DMing - Think on your Feet

[goto124]

This was brought up in the bad DM trends thread, but this is more about how to be a good DM.

How does a DM make up stuff on the fly when players accidentally go off the rails, and their actions actually make perfect sense (which you didn't notice because you had metagame blinkers on), but will send the campaign in a direction so different you have no content whatsoever for it?

Example: The PCs are on an investigation to find out who the culprits are. My plan was for the PCs to gather the looted items (evidence), figure out the identities of the culprits, give the evidence to the Lord, and tell said Lord who the culprits are.

When the PCs figured out one of the culprits, they decided to interrogate him.

I freaked out, and the campaign went egg-shaped because I couldn't come up with anything on the fly.

I figured out a solution after the fact, but only when it was way too late. Also, I'm afraid of the situation repeating itself...

My players frequent these forums, so I'm keeping spoilers to a minimum.

For context, this was a free-form on these forums, so no hard rules or numbers.

I'm hoping to avoid this as far as possible:

I Had Not Thought of That, Therefore It Does Not Work: The Players devise an off-the-wall strategy for dealing with a situation, which the DM dismisses out of hand because the stratagem had simply never occurred to that DM.
snip simply fails, without die rolls or explanation.

This is related to railroading, but seems, to me, to be distinctive enough to warrant special mention.

[Bad Wolf]

Take a small food break while you come up with something.

[Maglubiyet]

Doesn't sound too bad because, at the end of the day, they can still provide the Lord with their list of suspects. They just have more info from the interrogation.

Some ideas:


The PC's interrogate someone that the DM didn't anticipate. DM feeds them a little more information than they would've gained and they include that in their report. No harm done.
In the words of the great Raymond Chandler, "When in doubt have two guys come through the door with guns." The PC's begin interrogating someone. The Lord's guards bust in and arrest them for kidnapping. The Lord talks to them, tells them they need to keep a lower profile, and then releases them.
Call a halt to the action to give yourself time to plan. Send the players out to go get pizza or something while you work if you don't want to quit for the day. I've done this once or twice when I've been so blindsided that I need time to think.

[DodgerH2O]

Back when I GMed more regularly I accomplished this through a combination of things.

The primary help for me was the fact that I had an internally consistent gameworld in my head. Even if I didn't have all the details, I knew enough about the locations, NPCs and various Powers and Factions that I could roll with whatever logically fit. If nothing came to mind immediately I would make something up, put it in my notebook (the back pages were for spontaneously generated NPCs, facts, etc. so I could tie them in with the rest of the gameworld later) and move the game forward as well as I could.

In your example, I'd assume the culprits had some reason for looting the items, and either worked together intentionally or were kept in the dark by some organizing party. Either way, you get results. The one interrogated either knows a little bit about the others or maybe knows nothing except some shadowy figure. If it shortcuts your planned progression, so be it. I know you're being vague for a reason but it'd help immensely if we knew why exactly the interrogation ruined your ability to continue the campaign.

If you have a detailed reason for the setup being the way it is (whatever the setup) then you're less likely to have things fall apart due to players not following the "script". It may make little to no difference to the players as to why the goblins are attacking the village and where those goblins came from, but if you take the time to figure it out before having a "kill goblins" quest then you're more prepared to improvise when a situation requires it.

[Solaris]

It might be helpful to jot in your notes what the named NPCs do and do not know, just in case they happen to get captured again. DodgerH20's advice is good for more than just investigative adventures; the closer you follow it, the better prepared you are to handle things going pear-shaped because the players jumped off the tracks.

I'm fairly preparation-dependent, myself. I know this makes me a bad person and all, but I've found that when the players do something I don't expect and has a dramatic impact on things that it's best if I do as Bad Wolf said and take a five, fifteen, or thirty minute break to recombobulate and figure out where things are likely to go from there.
If you don't want the players to notice you're taking a think-break, follow Maglubiyet's advice and have some thugs burst in the door. While they fight (and you only halfway pay attention), figure out what you need to figure out.

[goto124]

I have a advantage- I do PbP, so thinking time goes unnoticed! :P

Also, this thread makes me feel like an idiot for not coming up with one of the many solutions.

(And the solution to almost everything in a city is 'guards', apparentally.)

