Every session hits a lull. It’s inevitable. Sometimes, this can be a positive; especially after a long period of intensity, a break can do everyone some good. However, other times players, for whatever reason, don’t take the initiative or aren’t sure what to do. GMs can be master improvisers or have a story-beat ready to transition into. But there are times when nothing prepared seems to fit. This is where bangs in TTRPGs come into their own. They’re a ready-to-go tool to jump-start (or blast…) a stalled session back into life.
Lulls Are Sometimes Needed
I just want to stress that not all lulls are bad. Time to plan, play out some character development, or reflect on what’s just happened are moments for slow down. There is such a thing as too much intensity.
Over-long periods of high action, emotional stakes, or other tension will hurt a group’s experience. I’ve written before how, early on as GM, I made the mistake of thinking the action needed to be non-stop; I thought the best GMs kept the story rolling relentlessly and any down-time was me doing a poor job. Thankfully, I’ve learned. So, slowing down is sometimes the smartest thing to do.
Bangs in TTRPGs Are For When Time Starts to Drag
This is not about those moments. This is when players are freezing and nothing particularly interesting is happening. There are a variety of triggers for this; information overload, analysis paralysis, confused priorities, and social hesitation are just some of the major causes.
Some players are shy of speaking up and taking charge of a situation. This can come from not wanting to trample over other people’s input, or a simple lack of confidence.
Similarly, some GMs find it hard to end a scene because the players keep engaging in character. This can be valid, especially when a conversation is happening between PCs. However, particularly when there’s an important NPC involved, a hidden trap is lying in wait.
Players often assume GMs will end a scene after any useful information is out in the wild. If the NPC doesn’t leave, or the GM keeps the NPC responding, players may assume there’s more information to come. They keep engaging, fishing for a reveal that doesn’t exist. Both sides wait for the other to end the scene, so the conversation staggers on, and on, and on.
Don’t wait. Once all useful reveals are out in the open, end the scene.
Or, alternatively, change the scene with a hard transition. This is a bang.
A quick clarification here before I go on. Some groups will see roleplaying without character development or revealing important information as wastes of time. Other groups will see this as valuable immersion time. The main trigger for a bang is when play is losing the fun for everyone. What groups actually find fun is entirely subjective; as such, the best time to use a bang will vary from table to table.
What Are Bangs in TTRPGs?
The source of the term comes from Ron Edwards and his RPG Sorcerer. I am borrowing it because it’s so memorable, but he definitely wasn’t the first to use this tool. That said, I think it’s worth including his definition, paraphrased, to show how the idea has evolved beyond him.
In Edwards’ mind, a bang was a situation that demanded a meaningful decision from the players without a predetermined answer.
For instance, the players can’t decide what to do next, so the GM introduces a bang; in this case, a NPC enters the scene begging for help because their family are in the hands of hungry trolls. What the players choose to do with this development, including ignore it, is up to them.
These days, the definition seems to have evolved. More recently, a bang is a readily deployed device that gets a game going again. In many respects, this is going back to its roots. Edwards was very much putting a catchy term onto an old device.
Returning to the Source
In 1944, the author Raymond Chandler said, “When in doubt, have a man come through the door with a gun.” He was writing an essay called “The Simple Art of Murder”. In it, he was talking about how he solved writer’s block and slow plots. It was such good advice, he republished it in 1950 in his book by the same name.
It’s advice I’ve seen pop up numerous times in writing circles; however, it’s easy to see why it’s so useful for GMs, too. So much so, Matt Colville recommended it through a D&D filter: when in doubt, orcs attack!
Actually, the first time I’d heard about bangs in TTRPG was while listening to the Pretending to Be People podcast. Their main GM, Zach Reeves, was describing how he’d evolved his craft as gamemaster during their Delta Green campaigns. They are now something I have ready for every adventure I run.
Key ingredients for bangs are the ability to introduce them at any moment, and forcing an immediate player decision.
What Bangs in TTRPGs Are Not
This means bangs are not cut-scenes. The PCs are active and engaged; whatever was happening before goes on pause or doesn’t matter any more; they must make a decision about this development now.
It also means bangs are not a railroading technique. The players can always choose to ignore the development. This decision carries consequences, but it’s not about penalising players for not engaging with it. Whatever the choice, there are complications, not punishments.
