DB

I am taking part in a new improv show that is being prepared at our local theatre. While I will not spoil anything, because part of the joy of the form and the show is to see it in person, I will talk about some of the experience of running the show in practice that I thought was interesting and fun. This show leans very hard into Dungeons and Dragons (D&D) inclinations, tropes, and whatnot…and is just straight up an improv show. But for us, the players? It didn’t feel like that.

Playing at the table

When you play a tabletop role playing game (TTRPG), there are a few bits of culture that take place at the table. One of them is a recognition that there is a different power dynamic between Dungeon Master and player. The Dungeon Master (DM) presents and controls a lot of the world–all of the non-player characters (NPCs), the introduction of scenes, and all that sort of thing.

Another thing is speaking as players to figure out what is in the world. We don’t have all the information that our characters have in the world, so we usually ask questions to the DM to figure out what is in the space and what is permissible. One of the DM’s many roles is to maintain the base reality of the world and represent it, and our characters perceptions and understandings, as truthful.

And thirdly, people freely talk in and out of character. The player and the character are separate entities for many players, where the player is trying to get the information needed to make decisions that would make sense for the character. Then, when the information is obtained and understood, the character can act within the world as they always intended.

Normally, these things are no issue at a table where you’re playing a TTRPG because this culture is understood by most, if not all the players at the table. But, when it comes to the stage, and an improv environment…

Playing on the stage

Improv has more than a few things that are different than any TTRPG. One of those, is the fact that there is typically no differing power dynamic between the players themselves in the case of loose scenes, or a montage. (This is of course different depending on if you’re doing short form games, like those seen on Whose Line Is It Anyway?, as a host may have some power over the players in the sense of calling when a game changes, or is ended.)

Upon seeing the DM screen, which typically hides the notes, rolls, and machinations of the DM, we as players immediately felt that power dynamic. We acknowledged that we didn’t have as much power over the world as the DM, when in improv, you’re typically free to establish parts of the world, and other people’s characters within good reason–we just support it with “yes, and”. Staging wise, that power dynamic also translated over. We ended up being on one side of the stage, while the DM was on the other side of the stage.

We also had a few sequences where we were actively switching our player and our character hats where we were trying to solve a problem. It got confusing from an audience perspective, mostly because we got into the TTRPG, “at the table” sort of mind. We didn’t want to make moves to create objects in the world, to bestow the NPCs with aspects of their character, and we didn’t feel the freedom to sweep/end the scene. That was the DMs job, right? But…we were doing improv? It got a little messy in that aspect.

And on top of that, on the topic of switching player and character hats, it got a little confusing sometimes who was saying what. One of the notes that we got afterward from our coach was to be more intentional about our character’s physicality so that we can distinguish between player and character more clearly. Which hell, makes a lot of sense for a general audience and an improv crowd. How are you expected to know the TTRPG play culture when you’ve never seen it before?

Silly make em ups

At the end of the day though, despite all the hiccups, it was a lot of fun. While there are lots of similarities between TTRPGs and improv, I am surprised with the difficulties of translating TTRPG skills, memes, and sensibilities to the improv scene. It’s almost like switching programming languages. They can accomplish similar functions, telling stories and working within their native language leanings of their compilers, but it’ll take a bit of an adjustment from a player to do one to the other.