Reddit mentions of Impro: Improvisation and the Theatre

A few that come to mind:

• Impro: Improvisation and the Theatre, by Keith Johnstone. Discusses many things in the context of improvisational theatre, such as human interaction, creativity/spontaneity, stories, perception, and teaching.
  
• The Moral Animal: Why We Are the Way We Are, by Robert Wright. Evolutionary psychology. Puts some concreteness, even obviousness, to many irrational human behaviors.
  
• The Mind's I: Fantasies and Reflections on Self and Soul, edited by Hofstadter and Dennett. A selection of texts on consciousness, and reflections by the editors. Some is fictional, some non-fictional.
  
• The Tao is Silent, by Raymond Smullyan. Eastern philosophy in an Eastern way by someone who thoroughly understands the Western perspective on things.
  
• Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry into Values, by Robert M. Pirsig. No one has mentioned this book so far, so I feel like I should; although it did not affect me directly in the way some of the other books here did, it certainly planted some ideas for "independent rediscovery" later on. Some things I've only thought of some time after reading it and then made the connection. This is Taoism from a Western perspective. I'll read it again in a few years and see how it's different.
  
• The Art of Learning: A Journey in the Pursuit of Excellence, by Josh Waitzkin. A book about learning that says some important things quite well. I read this only a few days ago, but it's influenced my perspective on learning/teaching (and doing in general), so I thought I should add it to the list.

Interrupting someone lowers their status. Allowing someone to break a social taboo without comment raises their status. Really, if you want to know more, you've gotta obtain this book (and/or go to a local improv class, most of which take that book as their basis).

Impro: Improvisation and the Theatre by Keith Johnstone

Impro for Storytellers by Keith Johnstone

Having specific characters that represent your different audiences allow you to embody/emulate those characters as "masks" (an idea from theater, outlined brilliantly in Keith Johnstone's Impro).

The human brain is extremely good at simulating other people, predicting their needs and desires: if someone says "I heard dead my mothers voice telling me not to do it" do you assume their dead mother is literally communicating telepathically, or do you accept that they just know what their mother would say? Writers also work this way all the time with "characters that write themselves"—these fictional entities have personalities, needs, and wants, and help the writer see things from a perspective that is unlike their own.

While heavily researched personas are more accurate, DIY "fanfiction" personas really do get you 80% of the way there—these are just tools that allow designers to roleplay as or "find empathy for" different types of users. They're not supposed to cover every possible thing or to replace the need for validation, they just get you in the right headspace.

Have you ever seen Whose Line Is It Anyway? If you haven't, the idea is that a bunch of actors get on stage, take suggestions from the audience, and create wildly creative set pieces on the fly. Improv seems like an unachievable creative feat--but it's not.

In his book Impro, Keith Johnstone demystifies improv and narrative play. At one point, he has a lady who insists she's not creative participate in a narrative game. She asks plot questions about an unwritten story, and he answers yes or no depending on the way she phrases her questions. In the end, this "uncreative" creates a story about giant killer ants seemingly from nothing!

The key to creativity is being open to stupid ideas. People have ideas all the time. Deciding to put hot sauce on your pizza is an idea. Deciding to cut through Park Lane while on your morning commute is an idea. Deciding to dance the funky chicken after reading this comment is an idea.

What makes an idea creative? That's a toughie. A lot of times, you'll feel it in your gut or sense it in the approval from your audience. But you normally don't reach that creative peak until you get through some duds. :)

Creativity is easy. Creativity is hard. Anyone can come up with ideas. It's the editing--and the follow-through--that makes the difference.

Impro by Keith Johnstone

How do I improv?

You read Impro (http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0878301178). The status chapter alone is comedy and dramatic gold. It will also teach you the gestural and postural elements of character, which are easier than funnier accents to do consistently, they also tend to force your mind into the correct behavior for the posture

How do I react better to surprise?

You write down a list of beliefs and instincts (2-3 of each). The beliefs are facts about the world you are extremely likely to confront in the worlds, and what your character will do about them. Instincts are if then statements that add instant reaction. Use this to know exactly what you'll do in a situation, and also use it to get you guys into trouble sometimes

How do I become more active at the table?

Add one or two things to a list you will just not abide. Similar to or equal to your instincts recorded earlier, just act, and accept no discussion when those things occur

If you can't draw, who drew that awesome map?

