Nope. Like I said in the post, telling your players you’re winging a session is just fine. I do think it’s generally less enjoyable, though, and from a GMing standpoint it’s certainly more fun to pull it off without sharing that little tidbit.

If Sam had told us he was going to wing the rest of the session, I’d probably have written a post about how that turned out instead.

The trick is the difference between skillful and clumsy improvisation. A GM who is able to smoothly move between prepared and improvised encounters, and keep it all straight, is great. One who stops frequently, stares off into space, or confuses which NPC is which isn’t.

–Victor

Because my only notes are statblocks, what I’ve found to be most effective while playing is actually not sitting at the table: having the group enclose the playing surface while I walk around them with a clipboard. My players have told me that hearing “The Voice of Fate” coming from up above them really helps them get into the game.

However, when it came to the “hows” of executing this plan and our first destination “failed” (rather quickly I might add) and we were forced to use the second, it seemed like we were placed back on track by the DM.

It was well done either way, which speaks more to the improvisation skills of Sam. I wasn’t worried while sitting at the table and we started doing our thing.

It’s called a Bluff check, people. USE IT!!!

When I do improvise, I don’t like to tell my players. I’ve heard this is the case for others, and I think it would be the same for them. That is, if the material isn’t prepped ahead of time with their specific characters in mind, it somehow makes it less real for them.

I usually have a good handle on the adventure and how things are supposed to shake out. When the players do something unexpected, I used to roll with it, only to smack my head afterwards as I thought of a better way to have improvised things to get them back on track.

For me, stopping the game means taking a bathroom break or grabbing some coffee or food. Just stepping away from the game for those few minutes is enough to clear my head and make the mental connections I need.

My second weapon is the subplot. My players usually have personal things going on, and when they take the game in a different direction a subplot is a good stalling tactic that can turn improvisation into next week’s prepared adventure.

My third weapon is pre-made stat blocks. I loved d20 Star Wars because of all the NPC stat blocks they gave me. It’s much easier to improvise encounters when you know you can pull stat blocks out of thin air.

My fourth weapon is villain reaction. If the PCs go off in an unplanned direction, they may get noticed. The villain may actively pursue them, leading to the scrapping of the original plan but constructing a new, fun one, especially if the villain wants to take them alive and bring them to his secret base.

I don’t play often, but when I do I don’t mind if the GM is improvising. If I know he’s floundering, I’ll often suggest courses of action that foster character development. Sometimes there’s nothing players like better than to take their PCs out for a night on the town

I think the main key to good improv is simply knowing your setting very well. Like all creativity, you need a fertile ground to work with. The better things fit together in your head, the better your improvised ideas will fit with the overall picture.