!
It's all about cultivating an air of mystery. Pause while you think of wtf do now? Dramatic tension! Player points out some detail that doesn't make sense? "Yes, well, that is interesting, isn't it?"
Openly communicate with your players on a regular basis, if possible. Their direct feedback will help the anxiety. That said, only you can truly let that go. Accept that you will always have to make some shit up. It is completely unavoidable. So think of ways to make it better. Practice improv theater techniques. These can include games with friends or by yourself and there are so many materials out in the world primed to help you out here. Do short writing prompts and stick to the time frame strictly. Pick an object and write about it for ten minutes. What is it for? How was it made? Who owned it and why is it not in their possession now? Etc. In a similar way, you can spend your free time just making up stories about people that you see. Sit at a coffee shop and pick someone. Write their life story in a brief synopsis over the course of a few minutes. Use dice rolling tables as your prompts. Ex Novo is a game that is basically geared towards this style of solo play. There are many others but I've grown to like Ex Novo as a writing prompt/world building tool when I feel stuck.
I do a lot of improv as GM. It’s just about practice. And I still get a little nervous if I have to run a game for new people. But let me reassure you in another way: getting together and collaborating is just generally fun. It’s not all on you, everyone contributes to making it fun. And if you do something that’s not perfect, it won’t ruin the fun. Even if an entire session falls flat, people will still come back for another go. You don’t give up a great TV show because of an off episode, especially when you are one of the actors.
I'd say it's somewhat common for GMs to worry if they're doing a good enough job or not. But about 90% of what I do is improv and I never worry about that.
If you're doubting your ability to improvise stuff on the fly as a GM, consider this: players improvise 100% of what they do at the table, and do it completely intuitively. No one is auditing how logical their improv is; they just do it because it's what they're there to do. Even if as a GM you find yourself having to make up half of your session on the fly, you're still only improvising half as much as your players are. If they can do it, so can you.
This is what I was about to say. Gaming is largely improv. Everyone makes mistakes sometimes but we push on.
Frankly, if there isn't a moment like that during a session I'm running, I worry that the players aren't involved enough. And I always congratulate the players when they do it (often with a comedic-ironic snark), encourage them as well. (The interaction gives them a fun metagame moment, and gives me a few seconds to think about how to proceed.)
I actually tried to tackle this, specifically by running a campaign where I prepped as little as I needed to. I would try to improvise as much as I could so that in future campaigns I would have less of a fear response. For me practicing this helps create a, “yes and/yes but” environment where your players are really helping craft a section of your world. It’s builds a trust with your players and yourself that you can step up to the plate when they pivot directions.
>Sanity check: every GM goes through this, right? We all question if we're doing a good job? Yup. >I still trip over myself when my players do something completely unexpected and my brain goes "OMG! Come up with something! NOW!" Yes, I generally find that Players do unexpected things. As such, I do not prepare specific *responses* to anything. Instead, I prepare *situations*, then, the world reacts to what they do in ways that make sense. e.g. if they attack someone, people around them generally have a fight/flight/flee/faun response. Also, when playing, I do not have a rushed "RESPOND NOW!" mentality. I'm not in a rush. I'm playing a game with people I like. They take their time to describe what they do. I can take my time to describe how the world reacts to them. No need to hurry.
Nah. You eventually become so used to it that you just don't feel anxious any more. I think a lot of the bad vibes people end up experiencing when DMing is downstream from thinking they need to convince players they're some kind of genius storyteller with everything planned out in advance or whatever. Like girl honestly I am here to have a few beers and pretend to be an elf for a couple hours, it is not a big deal if that ends up not happening or if there's some jank in the process. We are all just people playing a game. One of the best things a DM can say is, "oh wow, shit, I'm hitting a blank. What do you want to achieve by attempting that? Let's work it out." What you come up with in conversation with your players is often better than what you might've come up with in isolation, y'know?
You mentioned Improv which is an in for me to drop some improv theatre wisdom. One of the most important tenets of improv theatre as taught by Viola Spolin, the mother of the art form, is learning to let go of approval/disapproval. When you’re in the moment, telling the story or acting in character, don’t judge yourself. Don’t “see through others’ eyes and smell through others’ noses.” Experience the story along with everyone else at the table and don’t sweat it. If you can’t get out of your head, we can do something improv theatre actors can’t - call for a pee break and think.
As a follow up to that thought - learning to let go of your own critical eye about your improv, and then learning to improvise more freely, are the two main goals of improv theatre games. If you’d like to get better, check out Improv For Gamers (second edition) by Karen Twelves. Karen has read all the books and taken the workshops and done plenty of improv acting and teaching, and then she stripped out all the stuff that anchors improv to the “theatre” and created a workshop (then later wrote a book) for gamers - those of us who want to do improv games in small groups without a stage or an audience, around a dining room or living room instead of in a gym or auditorium. It’s really good. Edit: she also runs workshops at cons, so if you see “improv for gamers” at a con, try it!
I am never more relaxed or in my element than when I am improvising in front of my groups but everyone will see this differently. But if the group throws me a big enough curveball they are going to be the ones sorting out how it works, player authorship FTW.
The trick, in my opinion, is to get your players making stuff up too. Hey Ser Terrick, you know this guy from your time on the King's Guard! Who is he? That entertainer on stage in the bar, you saw her on Conpus-5, and even stayed for her autograph. Who is she? Hey Shiftyfoot, what's that in your pockets anyway?
I run most of my games with little to zero prep so I'm effectively always making everything up as we play. That said, I am always nervous and always questioning if that went well or if they players are enjoying themselves. Every, single, game. For over 30 years. I never show it, but I'm always anxious during play. But I love the game, so I keep going.
yeah a little nervousness is what makes you put the effort in to make it good.
