[DMing] How to keep D&D 3.5 from taking over my life

[Johnnie Freedom!]

I have finally figured out a way to prevent D&D 3.5 from taking over my life: ration my time. As simple as it may seem, this idea had never really occurred to me until reading Dungeon Master’s Guide II, which contains a brief yet wonderful section on how to prepare within certain time frames. So if you have one hour to prepare, do this. Two hours, do this, and so on.

Reading this opened my eyes to the admittedly obvious fact that there is no sacred rule anywhere that declares that huge portions of my free time must be dedicated to absorbing as many rules and prepping as many monsters, NPCs, and adventures as humanly possible. The problem with D&D 3.5 is the same thing that makes it such a magnificent and enriching game: there is always something more for the DM to do. Always another stat block, always another encounter, always another rule, always another map, always another Dragon article or Dungeon adventure, etc. Interestingly, the same thing is true of my other passions: teaching (I’m a teacher), my religious faith (I won’t mention which religion, since it isn’t relevant and I don’t want to derail the thread—but it probably isn’t the religion you think it is), my relationship with my wife and four-year-old daughter, videogaming and reading writing. Not to suggest these things are all somehow existentially or morally equivalent (they are not, of course; videogaming is a silly pastime while my faith and family are my entire meaning and purpose for being on this planet), but they are all, to some extent or other, my passions, the things that consume my time, and the things to which I look forward each day. And all of them have one fundamental similarity: they can each take up as much or as little time as I have to give. With each one of them, there is always something more that could be done, and if I allowed myself to give in to a destructive spirit of perfectionism (as I sometimes do).

So I’ve decided designate certain days as “D&D” days. These are days in which I will allow myself to devote specific blocks of time to studying rules (I never get tired of that), reading and preparing adventures, statting out NPCs and pregen PCs, running sample combats, working on my spellbook (a cool idea I came up with—I’ll explain later), and just reading D&D books in general. So Tuesday, for instance, might be a “D&D day”. And on Tuesday I might set aside a two hour block, from 6-8 am, just for D&D. It means I won’t feel guilty during that time, thinking, “I could be doing something productive, like saving African orphans!” but it also means that I won’t be flipping through D&D books outside of that block of time (which, in my case, has led to burnout in the past).

Anyway, following the age-old law of diminished returns, I shall stop here and ask for feedback, input, advice, inspiration, anecdotes, or wisdom.

 

[DrNilesCrane]

Sounds like a good policy!



I found that I cause myself less stress when I'm in the mindset of I'm going to provide the best adventure I can within the time I have to prepare, rather than making "the best adventure ever!" (which for me, leads to ridiculous amounts of brainstorming and prep time). I occasionally think of things after the fact I could have done better, but I can live with that since it means I don't let game prep take over my free time.

 

[edemaitre]

Never enough time

As a married professional who has been running "Dungeons & Dragons" for about 25 years, and someone who has recently also run role-play by e-mail, played in multiplayer online games, and even added videoconferencing to my weekly schedule, I sympathize.

Part of the challenge is not only deciding how much time to devote creating and developing a campaign, but in deciding how much to give the players what they want (often, more powerful magical treasure, character options, and interesting foes) and how much creative world-building or preparation to make yourself happy as a Game Master. The players should be responsible for some record-keeping and letting the G.M. know their expectations. I usually have one or two who can help everyone with the rules.

A good role-playing group is a collaborative story, and an experienced G.M. can wing a lot of a given session, as long as he has proper control over pacing. What I thought might be a minor encounter or a merely supporting Non-Player Character might turn into a major plot thread if the P.C.s pick up on it. By the same token, I've developed entire cities, storylines, and worlds only to see parties go off in an entirely different (and not necessarily bad) direction. Setting aside a certain block of time is a good way to maintain balance with the rest of your life. If you game long enough, you'll get a chance to go back to those unfinished scenarios or characters eventually!

 

[I'm A Banana]

Reading this opened my eyes to the admittedly obvious fact that there is no sacred rule anywhere that declares that huge portions of my free time must be dedicated to absorbing as many rules and prepping as many monsters, NPCs, and adventures as humanly possible.

You have become Enlightened.

It's true, there's always something to do. And while it's probably unfair to call it "superfluous," it often is unnessecary. Diminishing returns certainly applies.

Organizing time is ALWAYS a good idea.

 

[Treebore]

I just switched to C&C and added my "must have" house rules. Now all I have to do is thiink about "my story" and then run it with nothing written down. Unless I am using a module, which I am often doing. Still, very easy.

 

[Emirikol]

I have two rules:
1. Always use DUNGEON magazine
2. Count on your THEME to carry you through..modifying names, places and plots on the fly if necessary.

Players don't do jack-sh so why should we work any harder than we need to?

jh

 

[Papewaio of The Org]

Pareto principle... a lot of prep is flotsam and jetsam... stuff that could be flushed away... and generally is by the players.

One thing I used to do in prep for games was print off a sheet with the name of the campaign and adventure. Then a bullet list of the characters names (with a pronouciation key) and the players names (sometimes also with a pronouciation key ). And somtimes a few key background points, names of major NPCs, adventure hooks, and minutes of the last adventure. This helped focus the players on the game and helped with the mood... last thing you need for the suspension of disbelief is 'Lets go ask whats ya ma call it to help us go to you know where."

I found in general it wasn't the prep that wasted a lot of time it was the chatter and banter in game that eats up a lot of time... I used to call DnD an exercise in eating junk food, drinking cola and occasionally being interrupted by the call to roll a dice.

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

If you wait until the last minute, it only takes a minute.

 

[Darkwolf445]

I just switched to C&C and added my "must have" house rules. Now all I have to do is thiink about "my story" and then run it with nothing written down. Unless I am using a module, which I am often doing. Still, very easy.

I was following your thread from the other site. Up until that point I was a little disappointed with the system. I must admit to being a convert now and yanked all those ideas so I will remember.

But, to the original poster--there is never enough time to do everything you want in a 3.x game. I drove myself nuts and eventually burned out after running weekly 6-7 hour games, working full time, and having a family life.

I am happy you found a nice medium.

 

[Treebore]

Cool. Yeah, I am not trying to say C&C is better than 3E, its just better for me, to do what I want, in the timeframes I have available to me. Besides, when I DM it is for my wife and kids. They like that their characters effectively have every feat available to them, just they have to roll to see if they can pull it off against their opponent.

It took them awhile, but they now "get" C&C and are talking about "thier games" that they are planning with the C&C rules set rather than 3E. All because it is simpler, quicker, versatile, etc... Not better. Unless you happen to want those elements rather than the high level of detail. Which is why I say C&C is better for me, because those elements are more important to me then the high level of detail.

Plus C&C still allows me to buy 3E books that I like, not just adventures either. I have bought a lot of the new books, such as PH2, Dragon Magic, 9 Swords etc... and every adventure module. Because now I can enjoy them for the ideas, rather than a whole mess of new rules I need to see if and how I can incorporate them.

Another thing I have come to realize that C&C will do for me. If 4E is still essentially a d20 based system, it will be just as useful for me as 3E. Except for the books that re invent the 3E stuff to work in the 4E stuff. I already have that in a "form" that I can already use.

Irregardless, the OP's steps are definitely good ones. This game is supposed to be fun, for everyone. If the DM is often feeling overwhelmed and unable to "do their best" they are losing out on a lot of their fun. All due to stress, so any steps you can take to increase the fun and decrease the stress levels are great steps to take.

In fact, I am going to break out my copy of the PH2 and read through that section again, just to see if it can help me with my C&C game.