DM's, when do you prepare for your game?

[weem]

I used to spend a lot of time making maps, making plans, etc., but not so much anymore. I mean I still will make basic sketches whatnot, but I pretty much improv everything anymore, its usually more fun and I can react to what the players are doing at the time.

I still brainstorm all week on what to do in certain situations and play the scene in my head, but thats about as far as it goes. Usually the night before a game I will jot down some basic notes, write up a few stats for key npc's and then wing it.

Right now I think we are having one of the better games I have ever run.

The funny thing is, I write a lot and quickly, so it's not uncommon for me to show up with 6-7 pages (front and back) of notes, etc and then refer to MAYBE 5% of them while playing. I attribute that to a memory issue I have though, and I think writing it down helps me retain it.

With that said, I did want to start up a game where I did no prep as far as notes and played it really loose - but that has not materialized yet.

 

[Ktulu]

So, for those of you who prep, and regardless of how much prep work you do (5 minutes, or 8 hours), how close to game time to you prep for it?

I usually prep about one game in advance (so, essentially, I start working on the next week's game a week before this game). However, I'm never done. I'm constantly updating, tweaking, and absorbing new ideas. I usually have a finished product about 24 hours before game-time, though. In fairness, we game on Monday evenings, so I have all of Sunday (day off) to put the finishing touches on a session.

Bonus question: What time of day is best for you? For me, I tend to be most creative in the morning but do my best actual prep work late at night (11pm - 2am the night before the game

I'm a mid-afternoon sort of guy. In the morning (sunday, specifically) we go to the farmer's market and then go to breakfast, etc... In the early afternoon, after lunch, I sit down in my game-room and spread out different maps/tiles I want to use, and start pushing through the books on what monster/treasure/etc... I am looking for. 4-5 hours later I'm usually ready to go, along with a good idea of what the next session will entail.

After the session, I start all over, and spend the week mulling over their decisions, and the encounter outcomes, before diving back into the planning stages.