As a DM, how do you prepare for published adventures?

[Voadam]

I read the whole adventure.

Think it over, get the plot straight in my head so it makes sense.

Decide if I want to use it.

Think how I want to change any of the plot so it makes sense or meshes better with the existing campaign.

Think what substitutions I want to make (monsters, npc classes, races, etc.).

Think through how the PCs are going to go through the adventure and what they will probably do. Sometimes I will right out a short list here, often not.

Reread the part I am about to run for specific details.

Make stat blocks for things I expect to be fought that night.

I usually read several modules ahead of where the party is at so that I can do foreshadowing and have flexibility in plot to work off the party's actions and still drive the campaign to plots and adventures I have stuff ready for.

 

[Oryan77]

I've seen a few people mention that they scan the articles using "OCR". What is OCR? Does it recognize text in an image or something and make it available to edit in word? That would be extremely helpful.

 

[Americano]

I've seen a few people mention that they scan the articles using "OCR". What is OCR? Does it recognize text in an image or something and make it available to edit in word? That would be extremely helpful.

OCR=Optical Character Recognition

And, yes, it recognizes the text in a scan so it can be edited. It does not work with total accuracy, but it's way faster than retyping the whole thing (and I type really fast).

I use Readiris Pro 9 under Mac OS X. I have no idea what the popular/good OCR apps are under Windows.

 

[Jeremy E Grenemyer]

Hello Oryan77,

It’s nice to see another San Jose gamer around here.

I start by skimming the module, so I can get an idea of it and start to ponder how (and when) to fit it into my campaign. Next, I read the whole module through, but I don’t study it enough to remember everything. Instead, I use the old Elementary School technique of copying, taking notes and copying some more.

The notes and copying consists of summarizing the NPCs and Creatures on 3x5 cards (which I use to track initiative and reference creature abilities, the later making it unnecessary to always look things up in the MM), as well as making a one page outline noting the changes I’ve made to the adventure to better fit it into my campaign.

I’ve found that my players don’t mind at all if I refer to the module during play, so long as play progresses at a reasonable pace. (Did I mention my players rule?)

As for big modules (like City of the Spider Queen), I recommend reading the preface and the openings to each chapter first, and then taking it on in chunks. It’s just too damn hard to do all the necessary DM prep work for a super adventure all at once –and will only lead to DM burnout.

As far as multiple adventures are concerned: I do keep several adventures lined up, but not in case my players decide to deviate from the plot. Like I said before, too much prep leads to DM burnout. (I prefer to think of creative ways to steer them into the adventure I’ve got planned, the most effective being the fine art of not revealing to them the name of the adventure I plan to run.)

Rather, I like to use adventures from Dungeon Magazine, my old 2E adventures (which I convert to 3E) and some D20 Publisher stuff to create a long term adventure outline for the campaign, where I line up enough adventures to cover levels 1 – 20, as well as the early Epic levels.

Good gaming!

J. Grenemyer