IMPROV Tips For Dungeons & Dragons 

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Best improv moment, I was running a one shot in Phandalin and the party went to Daren’s with Sildar. We ate dinner in game and real life I had the table go around and tell adventures because they started off at lvl 5. I started off and talked about the dragon coast, and each player went on like a 2-3 minute spill. It was pretty cool.

That thumbnail tho. XD

Shoutout to The Lazy DM. It’s a book I can’t recommend enough. It’s a truly amazing way to dm.

Respectfully, I disagree that pure improv is fine for a one shot: unless you and your whole gaming group are professional improvisers. One shots are actually the scenario where railroading is most allowable, and you ought to have a very straightforward adventure ready. By all means, let the players go off the rails chasing fun if it goes that way, but don’t show up with nothing. For campaign play, I think “Scatter-plot” is phenomenal. I haven’t used it, but it seems like a great method of simultaneously tracking and planning.

Improv is definitely the hardest for me. I have bad anxiety and feel like I need to have things prepared thoroughly cause my mind blanks when something unexpected occurs. I'm hoping with more practice I can work on both issues. Thanks for this vid, I'll try my hand on these options.

I want to thank you for your content. I'm back to playing DnD after a 30 year hiatus and your videos are helping me a lot... This one, on particular. I typically DM on a "flying by the seat of my pants with my hair on fire" and I keep thinking I'm doing it wrong. But the players keep coming back and seem very happy so it's just me that thinks I suck. Your video is confirmation that I'm DMing part of it like other people suggest so it can't be all that bad. Thanks again

I start with a nugget to get my players going, then I utilize elaborately detailed NPCs to engage the players. Once the conversations get going, my NPCs flexibly respond to situations on the fly, oftentimes with humorous results. For instance, one of my players took Scrubby (the awakened bush from the White Moose quest in ROTFM) and offered some of his berries to a down-on-his-luck and disillusioned cultist. I decided to make the berries slightly hallucinogenic, which caused a chain reaction of events that led to that NPC starting a cult of Scrubby that now follows the players around.

As a new DM I have been watching a lot of your videos and first I would like to thank you for the wealth of information your channel as provided me. I also wanted to give my example for the best "Improv moment". I knew my party was going to be heading in a direction and get to a junction in the road so I decided to prepare an Inn that they would reach close to dusk. It was fully fleshed out with 12+ NPC's all doing different things like looking over paperwork alone at a table in the back corner to a group of them playing a very loud game of Dragon ante. I even gave everyone a distinct voice, bond, fault, and reason for being there. I thought to myself. "I am prepared for anything, This will be so perfect and everyone will see how well I have detailed it all out". Our next session began as I expected and they walked into my inn. I described the setting, the atmosphere, the smell of the Pork Pies baking in the back to the cheers coming from the games table. One of my PC's, a Gnome Rouge Inquisitive walked up to the bar and began getting a feel for the place. After a bit of banter back and forth about the comings and goings of the folks in the inn he asked about the bartender. "So, what lands you here in this establishment?" Now my bartender was a retired adventurer who (smiles) took an arrow to the knee and now works this bar and that he dreams of going to Neverwinter and opening his own brewhouse one day. After a round of giggles of my NPC's backstory the PC then said "Well what's stopping you?" and I blanked. Thinking back I could have taken it anywhere from waiting for enough coin, to finishing his education or even saying that he's afraid of the journey as his leg makes him a target to bandits and offer a quest to escort him to Neverwinter. Instead... I panicked and not wanting to destroy momentum I quickly said "Come to think on it, not a damn thing!" and had the NPC leap over the bar, toss is apron aside and disappear out the front door. This in turn lead to laughter from everyone and the cook came forward to tend the bar which caused a horrific incident of burning the pies and nearly started a riot. All of which were way more memorable to my party then anything I was able to prepare.

"Lich King" has me in stitches! 🤣

My friend ran a mostly improv campaign for us. She had a starting town and a few npcs in said town and that was it. She's told us her plan was to have us investigate a npc that we actually ended up helping out and recruiting instead. It just spiraled from there! Some things that made it easier for her was she had a npc name pool to draw from and she named all the taverns puns based on restaurant chains.

