DM's - how much preparation time?

[Arnwyn]

Myself, I spend a lot of time. We game every other week, and I probably put in 2-3 hours per day, and more time on weekends.

Holy ! I cannot possibly even imagine or conceive of such a situation. Wow. Your players had better be fricken' grateful (and maybe even pay you ).

I'm gonna have to cut that number back though, since it pretty much consumes every evening and large chunks of my weekend.

You don't say?


My most honest answer isn't given in the poll. It's "I don't know".

However, if I were to wildly and inaccurately guess, I would say maybe 2 hours per week on average (we play bi-weekly - any more than that is unacceptable based on our available time) - but even that might be high.

 

[Nifft]

I said 5-10 average, but it's really concentrated around the beginning of / transition between story arcs. Story arcs seem to last between 2 and 10 sessions.

I'm not sure if I should count time working on the backround of the setting itself, since it's a work of love that I may eventually seek to publish.

-- N

 

[Agback]

I'm the master of improv DMing.

You may be a master of improv GMing. But I contest your claim to being the master of improv GMing.

Seriously, I'm with BlackMoria. Tell me what the setting is and who the PCs are, give me a nice strong cup of coffee, and let 'er rip.

I have spent a lot of time over the years writing background material, campaign prospectuses, and what have you. But my preparation for GMing a particular adventure is to sit down and say hello to the character-players.

Regards,


Agback

 

[der_kluge]

You may be a master of improv GMing. But I contest your claim to being the master of improv GMing.

Seriously, I'm with BlackMoria. Tell me what the setting is and who the PCs are, give me a nice strong cup of coffee, and let 'er rip.

I have spent a lot of time over the years writing background material, campaign prospectuses, and what have you. But my preparation for GMing a particular adventure is to sit down and say hello to the character-players.

I've got a lot of respect for you folks that can do that. I wish I could. For those that adlib the entire thing, how do you work in long-term plots? I mean, I could see starting in an inn, and having the innskeeper send the PCs on some quest, and then they return, or something happens along the way. I think I could do that fairly easily, but how do you work in long term things? Wouldn't you have to plan those out to make sure all the pieces fit together right?

 

[BlackMoria]

Originally Posted by Agback
You may be a master of improv GMing. But I contest your claim to being the master of improv GMing.

Well, how should we resolve this - best of three falls?

Ok, A master of improv GMing.

For those that adlib the entire thing, how do you work in long-term plots?

If I have a concept for the campaign, I roughly write down a 'probable' framework of ideas and a timeline. This provides the long term focus for the campaign.

Of course, the players will have their own ideas of what they want to accomplish (which may differ from what my concept is), so it is adapt and modify as the campaign advances.

Sometimes, the players literally give you the long term plot. For example, in one campaign based in the FR, the players wanted to restore Shandukul's Temple in Myth Drannor to its former glory, as one of the players was a priest of Shandukul. Not a simple task, considering a ruined city full of undead, demons and other nasties. So that plot literally took the entire campaign, since the Zhentarium, the Cult of the Dragon and the Red Wizards had their own plans for Myth Drannor. And many side plots and intrigues that conspired to thwart their ambitions.

So, there is one example. Another campaign revolved around re-establishing the legitimate claim to a Barony that one of the characters was heir to. Lots of intrigue, assassins in the night, betrayals and double crosses in that one....

Some food for thought...

 

[Jolly Giant]

I guess I'm at roughly 20 hours a week. Sometimes more, sometimes less.

Fortunately, my job involves a lot of "dead" time where I just sit alone and WAIT. I usually bring notepaper and a pencil, and kill the time planning plotlines, encounters and NPCs.

My (evil) campaign hovers around lvl 30 by now (after running for 3 years), and every single monster or NPC generally takes me somewhere between 4 and 12 hours. It's a lot of work, but then the campiagn is also a lot of fun! Still, I find myself dreaming more and more often about running a campaign with lvl 1 good guy PCs...

 

[Agback]

For those that adlib the entire thing, how do you work in long-term plots? I mean, I could see starting in an inn, and having the innskeeper send the PCs on some quest, and then they return, or something happens along the way. I think I could do that fairly easily, but how do you work in long term things? Wouldn't you have to plan those out to make sure all the pieces fit together right?

I usually start with characters and a conflict. For instance, I might have a beautiful widowed queen, a brave and handsome fourteen-year-old king, and a regency council of various politicians and courtiers (including an unscrupulous uncle of the king, an honest chancellor, a venal chamberlain, and a dupe). The uncle might be scheming to usurp the throne by framing the queen for adultery and having the king declared illegitmate. As long as I keep the number of parties in the conflict manageable, and calculate (or intuit) how each of them will react to every development, I can keep the situation consistent. And then the pieces have to fit, because they were cut out of a whole.

I put a lot of work into describing a rich setting, one complex and conflicted enough that the adventures can take place within it, and not in its hinterland or on its borders. But then my plan for the campaign that occurs within the setting would rarely be more detailed than the previous paragraph (plus names and titles for the characters mentioned). The players read the setting description and generate characters. I look at the character designs, and think of a way that one or more characters could be involved in or stumble across the edge of one of the villain's schemes or of the good-gal's counter-schemes. I put the PCs in a situation, see how they react, calculate and intuit the way the situation develops as a result of that incident. Keeping in mind the NPCs' natures and core motivations, and the rule of steadily rising dramatic tension, off I go. I maintain the crucible, draw the PCs into contact with the significant NPCs, and gradually turn up the heat. The rest looks after itself, especially with the character-players doing all the work to maintain consistent, fathomable protagonists and reveal their natures and core motivations through their actions. (My approach is collaborative as well as being improvisatory: this is important.)

Regards,


Agback

 

[Liolel]

I voted 1-4 hours a week, but thats on average. Also its not really the bare minimum at least not right now because I'm writing the next adventure while the party is going through the previous adventure. I also don't dm every week (schedule problems, and rotating dms.) This leads to a small amount of time each week generating a lot total.