Run Random Run Rampant
by David Michael
Introduction
Every Game Master (GM) experiences the horror of facing a gaming session unprepared. The party finished a module/segment/plotpoint in the previous session and/or you haven't had the time this week to create something new. You stare at the stack of source books and reference materials and sigh deeply as the first player arrives at your door.
All is not lost, and gaming when unprepared does not have to be slow, insipid or even canceled. As a GM, you've demonstrated your ability to think quickly and adjust to whatever your players attempt. You know the players. You know their characters. You know the rules. You can do this.
Greet your players with your normal enthusiasm. Don't let on that you're unprepared. Do your best to get the game started quickly. If nothing else, your players will assume you have a big adventure planned and will pick up your excitement.
Choose Your Target
Pick the best role-player of the party, or just pick one at random. This player is the "target" of your unplanned adventure. What's the first thing that comes to your mind when you pick this player character? Any past loves? Past hates? Current enemies? What has he always wanted to do? You know your characters. Just pick something and introduce it into the adventure in a dramatic manner. A sudden look from a stranger. A face seen out of the corner of the eye. An unusual item for sale in a store. Whatever you choose, don't let it have a simple explanation or resolution. You don't know the explanation or resolution yet, but you know that it must be significant. You are the GM, after all, and everything you do has significance.
At the beginning of a session in my current campaign, one of my players stated that his character was taking rather elaborate measures to protect himself from attack in the night. Clueing in on this, and since the party *was* in a hostile city, I created an attack on him. The attack came very close to killing him, but it was role-played perfectly and caused him to consider picking up additional skills. And since this did occur in a hostile city, it served as encouragement for the party to move on. Even as they are on the move, however, that player character is constantly looking for his would-be assassin.
Follow the Cues
Take your cues from what the players themselves are suggesting. You have their attention now, or at least the attention of one of them. They are going to be curious. They will probably speak out and act automatically. Let them carry you forward. Use what they say and what they do. Extrapolate quickly and come up with a few quick implications. If you think it will help, present some weak explanation that they will dismiss out of hand in their quest to know what's really going on.
Make Something Up
Now bring in a completely random element. This doesn't have to be related in any way to anything the players or their characters have ever done. It doesn't even have to make sense. It just has to happen and involve the player characters. The players will justifiably assume that this random event and the previous player-centric occurrence are related and act accordingly. Play along.
In my campaign again, the party was stopping for the night at an inn. While eating in the common room, they saw a man enter who had been spotted following them previously. I interjected that little encounter simply to liven up a slow moment during the travel that was occurring in-game, but it became much more. By playing off the players' comments and actions, that incident expanded into an hour and a half of very satisfying role-playing on all sides.
Go With the Flow
Don't worry about the "plot" getting out of hand, your players will bend over backwards and contort the events together to come up with an explanation for what is going on. Listen to what they suggest. After all, they've likely been gaming as long as you have and are going to have some very good ideas--some of them very paranoid. Pick the ones you like, warp them around a bit so that they don't recognize their own handiwork, and keep going. Of course, you can free associate and bring in your own ideas as you go. And don't worry about forgetting these new plot points. Your players will remember them for you.
In a friend's campaign, his PCs were looking desperately for the owner of a particular car. When they had adequately researched the issue, he gave them a generic, off-the-cuff name for the owner of the car: Bobby Johnson. He didn't think any more about it. Several sessions later, the party was approached by an obviously insane man "riding" an imaginary horse (Monty Python-style). He handed the "reins" to one of the players and ran off. Minutes later, a second man approached and commented, "Nice horse." The party was stunned that he could "see" the imaginary horse (forgetting that the man had been standing to the side watching as the insane man "rode" up). As the man was walking away they asked him his name. "Jimbob Johnson," he replied (another GM-supplied random name). The players immediately connected the owner of the car with the man who claimed to see an imaginary horse.
Conclusion
While I certainly do not endorse "winging it" for every session, it is a playstyle that can add a lot to the RPG experience. It can even help jar a campaign out of its "rut" and take the storyline in a completely new and refreshing direction.
Think fast and act fast. You are the GM, after all. Your players trust you to provide an entertaining experience. And, with their help, you will.
David Michael is co-owner of Samu Games, a game company focusing on Internet-based multi-player games, and developer of The Journal. David has been gaming, both as a player and a game master, since 1989. He can be reached at davidrm@samugames.com for comments about this article. [an error occurred while processing this directive]