A book I like - PLAY UNSAFE by Graham Walmsley

PLAY UNSAFE by Graham Walmsley, purchased as a pdf thru Lulu.com:  An 82 page essay on how to apply the lessons of improv theatre to your role playing games.  The book is divided up into five main sections, though the exact separation of ideas is a bit inexact.  To be fair, I like and agree with many of the ideas presented, and therefore review them positively.  Someone who prefers less “story telling” and more “gamism” may be less impressed.

Play discusses an improv style of play achieved through such ideas as “stop working so hard”, “don’t plan ahead”,  “hold ideas lightly” and “be obvious”.  Many of these ideas are aimed more at the GM, but are also interesting for players to think about as well.  Embracing this section would create a more free-flowing, reactive style of GMing for anyone who could pull it off, and I would enjoy playing in this sort of game.

Build centers on the improv idea that you should never negate what another player says, but rather should respond with “Yes, and...” (though as a GM, I think an equally strong answer is “No, but...”).  This section discusses the log-jam that happens when players and GMs keep negating each others ideas (The example used is the classic “castle with a single way in”.  The players must guess the riddle at the gate to get in, and no amount of searching will discover another way in, the walls cannot be climbed, the guards cannot be bluffed, etc).  I think this section and the section before would make excellent reading for any RPG player looking to improve their game (and by improve I mean improve in the narrative, story telling vein of gaming, if such is your thing).

Status is the third section of the book, and in my opinion it does not fit very well.  It gives tips on how to play high status and low status characters, and how to make changes in status into good stories elements, but it does not really seem to fit the “improv” theme of the rest of the book.  However, it does have some interesting ideas on its own.

Tell Stories is the next chapter, and delves into techniques for the Game Master or Story Teller.  It gives advice of how to set up routines in the story and how to reinforce them and break them; how to stage a scene, then “tilt” it to create conflict or tension; and a number of other issues.  My favorite reminder is to “deliver on your promises”.  If you describe a town as a “wretched hive of scum and villainy” then the PCs better encounter some scum and villainy when they explore the place.

The last section is Work Together and covers the ideas of playing so that the other players enjoy themselves, losing gracefully, and trusting the other players.  This would be a good section to discuss out loud with a group of players having problems, to see if any of the advice here would help solve those problems.

All told, an interesting book with many specific and general kernels of advice worth heeding, even if I do disagree with some of his suggestions (screw with each other, and let your guard down both sit uneasily with me).  For certain styles of games and gamers, the advice in here is wonderful, useful and somewhat obvious once stated.

I give this book a solid B, and would recommend it to anyone interested in improv style gaming.