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<blockquote data-quote="fourthmensch" data-source="post: 1487107" data-attributes="member: 16723">It really comes down to a question of style. Some people work well with with improvisation, others are at their creative peak preparing. Neither is better, so long as it works (read: everyone is having fun). &nbsp;&nbsp;Personally, I like to prepare. I prepare exhaustively, WAY more than necessary. This helps me figure out who the NPCs are, what they want, and how they go about getting it. It allows me to roleplay the subtleties of hidden plots, think of memorable encounters with weird beasties, and make cool handouts for evenyone to ogle. I tried winging it once, with just some basic notes, and it was a disaster. I got this strange deer-in-the-headlights feeling, was too nervous to think, and wound up tanking. So now I prepare ahead of time.&nbsp;&nbsp;That being said, even I like to leave some things unexplained. One of my favorite devices (one which the players have not caught on to as of yet) is to provide them with small mysteries: dead bodies with odd messages, mysterious strangers tailing them, NPCs that pop up again and again... and let THEM figure out what the deal is. They usually come up with some really interesting theories, and the investigation can become an adventure in and of itself. Of course, once I know that they will be investigating, then I prepare everything. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile&nbsp; &nbsp; :)"&nbsp; data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /></blockquote>

[QUOTE="fourthmensch, post: 1487107, member: 16723"] It really comes down to a question of style. Some people work well with with improvisation, others are at their creative peak preparing. Neither is better, so long as it works (read: everyone is having fun). Personally, I like to prepare. I prepare exhaustively, WAY more than necessary. This helps me figure out who the NPCs are, what they want, and how they go about getting it. It allows me to roleplay the subtleties of hidden plots, think of memorable encounters with weird beasties, and make cool handouts for evenyone to ogle. I tried winging it once, with just some basic notes, and it was a disaster. I got this strange deer-in-the-headlights feeling, was too nervous to think, and wound up tanking. So now I prepare ahead of time. That being said, even I like to leave some things unexplained. One of my favorite devices (one which the players have not caught on to as of yet) is to provide them with small mysteries: dead bodies with odd messages, mysterious strangers tailing them, NPCs that pop up again and again... and let THEM figure out what the deal is. They usually come up with some really interesting theories, and the investigation can become an adventure in and of itself. Of course, once I know that they will be investigating, then I prepare everything. :) [/QUOTE]

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