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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Jhaelen" data-source="post: 5299199" data-attributes="member: 46713">And there's your problem:in writing it down, you've laid down your tracks. Don't!Yep, definitely sounds like you're already overpreparing. Ignoring the flowcharts for a moment, why don't outlines work for you?I start with two or three sentences describing what the adventure's about. Then I think about potential encounters. Then I'll create maps or decide which existing maps I'm going to use.Most work goes into designing the (potential) encounters. These are relatively detailed, including full stat-blocks. I try to prepare about twice the number of encounters I think I'm going to need.Finally, I'm writing a list of things, I'd like to include in the adventure. This is no more than one or two sentences for each idea. Some of these will not even be connected to the actual adventure. They can either be red herrings, atmospheric pieces to improve the sense of immersion in the setting, potential side-quests, hooks for future adventures, etc.When playing the game, the players' actions will decide, which of the ideas and encounters take place and when. If I notice they're interested in something I didn't feel was important, I try to turn it into something important, either immediately using improvisation or by taking notes and revisiting it in a later session, after I've had time to prepare a bit more.Generally, I try to let the players play at their own pace. But if I feel things are slowing down, or they appear to be stumped, I throw an encounter at them or introduce a new idea.Brilliant! What more do you need?After playing an adventure, I typically have a bunch of stuff that I didn't actually use. This enters into my repository for use at a later time. As the campaign moves forward this collection will steadily grow, making prep ever easier. For the encounter I just have to adjust levels.See, back in the days I used to overprepare, as well. I tried writing down adventures using the same format as official modules. And when the players tried something I hadn't written down, I'd panic.But at some point I realized, that this apporach is nonsense, really. You only have to describe an adventure in such detail if someone else is supposed to run it.If I've created an adventure, it's all in my head. I don't need to write it down. The important thing is to KNOW YOUR PLAYERS! When preparing for an adventure, I think about what my players are interested in, what motivations drive their characters, and let it guide my design. These days my players rarely manage to surprise me (completely).Even though they theoretically have complete freedom in choosing their course of action, they tend to fall into certain patterns that are easy to anticipate.</blockquote>

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