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Minimizing Prep Time - Forked from "DMing: from fun to work "
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<blockquote data-quote="weem" data-source="post: 5164597" data-attributes="member: 9470"><p>This does not describe me, but I will share my process regardless...</p><p></p><p>The last game I ran involved about 15 minutes of prep time (I simply didn't have time). I decided it would be a much more improv-focused game (something I think I excel at anyway).</p><p></p><p>It went very well. The prep time simply involved skimming the Monster Builder for appropriate monster possibilities (the flying type) and printing a few real quick (some with quick/minor modifications). I wasn't even sure I would use them (I didn't), but it was a "just in-case" kind of thing.</p><p></p><p>Generally I spend about as much time prepping for a game as it takes to play (4-5 hours) - and I do it the night before. If I try and plan before that, it all changes in my mind right up until the night before anyway. Sometimes, my planning from the night before is scrapped even. I may decide to open up some new possibility that the players then actually do latch on to etc.</p><p></p><p>My process (for the most part) involves planning the initial action or "push" of the session - what I need to do to push it, and get it rolling... after that, it will take its course naturally till we run out of time for the night. I will have thought about some of the more obvious possible outcomes of direction(s) they may take, so I am prepared creatively to respond quickly, but the details are not necessary and not much of those will not be written out in any form. Many of the notes I take down before a game are about which NPC is thinking what and why, their motivations etc - I just tend to remember these things better after I have written them down.</p><p></p><p>Sometimes my night of planning has more structure - usually when the plans of the PC's are more obvious (for example, if at the end of the last game they are sure of what their next plans are etc) in which case I can get pretty detailed with them, or plan very special encounters - such as trying to <a href="http://www.enworld.org/forum/4e-fan-creations-house-rules/272479-out-control-airship-combat-challenge.html" target="_blank">maneuver an out of control airship</a> through a city, or fighting along the rim of a crater in my <a href="http://www.enworld.org/forum/general-rpg-discussion/271865-alternatives-dungeon-tiles.html#post5085995" target="_blank">ghetto 3d environments</a> made of cardboard, haha.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="weem, post: 5164597, member: 9470"] This does not describe me, but I will share my process regardless... The last game I ran involved about 15 minutes of prep time (I simply didn't have time). I decided it would be a much more improv-focused game (something I think I excel at anyway). It went very well. The prep time simply involved skimming the Monster Builder for appropriate monster possibilities (the flying type) and printing a few real quick (some with quick/minor modifications). I wasn't even sure I would use them (I didn't), but it was a "just in-case" kind of thing. Generally I spend about as much time prepping for a game as it takes to play (4-5 hours) - and I do it the night before. If I try and plan before that, it all changes in my mind right up until the night before anyway. Sometimes, my planning from the night before is scrapped even. I may decide to open up some new possibility that the players then actually do latch on to etc. My process (for the most part) involves planning the initial action or "push" of the session - what I need to do to push it, and get it rolling... after that, it will take its course naturally till we run out of time for the night. I will have thought about some of the more obvious possible outcomes of direction(s) they may take, so I am prepared creatively to respond quickly, but the details are not necessary and not much of those will not be written out in any form. Many of the notes I take down before a game are about which NPC is thinking what and why, their motivations etc - I just tend to remember these things better after I have written them down. Sometimes my night of planning has more structure - usually when the plans of the PC's are more obvious (for example, if at the end of the last game they are sure of what their next plans are etc) in which case I can get pretty detailed with them, or plan very special encounters - such as trying to [URL="http://www.enworld.org/forum/4e-fan-creations-house-rules/272479-out-control-airship-combat-challenge.html"]maneuver an out of control airship[/URL] through a city, or fighting along the rim of a crater in my [URL="http://www.enworld.org/forum/general-rpg-discussion/271865-alternatives-dungeon-tiles.html#post5085995"]ghetto 3d environments[/URL] made of cardboard, haha. [/QUOTE]
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