My favorite moment (in my short DM career) that was improvised was in last week's session of Dragon of Icespire Peak. The group was trying to rid the Big Al's Ranch of the Orcs. After they just murdered the ones outside, tied the one in the outhouse to tree, decimated all the ones on the first floor, they freed the Big Al, who wanted revenge on the ones on the top floor. Seeing he was badly hurt, the party thought he'd probably die if he just stormed the upper floor (due to scouting before entering the building they knew 4 orcs are hiding up there). So not wanting to just leave him behind, they convinced him to just follow them and stay in the back. Reaching the floor they realised the Orcs set a trap, attacking them from inside the rooms and flanking the characters in the narrow hallway, so only one character could get a good attack, but not without being flanked. They managed to kill the first pair, but the warlock who was taking care, that Al stays in the back gets distracted so he storms to stand next to the cleric, who is fighting the two remaining orcs and Al tries with his fists to hit the leader of the group. That es where the dice created an amazing scene of the fighter and warlock trying to pull Al away, who with disadvantage still managed to win the athletics contests. The next round the cleric manages to defeat one of the remaining orcs, but is immediately knocked unconscious after that by the leader. So suddenly no one blocks the doorway, where the leader is hiding, so Al, in his rage moves up and critical hits the orc with his fist. And the dice god where truely in Al's favor. No armor, no weapons and 9 HP he doges all the attacks of the orc, blocking the rogue and fighter to get a clear hit on the orc. All the while constantly winning the Athletics checks with disadvantage against the party, that tries to get him out of the way. Only after 3 or 4 turns the Arcane Trickster uses her sleep spell to knock out the orc and and Al. The scene was just to hilarious and nothing I could have ever scripted. After the interrogation of the orc they tied up, they now plan to kill the half orcs and convince the Orcs to help them conquering back their from Cryovain. Not sure how I want to handle that ambition, but if they do a good job I will probably try to give them some kind of orcish help. Especially since the fighter is a half orc himself and which might make persuasion of at least some orcs easier.

I usually use bullet points, but I really like the scatter plot idea. Nice!

I always prepare 1 session, and prepare SO MUCH then session after session prepare for the next using what you improvised at the table and anything you can still keep from your last set of plans

Hey just want to say I am a bob as well and you sir have helped me learn and run my son's cub scout troop campaign and they have had a lot of fun and can't wait for our second session Friday night ⚔️

My tip is to "shut up, and listen".

I only gave a like for the thumbnail. The good video is a bonus.

I once didn’t have the time to plan a whole season so I tried to stretch as much as I could the content I had ready, but my players went through it in like 30 minutes and I had to improvise my way for 3 hours. I think it went well because we usually play 2 and a half hours but the party was having so much fun that they wanted to play for another hour.

Excellent video, Bob. Matt Mercer uses bullet points in his planning but he fleshes out everything (which he can sell later so maybe different motivation). We use a kind of bullet point kind of plan. Funny you mention a lich. We have something lichy planned in the future. Both of us have used blank slate in the past. It is exciting and scary.

I use bullet points almost exclusively. As the session progresses I cross out the bullet points that have been hit, and I add more bullet points as developments occur.

I run sessions with a good framework and improv NPCs and when the party takes things sideways. My videos are always improv

the thumbnail really got me... hahaha!

I usually have like a main bullet point to get to and a setting described out but that's about it I wing the rest. I'll have some creatures ready for random encounters and some simple maps but that's all I find I need

How does this not have more views and likes? Great video especially for beginner and novice DMs.

The scatterplot section could definitely benefit from some visual aid, showing examples of what's being talked about in action.

I just recently got into the game and found your account. Thank you very much for your work!

I'm going to be running D&D for a group of middle-schoolers in a summer program very soon and watching some of your older content has been REALLY helpful. I'm excited to try the scatter point method 😄 Thanks for all you do!

