Improvisational helpers are, well... you know - for improv. This article goes hand in hand with my previous article, "Names".
Improv helpers can be defined as anything that you feel helps you roll with the punches. Most adventures will not go the way you planned and because of this it's always a good idea to keep a few of the following (if not all of the following) in reserve:
Maps - This is perhaps the hardest to master. Too many maps and you may never use them all, too few and you're back where you started. You can't guess everywhere the players might go, so how can you hope to prepare a map for everywhere in the fantasy world? You can't. However you can plan for the the usual places. On a rule I prepare: two short dungeons, a wizard's tower, two short caves, and a few city buildings. I also keep a small graph paper notebook with universal sketches. The next time you don't have an idea you can whip out a map and put your adventure back on track.
People - Let's say the party is walking through the streets of a crowded town. One of your players suggests they visit a magic shop that was not in your plans. You could say there isn't one but why ruin the fun (see "Saying Yes")? So you flip open your handy-dandy book o' people. It's quite easy to make. You simply take a name, race, age, gender, occupation, and maybe a few notes about the person and write them as an Excel document or in a notebook. This is great for anytime you need a quick NPC (Non-Player Character, anyone who isn't a player character - PC).
Taverns - There are lots of good tavern generators out there for public use. I use the tavern generator from Map Mage . They also have some other pretty cool generators and, if you pay, some good mapping tools.
I haven't really found a good D&D 4e treasure generator so if you find one post it in the comments!
No comments:
Post a Comment