GM/ST A snafu in my plan...

[Finvara]

Hope this is the right forum...

I find I seem to have a problem in many of the sessions I run that leaves me more than a little embarrassed.  I run out of ideas mid-session and wind up strained to describe the area or situation my PCs have inevetably wandered into... the one I didn't plan for.  The more carefully I prepare the branching pathways for every eventuality to provide freedom to those that play my games, be it AD&D, Werewolf, BESM, GURPS, or even Heavy Gear, my players always find their way to some point where none of my notes apply, and I'm forced to ad-lib.  Ad-libbbing I can do in almost any situation... except the one I'm in, where rich descriptions and compelling dialogue/action are necessary.

What's a guy to do?

[TonyLB]

You sound so totally primed for a lot of the ideas here.

I recommend this thread:  Railroading, Star Wars and more

Executive Summary:  Share power with the players.  If they find their way to a point where you had nothing planned, say "I have nothing planned for this... what would you like to do?"

I'm curious about your statement that "rich descriptions and compelling dialogue/action are necessary".  Two questions:

[*]Compelling to the players, or by an objective standard?[*]Why is it necessary... what happens if you don't have it?[/list:u]

[Finvara]

Not strictly necessary to the players as long as they all stay entertained, but if I can't provide what I feel to be quality GMing, I feel like I've dropped the ball on my end of the session.

It's not really the ideas I have trouble devising at that point.  I know the player and character motivations of my group, and I continue ot feed them... It's just that there comes a point where they wander out of the carefully designed area that I had hoped they'd spend some time in, past the stuff that was supposed to be an interesting distratction if they decided not to, and into a section I wasn't prepared to describe yet.  It means that I start to stammer, stutter, and wrack my brain for ideas at a point that weakens my position as a storyteller.

Will read that, btw.

[Callan S.]

Welcome to the forge!

It means that I start to stammer, stutter, and wrack my brain for ideas at a point that weakens my position as a storyteller.

You might want to consider the idea that this may happen because they enjoy this (it's rewarding). Because once they exit your safely designed area, they become partly the authors as well.

For example, imagine you've got an exotic castle designed...and they wander off into the wilderness you briefly described around it. They say they want to head down a (undefined by you) path, for example.

When they do this, things must be invented for that path. In a way, they are authors because by forcing the invention, they are creating the game world. It certainly didn't exist before, did it? And why does it exist now? Because of them.

Sometimes they invent it themselves "Hey, this castle is in X area...that's renowned for having spider monsters. I bet there are some in the valley". There, they just invented the idea of spider monsters in the valley? And if you don't agree and don't have the monsters, they have invented a hole where the question 'Why aren't there spider monsters here?' exists. They are authoring.

Other times they add nothing except the need to invent. Given various directions they can go, they choose one and see what gets invented from that choice.

I'd suggest you nuture this, and see that as your GM goal.

One answer is to have portable content designed. For example, meeting a mysterious stranger. It doesn't matter if they go into the valley of spiders, or the snowy cliffs. They can meet the stranger in either spot.

Even better, blend your ideas with theirs. The stranger is being attacked by spiders when he is met, or is hanging from a cliff face.

The more you blend, the more everyone is contributing significantly IMO.

[Nathan P.]

I'd like to second and emphasize Callan's post. One technique that I finally figured out how to use was just that - use the players to fill in your holes for you. Something like...

Scene: The players are preparing to storm a castle.

Player1: Hey guys, lets check out that cave [that the GM threw into the scene description as color]
GM: [thinks uh-oh, I don't have anything for that]
Player2: Yah, maybe it leads to a secret entrance.
GM: [ding]
Player3: Even if it doesn't, it might have something in it that we don't want behind us.
GM: [ding #2]
Player1: Yeh, I remember that one time that those goblins stole our horses when our backs where turned. Better make sure theres nothing in there.
GM: [ding #3]

Now you have some direction as to what the players are looking for - and something to riff off of. Suddenly, you have a cave containing a secret entrance to the castle, guarded by stealthy creatures that attack from surprise and steal anything that isn't nailed down.

And, in my experience, your players will think you are awesome for coming up with such a good idea.

Don't be afraid to ask "what are you looking for?" or "what do you think you'll find?". If you have any NPCs hanging around, they're a good vehicle for this, but asking the players directely works for me as well. Riff off those answers.

To address the point of coming up with compelling description, maybe you should take some time to sit down and come up with some lists of scene locations and short descriptions/adjectives. Then just glance at those. F'rex, if you have one list of 15-20 colors, and one of textures, and one of "moods", and your stuck, take one at random from each list and build a description around them.

Hope this helps.