[Ninjadeadbeard]

My plan

I think we've found your problem. :smallbiggrin:

Never actually plan out what the PCs are supposed to do. Have a list of possible routes they may take towards a general goal. Or, see below.


The primary help for me was the fact that I had an internally consistent gameworld in my head.

This. So much this. This is the correct answer. The only correct answer. I failed the SAT three times because "Internally Consistent Gameworld" isn't a typical answer on standardized tests, and it's the only one I answered.

[Lacco]

My players do this so often (most popular is "I don't want to talk to the NPC, I want to interrogate the dying bandit!") that in last few games, I didn't even plan anything forward and just improvised. The more I practice it, the better it gets.

So, what do I do in case of sudden unprepared interrogation?

First point - roleplay, not rolls - rolls make you think of what to say, roleplay makes the players come up with suggestions (check all those CSI/NCIS/Murders in Midsomer series for inspiration).

Open with "I will tell you nothing [generic insult you can come up with]! :defiantspit:/ "I know nothing!"

If the players start suggesting who is behind the crime, you have won - just answer "yes/no" and add some colour. If their suggestion makes sense, I usually use it to improve the story? And if not, I refuse it or sometimes make it a red herring sent to players by the villain (there you need to be careful - even the red herring must be obvious enough and must provide a clue).

If they just want to roll/ask "Who did it?" repeatedly/torture and get their answer, I end the interrogation (an arrow from assassin? already suggested two guys with guns enter? the interrogated guy dies of his wounds?) and move on.
Or suggest them they should try to interrogate (not only ask) him - through suggestions (prince Mustard, in the main hall with a dagger!), lies within lies, trappings (not sure it's the correct word, but you know: "We know he is an ordinary goblin!" "He's not a goblin! He's a hobgoblin!" "A-ha!")...

It helps that I keep my preparations close to nothing (rough overview of the "plot" points, NPCs and locations). And I keep rough list of possible "exits" in my head (exits from scene - e.g. the assassin - chase - clue scene).

[Yora]

I think we've found your problem. :smallbiggrin:

I believe that no matter how good your ability to set up fights, describe locations, and talk for NPCs; to get from being a decent GM to being a great GM one has to change the understanding of the GMs role from "planning what happens" to "setting up a situation for the players to interact with in whatever way they want". Which is why you don't prep plots (http://thealexandrian.net/wordpress/4147/roleplaying-games/dont-prep-plots). Just set up a situation with some problems and perhaps one possible solution you might have in mind, in case the players really can't think of anything to outsmart you.
Coming up with solutions quickly as a GM is easiest when the whole situation is relatively small scale and can be broken down to a few very simple main facts. So better don't be clever (http://www.gnomestew.com/gming-advice/dont-be-clever/). Having a simple setup that the players can really work with in whatever way they want is almost always much more interesting than waiting to be told that clever resolution to the complex and hidden mystery that only the GM knows.

[SiuiS]

Take a small food break while you come up with something.

100% this. But I'm also getting away from the D&D standard of the games master being some secret officer of a Fraternity who must uphold the reputation of the title Dungeon Master at all costs. If a player does something like this, and revelation isnt a bad thing, I will straight up tell them. "Wow! That's a fantastic idea, and I didn't think of it. Gimme a bit to collect my thoughts, but tell me; what led you guys here? What are [character name]'s thoughts on the scenario? His goals?"

Turn it back on them. The players are rewarded not by winning exactly, but by being clever and having it recognized. You get the time you need to figure things out, give them some bragging room, and learn a bit about their vector so you can plan according to that direction.

I've got a PBP game of Mage: the awakening that stayed on the rails log enough for me to say "you start in this town" and that was it. I've been chasing the players ever since and it's not the game I expected but it's pretty amazing, if I can stay on point.

[Flashy]

(And the solution to almost everything in a city is 'guards', apparentally.)

This is actually pretty true. There's nothing to make players feel they did something significant like a whole mess of police persecution afterwards.

[BWR]

I'd say one of the most important aspects of thinking on your feet is one question: "How will X react to Y?"
The most important part of DMing apart from giving necessary and sufficient information about the game and world to the players and acting as referee is to run the NPCs. Know their motives, personality and goals, and you can react to most things well enough.
Apart from taking a quick break to gather your thoughts (there is no shame in this - most players will probably just be pleased they caught their GM off-guard), ask how any given NPC will react to what is being done.

