Building an Improvisational Toolbox

It's always good for a DM to have detailed notes and cheat sheets handy to reference when running a game. For instance, a list of names for NPCs that you have to create on the fly. But I like to take this concept a step further, especially when I am running a game based around a very loose framework which will require a lot of improvisation.

When it comes to these situations I keep more than just a quick reference of game rules on hand. I also have an improvisational toolkit that I call a Lore Sheet. This record is just a simple table printed from a word processor with a list of concepts and names that I could work into a narrative, tailored to the specific setting of the game. It has a list of names apropriate to the setting, occupations, types of enemies that might be encountered, and even titles for places and historical events. 

Most of these concepts are ones that I have not developed any further than their names that I put on the sheet, but they are a starting point for a creative process. The basics that I recommend are Enemies, Challenges, Locations, Items, Names, and Historical events... but each sheet may be different based on the needs of your campaign and the style of your setting. I even include common props and window dressing, so that I can describe vivid scenes in detail without having to read off a script word-for-word. 

More detail is really neat and fun for your players, and provides fodder for more storytelling. Let's say your players ask about the history of a certain place that you hadn't fully fleshed out yet. You look at your Lore Sheet and read off a couple of events: "The Winter Accords," and "The Hyborian Wars," so now you have a couple of ideas for historical background. Similarly, when they step out on the streets of Neo-Tokyo, you can pull from a list of props like "Data kiosok," and "video billboard," for "Alphanumeric Limited"  which is blaring music from a list of genres like "technocore." It's all about building a toolbox of resources... whatever you might conceivably need when the campaign gets rolling. 

My cyberpunk Lore Sheet currently includes a list of street foods, names for computer programs, megacorporations, and brand names. In one section I listed a bunch of ideas for encounters to challenge the players, like a fight in an elevator shaft or a laser grid security system. It's all about making everything run as smoothly and creatively as possible. 

A lot of my Lore Sheets contain material that I cribbed from various existing works of fiction, like the name of the Weyland-Yutani Corporation from the Aliens franchise. Don't be afraid to borrow ideas from other media for your own games. There is no worry about copyright infringement at the privacy of your game table, and there's no shame in copying from the greats. You may trawl the internet for ideas to fill out the sheet, it really helps add some fun details and allusions to a game session. Then add a few original ideas of your own, when you have time to relax and get creative. This way you don't have to make up every detail on the spot, during the time crunch of the game itself. 

Remember, anything that frees you from additional effort gives you more brain power to focus on other matters of game running. It keeps things more relaxed, efficient, and fun, and I highly recommend keeping notes like these very close when your next tabletop adventure kicks off. 

Happy ventures!

(To learn about another tool that can be useful when improvising behind the DM screen, check out my previous entry about Story Cubes)