I've been doing improv for a while and did a few shows (I'm no professional by any mean), however that rule of saying "yes and..." seems to be misunderstood by many. And I actually discourage new players to use it because then it may becomes the other players defining their characters instead of the player building the character he wants. The yes and rule is first to help build a scene based on nothing and make your scene partner confortable and supported when they say anything. In DnD everyone is playing an already somewhat defined role, so you can't be yes and all the time. Not to mention the AND part means you add on to the scene helping creating the framework of what the scene actually is and endowment are very frequent and welcome in improv, not really for DnD. In DnD the scene is set by the DM, the goals of each player is set by themselves. If a thieves comes in meets the paladin and says: "You're here to steal the gold too eh? I can read the greed in your eye." Paladin: "Yes and also get rid of outlaws" Doesn't really make sense at all. So I actually recommand ppl NOT to use yes and. I really dislike when ppl always bring that well known rule of Yes and because they seem to always take it for face value without really understanding the important part of it and for some less experienced play can remove their freedom of choice in their replies. It basically means stay open to what's happening, accept the scene as it being played and accept the proposition that is being offered to you as a truth to the character talking to you. It doesn't mean it's actually true for your character but it's a truth for the one speaking (or a truth in the world), and it doesn't mean your character has to say Yes, your character doesn't even have to elaborate more (you don't have to AND). Now you can also chose to take some of what the thieve told you as a half truth for your character if you think it's interesting. For example the Paladin may be a reformed thief that is trying to fight his selfish and greedy past, or the thieve only sees greed in other because he's projecting... you can react in many different ways, but I wouldn't "Yes and" (and it doesn't sound like a natural reply all the time). "Yes and" is more of an exercise to train ppl to ACCEPT other ppl propositions and let go of the control of a scene and listen to your scene partner. In a scene you can even "Yes and" by saying no because the important part isn't saying "Yes and", the important part is accepting that's what's being said is a truth somewhere in the world. However the truth of the world is held by the GM in a dnd game. When you play a character with strong beliefs or morals, you definitely cannot say yes to everything. But is someone says, you have mud on your face, there is no reason to refute that proposition. If you start a scene with: "Are you bob?" "I'm John, Bob's my brother. He couldn't make it today he asked me to come to fill in the unemployment form for him" Even if you said NO to the "Are you bob?", you said YES to the proposition that bob exists and you informed a relashion between you and bob and why you are here instead of bob. You even informed the other actor of what's the scene could be about if they were struggling to find a hook in the scene (bob has to fill unemployment form) Then the scene can go on with that premice. If the other actor had a defined idea of the scene he can still reply something else. "Ho, the sneaky bastard, ... The unemployment form was a lie. Did you really think you'd be signing unemployment form in a dark alleyway? (here you are informing where the scene takes place this one you cannot say no however) "That felt a little unorthodox I have to say." The important part of Yes and is to recognize what are the important parts of the scene and make it a solid truth it not about saying yes and all the time. "Yes and" isn't so bland as to say Yes and to everything, it's to train to have a flexible mindset and integrate new informations in the scene and how you can even enforce certain ideas to make them even more grounded and real. But the scene is depicted by the DM and therefore the player are more concerned about playing the role of their characters and their character can definitely say no. Better than doing improv, acting, knowing character building, motivations, goals, adding emotions etc. to me, is more important for players to play their character rather that throwing an improv rule (Yes and) without context.

I like your little tree in the background :) great video as always Bob !

This is some great advice Bob, bookmarked for a review later in the event I'm ever motivated to do some GM-ing again!

Thanks for doing what you do Bob. Any chance you could do a video on how you manage inspiration/enthusiasm (both player and GM) and burnout? Sorry if you've talked about it somewhere before!

