Roleplay ideas: 20 scenes that are easy to begin

A scene needs less than you think. Two roles, a place and a small tension are enough: one of you wants something, and the other decides whether you get it. Costumes are optional. A different name and one rule do more.

Choose roles that are clearly adult and clearly invented, so that both of you can relax into them.

Decide who plays whom and how it starts. The rest can be made up.

• Strangers at a hotel bar. Different names, separate arrivals, and one of you has to earn the invitation.
• The gentleman caller. He has been engaged for the evening, and the evening is yours to direct.
• The portrait. One paints, the other must hold still and be looked at.
• The tailor's fitting. Formal manners, slow measurements, a great deal of standing close.
• The first date, again. You meet as if for the first time and behave better, or worse.
• The bodyguard. He is paid to stay close and not allowed to be distracted.
• The dance lesson. One leads, one learns, and the music is slow.
• The night porter. You are the only guest awake, and he has the keys.
• Rivals at a conference. You have disliked each other for years, and the lift has stopped.
• The reader and the writer. You have come to tell him what you thought of his book.

In writing, a scene lives in description. Distance and waiting are an advantage.

• The wrong number. A message meant for someone else, and you decide to answer.
• The night train. Two strangers, one compartment, six hours to the border.
• The letter writers. You have never met, and you have agreed on Friday.
• The voice on the phone. He gives directions; you follow them through a house.
• The interview. Ten questions, and only true answers of one sentence.
• The neighbour across the courtyard. A lit window and a note under the door.
• The masked ball. Neither of you may say who you are until midnight.
• The chauffeur. A long drive, a glass partition, and a mirror.
• The restorer. You have brought him something old and precious to repair.
• The last guest. The restaurant is closing and the owner is in no hurry.

Start with a line in character, not with an announcement. "Is this seat taken?" does the work of a long explanation. If you laugh, laugh and carry on; a scene survives a giggle better than an apology.

Then follow the one rule of improvisation: accept and add. If he says the bar is closing, do not argue. Say you have a key to the roof.

Talk for five minutes first about what you would like and what is off the table. Agree on one word that ends the scene at once, because in roleplay "no" can belong to the character. "Red" is the usual choice.

An AI is a patient scene partner. Tell Laurent where the two of you are and who you are tonight, and he will play it from there. The free conversation stays suggestive.