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[DMs] Do you enjoy your prep time from one session to the next?
- Thread starter Odhanan
- Start date
Ghendar
First Post
der_kluge said:
One of the best adventures I ever ran and one of the most satisfying was when I did just that. I came up with a basic outline and then just followed where the players took it. It required a bit of juggling on my part but it was hella fun for both player and DM.
Of course they didn't know I was free forming it.
Gold Roger
First Post
I used to be terrible with preparation and my answer could have been a resounding NO.
Except, I just found the beauty of using modules. That way I can concentrate on the stuff I love (statting unique NPC's, develope mad tactical challenges, preparing personalities, developing storylines etc), without the stuff I hate, hate, hate (structuring stuff, drawing maps, making up "filler", come up with enough situations etc.).
My sessions used to be with little meat, but lots of spices pure. Now I take the meat from published stuff.
Except, I just found the beauty of using modules. That way I can concentrate on the stuff I love (statting unique NPC's, develope mad tactical challenges, preparing personalities, developing storylines etc), without the stuff I hate, hate, hate (structuring stuff, drawing maps, making up "filler", come up with enough situations etc.).
My sessions used to be with little meat, but lots of spices pure. Now I take the meat from published stuff.
DestroyYouAlot
First Post
I like prepping, like it less when I've neglected it and I'm rushing at the last minute, like it much less when I'm at a mental block and don't know where to go next, and love it when *ahem* "a plan comes together." I was at a total "campaign block" the other day, the massive, political-type conspiracy that looked so cool at the start of the campaign was just looking drier and drier, and I was fresh out of ideas. So I drew it out on paper, realized how much the PCs didn't know, and scrapped the whole thing. So freeing, I can't even tell you, and now I'm on a roll. Good times.
NPC stat blocks (skills, especially, moreso for rogues and bards), not so much, but even those have their moments. And I cannot get enough of dreaming up monster settlement populations, relationships with other settlements, dungeon ecologies, so on and so forth, to the point that I do it even when half of it won't end up getting used. I know what's going on, and it makes it easier for me to run it so the PCs want to know what's going on, in which case I've done my job as I see it.
I was at a total "campaign block" the other day, the massive, political-type conspiracy that looked so cool at the start of the campaign was just looking drier and drier, and I was fresh out of ideas. So I drew it out on paper, realized how much the PCs didn't know, and scrapped the whole thing. So freeing, I can't even tell you, and now I'm on a roll. Good times.NPC stat blocks (skills, especially, moreso for rogues and bards), not so much, but even those have their moments. And I cannot get enough of dreaming up monster settlement populations, relationships with other settlements, dungeon ecologies, so on and so forth, to the point that I do it even when half of it won't end up getting used. I know what's going on, and it makes it easier for me to run it so the PCs want to know what's going on, in which case I've done my job as I see it.
Raven Crowking
First Post
I divide my prep time between long-range planning and short-range building.
Long-range planning encompases drawing maps; determing what's going on in the world (including who is doing what, and what's happening behind the scenes -- everything from the Innkeeper's wife being pregnant to the King's eldest son dying in a jousting tourney); deciding what the major themes and area properties will be like in an adventure location, deciding what monsters dwell in a given area in broad strokes (area overview maps for dungeons & cave systems allow you to plan farther ahead when designing level 1); and writing up the "fluff" and major overviews of towns, NPCs, or whatever. Basically, all the "dreaming" stuff.
Short-range building is writing room and event descriptions, making dialogue notes, and writing stat blocks.
All of that stuff is 100% enjoyable to me except writing stat blocks. Stat blocks are work. So, to reduce the amount of stat block work I do, every time I make a stat block I include it in one of several Word files. Thereafter, I can cut & paste if I need to, or I can reuse the stat block for a mook I wasn't expecting to need statted. Like waste management, stat blocking comes down to the 3 R's: Recycle, Reduce, Reuse.
You should never have to figure out how to apply a template to a base creature more than once. Unless, of course, it is a highly variable template and you want to.
I would still say that, overall, I enjoy the stat block work as well. Just not 100% of the time.
RC
Long-range planning encompases drawing maps; determing what's going on in the world (including who is doing what, and what's happening behind the scenes -- everything from the Innkeeper's wife being pregnant to the King's eldest son dying in a jousting tourney); deciding what the major themes and area properties will be like in an adventure location, deciding what monsters dwell in a given area in broad strokes (area overview maps for dungeons & cave systems allow you to plan farther ahead when designing level 1); and writing up the "fluff" and major overviews of towns, NPCs, or whatever. Basically, all the "dreaming" stuff.
Short-range building is writing room and event descriptions, making dialogue notes, and writing stat blocks.
All of that stuff is 100% enjoyable to me except writing stat blocks. Stat blocks are work. So, to reduce the amount of stat block work I do, every time I make a stat block I include it in one of several Word files. Thereafter, I can cut & paste if I need to, or I can reuse the stat block for a mook I wasn't expecting to need statted. Like waste management, stat blocking comes down to the 3 R's: Recycle, Reduce, Reuse.
You should never have to figure out how to apply a template to a base creature more than once. Unless, of course, it is a highly variable template and you want to.
I would still say that, overall, I enjoy the stat block work as well. Just not 100% of the time.
RC
Arashi Ravenblade
First Post
Yes.
Right now im planning a d20 Modern Call of Cthulhu game. I have a basic idea and NPC's statted out but so far it's all in my head. If i could get ahold of the Miskatonic University Hand book that would be good too. Save me some work.
Right now im planning a d20 Modern Call of Cthulhu game. I have a basic idea and NPC's statted out but so far it's all in my head. If i could get ahold of the Miskatonic University Hand book that would be good too. Save me some work.
