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treb_ruddahan's review
4.0
Excellent advise for both players and GMs, but almost too short a read to be worth even the Kindle price.
jexjthomas's review
2.0
I see this book recommended a lot, and frankly after reading it I'm not sure why. I guess maybe if you are a GM or player who has no experience improvising whatsoever, or aren't comfortable with letting go of some of your control, it could be helpful by introducing new concepts or giving you ideas about HOW to improvise, but to be completely honest, I'm not impressed at all. First of all, I don't think the advice is anything special--most of it is pretty intuitive--but worst of all, it's presented poorly. This book is not well written, with the author often talking in circles or never really getting to the point. It can be hard to follow, and when it isn't hard to follow, it's boring or just, to be honest, pointless. There are better guides to "playing unsafe" out there for players and GMs both. A great place to start would be to read Adam Koebel and Sage LaTorra's Dungeon World. Even if you aren't interested in the system, it presents a fantastic framework for running a game in an "unsafe" way.
rixx's review
Via book discord. Currently only (at reasonable prices) as US import paperback, check back later.
danieltol's review
2.0
It isn’t really mind blowing stuff and a lot of ideas are not new. If you are familiar with improv than a lot of the things in this book you already know and I find that this Youtube video (https://youtu.be/xBkMOsZ7KDo) by Adam Koebel tells a lot of the same stuff about getting to the table with nothing prepared way better.
Some things I also flat out disagree on. I’m truly against the idea of pushing players boundaries just so you can make a more ‘interesting’ game. I personally think describing sexual content in a RPG is a really bad idea as it can quickly come over as creepy and sexual acts in a group setting feels weird.
I also think writing in a structure as if it is a story can be quite hard if you fly completely by the seat of your pants and some moments may feel a bit random as I if you were making it up on the spot (which you are!)
I would personally advice from experience the best way to run a complete improv game (especially oneshots) is to use a rules light, narrative system (my favorites are Fate Core and Dungeon World) and come with nothing prepared at the table.
During character creation ask your players a lot of questions and generally saying ‘yes, and…’ to everything they say and what they think the adventure should be about.
Then once something has formed, take a little break and write a structure of encounters one sentence each.
Then if you want to you can write a little paragraph you narrate at the beginning of your adventure.
And that’s it.
Just keep saying ‘Yes, and…’ (unless it is something completely ridiculous or impossible but if you play with people you trust this rarely happens) to your players until the session comes to a conclusion.
I think wanting to completely improvise a session shouldn’t come at the cost of having nothing written down.
Some things I also flat out disagree on. I’m truly against the idea of pushing players boundaries just so you can make a more ‘interesting’ game. I personally think describing sexual content in a RPG is a really bad idea as it can quickly come over as creepy and sexual acts in a group setting feels weird.
I also think writing in a structure as if it is a story can be quite hard if you fly completely by the seat of your pants and some moments may feel a bit random as I if you were making it up on the spot (which you are!)
I would personally advice from experience the best way to run a complete improv game (especially oneshots) is to use a rules light, narrative system (my favorites are Fate Core and Dungeon World) and come with nothing prepared at the table.
During character creation ask your players a lot of questions and generally saying ‘yes, and…’ to everything they say and what they think the adventure should be about.
Then once something has formed, take a little break and write a structure of encounters one sentence each.
Then if you want to you can write a little paragraph you narrate at the beginning of your adventure.
And that’s it.
Just keep saying ‘Yes, and…’ (unless it is something completely ridiculous or impossible but if you play with people you trust this rarely happens) to your players until the session comes to a conclusion.
I think wanting to completely improvise a session shouldn’t come at the cost of having nothing written down.
frater's review
1.0
Play Unsafe was not what I expected - not what I was promised when I read the back of the book. I wanted information about Improvisation, tips and tricks for keeping things going. What I got was a set of proscriptive guidelines that in many cases seemed to be simply the author's personal taste presented as set-in-stone rules.
Taken as suggestions for trying new things, some of the material presented wasn't too bad, though it wasn't exactly novel. I'd never heard the idea of building drama by starting during an 'ordinary' routine called a "platform" before, but the name he gave it was the only new thing about a very common idea.
The real problem with the book is the tone it is written in, and the fact that it is simply incorrect in places. He states that true drama can't be created without the platform technique, that starting amidst the action doesn't work. However, beginning a story in media res is not only a very common, very useful storytelling technique, it's arguably a more dramatic way to begin things. What better way to challenge a player and build a fascinating story than to start him or her in the middle of a difficult situation and allow them to narrate not only how they got out of it, but what got them into it in the first place. It works well in novels and stories, creating a sense of mystery as we wonder the why and hows of the situation, and it can work just as well in games.
The short of it is, I didn't get anything out of this book at all. It is full of a lot of platitudes (play unsafe! If something scares you, do it!) but you can get that from countless blogs and any number of self-help books. This book claims to help you improve your improvisational skills, but all it actually does is tell you to "do it." To me, less than useful.
Taken as suggestions for trying new things, some of the material presented wasn't too bad, though it wasn't exactly novel. I'd never heard the idea of building drama by starting during an 'ordinary' routine called a "platform" before, but the name he gave it was the only new thing about a very common idea.
The real problem with the book is the tone it is written in, and the fact that it is simply incorrect in places. He states that true drama can't be created without the platform technique, that starting amidst the action doesn't work. However, beginning a story in media res is not only a very common, very useful storytelling technique, it's arguably a more dramatic way to begin things. What better way to challenge a player and build a fascinating story than to start him or her in the middle of a difficult situation and allow them to narrate not only how they got out of it, but what got them into it in the first place. It works well in novels and stories, creating a sense of mystery as we wonder the why and hows of the situation, and it can work just as well in games.
The short of it is, I didn't get anything out of this book at all. It is full of a lot of platitudes (play unsafe! If something scares you, do it!) but you can get that from countless blogs and any number of self-help books. This book claims to help you improve your improvisational skills, but all it actually does is tell you to "do it." To me, less than useful.
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