DUNGEON MASTERS: How do you do your session plans!?

[Lanefan]

Notes?

What are these things you call notes?

If I'm running a canned module I'll often have no extra notes at all. If it's my own adventure I'll have a map (usually) and (usually) some vague ideas of what goes where; and that's it. If I really get ambitious I'll have a bunch of little scribbles on the map detailking what's where.

This isn't to say I'm going lowbrow here; I run very sophisticated serialized plots. I spend a lot more time writing summaries of what happened after the fact than I do prepping.

Same here, though my players often tend to put the sophisticated plots through the shredder either intentionally or not.

Instead, I'd try running a session 100% improv; no prep of any kind, and then ask yourself: what do I wish I had done? Build your own style from the ground up. What do I need to run a session?

Not much, IME.

This. But for the first while, until you get good at it, make sure you're taking some useful notes during the game notes so you can remember later what you made up on the fly and keep it consistent.

Lanefan

 

[Grimstead]

Wanted to acknowledge and thank everybody for their advice so far. I'm coming to the realization that my overly thorough prep may stem from the fact that I'm a worldbuilder more than a player or a DM. Before play even began, my (unfinished and still growing) setting document was 86 pages long. I like detail and I like to be prepared... my campaign, personally, is far less sandbox than most homebrews. And yet, I have a phobia of railroading... so I try to build in options. And THAT is what's taking me so much time. High detail and multiple options. It makes sense; I learned to DM by emulating published modules.

So if anyone else wants to chime in, please do. I'm taking this advice seriously because clearly I need to gain perspective on how much is too much, and where I can loosen up and let the story write itself. My real goal is to cut it down to 2-2.5 hours of prep per session... I actually enjoy prep for the first couple of hours. It's not lost on me that the no-prep experiment is designed to distill a list of bare minimums for my future prep, and Ill probably use it in the near future.

 

[Crothian]

My notes consist of the things I'm bad at: names. I have names for places and NPCs so I can give them to the players when needed. I don't spend time coming up with stats I make those up on the fly when needed but most of the time I just steal from modules, books, and online. My prep comes from figuring out what can happen. I do over prepare because I want to have an idea of what happens based on what the players do. So, when they have a choice of what to do I'll come up with ideas for each option and even though only one option gets used in game I know I'm ready for what the players decide.

 

[Quickleaf]

Have you heard of prepping to improvise? I think that kind of approach would be good for a world-builder like yourself. It involves a bit of front-loaded work but ideally enables you to account for multiple directions the PCs could go later down the line.

Things like random encounter tables, lists of random names/occupations, PDFs of challenges/traps/puzzles, pre-drawn encounter maps, and all the jazz.

You can see my current approach for 4e as a PDF in my recent "A New Campaign" post.

 

[Blue]

My system for DM prep

What Im looking for more specifically is actual example notes scanned straight out of a notebook. I want to see what format people use for the physical recording of their ideas and hopefully rapid mental retrieval of them during the game session. Or does everyone else do it like me, writing things out in incredibly verbose and formatted detail as if they were submitting it to an editor for print tommorow? Does everyone type up 12 pages of material for each gaming session?

I do 100% homebrew world and adventures. I love world-building, so I have a lot of pre-campaign prep that I put in (that's a lot of fun), which helps me improvise where needed.

While I don't have a computer at the table, I do all my prep on one. I have one default document that I update from session to session. Because my players have a habit of going in various directions, I usually have a lot prepared because I don't know what way they are going to jump, but whatever they don't peruse is usable next session (perhaps with some updates based on time/events/actions of PCs), so it's not a lot of per-session prep.

My document has the following sections:
* Important/Timely - a short (<1 page) of things that are happening that I need to work in (volcano erupting, bar they go to is broken up, town criers new news, etc.)
* Plot arc info - info for the current plot arcs. including everything from pocket NPC desriptions, what's happening, etc.
* Misc - reminds on some character things to work in, calendar with upcoming eventsw and some travel times, items I want to get into the PC's hands, details for the current town or stuff.
* Adventure prep - detail prep (if needed) for whatever I expect is most likely.
* Stat blocks - NPCs and monsters likely to be involved in combat (on either side). Exactly one or two per page so I can spread them out and access them when running. These I make sure not to print double-sided. Cut-n-paste is good to save time, and 3.5 and 4e have some ways to do this. (d20SRD, pcgen / online CB & compendium, etc.) I'll often reskin things. "Need trained guards? Use bugbear stats." sort of thing

So Important/Timely updates regularly, but it's less than a page. Plot arc gets minor updates each session, misc sometime updates, adventure prep updates but I try to keep it at a sane level of detail, and often I don't know what direction they will jump to have too much to put there. Stat blocks can update, but it's often cut-n-paste that's fast.

Hope this helps.

 

[Blackbrrd]

Have you heard of prepping to improvise? I think that kind of approach would be good for a world-builder like yourself. It involves a bit of front-loaded work but ideally enables you to account for multiple directions the PCs could go later down the line.

Things like random encounter tables, lists of random names/occupations, PDFs of challenges/traps/puzzles, pre-drawn encounter maps, and all the jazz.

You can see my current approach for 4e as a PDF in my recent "A New Campaign" post.

Sounds like a great idea - prepping for improv, gonna steal it.

Found the post you mentioned if anybody else needs it: http://www.enworld.org/forum/d-d-pathfinder/330793-new-campaign.html

 

[Mallus]

Session prep for my current AD&D game takes the following format.

#1 - A recap of last session, ex:

• Party makes their way toward the Rat King's guild hideout. Defeats, but doesn’t kill, the Master of Weasels (Snake Empire Slaver), kills 5 dire River Twist weasels, 5 orc guards.

• Party frees the slaves being watched over by the Master of Weasels.

