I'd like to talk about impromptu, one-shot, and otherwise unexpected games. Impromptu games are a big part of my life. Everyone I know, my age-group and otherwise, is constantly and consistently busy. Our schedules are packed: work, classes, tests, trips and hanging out at coffee shops acting pretentious don't leave a lot of time to plan elaborate campaigns. Everyone in my circle of game-friends has at least three or four solid ideas for campaigns on the back burner,just waiting for the time and players to make themselves available. A good deal of that is, of course, our own fault, but life is busy these days, and time is a very real issue. So whether or not we like it, it's pretty likely that a lot of our campaigns are only ever going to have one session. Sometimes though, that's enough. As an example, I'd like to tell you about a road trip I took a few months ago.

It was summer,the time of year the country fair got going. Four of us decided it would be a good idea to pile into a car and spend 16 hours on the road in order to spend six hours wandering around a filthy dustbowl. We all had different reasons for going: one guy wanted to buy a utilikilt, one girl knew a stall vendor, and the driver and I had nothing better to do.

The fair was fun, mostly worth the effort. I was so impressed by one band that I bought my first physical CD. But what was exceptional about the trip (beside the band) was how we passed the time on the road.

After we had been driving for a few hours in what amounted to the longest awkward silence of my life, someone pulled Werewolf: The Forsaken out of their bag. Why they brought it we never found out, but we can only assume it was the will of Mighty Poseidon himself, because what followed was some of the most excellent role-playing I have ever been a part of.

We pulled off the interstate and laid out our scheme under the umbrella of a backwater Dairy Queen. We had no dice, no character sheets, or the base book that contained most of the rules. But what we did have was a single sheet of notebook paper, a graphing calculator, and the insurmountable will to play that can only be found in a generation of spoiled children accustomed to getting everything we want, exactly when we want it.

As an aside, I've used the graphing calculator trick more times than I can count. Most high-end calculators have a random-number generator, the parameters of which can be set. Put in the range (1-10 in the case of the storyteller system) and the number of ìdiceî you're rolling, and you're good to go.

We outlined a pretty bare-bones story: two brothers who had become estranged, one a politician and one a wannabe eco-terrorist. A young girl who had run away from home. All about to go through their first change. It wasn't a lot to go on, but it was enough.

For eight hours there and eight hours back we told a story. I wish I could remember some of the words the players used, some of the Broadway-calibre acting and dialogue they cooked up. The shifting tension between the two brothers, the simultaneous feelings of nurturing and resentment they felt for the young girl, and the politician's deep moral concerns about using his positions in both worlds for personal gain were all nothing short of amazing.

We played for close to sixteen hours, and it was brilliant. The trip itself was good, but not exceptional: there was the one band I loved, my friend finally got his utilikilt, and there was an ill-advised hookup in the tepee (it wasn't me). But what I remember about it were those hours on the road, talking and laughing and telling one of the most interesting, engaging stories I've ever heard. It wasn't a classic tabletop game; there were no swords, no elves. Hell, we didn't even have a table. I haven't played with those same three people since. But it was roleplay-gaming in a very real, visceral way, and it's these kinds of spur-of-the-moment, one-shot masterpieces that are keeping gaming alive for us busy college kids.

So now it's your turn. What kind of experiences have you had with impromptu games?