Show your game prep notes

R_J_K75 said:

I actually started running this adventure Monday before last. My notes look pretty similar to yours but not as extensive. On my first read through I wasn't overly impressed with it. It is pretty bare bones so the GM has to fill in a few blanks. I'm sure it'll play out differently though.

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I already ran this a month ago. I liked the layout but yeah the final rooms are a bit flat. Definitely needed more coloring in in advance.

aiouh said:

I already ran this a month ago. I liked the layout but yeah the final rooms are a bit flat. Definitely needed more coloring in in advance.

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I find most adventures are either too detailed or little more than a rough framework. I have been using more published adventures lately knowing I'll have to modify it.

I just do a quick outline in Obsidian Portal, with links to any pertinent pages. I find that my players often go "off script", so over-prep is typically wasted.

Example:
Rhythmic Evergreen (gate connects to Blitzheim)

Trees have clockwork interiors and circuit-like metal tracing on the outside. They are logged for both wood and metal, but are uniquely useful for the creation of prosthetic limbs.

Loggerhead – Town
Town made from clock wood, surrounded by a pallisade of interlocking gears on stakes, driven by a windmill.

Town by Lindsey Bushby (short and stocky bugbear with an eyepatch)
Guard lead by Wyatt Linen (muscular human with heavy scarring)

Hermits

Tess Janke (Short Wood Elf Huntress/Chef who smells like a smokehouse)

Augustyn (Halfling witch whose eyes have turned white from moonberry addiction)

Alden Pedro (Short Half orc who wears nothing but a loincloth and is training as a pugilist)

Heliotrope
Drakonis Syndicate town
Town built of giant white spore mushrooms
Reached via a split amethyst

Ruled by young amethyst dragon Niasavath

Rhythmic Evergreen NPCs

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Blood cult is lead by Kesk, a lizardfolk druid (MM 309) – CR 2
Lizardfolk CR 1/2

Uses scarlet scorpion-like insect to transform the townsfolk into zombies
Scarlet Zombies CR 1/4 (MM 434 with Infectious Bite)

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The best GM I know doesn't really use notes (except for custom creations, like monsters). He just scribbles a map and works from that. His method seems like madness to me, but it works for him.

These days, I buy pre-written adventures. I underline in 4 colours and write notes in the margins.

Blue: Crucial adventure info
Yellow: Clues
Orange: Combat info
Green: NPC names

I used to do that with my homebrew adventures.

My game of Daggerheart this week that included a full session zero. The advance notes (all mental)

• We've got the campaign frame (5 Banners Burning) and I'm going to be leaning into Babylon 5
• Make sure they have conflicted relationships [Which they succeeded at magnificently with little prompting]
• Have a quick adventure to get them used to the rules. Intercepting a message.

Of course we have a bit of a map filled out and will be filling more.

I actually put some reminders on the map I'm using in Foundry for prep (to remember what monsters I hid, and also to remind myself the wrath isn't attacking immediately. ). Does that count?

Zaukrie said:

I actually put some reminders on the map I'm using in Foundry for prep (to remember what monsters I hid, and also to remind myself the wrath isn't attacking immediately. ). Does that count?

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Yes. Back in the 80s about the only notes I had were keyed notes for a map. VTT map pins are no different.

They're not notes per se, but one of the things I put a significant focus on during prep are my session handouts.

These begin with a short summary of the previous adventure(s), and a list of potential adventures they're aware of. There's a list of rumors they've overheard, which are potential opportunities for adventures, foreshadowing, clues, and some misdirects (I have a race of mischievous fey called Mungers that feed off of gossip). Also the Dreamcatcher (or an equivalent) which is the local "magic shop", where prices gradually go down until the item disappears (they're formed from captured dreams that eventually vanish unless condensed using crushed gemstones). They're unlikely to be able to afford a lot of these items in the beginning, but I use that to get them hungry for gold.

I tend to start narrow with adventure options and rumors and gradually open up what I present to the players a few sessions in (to avoid overwhelming them at the start).

Eyes of the Beholder – Session 2

Previously
• You traveled to the realm of Blitzheim to investigate the disappearance of several townsfolk.
Discovering that it was the work of a basilisk, you made short work of the monster. Nearby, you
found a bone scepter inlaid with unusual druidic symbols...

Opportunities
• Your God-King commands you to journey the realm of Rhythmic Evergreen. A heretical and
secretive blood cult has taken root there. Purge them and their defilement from the realm.

Rumors
• The Thousand Realms exist only because a god-like simian tried to hurl the Source into the
Desert of Stars, because he coveted its place in the multiverse.
• The God King is not what he appears to be.
• The Dream God. The Blood God. The Chaos God. All false gods that prowl the Dreamlands,
seeking to guide the foolish to the ill fate of all.

Specialty Vendors and Services
The Dreamcatcher
• Scroll of Color Spray – 80 GP
• Mithral Chain Mail – 520 GP
• Potion of Animal Friendship – 129 GP
• Ring of Jumping – 1,950 GP
• Folding Boat – 6,800 GP

prep for last wed T&T: In a digest sized file
3 pages of character gen tables copied from the book, then shorthand applied. This reduced 3 pages of letter tables to 3 digest pages of tables. (Not shown)
Mechanics tables on 1 page, tags on the next
I copied the NPC tables onto a single page, the rumors on a second, in digest size.


due to copyright issues, I've reduced the size to greek the text. But you can see the layout.

When I prep adventures I tend to use digest sized booklets. I do own a working saddle stapler good for 25 sheets.
The upper two are the rules (excluding CharGen); the bottom is the adventure notes.

My actual notes from play I'll replicate:

That's all I had to write down. Seems pretty meaningless... but it was on a 3×5" card, and I used blue glass beads for their stamina, orange tiger-eye for the stress. Pink, Red, Green, and Purple were the minions, Brown was the boss monster. So, just a set of spaces for small squished glass bead gaming tokens.
Oh, and the colors were the colors of the mini-meeples I used. Almost random...

Normally I'd separate the mechanics into a separate file, but this case, due to it being a QS and an Alpha, best to keep them together.

My notes are less about mechanics and more about locations and NPCs. For the way I run games, I need to understand the motivations of the characters so I can have them respond sensibly to character choices. It also means that even if players abandon or ignore a thread, it keeps on humming somewhere in the background.

I suspect my notes more closely resemble story drafts than game outlines.

The mechanics are basically handled through the DDB encounter, so maybe that is a kind of notes too. Plus the maps.