Tag: improvisation

Rolling Word Play – 33

Creating Roleplay ideas based on randomly generated words.  Here’s today’s selection.  Discover more about Recollect Intolerant Vandalism, Creator Beginning Anymore and Chain Wrestle.

Recollect Intolerant Vandalism
The ashes of the Dwarven King Krasta the Great were scattered some 70 years ago by the Elven Prince, Velsor when they vase containing the ashes shattered.  Since he succeeded his father as King, the Dwarves have stopped trading with Velsor’s kingdom completely.  This rift between the two nations is stopping trade for both kingdoms and is threatening to turn into a full-blown war.

Was Velsor really to blame for this ‘terrible crime’ or was there another power at work that ensured the ashes were scattered?  Can peace be brokered between these kingdoms?

Creator Beginning Anymore
A large area called ‘The Divide’ is a growing phenomenon where both land and sea are swallowed up into a gaping hole into which nothing returns.  Many say the Gods forgot this land or that an argument between two deities has created a wilderness that has festered over time.  Can the adventurers stop the ever-growing Divide before an epic disaster ensues? Will the clues lead them to resolving the situation?  Will they perhaps get divine intervention of their own as a third God acts as their guide?

Chain Wrestle
Three criminals or fighters defeated in battle are brought to the mountain kingdom of the Dwarves to be punished.  The three criminals are bound together with long chains.  In the arena, the ground gives way leaving a deep ravine below, and just three circular platforms beneath these fighters’ feet joined by narrow pathways.  The criminals must fight but in doing so, they seal their own fate.  Only if one can hang on will their chains be cut, allowing the others to fall to their doom.

The Inspiration of Chance and Improvisation

Dice roll tables and rolleable options can make up a great deal of the choices in Roleplaying sessions. The results of a sea voyage, chance encounters on the road to the next town, loot found in the room of a dungeon. The random element keeps things exciting. For a Games or Dungeon Master it can mean the plotline changes or lengthens, but so long as they are comfortable with that, then great.

Another crucial part of roleplay is the interactive story-telling. If you take part in a roleplay you are actively improvising. Worldly examples include the TV show Whose Line Is It Anyway and Robin Williams when he was creating characters like the Genie from Disney’s Aladdin.

I am lucky enough to take part in an improvisation session every fortnight. This is good for my vocal performance work but also complements roleplaying perfectly. The sessions with Rag and Bone Arts are such fun and so good at keeping you on your toes. Not only that, but they teach collaboration. If you are not working together then the story will go nowhere or one person will dominate and the story will suffer. In one scenario you might be a shop owner only speaking in questions, the next a gang of ex-pop stars in a dystopian future under an authoritarian regime. Maybe you are trying to sell beer dregs and cat hair marketing it as the new trendy drink or perhaps you find yourself as Juliet in a modern retelling of the classic tale. Yes, we played all these scenarios out and many more!

Roleplaying is about interactive storytelling and it includes all the above ingredients.