A guy who trains in the same martial arts school as me does this all the time when it comes to sparring. It works most of the time. He is no different when performing a more complicated techinique (throws or joint locks). And he ends up pulling it off.

If you're NOT constantly improvising and reacting during sparring, something's gone wrong. You can't plan it out like a chess game (at least for more than a few seconds).

Everyone in my family is very guilty of this. To the point where we each have our own stock phrase when asked about any plan we might have, from directions to explaining a late arrival to finding a lost item.

Mine: "I'm resourceful. I'll think of something."

My oldest brother: "I was hoping you knew," or "That's what improv is for."

Next oldest brother: "I'll tell you when I figure it out."

Little Brother: "I don't know."

Dad: "I'll tell you when it's over."

Mom: Actually, my mom doesn't have one. Her job is to ask what the plan is.

This is how this troper plays ANY video game. "Tactics and defensible positions. Screw that! Get me a catapult, and aim deep!"

Whenever I go camping, I usually forget something, EG: "What are you going to do without a jacket?" "I'll think of something." cue shivering my brain out; or "You forgot your stove" "I know." *grin* cue campfire cooked hamburgers; or "You forgot your flashlight. Again." "Yep." cue my watch battery being killed practically overnight as a flashlight.

How this troper usually goes about all of his trips somewhere. He very rarely makes any plans, because he knows that he'll miss some good shit if he's too rigid. As such, his travels outside his home town usually amount to "Hey, that looks interesting. Let's go!"

This troper has 2 super powers: 1. Sarcasmfrom my dad, and 2. ''improv'' from growing up around a drama teacher. For example, the following conversation usually occurs between me and basically everybody. #QUOTE# Person: What are you eating for dinner? #QUOTE# Me: Food. I assume. #QUOTE# Person: I mean it. #QUOTE# Me: I have no clue. Making up life as I go along.

This troper is the kind of person that is able to combine IndyPloy with a XanatosGambit. I once made a personality poll that asked my friends which Tagline would best fit me, and the ''overwhelming victor'' was "Everything worked out just the way I planned... and I didn't plan a damned thing."

This Troper's most used line is "I'll just wing it".

A conversation with one of my VitriolicBestBuds: #QUOTE# Me: Keep in mind, my plans do not, as a general rule, go wrong. #QUOTE# Friend: Wait... when have you ever ''had'' a plan? #QUOTE# Me: after a pause ...that's bit of a technicality, that is.

Me, A LOT. A little quote to my brother: #QUOTE# Me: Relax, I almost always usually most of the time think of something.

My friend, playing chess. He almost won, too, scarily enough.

This troper ran a Shadowrun character once whose CatchPhrase became "Plans are for sissies".

In my life, I have played ONE online team game where an attack was coordinated. We lost.

Every time I go camping, my mom always asks, after we leave the house, whether I have everything. When I forgot something, my response is "I'll live." Cue 1+ of the following: Freezing, Soaked, Hungry, Tired, Bored, Smelly, Covered in ash, Covered in Tree Sap, Covered in Tree branches. Oddly, I'm not dead yet.

This troper pretty much lives this trope. No plans, but manages to always get everything to work out fine.

Same here. This annoys the rest of my family, who like having plans, whereas I just wait and see what happens and, if I do make plans, the decision is usually made in the half hour before it becomes completely impossible to do it.

Had to do this WAY more than a few times in the US Navy, both when doing my job, and trying not to get my ass kicked by my own countrymen with whom I did not see eye to eye. After a certain point my friends took to calling me captain Jack.

I like to write stories, as a hobby. Sometimes I come up with an elaborate plot that's all planned out to the smallest detail, but I end up ruining my own plot when I come up with a brilliant idea half-way through the story and just run with it, turning the rest of the story into an IndyPloy that typically ends up being better than my plan to begin with. It's no surprise that I often do this in real life as well. My CatchPhrase has become "I had a plan, but then I had an idea."

This is my way of life. Once, in a game of CTF that my friends and I were having, we couldn't think of a strategy. Finally, I shrugged, sighed, and announced, "Screw it! I'm winging it!" I leaped up from our fort-rock and charged at the enemy's base, followed by my amazing posse. I actually hive minded my friends into making their own Indy Ploys. We took their last flag and won the game.

This Troper once came in late to a gaming session to find a game that they had never played before and missed the rules. After watching the other players for a round, they immediately started a coup, managed to convince two of the other most powerful players to join them by looking at the board and seeing what sounded good, then turned against those players after the coup was over, giving lots of power back to the previous president, then resigning and handing over power to a neutral player,all the time assassinating people left right and centre for the hell of it. I nearly won, but was assassinated on my last turn.

This troper does it a lot, mainly in Minecraft. The example that most sticks out was several days ago, when me and my friend were mining and came across a dungeon filled to the brim with skeletons. #QUOTE# Me: "Here, I'll kill the skeletons. You destroy the spawner." #QUOTE# Friend: "Okay, take my sword." #QUOTE# Me: "Where I'm going, I don't need swords."

Cue sand-and-gravel dropping, use of flint and steel, flooding with lava, and tricking the skeletons into shooting each other. It was indeed a CrowningMomentOfAwesome for me. My friend, after destroying the spawner and viewing it all, could mutter nothing but "WHAT."

This troper has a stock phrase when asked about this: I have an ass.

Improvisation is how I've gone many times, especially in presentations. I ought to practice {{Xanatos Gambit}}s, too, because (here you all gasp) improv method doesn't always work out.