[Amphetryon]

I have a advantage- I do PbP, so thinking time goes unnoticed! :P

Also, this thread makes me feel like an idiot for not coming up with one of the many solutions.

(And the solution to almost everything in a city is 'guards', apparentally.)

PbP definitely helps, here. There are old threads here on a similar topic where Players opined that they could always tell when the DM was forced to improvise, and that it always detracted from the gaming experience. . . while simultaneously noting that a world where their Characters couldn't try absolutely anything they happened to think of was employing railroad tracks.

[Storm_Of_Snow]

IMO, you learn how to think on your feet by thinking on your feet, which is not really what you wanted to hear, was it? :smallwink:

But if you leave small parts open to improvise in, then, like any skill, you'll improve it and be able to do more and more.

You can also improvise by, oxymoronic as it sounds, pre-generating some things and leaving them in your files - if you need local law enforcement, they probably won't change that much from one settlement to another, although they might be less numerous/well equipped in a village.

If the PCs decide to randomly break into somewhere, most houses will be built to a general pattern, only those built for the rich and/or nobility will be bespoke designs

You can always pregenerate a few random encounters to use in emergencies.

The players ask someone's name? Have a list of suitable first and family names and pick something off that, then make a note of it so that if they PCs go back there, they can talk to the same person again (or they're no longer there, and maye the PCs have to investigate why).

Ditto for descriptions of items, make a list, so it's not, for example, a potion, it's a dirty glass bottle sealed by a cork held in place with wire and covered by green-tinted beeswax, holding a viscous opaque red liquid.

That also allows you to describe important items/people without the players knowing that they're important. :smallwink:

And if all else fails, just have the NPCs react to the players actions - in your situation, where the PCs are interrogating one of the culprits, what are the others going to do, especially whoever hired them? Try and run for it? Hide the evidence and try to project an image of normality? Hire some thugs (either personally or through a cutout) to take out the PCs and silence the person they've arrested? Plant evidence on the PCs and have them arrested?

Just make sure they don't become omniscient, and stop the PCs plans before they start. :smallamused:

[NichG]

I would say that there are four major principles for me:

1. Learn to think in terms of forces and desires rather than specific events. 'There is a cult of people who want Tiamat to be powerful' instead of 'there is a specific ritual that can be used by this cult to empower Tiamat'. Something that the players do can interrupt or modify a specific chain of events or a specific plan, but if you're thinking in terms of broad forces and what they want then you'll immediately be able to come up with a short list of other forces in the world who would want to make a move on that change, as well as consider how the thwarted individuals might change gears to still pursue their objectives in the future.

2. Whatever hasn't come into play in any form remains mutable. This is a really powerful idea in several ways. Sometimes the players will come up with a better explanation for events than you had - that's great, steal it! Sometimes something the players do will make a particular thing you prepared become irrelevant (they collapsed the dungeon that had some set-piece in a side branch) - fine, put it back in the stack of set pieces and re-work it for some upcoming thing.

3. (Paraphrased from an explanation of Touhou shooters): Phase one of the game is about building up resources, phase two is about conserving them, phase three is about expending them. If you see an opportunity to inject something into the game that you might be able to use later, take it. Then when you have no idea what to do next, call in that token you set up ahead of time. Give the players the same opportunity as well - drop things that the players can later use to great effect but which are one-offs, and then try to figure out the situations that might let them benefit from expending those resources. This basically gives you a bit of a buffer of plot hooks in case you get lost or something unexpectedly falls apart.

4. Design things from the point of view of what they need to be, not according to a procedure of formula. Always think 'what is the purpose of this NPC?' or 'what is the purpose of this monster?'. So if you suddenly need an encounter, you can improvise based on your awareness of what sorts of numbers would be reasonable rather than trying to build each enemy in the encounter like you'd build a new PC.

There's also the advice from Nobilis, which is worth paraphrasing: The game is predominantly about the consequences of what the players did last game. If you get a feel for it, you can make it so that everything the players resolve spawns off a bunch of new plot hooks or consequences which can be played through.

[Gritmonger]

Drop into the head of the captured villain. What are their motivations? Do they actually know anything or are they just a patsy? Are they trying to pay off a remove curse for grandma? Players do not know what is and is not prepared, so providing the richness of a character with which to interact is part of the reward for focusing on part of the setting. You never know what characters will latch onto. Don't presume, and let their focus be your guide to what needs to be fleshed out. Just make notes for yourself while you do so... some lack of prep is forgivable; lack of consistency much less so.

