DM, How much time do you prepare before a session

[Keeper of Secrets]

Since I mostly run supers games these tend to work a little differently than fantasy games. Many fantasy games involve dungeon crawling, wilderness adventure and slaying a variety of beasties (which eats up a lot of time). A supers game centers on less combat, more investigation and 'getting to the bottom of things in an urban setting.'

For a supers game I usualy sit down and plan out several weeks worth of stuff. I keep in mind a variety of different possibilities and alternate routes that the characters could take, preparring for any of those possibilities. However, I stay fluid enough to allow for unusual or odd things the group could do. Let's face it - a standard D&D dungeon crawl has less 'variables' than 'hunt down the supervillain's scheme.' The dungeon crawl is much more linear whereas the supervillain hunt is most certainly not.

 

[arwink]

A few hours the day before, but that number is skewed by the fact that I tend to produce a bunch of stuff every week and draw it together as necessary.

 

[Ron]

I think a lot about the adventure while taking the subway to and from work. In the gaming day, I write down a few notes, taking no more than 10 minutes and I am done. As many others, I prefer to improvise as I have more fun doing that than otherwise.

Because of my style, d20 doesn't work too well, so I returned to the D&D Rules Cyclopedia to make things easier to me.

 

[Kastil]

I take about an hour before the game to get anything together but that usually is only if there's 'scheduled' combat. Otherwise, I do things on the fly. The game is in my own homebrew so I can pretty much make it up as I go. Combat sheets and whatnot are saved on my computer along with any maps needed. I have several generic NPCs made up when I feel like doing it.

I've had too many well planned out sessions get monkey wrenched to plan too far ahead. ;-)

 

[twofalls]

I read roleplaying books for pleasure. I often use modules during play as an outline than bastardize at will, with a few notes here and there to tie it all into my plot. Doesn't take much time at all.

When not using a module, I just look though books for the baddies I want to use and mark a few notes on paper about them, maybe a half an hour to an hour before game time. The plot I have worked out in my head, and sometimes in sketchy outline form on paper.

After game sessions I spend about half an hour writing up game notes, noting NPC's in an organized fashion, and noting down what important events occured and who did them to remind myself later.

Then I mark down the days that have passed to keep track of the calander.

I've been GMing for 26 years, my prep time is extremely limited anymore.

 

[Tetsubo]

I have run solid sessions without any prep at all. Just on the fly, seat of my pants sort of thing.

If I am thinking about a game I can mull over it at work for several days. I jot down notes as I think of them. Sometimes these are my only prep.

If I have time I will put in about 1 - 3 hours per session. Mostly just working up monster & NPC stats and treasure. The over all story arc is usually in my head.

I've come up with entire campaign ideas in an eight hour work day. I explained one to my wife once, as she was the only non-player I had to chat with. She was literally stunned that I could generate as much detail as I had in an eight hour shift. Always fun to impress the wife...

 

[Pip-Boy 2000]

I like to take plenty of time to prepare props, maps, figures, lists, charts, etcetera. Usually, I have time to get everything done before a session. Many, many hours. Mapmaking takes me the most time, because I like to use Campaign Cartographer on the PC, and that can take a while. Also, battlefield design can be rather time-consuming.

I also like to rathole emergency maps and pre-made enemies away, so that I can whip 'em out if the players go somewhere or do something I didn't anticipate. No matter how much you prepare, though, you're eventually going to end up having to ad hoc an entire situation. I'd say this happens to me about 10% of the time.

I prefer to be well-prepared, though.

 

[Angel Tarragon]

I take about a half an hour to prep for a session. While the group is adventuring I take notes about some of the things they do, some NPCs I come up with on the fly, what the group acquires, possible plot devices for future reference and things that happen behind the scenes. I then type up these notes and print them out at my earliest convenience. I also type up important facts about the upcoming adventure and anything that should happen during the upcoming adventure. I glance over these notes daily and take the time on the day that we are gaming to get set up and review my notes in depth.

 

[DarrenGMiller]

I read roleplaying books for pleasure. I often use modules during play as an outline than bastardize at will, with a few notes here and there to tie it all into my plot. Doesn't take much time at all.

<snip>

After game sessions I spend about half an hour writing up game notes, noting NPC's in an organized fashion, and noting down what important events occured and who did them to remind myself later.

<snip>

I've been GMing for 26 years, my prep time is extremely limited anymore.

I too usually use adventure modules during play, but basically tear them apart and rebuild them. I find that this does take a good bit of prep time and I usually spend from about 30 minutes up to several hours per week depending on what is coming duriong the next session, or if they are about to start a new adventure. Sometimes I run on the fly and change details as I go and if the players go out on a limb, I go completely on the fly.

DM

 

[the Jester]

Hello fellow Dm !

I want to know how much time do your prepare your gaming session ?

What take you the most of your time in your preparation ?

Do you rely much on not much preparation and you do thing on the fly during the session ?

It depends- some sessions, I spend 0 time in prep for. Some prep takes me weeks but then never comes into play. Some prep takes me weeks and lasts for months. It varies highly.

I think building stat blocks takes the most prep time. Description and such I wing much more than I do complicated stat blocks. But I take a certain bizarre joy in engineering crazy monsters.