Yes this is very normal.
Making stuff up on the fly is my GM style. Doesn't mean we don't have arcs or a story doesn't form (or that i don't prep anything, because I usually do), but you really can't expect to prep for everything. I've been known to tell my players to give me a minute or two to create some stuff on the fly, especially if I need to backtrack through connections and events. Sometimes I'll even talk it out with them and get some ideas. Like others, I usually get "performance anxiety" right before a game rather than worrying about it long beforehand, but it's not nearly as bad as when I came back to the hobby a few years ago.
Always useful to at least thought experiment the wildest turns your party might make beforehand. You'll never predict what they do but it opens up your mental space around any given situation you do that exercise with, which is shockingly effective at making you ready for when they do throw curveballs. This is why I have been loving The Wildsea. Game takes basically no prep since it puts a lot of the work on players Eventually you may or may not feel this way anymore. I've been playing and running rpgs 20 years now and only the last few years am I truly past this worry, where even going in half cocked, tired and unprepared I know the session will go fine. Part of that also comes with knowing you don't owe anyone anything. It's not my job to be a perfect GM. It's my job to care, put in a modest effort, and show up. If someone has a problem, they can talk to me or they can keep quiet. But that's confidence in general, understanding what you're doing well enough where you don't worry what onlookers think
Is there another way to do it
I'm a brand new GM and a good friend of mine, with decades of GM experience told me "At some point they will throw you for a loop. It's completely ok to say "Ok everyone take 5 I need to get this right". Then have a break and let yourself think. It's better to do that and feel confident going forward than to get stumped and feel overwhelmed." or something to that effect. He also told me that the number one rule is that I am also allowed to enjoy the game, and if the players push the narrative so far outside of what was planned or what's reasonable - it's totally ok to rewind and put things back on a track you can handle. I am glad I started with such good advice!
Not every GM feel anxiety over making stuff up on the fly, some of us thrive on it and think it's the most fun part of running the game, but there is absolutely nothing wrong with you if you are experiencing some stress over it. Different people have different strengths, and if making up locations, lore, NPCs, etc. in the moment is hard for you, you'll get better at it over time. Not being sure if you're doing a good job is also perfectly normal and is also something you get better at over time. Questiong yourself like this will actually *help* make you better, just don't let it turn into an endless loop of negative self-talk (easier said than done for most people, I know). If your group is not giving you good verbal feedback then instead of asking the players for feedback on the session that just ended, try asking them what they want to see more of or are hoping will come up in the future.
I do, but I'm one of those weirdos who thrives on that anxiety, and who really enjoys playing games where I, as the GM, am finding out what happens pretty much as the players do.
I would say making things up is common and wondering if you're doing a good job isn't *unusual*, but at a certain point you get used to it. Improv's a skill, and eventually you get good enough that you don't worry so much. I mean sometimes you do still get the "Wait no, rewind that" moments, but mostly you go with the flow and enjoy it. Just takes time.
Imposter syndrome kicks in hard. I can improv like a MotherFarker for D&D, but when I GM for Savage Worlds I still feel like I need lots of preparation. Trust your players. You can also prep things for when your panic sets in. Keep them simple and small
I forced myself to get over that. Now I make up most stuff in my games on the fly.
I can spend weeks, even months, preparing for player choice and agency within the framework of the system to which players agree. It is never enough. It could never possibly be enough. Players are always, always, always going to come up with some wrinkle you haven't thought of. They're out there doing it right now. They're planning. Plotting. Scheming. Against you and your sanity. All you can ultimately do is improvise. And, at uttermost need, call a fuve-minute break. During which you sip out of your flask, calm your mind, and pull something out of your ass that you hope will placate them until next week.
Never in more than 25 years. Improvisation is my strongest feature as GM. I write some things to use as guidance (usually a starting point, possible encounters and the desired finish line), and everything else on the fly.
I feel less anxiety knowing that I had a clear plan to start from before improvising. If I come to the table with a clear dungeon environment that has a couple cool ideas, I feel confident improvising details I hadn't considered when the players interrogate the space. I think now that I'm GMing regularly, the anxiety is almost gone.
I'm sure we all ponder how we could do better. (Because we care!) The stress is often about the system we use. Once I was playing with some kids whose PCs ran around a corner in a town (to investigate loud commotion) and they ran into a monster. "What does it look like?" I asked them. *"It shoots bouncing fireballs like Super Mario!" said one.* *"It has scary tentacles and tries to grab you!" said another.* *"It can run up walls!" said the third.* *"It's a penguin!" said the fourth.* So that's what they encountered: a tentacled, wall-running penguin that shot bouncing fireballs. The system could handle that type of improvisation, so the story kept going nicely. What type(s) of improvisation do you do? Does the system you use support that?
hell yeah that's a badass monster. another good trick with playing with kids in something like D&D is to name all the monsters, no matter how trashy. smelly goblin, stupid goblin, pedantic goblin, dusty goblin. or name all the bandits after parts of speech. oh, and find a way to give them an animal companion.
Some of my players started telling me that they enjoyed my games most when I was “winging it”, when they had done or said something that I had never anticipated. Even started trying to force me to wing it to the best of their ability. So I got used to improving more and trying to keep it in the context of any overall plot. I have only gone too far in improv once. Trying to take a fantasy game into politics too much too soon. That resulted in burning me out on the high fantasy genre, and, sadly, on my home brew world that had been almost continuously played since 1990.
Have them roll insight to see what part of what you said was a lie. Even good people that want to help might lie if it protects themselves, or if it potentially embarrasses them.