Some examples of bangs would include an explosion heard across town, the arrival of a celebrity, or crowds suddenly stampeding. In the case of the explosion, PCs might choose to investigate, run away, or ignore it. Investigating could trigger a mystery or shoot-out depending on who was behind the blast; running away might lead to a chase, a manhunt, or accusations of cowardice; doing nothing could lead to a gang war spreading, or the PCs finding out it’s a decoy for another attack.
Bangs Don’t Give Answers
They ask questions. What do the players do when a NPC staggers into the room bleeding all over? Will they continue with their mission even as a wild fire suddenly starts spreading fast? Bangs are developments that require an immediate answer, but there’s never one, singular correct response.
They have consequences no matter the choice players make. This is important to maintain maximum impact and ensures players treat future bangs appropriately.
The objective is to force a sudden, interesting choice. However, what makes that choice interesting will depend on the group. For some, a random encounter with orcs isn’t a real choice if the situation is automatically fight or die. For these groups, the choice should have meaningful narrative consequence. False choices with one correct option is poor railroading, not using a bang.
For others, Matt Colville included, the fight or die orc encounters are perfectly valid bangs in TTRPGs. For them, shocking players into taking familiar actions (tactical decisions, stomping orcs), injects enough momentum to carry over; when the encounter finishes, the players take that energy and go through whatever had been stalling their progress.
I’d bet most groups will know which side they would normally fall into; however, it’s one of those situations where so long as everyone is having fun, either way can work.
Have Bangs to Spare
Bangs are really easy to prepare because the GM doesn’t have to work out the long-term consequences. Everything draws from the players’ decision, so this is very much play to find out. This is a good thing because it’s useful to have three to five in reserve for each session. That gives the GM options and means they never feel they have to use one specific bang during any particular session.
Bangs are gear changers, not key plot hooks. Consequently, there’s no problem if players don’t engage with all of them—or any of them. If sessions go so smoothly there wasn’t a need for a bang, they were probably great sessions as is. Any unused bangs are ready for future sessions or campaigns.
Building Bangs in TTRPGs
Consider having one bang per character, and then one or two for the group. That gives options for any combination of problems hitting the table. Personal bangs can draw from PCs’ families, oaths, rivals, debts, ambitions, and fears. Situational or party bangs will often come from politics, religious action, natural disasters, war, and festivals or similar local events.
In my last article, I talked about how genre can be a great guide for everyone at the table. This applies to bangs as well. For instance, a horror bang might risk isolation or survival with a cost. Heroic fantasy could present the players with calls to duty, innocent people in danger, or ancient obligations. A game with heavy political intrigue might risk public embarrassment, alliances making and breaking, as well as information arriving at the worst time.
When making a bang, a few quick questions to ask are:
– What happens if nobody does anything about it?
– What has been happening in the background to trigger it?
– Who would benefit from it not happening or getting delayed?
Great bangs are about pushing the players to make choices. They’re not free-floating descriptive events; they immediately force the question: “What do you do?”
A quick note that bangs almost always involve a threat. This could be to the party, but equally it could be to NPCs, important items, or locations. Despite this, they’re not about forcing combat. Violence, or at least the threat of violence, is obvious bang material, but it’s not the only one to try.
Silence Isn’t (Always) Scary
Bangs are an ideal tool for when the fun is falling out of the game. In moments of analysis paralysis or priority confusion etc., they can work well.
However, before GMs use a bang, it’s worth having a quick check if the moment really needs one. There will be cases when players want a moment to think carefully. Some enjoy a bit of uncertainty. Even during NPC talks that have gone on too long, are there any secrets or clues that could come out?
I think there’s a fear among some GMs of silence at the table. Understanding there are different types (productive, processing silence versus confusion or lack of engagement, for example) is important to learn; however, it comes from experience and knowing the players at the table. Both of these only come with time.
Bangs For a Restart
Bangs in TTRPGs are not a particularly new idea, but this is a case of good tips last. Having a few on hand for any session is a relatively low-cost counter to genuinely less fun moments. They’re easy to prepare and introduce, and equally easy to drop if they don’t make it into play. Next time a game is stalling and the fun is going out of the game, toss in a bang.
