Saluton!

My PC

My previous PC

My PNPCs

My general NPCs

These characters can be used by any player for any purpose:

My MSNBCPNPCs

Improv and simming

I teach and perform improv, and over the years I have found a lot of overlap between the skills of successful improvisers and successful simmers. Here are a few bits and bobs I've collected about improv, which I think are relevant to simming as well:

Radical collaboration

  • Great improv comes from mutual discovery and surprise and the process of one character being affected by the other. It never comes from drawing a bunch of dots on the stage and handing the other actor a crayon and expecting them to connect them in some crazy design you have mapped in your head. —Ben Bowman
  • When you play chess, you move your pawn first. You have to. The important pieces are held back, but they’re there. How many chess games will you win if you make a ton of moves without checking what your opponent is doing? Zero. So make one move and check in. And make your next move according to your partner’s first move. Just remember, it’s practically impossible to win without moving those big pieces at some point. And no one wants to see a scene entirely of tiny pawn moves. But your board must balance the other player. Otherwise, one of you is going to get steamrolled. And that’s a bad improv scene. —Ben Bowman

Agreement and acceptance

  • We want to avoid conflict, debate and negotiation in our improv scenes. The audience knows we’re making it up – building something from nothing – they don’t want to see us arguing over imagined reality; they want to see us react to an accepted reality. What’s the best way to avoid arguing? Acceptance! Agreeing to a conflict-laden declaration is the easiest way to ensure a scene’s forward momentum. —Patrick Gantz