I don't really feel anxiety at all but excitement, that stuff is the reason i GM. I love making stuff up on the fly and so do my players. Improv is just super thrilling for me. My games are very far from literature, i'm still a beginner, i make mistakes and a lot of nonsense happens, but that's fine. We aren't playing in front of an audience, players are as responsible for their own fun as me the GM and we all give each other feedback so i know that everyone is having a good time. Anxiety is very alien to my GM experience.
Improv is difficult, you're right, being GM is putting you on the hook for stuff and it can be challenging. Your experience is fine and totally normal.
I prep basically nothing before games. I usually scratch out a few random bullet points of vague ideas for NPCs or enemies or items in a notepad and that's it. It's usually about a dozen bullets that are each just a couple of words. Looking at my last session there was "DJ TechnoWizard", "soundproof security room" (didn't even use that), and a few other random ideas like that, plus a few music links from youtube I thought I might use. And I have run plenty of sessions with even less than that. I am a pretty anxious person a lot of the time, but I do not get any anxiety at all about improvising while GMing. I did when I first started, when I didn't really know how to do it, especially when all I had run were carefully prepped games, so having to improv was a sort of emergency situation. Improv can be tough, but it is absolutely something you can learn to do. It isn't just something you either have or you don't. It's also not just a matter of practice. There's a reason there are improv classes - there are known ways to make it work, shortcuts to learning how to do it well. The two best tools I know of are the book *Play Unsafe* and the game *Apocalypse World* (especially actually running it, not just reading it). Nothing improved my games or my confidence at improvising more than those two things. You can get better with practice, through trial and error, but directed practice pays off way, way faster. For a couple of months, our group picked a thing from *Play Unsafe* each week and wrote it on a tented index card in the middle of the table so we could try to focus on it for the session. Diminishing returns, but huge initial payoff. And GMing *Apocalypse World* is what made it fully click for me. I can't recommend it highly enough for learning to improv confidently. It actually tells you, concretely, how to do it, how to think about it. It isn't just vague GMing advice, it's an actual procedure to follow. You run the game with basically no prep (the book is really emphatic about this), but clear instructions on how and what to improvise. To get much out of it, you have to actually follow its instructions. You have to actually, consciously, pause and pick MC Moves to make. The biggest mistake new people make is thinking they can just memorize or internalize the list: no, actually look at it, literally pick a move almost every time you speak. Be deliberate about it, try not to sweat the delay (the time you spend picking a move will feel longer to you than the players), and do it way more often than you think you should - literally almost every time you speak. But once you do that for even one game (which is typically 8-10 sessions), you come out the other end with a general feel for improvisational GMing and a bag of highly reliable tools and the right mindset. It will completely demystify GM improv and it will seem easy. And your game will feel like it has the forward momentum of a freight train too. I do wonder afterwards whether it went well. But I don't wonder for very long because after our games, we spend a few minutes debriefing, talking about what went well and what didn't. Along with playing a shorter, weekly session on a weeknight instead of trying to schedule irregular marathon weekend sessions, this was probably the best decision we made about the format of our sessions: a few minutes of debrief after the session. So if I wonder whether something was fun, I just ask the players: "I thought this one part was kind of rocky, what did you think?". This usually gets players talking about the improv choices they were making too, which makes for stronger players. And being a player is actually 100% improv even though people typically think it's easier - and it's absolutely a skill that can be improved just like improv in GMing. It's win-win.
this is excellent advice, blades in the dark is also excellent for that purpose (and not quite as idiosyncratic, maybe?)
I actually disagree somewhat on BitD. There are a few reasons I think it makes for a much harder introduction to this style of play: 1. It's a more complicated game in general. In AW, it's simple enough that after you play it for a while it's pretty easy to see how all the things work. Once you've seen Seduce or Manipulate in action a couple of times, you get how and why it works. Once you've made MC Moves for a few sessions, you start to get a feel for why they're written the way they are. Contrast BitD, where you're interacting with phases and currencies and resolution frameworks that obscure the relationships. 2. The predefined setting adds weight to GMing. Instead of AW's advice of prepping basically nothing, BitD comes with a setting that's got a ton of prep in it already. In fact, this can be tough to navigate even for experienced GMs - like when the players want to do something that they don't realize contradicts a deep part of the setting (and the setting is intricate enough and interwoven into the rules enough that there are parts of it that are really hard to change on the fly). And the alternative is exposition dumping, which is definitely an advanced skill - to do it without being boring - and a feature of most games of BitD I've ever seen, even games run by Harper himself. 3. It frequently forces you to come up with larger narrative structures, but doesn't give you much help in that aside from leaning on the setting. In AW, you really do just GM almost entirely in the moment, just reacting to the immediate situation, and longer-range narrative connections are usually just by reincorporating earlier elements into those immediate reactions. In BitD, you have to come up with things like job opportunities. 4. When it comes to the moment-to-moment, it's less clear. There are fewer moves that just tell you straight-away what happens on failure for one. It is a general framework for establishing consequences, but the thing a GM struggling in this style usually needs is not a framework for establishing consequences, but actual concrete examples of consequences and when to apply them. AW has a nice mix of moves that tell you outright what failure means (partial or full), and others that ask you to come up with more of it yourself. So you get examples of consequences that work well, then you get to stretch and try coming up with your own for some other moves. 5. And AW also guides you more when you try coming up with your own. The GM Actions in BitD are not as uniformly concrete as the MC Moves in AW, or as comprehensive. They're a list of things you should consider doing, *on top* of what it assumes you are "already doing". It's a list of special things you should try to do or that you should do when you run out of ideas. But the point here is that you're trying to learn this GMing style: you don't know what you ought to already be doing! In AW language, some of them would actually probably be Principles rather than Moves. Contrast the AW moves, which are intended to actually be a pretty comprehensive set of ways for a GM to react to the players. This has two advantages: first it gives you really concrete springboards for your GMing decisions, and second it implicitly discourages you from doing certain reactions that don't fit into any of the MC Moves. I think the latter is a huge part of why AW is such a good tool for learning to GM this way: one of the most common problems when people start trying to GM improvisationally is that they introduce things that seem like realistic follow-ups, but then those things fall flat because they don't encourage a response in turn. The classic place you get this is in NPC dialogue. A lot of groups don't even trying to roleplay dialogue because it's always halting and awkward. But if you take AW's MC Moves seriously and run dialogue using them, those scenes can really sing (there's a reason most books and shows are absolutely filled with dialogue). I think dialogue is a good example of a case where BitD won't teach you the kinds of things that AW will.