[Kurald Galain]

How does a DM make up stuff on the fly when players accidentally go off the rails, and their actions actually make perfect sense (which you didn't notice because you had metagame blinkers on), but will send the campaign in a direction so different you have no content whatsoever for it?

My advice is this: write a setting, not a plot.

First, you take an area (for instance, a city) that the PCs will want to spend some time in; it is reasonable to tell players that the next couple sessions will take place in this area, and you can keep it interesting to motivate them to stay there.

Then, briefly outline three to five factions. Each faction has a typical unimportant member, a leader, at least one thing they want to ask of the PCs, at least one thing they'll do on their own, and an overall goal. That may seem like a lot but it's really not. Then play from that.

For example, a major faction in the city of Ytic is the clergy of Ygrelc. A typical minion of this faction is a third-level cleric; the leader is Redael, a ninth-level cleric who is solemn and dignified. Their current goal is constructing a new and rather expensive temple. If left to their own devices, they will collect money for this temple and hold a festival at the building site next week; and if they notice criminal activity, they will respond aggressively. They may ask the PCs to recover a statue of Ygrelc from somewhere in the city, and to discredit their rival Draziw of the city council. A minion's signature moves are Bless, Spiritual Weapon, and running away to get help. Redael's signature moves are Flame Strike, Wind Wall, and using a Quarterstaff of Dancing while he attacks with a regular quarterstaff. They are currently neutral towards the party.

That's really all you need, but keep some blank space so you can add things later. Have a few more of those and go from there. The PCs will most likely encounter all factions quickly while exploring the city, and form their own opinions and start allying themselves somewhere. After the session, reflect on the events that took place, consider whether each faction is aware of those events, and update them accordingly; for instance, as a result of the party's actions, the Ygrelc faction may become friendly towards Draziw, or unfriendly towards the PCs.

Finally, write down ten names with a trait. Use these for other NPCs as needed. For example, Fle is an elf with a tattoo. That's all. Assign these as needed to any shopkeeper / minor faction person / city guard / whatever that the PCs want to talk to.

Not a lot of work, quite a lot of flexibility.

[DigoDragon]

Take some notes when you make stuff up as the GM. That way after the session is over you stay consistent while preparing the next session.

[Earthwalker]

As the systems I am playing have changed so has my general style with GMing.
One thing I might try if completely stuck in this situation is asking all or one of the players. What do they think they will learn from the interogation and then going with that.

Of course this won't work for everyone but the times I have used it, it certainly has.

[Storm_Of_Snow]

Take some notes when you make stuff up as the GM. That way after the session is over you stay consistent while preparing the next session.
Actually, that's a really good tip implied there - keep a notebook. You never know when the muse might strike.

And while Kurald Galain's idea about names and traits is great, I'd avoid everyone having identifiable traits - for PCs passing through an area, there'll be a certain level of genericity that only people who live there on a daily basis will be able to see through. The barmaid in the tavern doesn't need to be tall, with dyed green hair, a limp, tribal tattoos on one arm and her upper left canine tooth missing.

Unless of course everyone in the village is very tall, their religion means they dye their hair green, tattoos are used for status and a particular tooth is extracted to show fealty to the village leader, and what would be exotic elsewhere becomes the generic for that location. :smallamused:

[Karl Aegis]

Initiating combat with a fifty-foot-whatever is a good way to buy some time for you to think. When you finally figure out where the campaign is going just hand wave the fifty-foot-whatever out of there and segue seamlessly into the real campaign. The fifty-foot-whatever could be a recurring villain if your players are railroading you off the rails often enough.

[Flashy]

Initiating combat with a fifty-foot-whatever is a good way to buy some time for you to think. When you finally figure out where the campaign is going just hand wave the fifty-foot-whatever out of there and segue seamlessly into the real campaign. The fifty-foot-whatever could be a recurring villain if your players are railroading you off the rails often enough.

This is hilarious. The Storm Giant of The-DM-Didn't-Plan-For-That. "Suddenly, as you begin to wake the unconscious guard your old nemesis Phnorg the Conqueror bursts through the wall. Roll initiative." And then five or six rounds later when you've figured out what to do, "In a flash Phnorg realizes that he totally left a pie in the oven! He takes off across the city. As you turn back to what's left of the room you see the guard is starting to wake up."

