I used to think D&D was mostly about acting. I would create a character description and play it as accurately as possible for the rest of the campaign. There was an ideal set of actions that were the most “true” to my original character and my main job was matching that ideal as closely possible.
Now, I think a player’s main job is the same as the dungeon master’s: finding the best way to evolve the story and relationships within the campaign. You’re not just reacting as authentically as possible to a story created by the DM. You’re building a story together. The DM is responsible for crafting the world and the options available. The players are responsible for developing the characters and choosing which threads to follow.
This framing is more like improv, where a group of people build a story from an initial premise without any explicit coordination. Improv has a lot of techniques and structures that help develop interesting stories this way. Having done a fair bit of improv, I thought I might start talking about how those skills can be applied in D&D.
“Yes, and…” is a philosophy for creating something out of nothing.
The hardest part of an improv scene is getting started. The story is a blank page and you have no inspiration for which direction to go. But whenever someone says something, that’s a sentence on the paper. When you walk on stage and say “hello Madame President”, we’ve got a sense of who the characters are, where they might be, and what they might talk about. Figuring out what to do next just got a lot easier.
Yes
How hard would it be to write a story if someone erased every line you wrote? Imagine if I replied “I’m not the president!” We’re right back to square one, with no idea who we are or what we’re trying to do.
The first part of “Yes, and…” says that you should always accept the story moves made by your scene partners. If you say I’m the President, then that’s who I am!
and…
The second part of “Yes, and…” is a bit more subtle. What if my response to your intro was a simple “hello”? I didn’t negate your idea, but I certainly didn’t help much in developing it.
No one can produce a full-fledged narrative in the span of a few seconds. Improv actors develop a good sense for interesting moves that will probably lead somewhere interesting, but they have no idea where things are ultimately going. If you send the conversation right back to them without adding information, you’re basically demanding that they think of two story moves simultaneously.
If you take their move and build something on top of it, not only have you moved the story along, you’ve given your scene partner more to work with for their next move:
“Hello Madame President.”
“Thank god you’re here! The aliens launched their attack 20 minutes ago.”
Now we really know what’s going on!
“Yes, and…” means that whenever someone in the scene does something, you take it and run with it. How can you make their idea bigger? Flashier? Funnier?
There are two common mistakes that illustrate how you can use these ideas in D&D:
• Thwarting other players’ plans
• Side tracking the action
Thwarting other players’ plans
Every party has a character who’s impulsive by nature. The raging barbarian. The greedy rogue. The curious wizard.
Oftentimes, that character charges into situations heedless of the risk. In these situations, I have a bad habit of trying to stop their action by tripping them or casting hold person.
Sometimes, this kind of inter party conflict is fun and interesting. But those moments should be rare and poignant. Instead, I should find a way to help the other player be successful.
While the rogue pick-pockets that powerful NPC who we need information from, what if I jump in and try to distract them? If I really think rushing up to the prison guard and attacking them is a horrible idea, why don’t I cast silence to give a better chance of success?
The point isn’t finding the “right” answer. We’re here to help each other tell an epic story full of unexpected twists and turns. Even if we fail, getting caught in the enemy stronghold and making a frantic run for our lives is an adventure. Tripping the rogue so we can think for another 5 minutes isn’t.
Side tracking the action
Another thing I’ll see players do is to make story moves that are completely unrelated to other players’ actions.
A common example: the bard decides to put on a performance in the town square to earn some gold. The wizard isn’t interested, so they say “while that’s happening, I go look for a book store”.
Instead, what if the wizard used illusions to add visual flourishes to the performance? What if the monk began doing acrobatic displays? Maybe things get big enough that the DM decides to turn this into a skill challenge. And maybe the show grabs the eye of some powerful noble who’s impressed and gives the adventurers a mission. That’s certainly more fun than a bard rolling a d20 to see how much gold they collect before moving on.
If your friends jump in to support you, it’s important to realize that everyone is putting their main interests aside to build you up. Make an effort to include them in the moment and give them hooks to be the star of the show too:
Bard: “With the illusions flashing around me, I start to play faster. I make eye contact with the monk and nod towards the table.”
Monk: “Seeing the nod from the bard, I leap onto the table and do a one-handed handstand. I thrust my free hand upwards expectantly…” [nudges wizard player]
Wizard: “From their hand I cast an illusion that looks like a massive shower of golden sparks!”
This kind of teamwork might require some out of character prodding, but take pauses and don’t be afraid to ask other characters to jump in and do cool things.
This all might sound kind of daunting. You’re juggling a hostile NPC and trying to stay in character, how are you supposed to keep track of everyone else’s story moves and make sure you’re building on them?
It turns out this time there really is a simple solution. Whenever someone new joined our improv team, we had a rule that they literally had to start every line with “Yes, and…” for 2 weeks. This might seem a bit stilted, but you’d be surprised how often no one even notices. And it forces you to accept and build on everyone else.
Try having your character respond to everything with “yes, and…” for the next 2 sessions. In no time, agreeing and building will start to feel second nature and you can go back to normal responses!