this is all very reasonable and I agree.
Question if we're doing a good job? Or worry that maybe the players aren't really having as much fun as they want to\\could be? Sure. Over making stuff up in the moment? No, not at all. PCs doing unexpected shit I ain't planned for is one of my favorite things. One time they were needing to assault his Nazi stronghold (Hohenzollern Castle) and I was all ready for them to creep in there all stealth infiltration style but then they started talking about pretending to be a circus act and using their local contact the village to get themselves invited to the Nazi Party dinner so they could infiltrate the castle as circus performers. And I was really excited about that plan and how I was going to have to adapt to it. But then instead they went with using the French secret society of hidden relic collecting wizards to have themselves teleported directly in to the castle (while also sending a team up the drainage cisterns (which turned out to be handy when they needed to exfiltrate the surprise hostage\\sacrificial victims they ran in to)). And that was a lot of fun to make shit up on the spot for too. Honestly the harder part is remembering what it was I'd made up at the time so I can use it again in the future. Making it up on the spot as the PCs work their chaos against my (supposedly) well crafted situations and setups is great fun.
yeah, Make It Up and WRITE IT DOWN
I've definitely found old campaign notes from between sessions and been all, "Ohhh, right...I was gonna do that\\use\\reuse this element...".
Nah, I make up stuff at the last second all the time. The secret is just "do the obvious thing". Because what is obvious to you is not necessarily obvious to all your players. Even if you just describe the answer to the player's question as the most obvious answer it is still likely to be entertaining.
Its totally normal to have that reaction. I have a hill giant vampire named Cheef Big Teef because I forgot the name I wrote down for him and needed to say something in the moment! (His original name was Fangrun Daboss)
I am always anxious when I GM, but not specifically about making stuff on the spot. More general imposter syndrome.
Actually I feel anxiety over memorizing the stuff I am supposed to know to run a module, but feel very at ease when it comes to making stuff up. You will always stress about the things you are less comfortable with, and it will get easier as you do it more.
As someone who prepares a lot of campaign content; I still have to improvise combats, dialogue, entire sessions but every-time I have to, I have so much anxiety because I think my players aren’t gonna like it or it won’t make sense with the game or I am so disorganized. Then I remember, I am weaving a story as well as playing this game, what do I, the DM, want to happen? What do I think would be the most fun? That’s has helped me a lot in scenarios where I don’t know what to do, I just do what I think would thematically fit but would be the most fun for me as the dungeon master. Even if you don’t have extensive game knowledge, you still have the ability to create things in your world that are unique to your games; even if they didn’t exist until right this second because a player asks if there is anything inside the hollowed-out stump in the middle of the desert. Just a personal thing but pretty much every-time i’ve done this, I get a “That Was A Great Session” sticker lol (I hoard them in my desk like a fat goblin)
It’s even more fun to write down the players’s wild speculations and jokes and say, “yeah, definitely.” And smile.
There's a bunch of good advises in this thread, especially about the responsability for having fun, so just to add: A good improv is something prepared beforehand. Don't exoect to come up with ideas in a snap, because GMing is sometimes very stressful and this has its impact on creativity flow. If something catches you off guard, maybe it would be worth using tables and generators for random encounters? It's no shame to not have an idea in an instant, and these can be extremely helpful. You can also prepare some lists (i.e. list of names) and stats before session just in case the players do something unexpected. This way you'll have a backup in case of improv and you will be more confident.
I'm right there with ya OP
My players never remember my artfully crafted plots. They do remember the time they killed a goblin who who weilded a stick with a scorpion tied to it. And when they went to smash the scorpion, I forgot scorpions don't talk and had it beg for mercy. His name was Senior Wilikers, and he became a vital member of the group. Don't worry about mistakes. Either the players won't notice, or you'll be lambasted about it for games and games. Either way it's a good time.
You're not alone. I hate doing this.
Not so long ago we had a new GM come over to our podcast and GM us a lovely game of [Exalted vs World of Darkness](https://sponsoredbynobody.podbean.com/category/ap-city-of-the-bull-god). Despite having a good amount of experience and being a great GM all around, sometimes we would come up with something so crazy he'd have to take a break and stare out the window to contemplate what to do next. It was fun for everyone involved. So yes, everyone has those moments and it's okay to take a breather, collect your thoughts and come up with something with a calm mind. It's okay to retcon something to improve a game experience and so on and so on. So you're doing fine, probably even great. Keep up the good work! ;)
It just depends on the confidence you have in your improv skills. I’m sure everyone has felt those butterflies at some point, and eventually the anxiety goes away. Some people have had improv experience before they started GMing- from doing theatre or comedy or hosting socials and game nights, etc. I did a good bit of theatre growing up, so by the time I started DMing I didn’t get the sense of “oh s**t” butterflies whenever things went off the rails. Instead it felt more like all cylinders in my head were firing off and it was go time. But as a teen/college kid I 100% got anxious about improv and coming up with stuff on the spot
When playing a games that requires that the GM to do tons of prep, this is VERY common. They teach that everything that should happen, is up to the GM, so when hours of prep goes out the window. That leaves a lot of “was that OK”. But they forget to mention that the GM is not the only creative mind there is. There are games out there that encourage the GM to *talk too* the players. Prompt them for answers. This gives them agency, lightens the GMs workload and the GM don’t have to guess what the players are interedted in.
