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Minimizing Prep Time - Forked from "DMing: from fun to work "
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<blockquote data-quote="Nagol" data-source="post: 5164935" data-attributes="member: 23935"><p>How do I minimise prep time? What an interesting question.</p><p></p><p>The answer would depend on what we do differently. Unfortunately, I don't know what you spend your prep time doing.</p><p></p><p>I run my own adventures in my own world. For a mid-level 3.5 campaign (levels 11-14 currently), my typical prep time is about 3 hours for a 5 hour session. About half of that is stat blocks (typically 4-6 encounters that I think are very likely to occur -- about half get used). I've built a bunch of tools to help -- treasure generators, encounter helpers, creature finders are the most commonly used. </p><p></p><p>But that's only half the story, I think. The other half is <em>I reduce choice</em>. My campaigns typically are restrictive in allowable character options and by the same token restrictive in DMing options. Fewer choices means faster design. The current campaign is core rulebooks only, for example.</p><p></p><p>I spend a lot of time before the campaign begins thinking about the themes I'm going to include in the world, interesting locales, fleshing out the macro-political climate, and fleshing out the starting location. By a lot, I mean probably up to a man-month in prep work. I run a sandbox style campaign so other than the initial situation, I don't spend too much time worrying about narrative control or expected developments.</p><p></p><p>Before the campaign starts, I bulid a future timeline. At the end of each session I review the consequences of player actions and adjust the timeline as necessary. Any new loose ends get listed with all the other campaign loose ends.</p><p></p><p>Before each session I review my future timeline, and look through the loose end list to determine if an interesting scenario presents itself. If it does, I flesh out some potential plot hooks, and adjust the future timeline to account for the addition to the world.</p><p></p><p>I pick a few of the scenarios I feel are most likely to be followed up by the players and stat them out if they haven't been set yet.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Nagol, post: 5164935, member: 23935"] How do I minimise prep time? What an interesting question. The answer would depend on what we do differently. Unfortunately, I don't know what you spend your prep time doing. I run my own adventures in my own world. For a mid-level 3.5 campaign (levels 11-14 currently), my typical prep time is about 3 hours for a 5 hour session. About half of that is stat blocks (typically 4-6 encounters that I think are very likely to occur -- about half get used). I've built a bunch of tools to help -- treasure generators, encounter helpers, creature finders are the most commonly used. But that's only half the story, I think. The other half is [I]I reduce choice[/I]. My campaigns typically are restrictive in allowable character options and by the same token restrictive in DMing options. Fewer choices means faster design. The current campaign is core rulebooks only, for example. I spend a lot of time before the campaign begins thinking about the themes I'm going to include in the world, interesting locales, fleshing out the macro-political climate, and fleshing out the starting location. By a lot, I mean probably up to a man-month in prep work. I run a sandbox style campaign so other than the initial situation, I don't spend too much time worrying about narrative control or expected developments. Before the campaign starts, I bulid a future timeline. At the end of each session I review the consequences of player actions and adjust the timeline as necessary. Any new loose ends get listed with all the other campaign loose ends. Before each session I review my future timeline, and look through the loose end list to determine if an interesting scenario presents itself. If it does, I flesh out some potential plot hooks, and adjust the future timeline to account for the addition to the world. I pick a few of the scenarios I feel are most likely to be followed up by the players and stat them out if they haven't been set yet. [/QUOTE]
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