Thinking on Your Feet: How to Improvise When Your Players Surprise You

By Lynn | The DM Corner — Killer Bee Press

“What's the shopkeeper's name?”

You didn't give the shopkeeper a name.

You didn't expect the party to enter the shop.

Technically, you didn't even know there was a shop until about thirty seconds ago.

Now five players are staring at you.

Congratulations.

You're about to create someone's favorite NPC.

Improvisation is one of the most intimidating parts of being a Dungeon Master, especially for newer DMs. It can feel like experienced DMs somehow have entire cities, histories, characters, and encounters stored in their heads, ready to appear the moment a player asks an unexpected question.

We don't.

Good improvisation isn't inventing everything from nothing. It's making the next logical decision with the pieces you already have.

You Don't Need the Whole Answer

When players surprise you, there's a temptation to immediately figure out everything.

Don't.

You usually only need to know what happens next.

The party unexpectedly enters a blacksmith's shop. You don't need the blacksmith's childhood, family tree, business history, political opinions, and favorite breakfast.

You need a name, a personality, and a reason they're standing behind the counter.

That's enough to begin.

If the players become interested in the character, you can build from there.

Think of improvisation as laying stones across a river. You don't need to build the entire bridge before taking the first step.

Pause, Assess, Borrow, Respond

When the players take you somewhere unexpected, use four simple steps.

Pause

Take a moment.

You don't have to answer instantly.

Look at your notes. Take a drink. Ask the player to repeat the question if you need a few seconds.

Silence feels much longer behind the DM screen than it does on the other side.

Assess

Ask yourself:

What would logically happen here?

If the characters wander into the docks at midnight, who's likely to be there?

Dockworkers finishing a shift. Sailors. Guards. Smugglers. Someone waiting for a ship.

You don't need a random table containing 100 possibilities. Start with what makes sense.

Borrow

Use something you already have.

That merchant the party never met three sessions ago? Use her.

The bandit encounter they avoided? Those statistics might work perfectly for the dockside thugs you suddenly need.

The abandoned warehouse from another town?

Change a few details.

Your players don't know where your ideas came from.

Respond

Commit to the answer and keep playing.

Once you establish something, treat it as real.

If you tell the players the shopkeeper's name is Aldren and that he's nervous around city guards, you've just added two facts to your world.

Write them down.

You may need them again.

Use What the Players Give You

Players constantly hand DMs material without realizing it.

Listen to them.

“What if the mayor is involved?”

Maybe he is.

“I bet that symbol belongs to the same cult we fought earlier.”

Interesting idea.

“There's no way that merchant is telling us everything.”

Maybe she isn't.

You shouldn't automatically turn every player theory into reality. If you do, they'll eventually figure out that speculation determines the plot.

But when a player suggests something that fits your world and makes the story better, you're allowed to use it.

They'll think they uncovered your plan.

You can sit behind the screen looking very clever.

“Yes, And” Isn't Always the Answer

Improvisational theater often teaches “Yes, and...” Accept what your partner establishes and build upon it.

That's useful for tabletop RPGs, but it isn't an absolute rule.

Sometimes the answer is:

Yes.

Sometimes it's:

Yes, but...

Or:

No, but...

And occasionally it's simply:

No.

A player can certainly try to convince the king to surrender his kingdom after one successful Persuasion check. That doesn't mean the king has to do it.

Creativity deserves opportunities.

It doesn't require the world to stop making sense.

Good improvisation preserves player freedom while maintaining the internal logic of the setting.

Build an Improvisation Toolbox

The easiest improvisation happens before the session starts.

Keep a small collection of reusable material nearby:

• NPC names and quick personalities

• Tavern, shop, ship, and settlement names

• Rumors and secrets

• Simple encounters

• Interesting treasures

• Short location descriptions

• NPC motivations

• Complications

• Sensory details

  
  

You aren't writing another adventure.

You're creating spare parts.

Instead of inventing “the nervous halfling apothecary who owes money to the thieves' guild” from scratch while everyone watches, you can grab three pieces from your toolbox and put them together.

Suddenly, there's an NPC.

And because players are players, they'll probably adopt him.

Don't Improvise Yourself Into a Corner

Improvisation creates canon surprisingly quickly.

Be careful with enormous revelations.

If a player unexpectedly asks whether the queen has children, answering, “Yes, she has a secret son who disappeared twenty years ago,” certainly gives you something interesting to work with.

It may also completely wreck something you planned for six sessions from now.

When a question could have major consequences, you don't have to immediately answer it.

An NPC can say:

“That's not something people discuss openly.”

Or you can simply tell the players:

“I need to check my notes before I answer that.”

There's nothing wrong with protecting the consistency of your world.

Know When to Call a Break

Sometimes the party doesn't just surprise you.

They launch themselves completely beyond the edge of your preparation.

Take a break.

Ten minutes can turn panic into possibility.

Look at your notes. Move some pieces around. Grab an unused encounter. Decide who lives in the place they just discovered.

Your players won't think less of you because you needed a few minutes.

They'll probably spend the entire break arguing about what they're going to do next anyway.

Which, conveniently, gives you even more information.

From Behind the Screen

Improvisation isn't magic.

It's listening, making reasonable decisions, reusing what you already have, and being willing to commit to an answer.

Start small.

You don't need to know the history of the kingdom when the players ask what's down an alley.

You need to know what's down the alley.

Then see what they do.

Keep a few names nearby. Build yourself a toolbox. Listen to your players. Write down the things you invent, and don't be afraid to take a minute when you need one.

Because sooner or later, somebody will ask:

“What's the shopkeeper's name?”

You'll look at your notes.

There won't be a shopkeeper.

There won't be a shop.

And somehow, twenty sessions later, that NPC will be standing beside the party as they prepare to save the world.

Improvisation isn't knowing what happens next. It's being comfortable enough with your world to find out alongside your players.

— Lynn

The DM Corner | Killer Bee Press