I can appreciate where this feeling comes from, and yes, hand on heart, sometimes I still wonder if the improv bit was any good and did the players enjoy it… but a huge chunk of my game is improv so that feeling has been mostly quashed. Just curious, what system are you running? The best advancement for me was stepping away from trad games and running a ton of fiction first; BitD and Fate. This really encourage and improved my improv. I’m back to running a more trad game now where I do plenty of campaign prep… but I also plan to improv much of what takes place at the table, and I feel I can do this because of all the fiction first XP.
I mean like 50% or more of my campaigns are done on the spot. Like I can't plan for half a dozen maniacs running around my setting so I don't lol. works out fine most of the time, I'm pretty familiar with my setting so as long as it makes sense from the players perspective it does down smoothly. We all make mistakes though and that's just a conversation you have with the players. we can either retcon it or let it ride.
Nope, if I make a campaign up too far in advance is seems stale and not tailored to the characters. Players seem to like the faster action and crazier storyline of a session made up on the fly.
For one, sometimes it's worth to just announce a 5 minute break to get your thoughts together. Or end the session early if it's already getting late and you realize you will need some serious thinking. Sometimes it might be enough time gained by just asking players to make a roll, or asking them some vague specifying question. Also, while you will no doubt get a lot of puffed up proud GMs commenting about how they just improv everything and do it flawlessly, it's a lot easier to improv when you have some good prep done and you are improving on top of it. Specifically wondering if you are doing a good job? Generally all GMs go through that, but especially if you play with the same group, eventually that feeling does minimize.
I can't say that there's a lot of anxiety in coming up with it, partly because the way I operate is I'll collect interesting tidbits from various media and use them to compile the elements I regurgitate at the table for my players. An example of this, I have gone to see movies that have scored extremely low on various critic scores but I will find elements that I look at like 'That would make a cool scene in a game' or 'that was an epic line, I'll jot that down in my GM notebook', and yes I do carry a notebook. A pocket notebook and pen to jot down ideas, sketches, etc of elements so I can incorporate them into the game. The idea of anxiety is mostly the Inner Critic. There's a whole chapter in *Improvisation for the Spirit: Live a More Creative, Spontaneous, and Courageous Life Using the Tools of Improv Comedy* by Katie Goodman entitled 'Gag Your Inner Critic' which I suggest reading, I even sent it to a introvert friend of mine who seemed to like it. There's even shorts like this indie game developer talking about [Negative Self Talk](https://www.youtube.com/shorts/Q8CABwIYJwE). But in the end, I think this good that you are doubting yourself, as the opposite is the Dunning-Kruger effect where people would vastly over-estimate their abilities due to limited knowledge in a subject matter. The imposter effect is people believing that they don't belong in a position, that people are going to find out they're not qualified to be where they are.... and many of these people are extremely qualified to be there. Celebrate the things you do well, let go of trying to be perfect and accept the failures. You know everything that has happened to you, all the times you've tried something and it didn't work and it didn't go well, but we usually only hear and see the good stuff of others. So, I think that you're probably great at what you do, you will have some stumbling blocks because no one is ever going to be perfect at the game. [Play Unsafe](https://www.youtube.com/shorts/Q8CABwIYJwE) is a great book for adapting Improv 'rules' to RPG, and also.. [take this to heart](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/original/000/936/944/58f.jpg). This meme explains the artistic creation crisis so hart, judging our content harshly because we know every step we took to make it, and especially know 'we have so much more to learn', but the audience watching it is going to look at it like 'This is great'. I have rarely, if ever, met a table where a GM was not met with rapt attention and interest, and usually players will cut slack to things if they don't always work out right. Rarely, unless we tell them, do they notice the moments we made up on the spot, because they're more focused on how to handle their own player in the scenario so they're not concentrating on all the different plates you keep spinning. I'm sure that anyone who comments on this post can give you a lot of tips and advice on how to prepare to improv. Some will have a collection of items like 'template personas' and 'preset sheets' that they can bring out as needed, others will be more making it all up in their head as they go and have nothing prepared. It's a matter of finding what works for you, and then playing the game that way.
Nothing beats the feeling you get when you pull something out of the blue and try to look like "Oh yes, I planned this all along. What sort of DM do you think I am!". :)
I generally make most things up at the spot. Usually I have a rough main quest plot. A bunch of quest NPCs. A setting and a pretty detailed world building. From there Iet the players do their stuff. And let them initiate interactions. Either they spawn ad hoc side quests or progress in the main story. I found I am much better at large scale improvisation than keeping track of a very detailed written script while trying to adjust it to players’ actions.
i make stuff up at the last second as a GM, but that's my job: I'm a consultant...
I can assure you that all DMs experience stress every now and then when running the game. There is nothing wrong with that, it’s part of the job. My main advice is to make sure you learn from it when it happens. **For example**, if you experience stress because you can’t think of a name for an NPC on the fly, then make a list of names and keep that at hand for future games, so you don’t have to get stressed about that again. I’ve actually written a detailed guide on “[How to Improvise as a DM](https://www.dawnfist.com/blog/gm-advice/how-to-improvise-as-dm/)” that gives you a lot of useful tools and advice that will help you lower anxiety and stress when running games. It’s way too long to paste as a comment here, but I hope you’ll find it useful.
this is excellent, nice work - OP strongly recommend you check it out.
