Unframed: The Art of Improvisation For Game Masters

Most of the major players in the storygames movement have contributed to this volume. When it’s on, it’s very on: Vincent Baker, Robin Laws, Ken Hite, and Jason Morningstar have some great essays on conversations, shared imaginations, and making it work. The other contributors also have lots of advice on listening, saying “Yes, and…”, and getting weird in a game. The weakness in this collection is a lot of repetition-too many intros defining improvisation and its use in RPGS, which could have been worked through by a stronger editorial vision (but yeah, then some people might not have contributed…), and some odd gaps in practice. Saying that you should listen is easy, actually listening is hard. And one of the most promising ideas, asking questions of your players to draw out their hooks and story elements, isn’t explored in depth. Overall, an inspiring collection but one that might be hard to use.