Moving on:

Things I have tried:

• Reverse my approach - If I began top down, maybe with the cosmology, I'll switch to a single town.
  
• Focus on a side character - Maybe the main character was going no where, now enter a foil, or a guide, or even just a companion.
  
• Exercises from Impro: Improvisation and the Theatre
  
• Make a mind map - I use FreeMind.
  Currently my map consists of:
  Physical Environment
  Cosmology
  Races
  Society
  
  Things I'd like to try:
  
  
• Review the tropes associated with the area in question - Start with the most common and/or fundamental/far-reaching ones and maybe dive into the less well known/more specific ones; then subvert them.
  
• The Creative Whack Pack
  
• A game of Dawn of Worlds, Microscope, or Kingdom depending on the area I was stuck on

My suggestion: I think you guys may all need to chill out a bit. A game of Fiasco would be a great break for a game instead of hopping right back into this system/scenario. It might also teach you how to meta game WITH each other as players for entertainment even when your characters are at odds.

I'm guessing you may get a little too attached to your ideas of how things will go, and don't roll with the punches an optimal amount (and I'm guessing your DM could use a trip through Play Unsafe)

Impro is a good book for you to learn to accentuate people's changes like this.

http://www.amazon.com/Impro-Improvisation-Theatre-Keith-Johnstone/dp/0878301178

I personally love board games. Our local redditors get together every Wednesday for gaming. Usually my boss creates fucking crises that prevents me from going out most weeks. A good boardgame is one where you can lose and still have fun losing. Chess is not "a good boardgame". Magic the Gathering is a fun card game, but stuff like blackjack or poker makes me think so hard that my head overheats and burns off hair.

/r/Denver/ and in particular, posts by /u/rDenverPosts.

As for improv, I find that it helps to train me to be a more outgoing person. In particular, I strongly recommend the book Impro. While the book is aimed at helping actors, and improvisational work, if you've ever come across any sort of silly interview question such as "fizz buzz", if you read Impro, you'd recognize fizzbuzz as a improv exercise.

I am a programmer, and that has been my income for more than 20 years. Introverted? You can change that. I ran for elected office a few years ago and will run again in 2016. All programmers are weird. If you check my post history, you'll see odd interests, and if I checked your post history, I bet I would think some of your interests to be odd as well.

Avoid becoming sedentary. If surfing and Tae Kwan Do is what it takes to make you active, then for fucks sake, do them. I live 2 miles from my office and walk to work as much as I can. That little bit of exercise was enough to lose 35# since September. I'm still fat, but the blubber is on its way out.

Avoid becoming stagnant. I'm working on my 3rd bachelors degree. This one is in accounting and includes courses for becoming an actuary. Our workgroup/office makes software for accountants and actuaries. In addition, many of the programmers older than myself have found that they hit a brick wall (career-wise) around 54-55 years old. Many of the ones who hit the wall treated education as a vaccine - once you had it, you never had to have it again. So one of my "hobbies" is to always be learning. Do you remember that scene in Glengarry Glen Ross? Always be closing? That is what your career plan should be - always be learning.

My next hobbies will be:
home brewing beer.
home distilling moonshine/liquor.
making kimchi.

Future hobbies might include:
learning some manicure/pedicure skills at the local beauty school.
relearning massage.

Read Impro: improvisation and the theater.

https://www.amazon.com/Impro-Improvisation-Theatre-Keith-Johnstone/dp/0878301178

It will really jumpstart your creativity.

I'm going to interpret your question a little bit differently and provide some books that are not directly RPG related but will help you to be a better role-player or Game Master. Then, I will finish off with some more RPG specific suggestions.

The essential reads are the following:

• All of HP Lovecraft
  
• Anything you can read from Tolkien
  
• Robert E. Howards stories about Conan the Cimmerian
  
• Fantasy/Sci-Fi Art Collections (subjective based upon the styles that inspire you and that reflect your campaigns)
  
• Collections of Legend or Mythology
  
• A book or two about acting and/or improvisation, I recommend Impro: Improvisation and the Theater
  
  For GM-specific materials, I really love the spirit conveyed by Dungeon World and Fate Core (and the Fate System Toolkit for that matter). If you learn nothing else from Dungeon World, learn the GM principles and how to set up Fronts. Fronts (or something similar) are the way you should be preparing as a GM that very few other books convey. The Alexandrian has a lot of amazing materials. I know that Play Unsafe was recommended here, but it was a little short and basic for my taste... much of the same principles will be covered by reading the other recommended texts in my post. If you absolutely must learn about improvisation as a skill in and of itself, read Impro. The author of Play Unsafe drew heavily from this text and most of the truly unique ideas can be found within Impro.

not yet. but there's something that's been on my reading list for a while now. reviews are good, and a friend that i trust with this sort of thing told me about it.