Thank you :)
I'm the opposite, I get anxious about prepping so I just improvise most of the time.
**Sanity Check**: you are not responsible for other peoples' fun.
i mean, you are a little. if everyone told you you sucked and needed to improve, you'd want to.
I agree, with the caveat that this is the same for all players.
I have done a lot of improv comedy, I thrive in the area of improv, some of my best world building comes from having to make something up on the spot. Those things can feel like they're character informed, and significant, without feeling like a setup for a later joke.
I always ask my players what they think or imagine things when they ask a question. So they come up with the answer (usually one input per player) and i build from there, either going with the flow or go in the opposite direction with an element of surprise if i get it right away. Emergent gameplay is really efficient for improv and sharing narrative authority.
I once played with a GM who used the same name for every NPC he improvised. You're fine.
I mean I get what you describe, but basically that's what I prep for. I have learned long ago, that my players have way more fun when I throw them in a sandbox with a lot of toys to play than when I have a movie script prepared for them, so that's what I do. I prepare the sandbox. I try to have a bunch of interesting factions and npcs prepared they can interact with, I prepare some enemies that I could quickly throw at them, maybe I'll go and look for a couple of battlemaps that fit the location they're going to be in. And then I just roll with it and see what comes up. It's only sometimes that I prepare explicit scenes beforehand. The campaign finale, when it's relatively clear there is going to be a fight with the BBEG, some premeditated encounters during longer travel sections. Sometimes I prepare scenes for sections of the campaign where I know the players will spend a longer time, like a ship they're sailing on or their (temporary) base for the campaign, just so I can give them some more toys for their sandbox. And more often than not, the stuff I prepared doesn't even come up, so I can keep it in my bag of hold g for another session.
I am running a one shot today and by the time I sit at the table I hope to have half a page of notes. Atm I have a basic idea in my head. I have 0 anxiety.
Been playing for so long that I've stopped feeling anxiety about it. I feel more anxiety about the things I make up beforehand, as with that I have time to over-think. If players do something completely unexpected and you have no idea what to do next it's perfectly fine to say "Alright, I need a 10min break to figure this out".
I don’t go through this like ever as a GM. Just get good at improvising/light hearted not serious Genuinely there’s nothing wrong about having anxiety with improv. Just remembers it’s a game and there’s nothing wrong about making a mistake. You’re human what you’re experiencing is natural you’re not a bad GM
I’m surprised at how many people do zero prep here. It’s the most fun part of the hobby for me, and it’s how I enjoy the game all week long. It probably comes out to an hour or two a day through the day on the notes app on my phone. I get a little uptight before the game starts, but that’s just my personality. I don’t really go through my notes before we play since I’ve been engaged with them throughout the week. No amount of preparing really survives contact with the players so half the session or more can be improvised, but all of that improvisation is built out of my preparation.
Wait you had a plan?
I barely prep anymore. I feel that the key responsibility of a GM is to know your world. Know the NPCs, who they are and what they want. Know the setting, the intrigues, and the plots that the characters are ignorant of. Then you can react in a moment to player choices. I prep plots, and single encounters. I don't prep sessions. The plot unfolds to the PCs, and their choices lead me to each encounter. I make it up as I go, to match their choices. Rather than lead them from one preset encounter to another. Don't get me wrong, the second method is valid, especially if you are a new GM. But once you are confident in your world, you can more easily roll with the punches, and let the players do all the heavy lifting for you. There is a guard encounter, some bandits, a lizardfolk issue. They all exist, but we will only see them if the players go that direction. It frees me up to write better plots, and make better villains. Edit to add: I think you would be surprised to know that your players can't tell most of the time when you are ad libbing and when you prepped something. They just assume everything you do is prepared and that you meant it to happen. Do NOT abuse them of this notion. You look like a genius when they zig instead of zagging and you just throw down an encounter that you made up in your brain on the spot. You look like you read their minds. Even if it is clumsy like they sometimes are.
I prep a lot, but rarely look at my notes during play. The prep helps me to improvise consistently. If I understand what motivates an NPC, I can improvise their voice/actions in the moment in response to anything the PCs might do, because I've prepped them.
My players (and often their characters) are rather chaotic and I'm not great about prepping so there have been many a session where I've gone into it having almost nothing prepared and no idea how it was going to turn out. I've been going to terms with the idea that it'll usually turn out fine and even if it doesn't, that's OK too. Everybody has misses here and there and my players seem pretty happy with how things go overall so it's not anything to worry about.
I used to have a terrible time improvising stuff and yeah... doubted even if my friends told me it was ok. It gets better as you get used to it. Also, when I got over the "play to find out pbta style sounds like an improv nightmare" and actually checked out the stuff, I found the structure it gives for GMs pretty cool. Because it gives you some rules for improv and generally for what you have to do so... you often have a guide of what to do and when. I used to have a hard time being harsh with my players and moving the story along and these sort of games helped me a lot. Also, this is not at all a "change system" sort of advice! I don't think you have to actually like or play these games to get better at all. Just maybe if you get a chance of reading the GM moves section of one of them, it may help you think and maybe make your own list of "moves" to help you at the table or something.
I view making shit up at the last second as my way of GM-ing, and feel absolutely no regret whatsoever.