6:10 - I think for me, bullet points or scatter plot are the best methods

This was awesome and perfect time for my next Star Wars RPG game 👍😁

Those are some interesting takes. I have done some improve comedy and normally you have the rule that is " Yes and..." and I can only agree that it can be way too ridiculous in a dnd game. So the "no....but" is defiantly one that I will take along. Also, I like the idea of scatter points so you have different points to get to. And as a new dm ( still not started ) The idea of having the players help describe the NPC is good to let them bring in. And I defiantly like the No plan no problem podcast so I will add it to my list

In my opinion the nugget is the best for a one shot or casual campaign with people unfamiliar with D&D. Since they tend to run in a complete random direction or course of action just thinking about where they start and having one encounter idea is usually enough. You can even get away with the blank slate but balancing encountered for a lot of noobs is tough.

I'll keep doing improv in-between sessions, and take in-depth notes about them, thank you. ;P

As a professional improviser, I’ll say “yes and” has a different context than D&D. Performers rarely need to ask permission the way players do. So it’s useful to think of “yes and” as accepting new information and adding your own, rather than prioritizing your ideas over those of others. That opens up a more useful meaning of the phrase, I think.

Improv is awesome! Me and my cousins only play improved rpg sessions. My character lost an arm and got a new one made of gold, we managed to burn down a whole forest and we rode owlbears to raid the capital city.

Great video (as always), I'm a massive fan of improving, both in and out of D&D so this video was really interesting. Personally I always tend to over-prepare my world and plot, but I often try to leave npcs and smaller locations more vague in my notes - usually just with some basic bullet points. I find that it gives it this comnination of a well prepared session, yet with plenty of opportunities to improvise. Keep up the fantastic work, I can't wait to see what great video you'll make next 👍🏻

Nice video. A little remark though : when you're explaining stuff as skeleton chart or scatter plot, a visual illustration or an example will help people to understand your point much faster. You don't need to make it super complex or look super good, just a fast drawing of what you mean is enough to greatly improve the teaching quality of your vid. Thx for your work, keep it going.

Pocket adventures: -Returning from a quest, the party meets a starving young girl. She can barely speak and has lived with a pack of wolves. They must take care of her and get her back to civilization. Maybe she is the mythical "wolf girl", or the daughter of a noble...or a werewolf. -The party save a dwarf, who introduces himself, "I am Cole Blackstone. My father named me after the rock that burns. I need your help to save my people." -The party figures out that someone is following them. At night, they see torchlight in the distance coming their way. If they double back, they find nothing but tracks or an abandoned camp. Who are these guys? -In the scripted treasure of their quest, they also find a fragment of a map wrapped around a key with a name etched into it. -A charismatic NPC offers them a rich quest. He's very likeable and saves their lives during the adventure. However, he wants the treasure all for himself. It's a fight to the death with someone they've grown to admire. Have a list of interesting characters like Wildweed the Druid, Badonka the "Entertainer", Sinrach the Rogue. Cool is the rule to get the players involved. Everything works, if you let it. Good luck!

Jesus that thumbnail killed me

Honestly i havent run the campaign yet but the way ive writtdn it so far is a scatter plot that gave me a nugget point

10:20 I tell my player when they keep asking about every npc that don’t exist; not everyone is looking to beat evil bad. Some people are just trying to live their lives, you could help them secure food/water or shelter and that’s about it.

I cracked up so hard at 4:24

I played my first session a month or so ago, and two weeks later had spent nearly $400 on stuff to get ready to DM for my friends who've been wanting to play for years. Once I got pretty far through the books, and a couple smalls single sessions, I started my first session with one of my friends as a single experiment session. With absolutely no thought or ideas or plan or anything we started, and he liked it a lot so we just decided to bring the rest of our friends into the "experiment" campaign where I have no idea what comes next other than loose ideas that have to do with the map or npc interactions or characters I need to bring into the campaign so I can Finally get the party together rather than 2 groups of 2 atm. So far I honestly am in love with the mystery and things I've got going for this off the cuff world. I can't wait to get everyone together for the first time.

As always another great video. Really like the scatter plot idea I think I do that without thinking about it

I thought that was you in the thumbnail and I was like No he shaved his hair!?!?!

