Ok, this is a little goofy but I think it is relevant.  I'm taking this improv class, and one of the little focus exercises we did was called "invisible knife".  You stand in a circle and throw an invisible knife around.  Fast.  The reason it is useful is that you don't ever know where the knife is going - you have to be fixated on following the knife from throw to catch, and then to throw again.  Eye contact is important.  You have to really concentrate on physical communication. 

As we were doing this it struck me as being relevant to role-playing, in that someone is always speaking, in the spotlight, with focus, and this focus is shared, given away, tied to authority and role in different ways, but it is always easy to lose interest when you aren't a part of that, even for a few minutes.  So in invisible knife, two other people may be interacting, but you are absolutely riveted to what's going on.  I could see the exercise being a good pre-game drill to get everyone in the mindset of alert focus.  I'd also like to see a game that included this element of mindful uncertainty about privilege and spotlight time as an ingredient.

Another thing related to this is "Stunts" in Exalted.

By drawing the attention of others you gain a mechanical bonus.
There is good reason to not let their attention wander.

Thunder_God wrote:
Another thing related to this is "Stunts" in Exalted.

By drawing the attention of others you gain a mechanical bonus.
There is good reason to not let their attention wander.

i'm intrigued by this idea.  I've had a little bit (and i mean a little) of experience with improv so i kind of know what you're talking about, though i havne't done this exact drill. 

The application of a drill like this would be interresting as a role-playing exercise, but i find myself wondering if it could be placed within an extended role-playing framework.  Can there be a sustainable application of this drill, wherein perhaps narrative power or something similar is handed from player to player, that helps maintain individual focus on overall experience?  or is that really a question of semantics and the ideal gaming situation is sustainable individual focus?

This drill sounds really good. It's a mindset drill: it gets you into a "focussed" mindset, concentrating on the other players, prior to playing a game.

There's an improv game with a similar effect: the counting game. Everyone stands in a circle and the group tries to count as high as they can go. One person says one number, then someone says the next number and so on. But if two people speak at the same time, you return to 1. It's an exercise in listening and concentrating.

There are other improv games which tend to induce other mindsets: for example, there's one where you fire random words at people and they have to create a story out of them. Fascinating stuff.

Graham

I am really gonna be a spoilsport today ...

I think we need to work on role-playing drills - which means, if anyone wants to read up on improv drills as they exist, they can go on-line or find a book or take a class. Now, if you for instance wanted to adapt an improv exercise into something that'd be useful for role-playing specifically, then sure, describe it.

But right now, what I'm seeing is material ported directly from and about X to a forum dedicated to Y. It's as if I were to describe, in detail, the sequence of punches, steps, and shouts to be found in the first half-hour of a martial arts class. It's not useful for our purposes here unless I made a good case for how it contributed to role-playing. I'd say to myself, "Ron, if people want to know more about that, they can go on-line or find a book or a class."

So Jason, I'm interested: how would you adapt Invisible Knife as a specific-to-role-playing drill? Would you decrease the physicality (which is absent during role-playing), or preserve it as a builder for attention? I can see a good case for both.

Or, as a potential criticism, I suggest that one benefit of Invisible Knife to the improv team is to establish some imaginative ownership of the physical space of the stage itself, or whatever open area they're standing in. "If it's in this space, if I imagine it and signal properly, others can 'see' it and use it." But this is, as I say, very physical, and is very strongly related to the audience, who will be looking at that precise space soon. Role-playing doesn't utilize a bphysical space to establish an imaginative one, but rather "auditory" cues, much like old-time radio.

Could you do Invisible Knife using only spoken cues, not visual/physical ones?

Best, Ron

Ron wrote:
Now, if you for instance wanted to adapt an improv exercise into something that'd be useful for role-playing specifically, then sure, describe it.

I'm interested in your answer to Tony's question, too, but here's a reply to your query:

Invisible knife was preceded by, in order, strictly verbal and verbal/physical combination exercises that did the exact same thing.  But I didn't see the utility until we did the knife one, perhaps because the others were too easy, or perhaps because they warmed me up for an entirely non-verbal focused exercise.  There really wasn't a "space ownership" component, although I could see the utility of that as well. 

Honestly, I don't see how this isn't directly applicable to tabletop gaming.  If you did this prior to starting play, maybe everyone would experience a change in focus and awareness - settling into the game and interacting with each other in a mindful way.  Or you'd all look like a bunch of silly mimes.  Either way, everybody wins.

I've got to back Jason up here, pointing to my response to Thunder_God above. The primary benefit to this drill is that it reinforces this concept: hey, guys, we're all here and we're responsible for paying attention to each other, and if we don't, everyone loses. That's not as simple a concept as it sounds like.

TonyLB wrote:
Quick request for clarification:  What do you mean by "useful for roleplaying specifically"?  Are you saying that you'd prefer not to have people working (here) on drills that limber only general skills like attention and engagement and communication?

Hey, if we want to discuss what the purpose of our drills are or whatnot, let's move the discussion to the main drills thread, so this thread can stay focused on Invisible Knife.

Clinton wrote:
I've got to back Jason up here, pointing to my response to Thunder_God above. The primary benefit to this drill is that it reinforces this concept: hey, guys, we're all here and we're responsible for paying attention to each other, and if we don't, everyone loses. That's not as simple a concept as it sounds like.

Clinton wrote:
I've got to back Jason up here, pointing to my response to Thunder_God above. The primary benefit to this drill is that it reinforces this concept: hey, guys, we're all here and we're responsible for paying attention to each other, and if we don't, everyone loses. That's not as simple a concept as it sounds like.

Marc wrote:
Or, rather, it's a terribly simple concept that's often forgotten, and not practiced nearly as often as it should be.  Not only paying attention to the other players in your group, but making sure that they're paying attention to you before you throw out an offer - or knife.