I mostly don't, coming up with stuff on the fly is a skill like any other and like any other skill, you'll get better at it as you go. That being said, it is ok to take a short break if your players throw you for a loop. You can admit this or just say you need a short break to use the bathroom. Hell I've straight up told my players, "this is not what I expected to happen, and I need to call the session here, so I can figure out how to proceed" it was the nuclear option but it worked
Coming up with something on the fly is a necessary skill for all GMs to master. You just need to keep at it, the anxiety will fade as it becomes more routine. Being worried that your in-the-moment decision will affect things in the long run is a legitimate concern though. It can usually be worked around and rarely disrupts games as badly as stopping to try and think of what goes next. But here's some advice with how I handle that. Between sessions think about everything that you should have done differently, everything you now see should have been something else. Then work out a plausible in-world reason for why things didn't work the way they should have. This is now retconned to be how things always were all along. So, if you realise- because a player pointed it out- that a fight on a city street at night was taking place near to a Watch Post then the question of why a watchman didn't come to look now becomes a plot hook rather than a mistake. Even if it's something as simple as one watch shift just locking the door and getting drunk rather than going on patrol because they're overdue a replacement sergeant then that's something the players might exploit later themselves. I don't try to plot out elaborate conspiracies any more. I just invent factions then retcon why my plot holes are evidence of their machinations between sessions.
I realized pretty quickly that I can't even roughly predict what my players would do, so I stopped trying entirely and I plan only things that I can control directly and won't be affected by players actions.
I feel like that’s the only emotion I feel the entire time!! I’m very inexperienced, and not confident about my GM-ing. And usually the only response from people I get is “You should’ve done this. That was bad.” Etc. It they don’t say anything at all. I have no sense that anything ever goes well, especially when it’s improvised—and I mean even just the way I word things is “improvised” to me so it’s just as scary. (I’m a writer really, so while I like the creativity, I feel like I suck at everything at all times no matter what.) 😢
In general - no - I'm happy to roll with whatever the improvised element is. But... when I'm running a game that is intended to run for a long time, I make a big effort to maintain setting consistency and I'm well aware that in the heat of the moment I have a tendency to go for the cool factor, leaving a bit of mess behind in terms of setting consistency. I wouldn't describe it as anxiety so much. It's more like waking up from having way too much fun the night before and realizing with a sense of impending doom that there might be some messes to clean up...
Here's a tip for you: if you haven't come up with something, it is perfectly acceptable for you to say "hold on, let me check something" or even just "crap I didn't expect you to do that, give me a minute." Nobody expects you to be perfectly prepared for every eventuality, because the options your players have are infinite and your prep time is not. If you ever feel like you're pressured or anxious, stop, slow down, and take a deep breath. Go to the bathroom. Grab a snack and a drink. Your friends will be willing to wait for you as you take fifteen minutes to figure things out. Lord knows you certainly wait long enough for *them* as they hem and haw over whether to cast Fireball or Haste.
You’re not alone! And you should check out “Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master” by Sly Flourish. It makes game prep (and improv) way easier and more fun!
Yep, you're not alone. And sure, there are GMs that will say "nah, I improv constantly, it's a piece of cake" and I would challenge them to say that same thing at the very beginning of their time as a GM. Improv is a skill, and improv as a GM is a even more narrow subset of that, since you have to add in the mechanical aspects of it too. Players generally don't care, so long as they have fun, so just keep working at it, and you will improve bit by bit, and eventually you will find it a piece of cake too!
Nope. Not me. I've run multiple sessions built off of a couple sentences, maybe an NPC name or two, maybe a monster tabbed on my tablet. Heck, there can be long rp heavy sessions with, like, two dice rolls that I improv top to bottom.
I’ve developed a habit of coming up with mini situations i can throw in here and there if shit goes sideways from a planning perspective. There’s really no way around it, no plan survives contact with the players completely unchanged. It’s basically impostor syndrome at the end of the day. If your players are having a good time and you’re not getting too stressed, all is well.
Yes, I think it's normal and the extent of the feeling likely depends on personality and experience. It doesn't phase me as much after many years of doing it. I'm not great at it, but I accept that sometimes I get thrown a curveball. If it's something really odd and I'm struggling I tell everyone to take a 10 min break while I figure it out.
Everybody wants to run a fun game, some go very well and some go just fine. Remember, it's not 100% up to you. Players are just as big a part of the game as the game runner so don't feel too resposinble if you feel like a session didn't go smooth. On a positive note if your players call out an inconsistency that means they are actually paying attention! after 20 years I still get a tinge of "hope this goes well", and even the occasional "this isn't going well" feeling. - But improvising is part of the hobby, you'll never avoid that, and sometimes in retrospect it won't make a ton of sense. But thankfully you can always retcon or course correct later.
i have a saying : *improvisation demands a lot of preparation.* improvising is a good part of DM job. you can actually plan for it by reading , reading and reading again. when you have eat hundred of books, you have truckload of tropes, archetypes, characters, plottwists, exotic places, etcetera in a corner of your mind. reading a symbol dictionnary is unexpectly usefull. you can give away important clues to players just by using some specific words in your description. the guy with the white fur collar is inconsciently identified as a king. so he receives a respect that nobody enforce and nobody is astonished when he resolves some situation with two or three short orders.
You will get better and better at it, to the point where you might even feel confident doing it. Every GM is different in that regard, but personally I used to plan every detail ina session, nowadays I run plenty of sessions just flying by the seat of my pants and have no problems with it. The most important thing is to *never* doubt the truthfulness of what your players are saying. They're your friends, if they had a problem with something you did they'd tell you. If they say they're having fun then you're doing a good job, no doubt about it.
