# Twitter: You Don't Have to Be an Improv Expert tags: #thoughts #game/rpg/umlaut ![[Twitter - You Don't Have to Be an Improv Expert (illo).png|400]] Another one from the Japanese side of X, this time about that cold, creeping fear of having to make stuff up on the fly at the table. Don't worry, I've got the translation for you.  > "I just realized something wild: since most players have never written their own scenarios, doesn't that mean they feel a crazy high barrier to stuff like 'adjusting scenarios to fit the table right in front of them' or 'supplementing and tweaking descriptions'…? For those who've done it before, it might look dead simple, but for newbies, there's that scary feeling of messing up a finished product, right?"  > "Oh, by the way, stories like 'I ignored the author's intentions and changed the ending to a level where it doesn't retain its original form' or 'I added or removed NPCs and gimmicks without a trace' — yeah, well, that's outside my jurisdiction, so please go ahead and do as you please."  > "Maybe only improv experts can handle that on the fly… It's not a skill you can expect from amateurs… For beginner GMs, let's all try to gently guide things along with some degree of prediction in mind, yeah…?" You don't have to be an improv expert to do this stuff on the fly. In fact, you don't even have to be an adult to do this stuff on the fly. Despite being the least child-friendly person on the planet, for some reason, the people at my local game shop think I am the perfect person for their children to play RPGs with. The kids love it because I just treat them like short adults and expect them to be able to do things. Then I give them the opportunity. Some of the best gaming I've ever had was with kids at the table doing truly disturbing things and being incredibly creative while they were at it. One of my best stories involves playing [[Umlaut|Umläut]] with a couple of the patrons' kids along with a couple of adventurous adults. In this game, you run a rock and roll band and have to decide when to take gigs, what to do with those gigs, how to make money, and when to go to your day job, etc. Along the way, you come up with the names of songs that you're playing and practicing. At the end of the game, you basically have a fake album with all the songs on it. It's incredibly fun, and nothing about it is predetermined other than the fact that everybody starts as a band, and then they can create everything about that band out of a handful of stats. These kids were a 9-year-old girl and her 11-year-old brother. I've learned something very important from children: little girls are the scariest thing on Earth. You give them freedom to imagine stuff and tell them that it's okay to be disturbing, and they will push every limit they can find. It's glorious; it's an amazing thing to see. This little girl created the band "Flaming Bunnies."[^flaming-bunnies] I won't tell you what they did during one gig to attract a bigger crowd of over-the-top punks, but the name of the band might give you some hints. She was incredible. By the end of the session, everybody at the table was in tears laughing, having a great off-kilter time. None of these kids had any worry about making stuff up on the fly at the table because children don't have a problem with that. Kids are able to go completely balls out gung-ho about making stuff up and telling you stories. As long as you're willing to listen and have a conversation with them and make up the story alongside of them, they're having a good time, you're having a good time, and you're playing the game. There's nothing different about that. When you sit down with adults at a table to play a role-playing game, everybody has the same capacity for imagination that children do. You just have to actually use it. Children make great improv GMs. I can prove it. The next time that you're telling a bedtime story to a child, whether it's your own or someone else's, get halfway into it, close the book, and then ask them what happens next and tell them it's okay to make something up. They will. They'll do it without hesitation. They'll do it while looking you straight in the eyes and smiling. They will give you an entirely different story than the end of the one that's in the book, and they will love it because it's their story. This is all you have to do at the table. This is literally it. This is the sum total of adjusting scenarios to fit the table right in front of you. Just come to it with the creativity and the wit of a child while you bring the intellect of an adult. That's all you have to do. It's not hard, it's not challenging, it's just a matter of being able to trust your ability to tell a story with other people. I've never run games with scenarios as my basis. I just don't do it. I never have. At best, I have some notes for a setup where the characters find themselves, informed by the character motivations that we put together during Session Zero. Then I let the players play the game, driving their characters around the world. They get into trouble as they pursue their interests and stumble on things that I put out there. I don't bother putting together scenarios because the characters in the world, driven by the players, are perfectly capable of getting themselves into trouble and digging into things that actually interest them. Again, this isn't hard. You just look them in the eye and tell the story. You know what they're likely to do because you were there when they were putting the characters together. They told you what they're likely to do. You can handle making stuff up on the fly because you know what the world does. The world does exactly what you tell it. What's likely to happen? Make the decision. Tell the players. Let them make their decisions and tell you through the characters what they do. Rinse and repeat. You don't have to be an incredible improv expert. You never had to. All you have to do is play the game with the people at your table. Look them in the eyes. [^flaming-bunnies]: The full story of that table is over in the Character Creation Challenge — **[[Character Creation Challenge 2024 - Day 28 - Umlaut|Character Creation Challenge 2024: Day 28 - Umläut :: Animal Wifery]]**.