What do you do before a gaming session ?

[rythm_rampage]

Hi folks,

I always wondered what other DMs do before running a session.
Here's a description of what I do:
The evening before the session I usually feel unprepared and worry about what will happen.
status: worried
The morning before the game I try to distract myself from the game, hoping that everything will work out fine.
status: nervous
When time comes ('bout 2 hours before the game) I start cleaning up, get some cups, water and the like. I prepare the seats and pick up my notes.
status: stressed
About one hour before the game I'm pretty much done with preperation and sit around doing nothing. My eyes feel dry and I got the urge to just cancel today's game.
status: tired, don't wanna play anymore
When the game finally starts I'm tired, sweating, my eyes still feel dry and I just want my players to leave .
(If you, my players, read this, don't feel offended, it's not personal. )

So I wonder what you, fellow DMs do before a gaming session. What do you do to be relaxed, creative and ready for the game. I wanna get away from that being tired and stuff. I don't think it's a health issue, it's a psychological one. :/
Right now I'm about to run character creation and maybe some introduction in an hour. I got a cup of green tea, eydrops ( ), some food (piece of pie, an apple) and listen to cypress hill. I will tell you how it turned out later.

cya _rampage

 

[iwatt]

Evening before: take a look at waht I'll be running. Gamble that my amazing memory will somehow save me from making an ass out of myself.

Satus: lazy

4 hours before the game: Stressed out at work because it's a stressful job.
Status: Duh... stressed.

2 Hours before: Running like an idiot chasing a ball up and down a court.
Satus: sweaty

Start of the Game: Hungry because I just worked a whole day, played an hour of soccer and haven't eaten much in all the rush

Status: famished

And this is every week. My sunday games have better prep time.

 

[wolfpunk]

For me I am lucky, I DM a game on the first sunday of the month. It is an evening game, so I have sunday morning to prepare, so it goes something like this.

Wake up, smile, cause I get to DM today.
Status: Happy.

3 hours before, look over the chapter of Shackled City I will be running. Make copies of any handouts, mark the monster stats in the back of the book.
Satus: Man this is easy.

1 hour before: Head to the game.
Status: I hate traffic.

Game time, everything goes in unexpected ways, which is what I figure will happen, so I just go with it.
Status: Life is good.

So what is my point? Maybe you should try using a pregenerated campaign, cuts your work down to almost nothing.

 

[Kastil]

1) Prep beginning intro (chat-based game) that tells briefly what happened last session.

2) Decide if this will have combat or be an all RP session then pull up the references I'll need

3) Have a monster or annoying NPC handy in case the party sorceress decides to make the session a shopping trip (this has happened!)

3) Have another monster handy (bookmarks in the books work for me) in case I lure them into a false sense of security

And last but not least, grab a cherry coke.

 

[diaglo]

i pee before each session.

 

[der_kluge]

See, I've turned over a new leaf with my DM'ing since I started my current campaign. I had an epiphany that the main reason why my previous campaign didn't go so well was because I put *too* preperation into it.

Odd, huh?

So, currently, I do next to nothing. We play on Thursdays, and if have time at work, I'll maybe work up some notes, or read ahead in the module to guage what might be coming up. The module (Tomb of Abysthor) has a lot of options, so the PCs can tend to go whereever they want, so it's hard to anticipate.

Other times, I work on it the Friday after, if I need to resolve some outcome. Like, a few weeks ago, they released a Vrock in the dungeon, along with about 16 dretches. So, I had to figure out where they want, and what kind of damage they did.


Best campaign I've ever ran.

 

[TGryph]

I run a Gurps sesion every other Sunday. The week after the game I chill, don't think about it, and work on my homebrew world. Starting the Monday of the Campaign week, I put in about an hour each day. I start with an outline of what I want to accomplish, break it down into small pieces, then finish each piece by Friday. Saturday I chill again..take the wife out or something.

Sunday morning I clean house and prep the game area (setting up chairs, etc). Two hours before game time I go over my notes and make sure I have my NPC's ready to go. An hour before the guys get here, I start reading a differetn section of the rules, preferably one pertaining to that day's session.

This way, I am relaxed and can enjoy myself.

TGryph

 

[MavrickWeirdo]

Bathe

 

[Oryan77]

The few days before the game I'm pretty excited to play. The day before the game I get a little nervous because I know I have a terrible memory and I worry that my mind will go blank during the game

The day before the game I try to read up on the adventure to refresh my memory. Then I set up the gaming table and think to myself, "Man, I hope this session goes good".

The part that I really hate is when all the players arrive and I have to actually begin the game. For some reason the initial point where I need to speak up & start the game makes me uncomfortable....I feel like an idiot. What I do now that works well is I wait until someone has finished their out-of-game conversation and I hurry and speak up and say, "So does anyone need a reminder of what happened last session?", that always gets everyones attention that we are now starting the game

 

[BullMarkOne]

Two days before a game session: Furiously search through "the heap" of papers on and around my desk until i find the notes from last session. Then tally up and email out experience from last session.

Evening before DM'ing a game session: Spend most (or all) of the night working on material for the next day, have a couple beers to free up the creative juices. Print out copies of all needed material, and add them to the top of "the heap"

Morning of the game session: Wake up (maybe), consume copious amounts of coffee, and search "the heap" for printed notes. Begin rewriting and printing out new material.

2 hours to game session: have a delicious breakfast of coffee, rockstar energy drink, and leftovers.

1 hour to game session: pack up gaming supplies and drive to game location, stop along the way for rockstar and coffee.

20 mins to game session: arrive at location all juiced up and ready to play, spontaneously decide to toss most of what was sketched out the night before and just "wing it" for another session.