D&D 5E (2014) Prepping your campaign

[TwoSix]

I actually just realized that the work involved putting together those 2 jpgs in the OP are more work than I normally do for my games.

 

[Imaculata]

I do admit, I often do crazy amounts of prep for my campaigns. And I didn't even show all the random tables, and custom weapon/item lists, weather tracking, etc.

 

[MostlyDm]

I might be closest to [MENTION=6785785]hawkeyefan[/MENTION].

I prep a decent amount of big picture stuff. Worldbuilding, maps, NPCs, etc.

On a session by session basis I do virtually no prep at all. It's all improvisation with the players, over the bones of the world prep I have done. I prefer sandboxes, so this is kinda the only way to prep for the most part.

 

[GM Lent]

I tend to read through adventures well before I plan on actually running them, so I can pull out NPCs and establish ties to the PCs a few weeks to months in advance. That way, the patrons, adventures, and even the McGuffins have more resonance in the campaign. I also make notes about changes I want to make (replacing monsters with others more appropriate to my setting, different insignia on priest's robes, that sort of thing).

While running an adventure, I make all kinds of notes in the margins on things to return to later - NPCs a character decides to rescue from a dungeon run off during the adventure, but then turn out to be a ship's captain and cook some time later. An interesting gemstone found in a hoard turns out to be the heirloom of a once-powerful merchant house looking to regain its glory, and then turns out to be a stolen key from a ghast's tomb. That kind of thing.

That may make me sound like a heavy pre-session preparer, but I rarely read an adventure too closely before running it (I also fall into the "guess I should have read this one before we started playing" camp). I am comfortable with improvising a great deal, and I swap stuff out on the fly all the time - necessary skills developed over 25+ years of DMing.

When I actually have a regular group (which I am between at the moment but have a new one lined up once we can agree on a schedule) my sessions tend to last 4 hours, of which maybe a solid 3 is actually playing. We aim for weekly, but it isn't always possible with careers, kids, lives, etc.

I also like to plunder freely from novels and other sources for plot hooks, NPCs, and situations. I think it helps my world feel more alive when things are changing in the background of the campaign without the PCs' involvement.

 

[hawkeyefan]

I do admit, I often do crazy amounts of prep for my campaigns. And I didn't even show all the random tables, and custom weapon/item lists, weather tracking, etc.

I used to prepare a lot more a while back. I don't think I ever bothered all that much with random tables and weather tracking and the like. But I used to prepare more bad guys and set encounters and story ideas. But I found myself too married to the prepared material, and I'd be reluctant to allow the players to bypass it if they went in some unexpected direction.

So I got out of the habit of doing that, and now keep my prep much simpler. If I have an idea for a cool cliffside encounter, I make a couple of notes about it, and I keep at hand for when it makes sense to use it rather than forcing it on them.

And when I say this, I'm not disagreeing with your approach at all...just that I found myself kind of leading or railroading my players to some extent when I prepped a lot. I've improved a lot as a DM by prepping less. I'm sure for many, the opposite would be true.

 

[Quickleaf]

Love your maps [MENTION=6801286]Imaculata[/MENTION]

I probably err a little on the over-preparing side, time allowing (which is less and less these days). One thing I do for all my games is create (and update) a cheat sheet of my players. Here's an example from a face-to-face game, turned Roll20, currently on hiatus, possibly to turn face-to-face at some time down the road...

http://i.*****.com/UhhjbBq.png

This helps me to have lots of info at a glance. I try to call out stuff that's often referenced (save DCs, AC, passive perception). I also pay attention to a lot of story stuff – their backgrounds, unique proficiencies, character story details & ideas I have – to make sure I keep the action focused on the PCs. Lastly, since the game was heavy on exploration, I asked for "typical exploration actions" for each PC and recorded it.

In this example, I call out that three characters are really into herbalism and their players wanted an herbalism sub-system, so I designed one with a bit of help for them. And I also call out where the dwarf is lacking Stealth proficiency where the other 5 PCs have it (and were definitely eager for some "stealth mission" opportunities), as a reminder to myself to come up with creative ideas in the event that group Stealth checks don't seem possible in a given scenario.

 

[MNblockhead]

When I got back into TTRPGs after a long absence, it started as world building hobby before I ever got together a group of players and started the campaign. I use Realm Works to build and manage my world. My games are one full 8-hour Saturday, once per month, and I put a lot of time into prepping between sessions.

