Credits - Engine Publishing

thought went into Unframed ’s topics and reading order), but every essaystands on its own and you can read them in any order.Unframed is also a tool for players: It’s full of tips you can use to better portrayplayer characters (PCs) as well as non-player characters (NPCs), advice on puttingforth ideas that are easy for other players to embrace, and tricks for quickly embracing—and running with—the improvisation your fellow players are doing at thetable. If you play more often than you GM, or love GM-less gamesor live-action games (LARPs), you’ll find plenty in this book tomake your gaming more enjoyable.Selecting “just” 23 authors for Unframed was insanely difficult.Working with them was not—it was a pleasure and a privilege. Thanks for buying Unframed, and happy improv!Martin Ralya Salt Lake City, UT April 20143

ContentsIntroduction 3ImprovisingDialogue SequencesJust in TimeImprovisation: TheProcrastinator’s TaleJennell Jaquays 34Robin D. Laws 6Yes, and: A Recipe forCollaborative GamingImprovisation inHorror GamesKenneth Hite 39Emily Care Boss 12Coherence andContradictionsD. Vincent Baker 16Getting Off the Railroadand Onto the IslandJohn Arcadian 21Gaming Like an ActorAgreement, Endowment,and Knowing Whento Shut UpJason Morningstar 43Why ImprovMeguey Baker 48You’re in a BarEloy Lasanta 52Filamena Young 25Scaffolding toSupport ImprovScott Martin 294Table of ContentsAn Ear in the Grass:What David Lynch CanTeach You about GMingAlex Mayo 56

On the Herding of CatsKurt Schneider 60I Say, Then You Say:ImprovisationalRoleplaying as ConversationMichelleLyons-McFarland 64Names, Voices,and StereotypesWolfgang Baur 68Selling the ExperienceOff the Rails: When theParty Jumps the TrackStacy Dellorfano 86The Social SandboxWalt Ciechanowski 91Why Trollworld Has TwoMoons . . . and Other TalesKen St. Andre 95The Unspoken Requestand the Power of YesJess Hartley 99Don Mappin 73It’s Okay to Be WeirdBuilding Worlds by theSeat of Your PantsMonica Valentinelli 77Hitting Rock BottomPhil Vecchione 82Martin Ralya 103Index 108AdditionalContributor Bios 111Table of Contents5

ImprovisingDialogue SequencesRobin D. LawsRobin D. Laws’ newest roleplaying game is Hillfolk, in which you weave an epic of dramaticinteraction in an age of hungry empires. Previous RPG designs include The Esoterrorists, AshenStars, Feng Shui, and HeroQuest. His fiction projects include eight novels and the short storycollection New Tales of the Yellow Sign. He comprises one-half of the Golden Geek Awardwinning podcast Ken and Robin Talk About Stuff, and can be found online at robindlaws.com.As a GM your most extended exercises in off-the-cuff invention occur during dialogue sequences. Internalizing the simple structure behind character interaction infiction, scripted and improvised, allows you to sharpen these scenes, making themfun, memorable, and rich in story opportunity.Petitioner and Granter: Understanding the SceneA simple structure powers scenes of any character interaction in drama, fiction, cinema, or TV. One character wants something from another character.nnWash wants Zoë to show that she cares more about him than she doesabout Mal.nnCersei wants to reestablish her position of superiority over Tyrion.nnLoki wants Thor to let him out of his cell.The first character makes a petition of the second character, hoping to get that thing.That makes the first character the petitioner. The character hearing the petitionerhas the power to grant this request. That makes the character the granter—althoughgranters refuse requests as often as they grant them. In the above examples, Wash,Cersei, and Loki take the roles of petitioner, while Zoë, Tyrion, andThor are the granters.(If this all sounds familiar to you, you perhaps recognize it asthe heart of my game Hillfolk and its DramaSystem rules engine. The terms petitioner and granter come from TheConversations, a book-length interview of the legendary

Previous RPG designs include The Esoterrorists , Ashen Stars, Feng Shui, and HeroQuest. His fiction projects include eight novels and the short story collection New Tales of the Yellow Sign. He comprises one-half of the Golden Geek Award-