Just Wing It

So ive been trying to prepare for a freeform campaign and im finding the preperation very taxing. Ive been wondering of its possible to vo in with minimal prep and just wing the rest?
Has anyone here done so or experienced it before? And what was the outcome?

My kingdom for mpre hours in a day!

It's always worked out great for me, but it's one of those things that really varies from DM to DM.

For your first try winging it, I'd suggest focusing on a small area. Sketch out the area (maybe a page or so), figure out the hook for the first session, then outline some encounter areas that you can drop in as appropriate.

You've probably already done all of that. But if you haven't, I'd do at least that much. Winging with a little prep work is way easier than just totally making it up as you go along.

The real trick for doing it with a campaign, though, is keeping notes as you fill in the setting in-game. I love writing everything up in a wiki, but notecards or whatever are fine. The biggest problem you'll run into with winging it is contradicting yourself later.

Cheers!
Kinak

Personally I don't like it. I usually make my own adventures or heavily modify modules to fit my needs (or into the campaign setting) but I like to have an idea of what/where I want the adventure to go. I do keep anywhere from 3-5 mini adventures on hand in case the party wanders away from the story line. Anything from a simple encounter with an exotic items merchant to sell unique items - or maybe try to 'collect' more unique items from the party with his group of guard thugs, to a small cave complete with 3-4 encounters ending with a young black dragon. Adjust things by level accordingly.
Anyway, having a good idea of where the party is going and what else is around them (towns, terrain features, etc) is always a good idea. Playing in a specific campaign setting makes that easy as maps are typically available. Freeform takes a lot more planning, but its worth it to put in the effort. You have to be able to 'wing' some things as you go because the party will never do what you expect them to, but still having a general plot layout helps, at least in my opinion/experience.
I've only had one DM who was able to keep everything in his head well enough to play things out on a whim that didn't feel choppy or disorganized or completely random. But even still he knew his world he created like he lived there himself.

Take a look at Mythic Game Master Emulator. It is a great resource for teaching DMs how to run improvisational campaigns. I have used it a number of times to run campaigns of my own - it works really well!

Kinak said:

The real trick for doing it with a campaign, though, is keeping notes as you fill in the setting in-game. I love writing everything up in a wiki, but notecards or whatever are fine. The biggest problem you'll run into with winging it is contradicting yourself later.

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This is key. The better your notes are the easier it is to run this type of campaign.

Also, it is a good idea to have a few random tables prepared. AEG's Ultimate Toolbox works quite well. I find random tables to be a good way to jog my creativity when I am running an improvisational campaign.

In the very first game I ever ran, I introduced the players to what was supposed to be a minor lieutenant of the big bad. I set up a plot hook, had a dungeon prepared and waited for them to be heroic and chase after her. Instead I got something like this:

Me: So, what do you do?
Party: Screw that! She's way too scary. Lets go hunt pirates instead!
Me: *Stares at notes, tosses them aside and grabs MM* Okay, you go hunt pirates.

That one session taught me the danger of over preparing and needing to think on my feet. The key to winging it (for me at least) is to really be able to think on your feet and just run with whatever your party decides on doing. What I wound up doing is a little prep to get a feel for monsters, treasure and whatever else I wanted to give the players and then let them drive where they went, working in what I had for them.

Remember, there's nothing wrong with train tracks so long as you can jump off the rails.

Wow, thanks everyone! All very good advice. I've decided to not overcomplicate thingss by preparing a grand adventure to the T. Instead Im going to make an outline that requires very little prep.
Thanks again!
Man i love ENWorld