After two years, however, I'm starting to burn out. Some things that I do to make it more manageable now:

1. I don't do hardly any crafting. I use printable battlemaps and paper flat minis for important combats and do theater of the mind for most combats.

2. My world is a sandbox but it is huge. Even with as much work that I put into the world, trying to run games ad hoc—especially at higher levels—is too difficult for me to pull off and still have a compelling story. Instead, at the end of a session, I speak with the players on where they want to go next. They still get to choose or make storylines they are interested in and travel to wherever they are interested in, but I they make that decision at the end of a session so I have time to prep the next.

3. I integrate more purchased material into my campaign, selecting and customizing them to fit my storyline and setting.

I'll be wrapping up this campaign in a few months and taking a break from my world for a while. My next game will be Curse of Straud, which I'll run from the book. I bought the Schley map packs and will print them with a plotter. It will be such a relief and much more fun for me to DM without the stress of having to create my own content. I like creating my content but it was beginning to feel like work and was hard to balance with family and work, even with only meeting once per month.

 

[Azurewraith]

Typically I don't prep to much just a couple of pages on a .doc of quick bullet points things like npc names with quick personality, monster AC HP and actions and a few points of where the story is heading. So I tend to improve a fair bit. Prep time tends to be a couple hours a week and we play between 3 and 4hour sessions weekly.

I am however trying a more prep heavy method to see how it goes with my latest campaign(RL, not on here) to see how it goes.

 

[Lanefan]

-How do you prep your campaigns?

Overall campaign: quite a bit of prep ahead of time - complete rules overhaul, projected storyboard for what I'd like to run (and may get to actually run bits of), and worldbuilding: maps, history, major NPCs, weather and climate, realms and nations, etc.

Session by session: if I'm doing it right the macro side pretty much runs itself. I just have to worry about the run-of-play stuff - narration, characterization of NPCs, the usual.

-How much do you write before hand, and how much do you improvize?

If I'm using a homebrew adventure I'll have made enough notes and maps ahead of time to run it; if I'm using a canned module then I do very little beforehand. I improvise more than my players probably realize, and have to when they left-turn - which in fairness they don't do nearly as often as they might.

After the session is when the real homework comes: offline and online adventure logs (the offline one has some DM-only info in it), occasional character updates via email, stats and records updates, etc.

-What is on your table during a session?

DM side: paper, writing implements, module (if relevant), notes from previous sessions/adventures, DM screen with lots of sticky notes, smartphone; and right nearby are rulebooks, minis, maps, tables and charts, etc.
Player side: chalkboard, minis, character sheets, player-side records and notes, tablets; and right nearby are rulebooks, more minis
Both sides: dice, snacks, happy drinks

-And how long do your sessions generally last?

4 hours, give or take; once a week, give or take.

Lan-"one of these days I'll scare myself by counting up how many dice reside here"-efan

 

[Blue]

I run sorta-sandbox. In that there are many big plot arcs, ones that the players have chosen by their character interest (and some meta discussions). So while I may have an idea of what a session will bring, I've been proven wrong more times then I've been right.

Much of my prep is "big story" prep, especially because I beleive anything that hasn't been formalized at the table is still flexible - my big plots change often not just in direct reaction to what the characters do, but also as new and cool things come up.

Anyway, my session prep is basically some along what I think is the most likely lines, and some things to help with Improv. Notable NPCs and a list of pregenerated names for more. Some combat stats for other things as well. (I'm running 13th Age which is very similar to 5e but gives youthe PDFs when you buy the print, so I just copy-n-paste monster states to my session notes so I have everything.)

Time spent:

• So, any new large locale (city, whatever) is probably a few hours prep, but that's not common.
• Current adventure prep is usually two to three hours. No grid-level maps, I run theater of the mind, though I may have others as a player understanding aid. That time includes making up flavorful magic items and putting them on index cards to hand to the players if they find them, getting all the foe stats, printing pictures of new NPCs as well as actually making up the next part of the adventure.
• "Oh, they are going off the rails" improve prep is another hour or two but much of that can be carried from session to session.

I try to avoid having a laptop at the table. I print out my session notes, roughly 8-10 pages plus maybe a page of pictures. I do it single sided so I can do things like have my encounter notes and my foes all in front of me so there's no paging back and forth at inopportune times.

Those session notes also have static reminders about character background (read: skills), relationships, and class features that I want to spotlight, very useful for when I'm improving. Also has a two-column section with a summary of big plots that I can steal foreshadowing and such from when I'm improving details about things.