nicole stuff

chrisreblogs:

This is an off shoot of the conversation started (well, not started, but whatever) here. To summarize:

• You don’t HAVE to know EVERYTHING

• But the more you know, even on a casual superficial level, the easier it will be.

• If you don’t know something, speak in confidence anyway. Assume you know.

• The Challenger shuttle is problematic. (Note: My first response to read Connor’s post was, “Even disregarding the Challenge disaster, shuttles didn’t fly to the moon! How would it land without an atmosphere?!”)

But this brought me to this:

Okay. You have something you want to reference. Not just as a passing specific but as a premise/game move. You are not 100% you scene partner is going to get it. What now?

My answer: Don’t be coy.

If you know that your scene partner will pick up on your reference, great. But if you’re not sure? Make it clear.

Yeah. It’s great when you can make a sly reference and have your scene partner pick up on it before the audience does. But if they don’t, there is a good chance they are going to “And” the scene right out of the reference/premise.

Let’s take the Challenger example. (Although, I personally would have also assumed everyone knows about the Challenger disaster. And Columbia. Remember: The shuttles that begin with C are the ones that had problems. And the shuttle Enterprise never went into space. And the actual vehicle is called orbiter vehicle.) The clearer you can make it, the better. If it is important to your premise that we know the Challenger is going to explode, be clear. Sly is great and all, but 9 time out of 10 the audience doesn’t give a hoot about sly. They LIKE knowing the game.

Coy: “Here we are on the Challenger. Looks like this flight is going to be smooth sailing.” 

Not coy: “Here we are on the space shuttle Challenger. Looks like this flight won’t have anything go wrong and want be a disaster.”

Extremely not coy: “Here we are on the space shuttle Challenger. George Bush senior is president. Out of Africa is still in the theaters and Fine Young Cannibals are tearing up the airwaves. Looks like this launch will be far from a disaster. By the way, did anyone check the O-rings on the solid rocket booster. Never mind, I am sure they are fine.”

(Okay, so the last one is very heavy handed. But it brings up a point: I have seen many scenes derailed when the initiator means to set it at an historical event/time period but doesn’t make it clear. Most players will assume any given scene is set in the here and now. Giving your scene partner, very quickly and clearly, a nudge that you at a specific point in time will help avoid the “Oh shit! They are using a cell phone and I meant this to be 1893.”*)

(*If I set something in 1893, you can probably assume I am setting this scene at the World’s Fair in Chicago. I recommend anyone who improvises with me reads Devil In The White City. It will make it easier.)

This is great and reminds me of a great Shannon O’Neill quote from The Daddy Class. The context was a player stepping off the backline and hoping that their team will know what they’re talking about without being clear:

“There’s no hope in improv.”