I have some pretty bad anxiety. This only really shows itself during major occasions and when I'm GMing. Early on in my career of "forever GM", I found that I'd panic quite a bit, whether it was because I totally didn't expect the players to make a particular decision or because they'd talk to an NPC I didn't prepare whatsoever. This panic led to some pretty disastrous sessions, and to make it worse, I had the stupid idea that by just doing sessions completely unprepared I would cure myself of this anxiety around improvisation.
No matter how many times you throw yourself into the flame, you won't stop getting burns.
I learned that I needed a cope, a safety net to help the process because the panic is inevitable. I've taken comfort in this page I made to help improv. In fact, despite my original purpose for it being highly situational, I find that I refer to this page the most out of all my pages when GMing. It's helped me ride with the panic, and I hope it helps you, too:
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| PANIC PAGE (Jakub Rebelka) I feel like I'm just pressing random buttons hoping things will work when GMing. Miraculously enough, it does. |
It's really just a collection of tables. Most of the times I don't even really roll on them, I just use the first results I see. Now, I do have some points to push that I've just straight up memorized and have become unconscious methodology now:
Every NPC is three descriptors. Well, three descriptors, a desire/goal/agenda written aside them, and a noted voice. But really, three words is all that it takes to get the mind churning and remember the NPC. These three words should be descriptors of the NPC. For instance, my players recently have befriended an NPC who is described as "goblin, coward, addict". That's it. Whatever sticks out to you, write, it's an easy way to remember NPCs and act on what is noted.Just remember to note most NPCs you improvise or create, because you never know when the players are going to decide randomly that they need to see an NPC you totally didn't expect them to see ever again.
Don't worry about stats, it's honestly trivial. Now, I run Into The Odd, so things may be different for you. Your players often won't notice the difference between a 2 HP, 9 STR, 12 DEX, 9 WIL goblin and a 3HP, 12 STR, 10 DEX, 8 WIL orc. What I do is keep all stats at the default 10 unless a creature feels especially strong, weak, fast, slow, charming, cowardly, etc. In those cases, I use the extremes of the ability scale. Generally, if you aren't changing a stat to 15 or above or 5 or below, then don't bother changing it, because you're just splitting hairs at that point. I tend to think of HP as "plot armor", so your PCs will likely have very low HP at the start of their campaign and towards the end they will become more important, and thus, have more plot armor. So, keeping this in mind, I give completely insignificant buggers 1 HP, not-too important humans 3 HP, notable humans 6 HP, really important people 9 HP, and beasts of great renown something like 12+ HP.
Things that are dangerous should be visible. Getting killed by a random-ass trap that you couldn't see is frustrating. The fun part about traps should be finding a way around them, disarming it, or utterly destroying the mechanisms that power it. This rule also applies to creatures. The dragon behind that door shouldn't be silent. That cave with an ogre in it should at least have a few skulls or rotting bodies lying outside of the place as fair warning to intruders.
Give the party a few moments to breathe. While keeping up the pressure is good, if you are running a long campaign, give the players some safe time to breathe and roleplay casually. If the entire session is just combat and constant action, your audience will become detached. In my games these breathing moments come in small chats when the party is switching watches. I also ask each player to describe the dream their character is having that night as to give them a little spotlight.
I believe in you.
Every NPC is three descriptors. Well, three descriptors, a desire/goal/agenda written aside them, and a noted voice. But really, three words is all that it takes to get the mind churning and remember the NPC. These three words should be descriptors of the NPC. For instance, my players recently have befriended an NPC who is described as "goblin, coward, addict". That's it. Whatever sticks out to you, write, it's an easy way to remember NPCs and act on what is noted.Just remember to note most NPCs you improvise or create, because you never know when the players are going to decide randomly that they need to see an NPC you totally didn't expect them to see ever again.
Don't worry about stats, it's honestly trivial. Now, I run Into The Odd, so things may be different for you. Your players often won't notice the difference between a 2 HP, 9 STR, 12 DEX, 9 WIL goblin and a 3HP, 12 STR, 10 DEX, 8 WIL orc. What I do is keep all stats at the default 10 unless a creature feels especially strong, weak, fast, slow, charming, cowardly, etc. In those cases, I use the extremes of the ability scale. Generally, if you aren't changing a stat to 15 or above or 5 or below, then don't bother changing it, because you're just splitting hairs at that point. I tend to think of HP as "plot armor", so your PCs will likely have very low HP at the start of their campaign and towards the end they will become more important, and thus, have more plot armor. So, keeping this in mind, I give completely insignificant buggers 1 HP, not-too important humans 3 HP, notable humans 6 HP, really important people 9 HP, and beasts of great renown something like 12+ HP.
Things that are dangerous should be visible. Getting killed by a random-ass trap that you couldn't see is frustrating. The fun part about traps should be finding a way around them, disarming it, or utterly destroying the mechanisms that power it. This rule also applies to creatures. The dragon behind that door shouldn't be silent. That cave with an ogre in it should at least have a few skulls or rotting bodies lying outside of the place as fair warning to intruders.
Give the party a few moments to breathe. While keeping up the pressure is good, if you are running a long campaign, give the players some safe time to breathe and roleplay casually. If the entire session is just combat and constant action, your audience will become detached. In my games these breathing moments come in small chats when the party is switching watches. I also ask each player to describe the dream their character is having that night as to give them a little spotlight.
I believe in you.
This page is real nice. I get what you mean by the improv thing, I've found the sweet spot between no-prep and over-prep is a hard one to find. Names are always important, always always always. I had a lot of fun making a page of advertisements that acted really well as plot-hooks, but I didn't actively prepare what was behind each ad. I just trusted in my future self to pick up the idea and run with it.
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