The Storytelling Dice
When it comes to storytelling, especially off the cuff stuff, a lot of speakers struggle with knowing what to say next. This little handy discovering will change all that and let you enjoy the fun of storytelling without the worry of needing to know where to go with it. Intrigued? Keep reading. Confused? Also keep reading.
One day out of the blue, an ole buddy of mine messaged me saying, "Hey, I was thinking of you." That alone could be the end of the story, that's like such a sweet thing to hear, but then it's gets better. "The crew is going to try out some d&d, you interested?" I definitely played open handed here but couldn't hide the excitement. "Hell yes I am!" I replied, no questions asked.
Admittedly at first I was not so impressed by D&D. The encyclopedia of rules is a huge turn off when all I want to do is role play in fantasy worlds. Eventually you get used to it and realize you can get away with the basics and the DM (Dungeon master aka game master aka host) will carry you the rest of the way. As will the people playing with you.
Dices & Dragons
Let the dice do the talking.
Anyway, fast forward and we are several sessions deep and having a good time, and I start to pay more attention to what the DM is doing. I started to clue in to how the scenarios unfold based on dice rolls hidden behind a wall so that the players are surprised with the turns of events and such. And this mechanic got me thinking, I wonder if I, or anyone really, can tell stories if given a dice to roll.
This is not to suggest that telling stories is easy, but from personally experience of trying to improv a story from scratch, the most difficult part is deciding what to talk about next. And that's where the dice come in. So here is the basic idea. You set up a simple scenario; "There is someone and they have a problem with apples." And then you roll the dice.
1) Add a problem, or intensify the current one.
2) Plot twist.
3) Character Development.
4) Resolve current situation.
5) Describe more deeply.
6) Move location.
This is the list I came up with. There are probably a lot of different setups that you can use, but this seemed attainable and forgiving. Check out a bunch of examples on the Lost in Play YouTube channel.
Happy storytelling! Hope you get lost in play.