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Message: <blockquote data-quote="LostSoul" data-source="post: 5243470" data-attributes="member: 386">There are a number of things you can do to reduce prep time and allow the players a lot of freedom in their actions.1. Story.For each PC in your party, make three NPCs.  For each NPC, answer these questions:1. How does the NPC reflect central traits of the PC?2. What does the NPC want from the PC?3. How is the NPC going to get it?4. How far is the NPC willing to go to get it?5. Which other NPCs is this NPC bound to through ties of blood, sex, money, power, or religion?You can do all of this in a couple of lines.  [NPC's name] is a [descriptive statement reflecting a PC] who wants [something from a PC], and is willing to [how far they will go].  [NPC's name] will rely on [NPC's means] to achieve his goals.  [Related NPC's name] is bound to [NPC's name] via [the nature of the relationship].Grak is a savage barbarian clan-lord who wants the PC barbarian's honourable tribe to swear fealty to him, and is willing break all the laws of god and man in order to do this.  Grak will rely on his necromancy to achieve his goals.  Sosha, the PC's mother, is bound to Grak via ties of blood - they are brother and sister.When you play the game, play the NPCs according to the motivations you've given them.  They will want something from the PCs, they will be motivated to get it, and they will bring in other NPCs who also want things from the PCs.  Start throwing the NPCs at them through whatever means they possess and see how the PCs react.Make sure that you don't care if the NPCs achieve their goals.  Make sure that you don't care how the PCs react.  Make sure that you don't care what happens next.  Just play the NPCs honestly according to the motivations that you've given them.That level of prep should give you enough to work with for a good number of sessions.2. Encounters.Improvise.There are a lot of tools in 4E that make this easy, but first you need to decide on some principles about your game.  I am going to approach it in my own style: set the level of the area and use that to determine what's there.  The level sets everything about the area - DCs, attacks, damage, defences, you name it.  4E is easy for this.Remember these formulas:Attack vs AC: level + 5Attack vs NAD: level + 3NADs: level + 12AC: level + 14Damage: page 42DCs: page 42One big question: how do you set the level?  You can go with the party's level and keep within a certain range - from two lower to four higher - or base it one setting considerations.  If you want you can randomize the level one you figure out what base you're using:[code]Feature Level d20  Modifier--------------  1    -2      2-3    -1 4-11    +012-15    +116-17    +218-19    +3  20    +4[/code]Monsters and Traps:  I suggest that you write down a list of monsters that you're likely to use.  You'll end up with a (bigger) list like this:BarbariansGoblinsOrcsUndeadWolvesThen write three encounters for each level for each monster.Barbarians:2 gray wolves, 2 human barbarians (600 xp)3 human barbarians (525 xp)2 human barbarians, 1 human mage (525 xp)The good thing about this is that you can steal from any source and you can use these over and over and over again.Encounter Settings:  This is probably the trickiest bit.  I don't think it should be so hard.Write up a bunch of tables for different terrain - forest, plains, urban, mountains, whatever.  Put something interesting in each entry.  Use that entry as inspiration, and twist it in whatever way works best for you at the time.For special features, like exploding walls and grab grass, just add another bunch of tables, and reference which one(s) should be rolled on in the entry above.  All those features that you just wrote up for your two encounters?  Put those on the list.So you get something like:Hills: "19. Stairs that descend into a bottomless crevasse into the underdark. E, H."  E - Dungeon Features (Stairs): "6. The stairs are weak and will collapse unless tread upon carefully.  Atk: level + 3 v Ref; Hit: the target falls."H - Hills Features: "17. A ruined tower adds a third dimension to this encounter."When you put it all together you shouldn't have to prep anything at all.  Just have a good idea of the setting in your head, consult the tables, and put your own spin on whatever you get.3. Dungeons.Here is a quick way to draw a dungeon:1. Draw a pentagon.  2. Draw circles around each point.3. Draw a dotted line from one point to a non-adjacent point.4. Draw a perpendicular line through one of the sides of the pentagon.5. Draw another circle around one point.6. Decide where the entrance is.7. Label the points with simple yet evocative descriptions - "Bridge of Death", "The Cistern of Blood", "The Gaunt Man", "The Pit of Despair".Each point is an encounter area - a room or a group of rooms that adds up to one encounter.The lines are passages between encounter areas - corridors, teleport circles, magic mirrors that lead into the feywild, etc.  (A corridor can also be its own encounter area, such as a maze.)The dotted line is a hidden passage between encounter areas.  Secret doors, slides that trigger when you pull on the statue's hand, a teleport circle that only activates when you complete the riddle or bring the missing component to activate the magic, etc.  It should be difficult to find.The perpendicular line is a blocked passage - a locked door, a cave-in, a poisonous mist, etc.  It shouldn't be impassable, just difficult.The point with the second circle around it is the central encounter area - where the boss lives, the treasure vault, the goal of the quest, etc.Now that your dungeon is "mapped out", rely on your improvisational tricks to build the encounters.  Create a table of room descriptions to inspire you and pick one or roll on the table.  Use the level of the dungeon to determine encounter levels - go with dungeon level, dungeon level +1, dungeon  level +2, and dungeon level +3 (with one room empty).  Use your encounter table to quickly populate the room.*This is a lot of work but once you do it you're done, and all the work you do to it reduces all future prep.  And other people have done some of this work; if you download the "hex crawl" attachment <a href="http://www.enworld.org/forum/4e-discussion/278034-d-d-4th-edition-hack-fiction-first-playtest.html" target="_blank">here</a>, you can steal what I came up with.I also have another thread about random terrain features; I will link to it in a second.edit: <a href="http://www.enworld.org/forum/4e-fan-creations-house-rules/271564-random-terrain-features-natural-world.html" target="_blank">Random Terrain Features of the Natural World</a></blockquote>

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