>> As long as the improv fits the environment (and gets GM approval) it works.
> But on the other hand, what a map, or at least a detailed description does
do, is tell you what the hell is there!
Granted... ...I'm not saying descriptions are bad, nor am I advocating every environment is an empty sound-stage till player desire fills it with props.
...However if I say that the room is a lavishly decorated dining hall prepared for an evening's feast and we're playing "Victorian Era Hero Wars" then Candelabra, Chandeliers, portraits of ancestors, sideboards with silver trays and crystal decanters, and fancy wall-paper all fit the motif. If a character wants to walk over to the silver ice-bucket and make a snooty comment about the champagne (Wine Snob 7w2, -2 Improv modifier) than it's _dramatically appropriate_ for champagne to have been there even if I as the GM didn't include the champagne is his description.
Now, if we enter a lavishly decorated great hall of the village of Goathome, I'd be quite suprised to find any of the above, but if someone wants to quaff some ale or take their chances scratching an alynx behind the ears, is it really that important that I didn't mention that amidst all the hustle and bustle of the village hearth there was an alynx loungin upon its favourite bench?
> 1) No more 3rd-person description or "Oh, but I didn't say that out
loud!". You get in there and act the part.
You've had some better LARP experiences than I have.
> Allowing one player to 'dream up' terrain isn't dramatic, it's just
unrealistic when taken to extremes.
Ah! But as in many other things, moderation is the key. Normally, it is only polite for a the player to ask "is there hot soup on the hearth?" before their character throws it.
Otherwise, we're playing Protean: the Changing.
Doug.
Powered by hypermail