"On-The-Fly" Adventures
Some adventure ideas have great potential, but seem to limit themselves with a linear plot. Occasionally, the greatest ideas of a Gamemaster can be applied, but usually it's too difficult to make all the changes. On the other hand, some of the greatest written adventures of all time are lost when a GM doesn't grasp the idea. Combining a talented author with a talented Gamemaster can be the making of a legendary adventure, but not without effort. A great majority of Gamemasters admit to "winging-it", or gaming "on-the-fly".
Some adventure ideas have great potential, but seem to limit themselves with a linear plot. Occasionally, the greatest ideas of a Gamemaster can be applied, but usually it's too difficult to make all the changes. On the other hand, some of the greatest written adventures of all time are lost when a GM doesn't grasp the idea. Combining a talented author with a talented Gamemaster can be the making of a legendary adventure, but not without effort. A great majority of Gamemasters admit to "winging-it", or gaming "on-the-fly".
"On-the-fly" refers to the encounters which come out of the Gamemaster's mind, and not the author's book. They are characteristically spontaneous, exciting, and notably uninhibited. A strange monk or an unexpected attack of killer bees can be just the trick, even if it wasn't in the original story. The Gamemaster can customize the encounter to fit perfectly with the needs of the group. Also, if the GM wrote the adventure or not, on-the-fly encounters are often used to enhance the gaming experience. The balance of on-the-fly material vs. written text is up to the GM, but remember, the balance is always shifting.
It is an unspeakable truth, but Gamesmasters can get bored of reading page after page of pre-made adventures. As they start to understand themes and plots, they often decide to make their own epic stories. This exhilaration of creation brings the game to a challenging new level of gaming, but over time it too gets stale, and Gamemasters endeavour to seek out the next fix. Changing GM styles and re-exploring old themes can satisfy this craving for a while, but not forever. At some point, many Gamers feel there is no more growth in gaming and they give up, rationalizing it as a "phase". Another gifted brother or sister lost to the mundane. Solution: Walk into the session with a blank piece of paper.
There is something to be said about on-the-fly encounters. The way they seem to address the interests of the characters rather than the sequence of the story is a perfect example. Typically, adventures are designed to walk through a story, throw in a challenge and provide ways to overcome it. The GM then forces everyone to follow along (however subtle). He rushes through parts that have little to do with the "story" and concentrates on getting to the "good stuff" he knows is coming up. This may seem like a nefarious way of presenting a GM, but often it is a very realistic interpretation. Experienced GM's will confess this has often been the case. On-the-fly adventures turn the tables on the Gamemaster, for now the players force the GM through the adventure. They discover the "good stuff" and the GM uses this as a springboard to the next "good stuff". The GM tosses in a challenge that fits the situation and everyone (including the GM) is surprised to see the outcome. Gamemasters are just as excited to see what happens next, and can change the story on a whim, completely uninhibited.
The best way to start an on-the-fly adventure is to let the characters go. Provide lively and interesting characters to interact with them, and then get a feel for what they are in the mood for. As an example, a group of warriors walk into a city. They meet strange people with even stranger stories, see which story they are interested in and expand. If they are interested in stories about a haunted building, give them clues and leads, if not, make it a red herring (non-adventure information to distract players). As the story takes form, decide on a theme or elements of foreshadowing that best fits the story. Foreshadowing is tough, but if a strategic variety of encounters are used, one will often fall into place by coincidence. The theme can start very broad, like "might doesn't always make right," or "those who cheat just cheat themselves". Then, as the story reaches its climax, the theme can be narrowed. To match the literary skill of a fantasy novel a GM must develop a keen sense of insight, but don't expect perfection, even well written adventures don't compare to literary art. There have, on the other hand, been players who feel that on-the-fly adventures bear the closest resemblance to real art than their written counterparts.
It is important to stress that on-the-fly won't work for everyone. While any GM can make a single adventure, it takes an experienced Gamemaster to maintain the balance of power needed to run a campaign. Every GM at one point uses on-the-fly encounters, but it's a whole new challenge to make total on-the-fly adventures. So try it. Use the most significant imaginative tool a Gamemaster possesses... to make adventures. Revitalize your game-life and satisfy your gamer's vice.
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Nice article. Can't think of something to add to that.
I agree with what you said, but I've found that just winging an entire game can lead to a very fragmented story that will sometimes leave players confused, and make the game as a whole chaotic. However, I think that winging it has great possibilities as an in-game aside. I've been GMing for seven years, and all of my adventures have a plot, but the plot is a very basic outline. It's the things that happen between the plot points that are all improvised for as long as I think is appropriate. For example, in one memorable session the PC's talked to a group of improvised Gnomes for almost two hours. This took as long as the climax at the end. The Gnomes then became a regular occurence in later sesions.
The most important thing to do when improvising is to then tailor the game later on to what was dome on the fly. This really makes players pay attention, because any encounter could have ramifications to the plot as a whole...and that's is all I have to say about that.
I have to admit, my best campaigns have been totally "on the fly". I've honed it to almost an art, but there still are the occassional confused players who can't keep track of the whirlpool of events going on. On the fly campaigns have more realism in my opinion; Everybody who's played has had a GM who wrote a great story but can't keep the players on it. The situation where the party ignores the plot hook and gets magically teleported to the front of a tall tower kind of thing.
In a full written down and thought out mission/campaign, these situations are hard to rectify. I have found that these situations are really easy to avoid when you are completely winging it since if the first plot hook fails, just change that NPC or those NPCs significance to the storyline. One such example I remember, was a man who the players saw trying not to avoid notice, that the party ignored. My initial encounter was going to involve that man sneaking a message that they would intercept talking about a planned assassination of the lord. Instead, that man _became_ the assassin in the plot.
In addition, the players love it more when they don't feel like they're being lead about by a leash or reading a story that they have no control over. In that particular example, the players ignored the man entirely because he was the plot hook for the mission, but when they found out that the lord had been assassinated, they had a good time roleplaying their character's attitude towards ignoring the quite obvious shady character.
This method of GMing can be very enjoyable for both players and GM, but there the other extreme is the GM who constantly changes the events so that the players can never triumph over a situation. This should probably be avoided even more than forcing the players to do exactly what the module says. I have played many a time when a good decision freaks GMs out and you can see them thinking of a way to change the events to nullify the players' good thinking.
I mostly improvise adventures. I say mostly because I sometimes have some little things (like introducing important NPC) to include to the adventure, but nothing is written down before it happens.