• Party wisely avoids being led into a ambush in the Slave Pits by the retreating Master of Weasels, backtracks through narrow tunnels, and enters the Rat King's hideout from the south, aided by the able-bodied freed slaves.

• The Rat King is defeated and captured, Mordecai and Freyja are psionically -blasted (ran away), and a brave, intelligent child dies (Puck). Nameless is knocked comatose during the battle (-3HP).

• Now they must escape, while keeping the rescued slaves alive.

#2 - General Notes, ex:

Note 1: Pogley’s Geas: encounter chance 1 in 6 per day, 2-4 orphan (must kill), 5-6 blind person (must cure of blindness, transforming them into an Eye of Bast).

Note 2: Crystal of Time: time-skip chance 1 in 10 per week in Port (2-10 on land?, more at Sea??)


#3 - A list of the party's (possible) next moves, ex:

• Fix the Mind-transference helmet/find a new body for Ivorium's soul (automatic).

• Rig the helmet for use – problem, the source *wears* the helmet, the destination *operates the crank*.

• 
  Find a way to empty the soul from a body without killing it (The Soul Gem of the Vacant Angel, Ghost Tower of Invernes), or find/create a soulless body (Gardens of Peng-Leng).

• Remove the Mask of Bast from Progsley (travel to the Shrine of Bastet in the Great Pyramid on the Isle of Mu, Isle of Dread + Pyramid).

Possibly form a new Thieves Guild from the remains of the Rat King's organization.

• 
  Possibly lay claim to some of the Rat King's former assets (The Belle and the Bone, The Hunting Bride, The White Claw Inn).

• The Slavers – revenge? (rest of Slave Lords series).

#4 - Weird new flavortext/setting information, ex:

Travel to the Isle of Mu – passage can be bought on the Fleischboot, the Eye can be hired, and the Mu Expedition can be joined.

The Docks: the ships that ply the Deep Aster dock near the Demon’s Claw, ie the northern portion of the harbor which will be called the Breakers. The only porters brave/foolish/desperate enough to get near these vessels are goblins.

The Deep Aster ships:

A Fleischeboot (formerly a barbarian longboat): Captain: itself. Crew, technically 1, apparently 10.

The Fleischeboote (s) – the result of human ships sailing into the Deep Aster; became sentient and absorbed crew. Mutated sailors connected to their ships by umbilical cords, hair, nerves, and blood vessels. The first were long ships from the Unassailable North.

The “ship” can be hired for a quantity of meat/livestock, hardwoods, metal, and 2 human(oid) slaves, totaling 1000 gp. If slaves aren’t provided, it will attempt to eat 2 party members.

The Eye of Fortune. Captain: Cunning Sphere, a copper/red-tinted Beholder. Crew, 1 miniaturized Cyclops, 6 cyclopskin, a dozen dissolute-looking Githzerai.

The Eye of Fortune is a circular barge 8 eight spherical outriggers on spokes, all made of a golden metal. It’s sail appears to a be an equilateral triangle made of electrum foil.

The Eye is the safest ship, but also, the most costly.

The Children of Drunkards (as in, “the gods protect children and drunkards, so we’re twice as safe”). Captain: Jeke Viktus, crew: mostly human, some half-elves, half-orcs, and goblins.

The ship is protected from the destructive, mutagenic waters of the Aster Sea by a magical paint referred to as the “Elder Sealant”. It’s an experimental formula create by the ship’s M-U; Shieb Gulag, the Imprisoned Mage. It’s said his soul is a ‘demon frog from Beyond-the-Sea’.

It's currently being chartered by the scholars Fleur de Mer and Orang Canto and their Mu Joint Expedition. This is the cheapest option, free if the PCs hire on, but it leaves them with no control over their itinerary or departure from Mu. This is also the most vulnerable ship.


#5 - simple stat blocks (lines) for enemies and allies, ex:

Gnolls (6): HD: 2, AC: 5, ATTK 1, 2-4, HP: 6, 7, 12, 18, 8, 10
Basilisk: HD: 6+1, AC: 4, ATTK 1, 1-10, gaze turns to stone, HP: 28.

“Joe” – HD4, AC:5, HP: 18, ATTK 1, 1-12 (a doppleganger disguised as a non-descript Port denizen).
Janna –: AC: 3, HP 7, ATTK 1, +1, 1-6+2, orc chain, axe (Northern female, Freyja’s cousin).
Lars Larsonson – HD1, AC: 5, HP: 2, ATTK 1, 1-6 (Northerner male, former Live Chess player, injured).
Zot Gobbins – HD3, AC:9, HP:13, ATTK: 1 +1, 1-2+1, (an unusually beefy goblin – rethinking dedication to cowardice).


It's not the most organized or efficient approach to setting prep, but it's all it got!

 

[nijineko]

i'll jot down brainstorm notes in an outline / paragraph / stream of consciousness manner, and refer to them during gameplay. i'll also use modules for guidelines on occasion, cutting and pasting between various ones.

one of my dms uses no notes at all. but then he's been dm'ing for over 25 years, so he is just that good at extemporizing. lucky us. =D

 

[Tharkon]

4-6 hours is a lot less than my prep time, so I am afraid I can't help you cut that down.

Of course I am currently running an adventure that is written for 3.5 that I have to convert to Pathfinder piece by piece. In addition I am a perfectionist and like to have things at the table go the way I plan them so make notes and memorize them and then curse myself after for still forgetting half.

Main reason I am posting here is to explain that you aren't the only one out there with lots of prep time.

 

[Quickleaf]

Riffing off [MENTION=52240]nijineko[/MENTION] , I'll add that mind-mapping software can really help free up mental space by organizing information (I use Freemind but there is another better one out there I can't recall the name off).