[Jay R]

I think we've found your problem. :smallbiggrin:

Never actually plan out what the PCs are supposed to do.

Exactly. Your job is to get them into a bad situation. Their job is to find a way out.

Build a scenario with only one solution, and you're lost if they don't think of that solution.

But build a scenario with no solution and any really clever plan can work.

[Knaight]

I avoid this situation by not planning in the first place - improv is a skill, it gets better with practice, and if it's the bulk of your GMing style it gets better really fast. With that said, a lot of it comes down to how you keep things organized in your head.

Personally, I use a roster response system, which basically works out to a few things:

1) Defining the setting.
You want the setting fairly clearly defined in broad strokes, and the assumptions of the setting and limited area involved run by and approved by the player. If you're planning an urban fantasy game, communicate that and get everyone on board, then figure out the major setting traits.

Then, it's a matter of populating it. You want defined factions, defined people, and lots and lots of tensions between them. At least one of these tensions should probably start the game boiled over into a full on conflict that involves the PCs, and a lot of the rest at least have the potential to. This set of things I think of as the roster. Basically, set up an unstable situation, and give it a nice big shove.

2) Active Roster
When the PCs are involved in a particular thing, only a subset of the roster is all that likely to be important. I call this the active roster. They're the elements of a setting you want to be keeping in the front of your mind at present, from which you pull antagonists and allies, smaller setting elements and plot hooks (though that term is misleading, as there's generally no overarching plot).

3) Roster-Response
In Roster-Response mode, the players are actively pursuing a goal, pushing the game forward, and generally doing stuff. If this stops happening, you give things a good push, which is section 4. Basically, the players have the PCs act, and then the setting reacts. Said reaction is drawn from a number of fairly plausible ones, based on how interesting they are, and needs to be a consequence of the PCs actions. Maybe the PCs capture and interrogate a culprit of some plot. The rest of them likely pick up on this, and respond. Maybe they try to bribe the PCs. Maybe they try to kill their former ally so they can't spill the beans. Maybe they involve another section of your roster though. Is there some other faction they can make common cause with, and try to get to do their dirty work? Is there another plot active that they can try to suborn to take care of their problems? Who knows.

Generally, I find it helps to keep multiple elements in the active roster at any given time, and when it starts getting sparse, define them more and separate things out a bit (if it starts winnowing down to just the plotters, maybe we define them as individuals more instead of "the plotters").

4) Slowdown Prevention
Occasionally the game slows down a bit, the players aren't driving the action, the PCs might be spinning their wheels or cooling their heels. In this case, it's high time to look at the inactive roster that's been in the background for a while. Remember all those unstable tensions just waiting to burst? Now's probably a good time for that to happen, in a way that involves the PCs. They don't have to be central by any means, but some sort of direct involvement is a good idea. Things have been going on in the background, and hopefully you've had some idea of what these are (working this detail out is a good way to spend between-session prep). Now it's in the foreground, and it's up to the players to see what they're going to do about it.

[erikun]

Am I the only one who finds combat in D&D to be far more distracting for the DM than it is the PCs? I mean, the DM needs to set up the stage, grab monster stat blocks, keep track of initiative and all the HP/modifiers/status effects for several creatures. The PCs need to keep track of just their own character. Unless you have a REALLY slow group that takes forever to decide which sword to hit stuff with, the DM turns tend to take more time than any individual PC turn. Plus, the DM needs to be paying attention during the whole fight, because nearly every single exchange is going to involve one of the characters they are running.

[Darth Ultron]

How does a DM make up stuff on the fly when players accidentally go off the rails, and their actions actually make perfect sense (which you didn't notice because you had metagame blinkers on), but will send the campaign in a direction so different you have no content whatsoever for it?



First, don't have rails. Have a field. You want it more like it could be one of five things, but it's not set. Leave everything vague and open until it happens in the game. Keep everything floating.

Second, never make any sort of plan that says ''the players will do this and that and this and then that''. You don't know what they will do, so don't bother guessing.

Third, never leave an opening. Fill in all the holes. Always have extra content.

Then if you need to, toss up a distraction or roadblock, anything to keep the game from getting to the big bad guy base.