Your content is so helpful!! With my nerdlings we usually end up using the nugget method, as we often only get a couple hours of attention out of them at a time still 😝 but I have done blank slate multiple times for one shots, and also we have just muddled our way through modules , with varying amounts of reading ahead of time 😅 My bf is soooo much better at being creative and spur of the moment. I'm a "researcher" and I still use pre printed adventures for my nerdlings; so I pour over as much info as I can and do my best from there. I'm learning how to expand my skills/strategies. I need to take notes for sure 😅

Wonderful tips. Thank you.

I do scatterplot all of the time, its my favorite way to plan a game. It lets me focus on telling the story and participating in the fun, while still maintaining continuity. As for it being risky, YES this is true, but over time you learn that if you avoid saying certain things you can usually keep enough control of the game and tone. That said, i think it is better if a game has something silly every once in a while, it gives the players entertainment at the cost of a little immersion (and the players are free to play that way, or ask for more serious moments. It never hurts to ask) i dont worry too much about breaking the lore, i just develop that as part of my world building, and i give players important titles just to make them feel immersed, and overtime you can create a really fun story with your players. I always ask my players to come up with goals and other background plot, and i weave it in as often as i can. Ill even randomly connect some dots and sometimes make a mini game out of giving the info for one character to another character, and watching what they do with each others secrets

I recommend Dungeon World. Just try it once in your life. Really helps to develop improv skills that you can bring back to DnD ornother rpgs

I have been using the bullet point method for preping. I think I am going to try the scatter plot and see how that goes for my next game.

Have you ever read the book "play unsafe"? I think it's a great book that takes alot of what you learn in improv classes and puts them in a really short, easy to read, little guide to just having fun

First session i ever dm'ed was no prep, it was awesome, ok, i admit the combat was completely one-sided, ok, i admit that i actually used a Deus Ex-Machina, but maaaan, was it fun, nowadays i prep some things, but never a lot, i like to spill things out on the go, unless it's something VERY specific or that i am way too excited about

Love your content! You're the best! This is my obligatory content to improve your results in the RU-vid algorithm. :)

Can you imagine playing a game with the cast from that show? Wayne Brady serenading the BBEG as a bard lol

Yknow I usually improv everything unless something super important comes up that needs it, it’s definitely not a perfect system but I’d like to think that I have decent grasp on how to do it effectively with minor hiccups.

Scatterplot, Nugget, mixture. I like to give my players 3 options each session if possible. This could be 3 different locations for example, and yes paying attention to who is being highlighted each session and mixing it up makes it fun for everyone :)

Could you do video on how to write effective notes. See RU-vidrs all the time say make notes, but I really struggle doing that when I am engaged in a session and to have them quality enough to understand when looking back

Past the thumbnail before I realized oh, that was about D&D, oh that wasn’t Colin

Thanks!

I don't particularly run D&D (even if I do watch content about it, because I AM a player playing D&D, just running other systems), I myself use the Lazy DM method. Which in a way is also a "prep to improv" method.

Bald Bob on the thumbnail 😂

That is a quality thumbnail 😂 great video

I always wing it

I feel like there's no much difference between the methods whenever you started explaining one of them I thought to myself "That's what I do". Maybe I could draw a line with the bullet points for the supposed linear nature. But what I do is figure out a few key components of the storry usually one or two and I try to make it so that everything revolves around them. The funny thing is that I usually do a lot of work at the start have a consistent and complete framework for the campaign (not for a particular session) and start from there. For this reason maybe the first session looks more scripted because the inciting incident needs to happen here, but as the story unfolds I prepare less and less stuff I just use the initial framework and the actual events that happened in every session and let it run freely from there, always with the main goal in mind.

I love improv, maybe a little too much...

Is it weird that I suddenly want to be a Lich King?

I ALWAYS use Bob for random characters. It is code for: "Move on, he is not important!" And I am only slightly sorry.^^

Oi! - John

Is it hard to dm

Bardy mcfly Bardy mcfly Bardy mcfly Bardy mcfly Bardy mcfly Lol

:)

Most of the time when I’m dming I use a nugget or scatter plot but I’ve free styled and completely improved many times. It’s really fun and it has impressed many of my players