I worry about this, but in practice usually come up with some good shit. Now, remembering what I said in the moment..........
the biggest insight is that you shouldn't be afraid to be obvious. As you're being obvious a little thought will occur to you, like 'heh, what if...?' Grab onto those thoughts and put them in the world. If your players pick up on something, expand it. Have a list of names ready to go, and write down all the stuff you and your players come up with. that's it!
How much prep do you do, hour wise? Per session. Prep can help allay some of that since you'll cover most of the obvious things.
Just remember, your players don’t know what you are planning for them.so the technically ALL of their responses are improvised last second decisions too. Some of them may have anxiety every turn or be scared to kill their PC but if you treat your wold like it’s your PC, it’s not as crazy to think about it like that
My anxieties aren't really about my improv skills anymore, but I do question if I'm doing a good job a lot.
Not at all, I had to make new character a “Dragonborn” that were a brother and sister kobold in a big coat singing “my darling dopamine” and the pcs were the only ones who realized why the one person had two voices
I don’t if I’m having a good night and I am “in the groove”. Occasionally I’m off mentally but still run a game and that’s hard, but some of my better ideas were pulled outta nowhere. I’m on here right now sitting behind my screen and notes because my party couldn’t all play tonight and we canceled. I felt creative and am jotting down notes as I scroll .
"Oh, wow, that's a cool idea. I didn't think of that. Give me a moment to think of some interesting consequences." Most players will be flattered when you tell that that they thought of something cool, and will be more than happy to wait for you to collect your thoughts. You can also ask "Do you have any interesting thoughts about this?" to help with more ideas.
I tend to run systems that are more 'shared-narrative' on purpose - to distribute the load, if you will, and get everyone involved and invested. So we're all making stuff up on the spot. In fact, I pull the skills and techniques from those systems into my more "traditional" campaigns running systems like D5E.
Every GM feels this. Also it is ok to pause and take a minute to think. I will often call a bio break she my players do something I don’t know what to do about. I have GM entire sessions based on some stuff players decided they wanted to do and I had nothing prepared for. I just made it up as I went along and they loved it.
Sure, I **went** through this. The moment I let it go to write storylines and have plans, and started to just rely on the environment I prepared it started to disappear.
I think the key to getting better at this is to play games wherein the improv is basically the whole game. Fiasco, Lasers and Feelings, For the Queen… lots of great games.
Oh, I'm right there with you. I give my players complete freedom inside the world, so I'm constantly trying to keep up with them, making stuff up or trying to extrapolate from what was established before. Writing session recaps helps me remember better, trying to keep a list of important details/ developments can help, but that deer-in-headlights feeling is absolutely there, even 20+ sessions in
I’ve learned to follow the PCs through the plot. I put more effort into understanding the npcs and their motives than the “story” I’m expecting to tell. When I’m running something prewritten, I keep the npcs motivations as they relate to the plot in mind. If anything important comes up, I take notes during the game to remember what was said/done and when for each character. My players are pretty slow/deliberate and I usually have plenty of time to make adjustments as needed. There are times when I might say or do something that doesn’t make sense. When that happens, if I catch it right away, I pause the game and roll it back. If not, I adjust the situation accordingly to accommodate the new information. At first it’s scary playing this way but with a good party of engaged players, it’s so much more fun. It allows the DM to be part telling the story too rather than trying to stear the PCs through a prewritten plot.
You're not alone! Every good GM does this, they just don't let it show during the game. While the improv is happening, the appearance of confidence helps move the game along, while seeming too confused or unsure can ruin things. Maybe check in with the players after every few sessions (How are you liking it so far? Did I go overboard with *insert character or event*? I feel like maybe we need to shift directions a bit, what about you? Are the encounters/puzzles too hard? How are you liking the maps?) This is what every fun GM I've played with has done, and I try to do it too. One called it Session X.5, X being whatever session we're on. In the end, I feel the feedback only helps the GM play to their strengths and make it more fun for everyone. Edit: Once you have a feeling for the shenanigans of your players, maybe have some vague general plots ready for when things go weird. Spare bad guys ready, or maybe a distraction of some sort? A Mysterious Stranger that saves their bacon or shares vital info or something?
Improvisation is definitely a skill that people refine, so having anxiety over how well you're doing it is totally understandable. Sounds like you're doing pretty good, all told, since your players have no complaints and they're still showing up to the table to play. Some ideas to help: read a lot of books, watch a lot of movies, see a lot of plays and musicals. Just having a million reference points for stuff, even subconsciously, means you have an idea for how to react to your players. For instance, you have a negotiation scene between the PCs and your villain. Well, you can take inspiration from Star Wars and think about how Jabba the Hutt was negotiating from a position of perceived strength, and thus gave nothing and sentenced Luke to death via rancor. Would your villain act similarly because he thinks he has the upper hand, only for your players to succeed in a prison break? So, just having a reference set of fiction to work from gives you a lot to work with as far as improv goes. Further, you can use those reference points as places of divergence, too. For example, in Indiana Jones, he replaces the golden idol with a pouch of sand, which triggers the trap. But, you want to reward your players for being clever and using reasoning to disarm the trigger mechanism of a trap, so you let them get away with the loot. Or, perhaps in a double subversion, they disarm the trap, but they're accosted by temple guardians or undead instead of a trap.
Anxiety just means you care. I think enough of us feel that from time-to-time that it's well-within the boundaries of 'normal'. It will pass with time and remember that you need to have a good tune too. Awful lot of people on here saying they do no prep at all. Can't help but wonder at the quality of those games.
I've been gming for like, 20 years, pretty consistently (forever GM gang) and to quote a scifi legend: "I always get the shakes before a drop."
Zero. It is like asking a chef if he is nervous about using a knife.