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!