Impro: Improvisation and the Theatre

i skimmed a bit, and there's a section (abut 1/4) of the book on status play, which seems like it's full of good/interesting stuff. some of it probably relevant for seduction, or just social interaction in general.

also, "yes, and..." seems like a good mindset to be in. especially in a group setting when you're trying to be fun.

Ya, I'll echo the "You are 18, calm down" responses, as much as your one response post says you don't like it.

Second, I see you had 5 goals laid out 1) Better social skils, 2) Lucid Dreaming 3) Meditation 4) Positive Thinking 5) Reality Trans-surfing (I googled the book but don't really know what this is, but it seems to have various buzz words I know in theory).

For the 1) "Social Learning" you need to:

• A) Get out in some sort of social setting that is uncomfortable and just... do stuff, meet people, and talk to them. Some people are naturally better at this, but you will not improve by reading books WITHOUT experience and
  
  
• B) accept you might just have something that makes you inherently socially awkward, at least to most people (in my case, I'm bipolar and so have intense moods that sometimes drive people away... keep at it and eventually you'll find people who fit with you and/or how to work around whatever issues you MAY have).
  
  So I'm going to group 2-5 and since it seems like (sorta, I'm not sure?) you have some quasi Buddhist interest refer you to this lecture by Wes Cecil on Siddartha: Buddhism, at around 15:15 and 16:00 where he discusses the centrality of the 4 noble truths and the 8 fold path... especially common misconceptions about it ( The whole lecture is good too ) Basically, don't worry so much about all these esoteric things and focus on the 8 fold path... not tantra and dreams and such...
  
  ... also, keep in mind Siddhartha, and most monks, practice extreme acetic practices and meditation for like 7 years and lived as a wandering nomad, after being trained as a Priest. So like, you need to read a bunch of Philosophy and then meditate for a few years before you give up.
  
  Which brings me to my second point:
  
  You ARE right
  
  School and most pop culture on TV and (I suppose, I grew up before it) Social Media are worthless for your development as a human-being. School is at best a sort of bare basic hurdle you need to get thru. Find something tangible that you have passion about. IF it is really philosophy and lucid dreaming and "Reality Trans-surfing" that's fine, but those seem like more solitary, dare I say borderline occult interests.
  
  And if you want to get in contact with other people, find something that has a community around it. If it is Buddhism you need a Sangha... The community is one of the three jewels.
  
  HOWEVER I'D REALLY SUGGEST MORE PEDESTRIAN HOBBIES! (Trust me, I was a Philosophy Major in College, most people don't REALLY care about the deep questions).
  
  Especially if you want to improve your social skills, get some hobbies that other people can relate to and force you to meet people. The art of talking to people is not hard.
  
  

1. Read Dale Carnegie's - How to Win Friends and Influence People
   
   
2. Try Something like an Improv Class - it is an instant way to meet some new people and learn basic ways to keep conversations going and get outside your comfort zone. You will also get feedback on how you present yourself and techniques for improvement. If you are into reading I HIGHLY suggest the book "Impro" by Keith Johnston. It has some amazing discussion about the nature of status and the "subtle clues" in scenes that you will find helpful in everyday life.
   
   
3. Figure out some club or group you can meet once a week and go DO something. For speaking, Toastmasters is great--AND YOU WILL GET FEEDBACK. For just getting outside, find a Hiking group... maybe there is some sort of Lucid Dream Meetup group near you... whatever. That way you know at least there is a common interest you can start from and branch out.
   
   Get used to not caring about being "rejected" by people, or being "awkward" when trying to talk to them. That's how you learn. The more you do it the better you will get, and there will always be new people to talk to. Eventually you are bound to find friends.
   
   Hope that helps.

Keith Johnstone's Impro is the classic work on improv. The section on status is great for any kind of dialogue, and the exercises he mentions are excellent for developing spontaneity and creativity.

Highjacking this comment to recommend Impro by Keith Johnstone as a fantastic resource for using the techniques of improv to improve the quality of a variety of social situations.