[comicshorse]

My players require me to 'wing it' all the time so the main advice I'd offer from my experience is have a note-book handy at all times. So when you make stuff up you can write it down and won't forget it for next session

[draken50]

I use a few things to help prevent this from being a problem, and have had my players as a result not be able to tell what was planned from what wasn't.

I'll try to use the "talking to an NPC guard unexpectadly"

First. If you need the time to think, take the time to think. A couple ways can be to let people have a food/drink/bathroom/smoke break. Often this is a "new" encounter where this kind of thing occurs making it a reasonable break point. PCs beat guards in the fight. Now they want to talk, new encounter, new mindset, that's fine.

Then Brainstorm consequences for their actions. Did the players just walk into the woods without a map or plan? What should happen? Should they get lost. Will anything seek them out ect.

In the case of talking to a guard. What consequences could this have?
A. The party gets true information
B. The party gets false information
C. The party ends up giving information (About themselves, allies, goals, ect.)

Figuring out what kind of information the guard would have depends a lot on the location, the nature of his/her job, and the level of secrecy of the organization. Many guards don't know a lot, they aren't that high up the chain, but they may have guarded other places.. heard rumors, been given directions. Keep in mind, the guard is under a particularly Machiavellian boss/organization he may have been given false information, so even if he thinks he's telling the truth he may not be. He may also lie due to cleverness, or intimidation/fear.

Last, determine if any of your planned encounters can be related to this unexpected encounter. A reference to other guards, monsters, or NPCs you've created. Or perhaps directions or the like to encounters that fit with what you've had planned.

Obviously, higher ranking individuals would likely know more about the workings of the organization, how likely they are to lie or risk themselves further would depend on their loyalty. A religious zealot ready to die for his god/cult is less likely to barter or bargain information for his life than a sellsword with no loyalty beyond the money paid.

[TeChameleon]

Another thing to consider is that your players will (almost) always surprise you. I had an encounter go wildly off the rails before it even really got started- one of the PCs got paranoid and attempted to claw an NPCs face off during parley, rather preventing the exposition I had planned on giving through that NPC. That was especially frustrating, since I had planned on using that NPC as a major plot hook for the very PC that went ballistic on him.

Combat ensued, I discovered that I had somewhat overestimated the PCs combat abilities (sending a cyberzombie after five runners turns out to be rather overkill, given that the thing shrugged off a hit by a light anti-tank weapon >.O), but with some on-the-fly adjustments on my part, they survived, legged it... and grabbed the exposition NPC as a prisoner on the way out.

The PC that had attacked in the first place then interrogated the exposition NPC, grabbing the plot hook and neatly undoing the derailing.

Thankfully I was able to keep my "... what." reaction off my face :smalltongue:

Long story short, keep flexible. Players being players, they'll usually manage to muddle through to something interesting one way or another, and if you hold your rails loosely, you can usually manage to get them under your players often enough to keep them headed in the right general direction.

[blacklight101]

I know my execution is pretty improv heavy, all I ever have written out aside from a few 'Dramatis Personae' (i.e.NPC's by any other name) are the couple major events I want to hit and a couple stat blocks for the combat or two we will get around to.

Being Rogue Trader, my players have a fairly good sandbox to work with, and we are all figuring out the plot at about the same rate. I can improv about a session or so ahead of them and have the BigBad set for the partial endgame.

They won't get a lot of political intrigue out of me since im terrible at the twisted skeins of popularity, politics, and dialogue. Lots of combat, some seeding of plot through the =][= along with a few sidequests. I do have to say I dont track Achievement Points or anything like that. I threw that bit out right along with Warp Travel rules. They just get PF as I see fit and as they deserve it, ad-hoc method just seems to fit better.

[Maglubiyet]

First, don't have rails. Have a field. You want it more like it could be one of five things, but it's not set. Leave everything vague and open until it happens in the game. Keep everything floating.

...

Third, never leave an opening. Fill in all the holes. Always have extra content.


In an ideal world you could always do this, but sometimes real life has a way of impinging on gaming (the horror!) Running a one-shot or intro adventure where characters go off the rails from the get-go is a maddening experience.

This is the attraction of running an ongoing campaign. Eventually your notebook gets so full of NPC's, monsters, maps, items, plot hooks, notes, etc. that you can just flip it open and roll with a sudden course change by the PC's.