Are you a preparation junky?

[The Red King]

I do crazy ammounts of prep work. All my maps are done in Excel, and I always map out 2 or 3 sessions in every direction because you can't trust those PC's to follow a path for anything.

I play with a group with players as old as 45 to as young as 6. So being ready with all the info I will need at a moments notice is a big help.

 

[fba827]

My name is fba827 and I'm a prep-a-holic.

Any time I start to prep a little, I just want to prep more and more. My brain tells me "come on, you can prep one more scenario, one more chart, one more 'catch all template for on the fly', it'll be really cool and then you can stop any time you want to...." but alas, I stay up way past any reasonable hour to do it, it starts to consume my thoughts and I just feel like i need to do it more.

It often takes an intervention (albeit from myself) to finally make me stop.... that is, stop until the next time I am going to DM.

 

[Radiating Gnome]

My prep tends to fill the time I have available for it. I use tools like power2ool to create my monster stat blocks, any number of tools to create encounter maps (maptool, Battlemapp on my iPad, tiles, paper, anything and everything). If I have enough time, I usually end up investing it in non-combat encounter prep -- working on complex skill challenges or other structures.

If I'm running my own home-brew stuff, I tend to also spend some time journaling to explore the NPCs points of view. Having a clear idea of what the NPCs want and what their tools and habits are for trying to get what they want helps when it becomes time to ad-lib.

-rg

 

[Lwaxy]

I sort maps and adventures and stuff when I feel like it, but that's to have it handy later so I won't have to do the prep work on short notice

I do player's guides when needed, although they are kept as short as possible.

So some days when I' otherwise bored or not feeling well I can spend hours sorting and prepping stuff, and then a few weeks of doing very little.

 

[Cor Azer]

My prep time is mostly concerned with the thinking - motivations and plots of the scores of NPCs I usually have running around in the background.

I tend not to worry about the actual stats since I'm fairly comfortable winging it when need be, but I do like custom foes, so I usually do some prep work on paper.

Not as finnicky on my game props though; I draw maps out ahead of time, but they're not thst elaborate.

 

[halfjack]

Hmm, how best to answer this...well, let's just say that no one at the table cares in the least what alphabet the lizardmen use. I, however, will prepare that information anyway.

 

[Memnoch3434]

I find myself in one of two situations. One where I get hurled into DMing a game that I have just barely made an overriding story arch for, and another where I am overly prepared.

I honestly prefer the overly prepared situation. In that situation I won't run out of material (which on occasion with the other has occured).

 

[haakon1]

I spend lots of time writing campaign world notes.
. . .
I do it for myself, not for the campaign. It's how I express my creativity. I have fun and don't count it as "prep time".

Ditto, except instead of being interested in the myths and folklore, I'm interested in economics and politics. My write up on the socioeconomics of the Shackled City Adventure Path setting was really fun, and a few people told me they used it -- one had a wife who's an economist and was joining the game.

What I do that IS prep time is draw maps for the game, write up NPCs they will interact with, make magic item cards, write up the previous week's game (I do it EVERY week, immediately after the game, or it doesn't get done). And read the next session's gaming material, even though I've read it before. If I'm not sure what the next session will encompass, I try to prep a little of each possibility, mostly with random tables and bullet lists.

I don't use cards, but I do write up game summaries post-game, immediately or within a day or so. I also keep lists like what magic items are for sale, updating for the PC's trading and doing some random determination updates.

As for maps . . . I'm actually much less obsessive about that then when I was a middle-school aged DM. I mostly just draw maps that I actually need for the adventures now.

 

[Gold Roger]

I'm pretty low prep. I'll usually have an idea where things are going, who is who in the game, what every NPC wants and what encounters I want to run/will come in handy.

The reason stuff like that is low game-prep for me is that I'm a worldbuilding junky. No matter how long it is that I don't game, I'm always working on settings, usually my main homebrew, sometimes others.

It's one of my favorite parts of the hobby and something I can engage in whenever and wherever I want. I can think up some small piece of info in a few unused minutes with no material at hands or I can scour massive amounts of material and internet sources for days.

 

[DiomedesRex]

I try to keep things as low prep as possible. If I think there's going to be a fight, I scribble down some combat stats. If there's going to be traps and obstacles, I think up some basic difficulties or target numbers. Even named antagonists rarely get a full character sheet.

What I will write up, on the other hand, is a flow chart of possible ways the adventure could go. So if the party encounters an antagonist in some ruins, I'll have some quick sketches of what could happen if they:

A) Attack and win
B) Attack and lose
C) Flee outright
D) Debate and win
E) Debate and lose, possibly with a segue to combat
F) Collapse the ruins

Each of these things will lead to different story points, obstacles, fights, or problems.

Maybe the party loses a ship to ship battle, then I get to run them through the problems of surviving being adrift at sea and washing up on a desert island. Odds are low that they will decide to play Survivor for a terribly long time, so they need a chance at rescue or escape so they can get back to chasing their dreams, passions, and fears.


All of the above makes it a lot harder for me to be caught off guard by something the party might do. The mechanics can be thrown together on the fly, but I like to have some idea in advance of how to respond to certain actions. I always make a point, at the end of a session, of asking the party what they plan on doing next session, what their goals will be. I don't try to script out everything, after all. That would be silly.