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<blockquote data-quote="FormerlyHemlock" data-source="post: 6628565" data-attributes="member: 6787650">I'm lazy, so I typically don't invent very much beyond what has been described to the players either. And there's probably a part of me that subconsciously molds what I create to the actual PCs. But in general I try not to do that, both on general principles and for practical reasons: if I create tomorrow's content under the assumption that everyone's going to be bringing three 12th level PCs and an army of skeleton warriors, I'll have to scramble everything when one of the players doesn't make it and the other two decide to they want to use their 4th level PCs instead. It's simpler to just make the world be what it is[1].[1] In practice this sometimes means that I spend my prep time creating random tables instead of specific content. That way I can more easily use my re-use my table whenever the players hit a similar situation, instead of having it go to waste if they ignore it in the place where I originally prepared it. For tomorrow's game, for example, I already know that the barbarian is going to cast Commune With Nature first thing to see if they're alone on the air-island they landed on. Instead of a specific encounter, I've planned to have him roll it: 10% chance there's something interesting or deadly on the island in addition to the rocs and ropers which dominate the planetary ecology, and if there is it's a 1d8 roll for the threat. (1 = orc village, 2 = giant ant nest, 3 = phase spider brood, 4 = lone cerebral stalker, 5 = lone chaos knight, 6 = band of trolls, 7 = tyrannosaurus tribe, 8 = crashed ship full of Stygian Skeletons + Blackrazor) I don't know if he wants a safe island to migrate people to or an adventuresome island full of treasure and monsters, but either way I am now prepared.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="FormerlyHemlock, post: 6628565, member: 6787650"] I'm lazy, so I typically don't invent very much beyond what has been described to the players either. And there's probably a part of me that subconsciously molds what I create to the actual PCs. But in general I [I]try[/I] not to do that, both on general principles and for practical reasons: if I create tomorrow's content under the assumption that everyone's going to be bringing three 12th level PCs and an army of skeleton warriors, I'll have to scramble everything when one of the players doesn't make it and the other two decide to they want to use their 4th level PCs instead. It's simpler to just make the world be what it is[1]. [1] In practice this sometimes means that I spend my prep time creating random tables instead of specific content. That way I can more easily use my re-use my table whenever the players hit a similar situation, instead of having it go to waste if they ignore it in the place where I originally prepared it. For tomorrow's game, for example, I already know that the barbarian is going to cast Commune With Nature first thing to see if they're alone on the air-island they landed on. Instead of a specific encounter, I've planned to have him roll it: 10% chance there's something interesting or deadly on the island in addition to the rocs and ropers which dominate the planetary ecology, and if there is it's a 1d8 roll for the threat. (1 = orc village, 2 = giant ant nest, 3 = phase spider brood, 4 = lone cerebral stalker, 5 = lone chaos knight, 6 = band of trolls, 7 = tyrannosaurus tribe, 8 = crashed ship full of Stygian Skeletons + Blackrazor) I don't know if he wants a safe island to migrate people to or an adventuresome island full of treasure and monsters, but either way I am now prepared. [/QUOTE]

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