Expanding on Chatty DM's Session Prep Checklist

[Ktulu]

I'll throw my hat into the ring on this. Here are the 5 things I must do for each session.

1. Determine location - There are two things I need for the game to feel awesome; one is location. I figure out what the overall scene will be like (weather, terrain, location, etc...). Sometimes this is easy, like when the players haven't left a previous one. I always shake it up, though, to keep it fresh. Maybe the rain's picked up, or the winds are now howling....

2. Determine Objectives - What are the antagonist's wanting to do? What happens if they succeed or fail? What are the PC's wanting to do? What happens if they succeed or fail? Knowing what the most likely outcomes in situations are will help when your evil wizard gets killed by a crit, or when the players get beaten severely.

3. Build Encounters/Skill Challenges - If fights have to happen, where will they? What interesting terrain features can I put in the scene? What are the likely outcomes? (Win, Lose, Draw, what happens?)

4. Looking back at previous sessions - This is important if you're doing a long-running game with secrets and prophecy. Look back often. Read your old notes and blog-posts. You're bound to find something that'll really get the players invested in the history of the world.

5. Be done at least 24 hours before the game - By this, I mean have your maps, minis, notes, sheets, books--everything you are using prepped and ready. If, like me, you travel to another place to game, have everything in the car. I find that the earlier I finish, the more time I have to think about the NPC's, speeches, and overall plot. If I'm still scrambling to finish on game-day, my games often feel a little more rushed and haphazard.


Enjoy.

 

[Noumenon]

Determine Objectives - What are the antagonist's wanting to do? What happens if they succeed or fail? What are the PC's wanting to do? What happens if they succeed or fail? Knowing what the most likely outcomes in situations are will help when your evil wizard gets killed by a crit, or when the players get beaten severely.

Is this going to fit in the checklist I made? Can I just put "Determine NPC's objectives" as a subtask of "create timeline of what that NPC does indepently"? And "What happens if they succeed or fail" as a subtask of "flowchart what happens when the PCs interfere in his timeline"?

I like how both the "objectives" and "timeline" approach get me to start the design with what the NPC does, not who he is or what quirks he has. I'm getting the stuff that will come up in the game done first and the details later. Just the way I wanted it.

Fitting in player objectives is a little trickier. It does strike me that player goals are a little lacking in the checklist so far -- we are generating our flowchart based on the antagonists' timeline and the PC reactions, not the players' plans. I think maybe the "player objective" section should come first, because that will determine where to shine the spotlight and ask "what's this location like, what's the timeline here?"

My PCs have just escaped their chains in an underground mine and asking "What are their objectives -- food, rest, regaining the surface?" seemed to lead to very productive thinking about what kind of challenges I'm trying to design. For example, the module has an ogre in a secret chamber turning an elevator crankshaft, so now I can adapt that to my idea by having the other escaped slaves mention how they saw food being carried into the room with the secret door but never coming out.

 

[Noumenon]

Here's something important that's missing: When do you design in "moments of PC awesome," when you look at their character sheets and player types and say "I have got to put in a puzzle for this player, or an encounter where you need to speak Giant, or a monster that's vulnerable to fire?" You'll never do that if you just design around the NPC's objectives and the PC's goals. I guess under the "build encounter" step I'll put, "add one element that appeals greatly to one PC."

 

[Ktulu]

First, for the objectives -

I try to keep this very fluid, i.e. my timeline cannot be static. Thus, when the PC's take on a new quest, or after a severe beating, I need to re-do objectives. If the Big-bad lost his dragon cohort in a battle with the PC's, maybe his objective changes to getting a new dragon.. You lose something that big, you should back-off and regroup (think Risk, you don't keep pushing into enemy territory with 1 unit, you back off and try to get more support).

With PC's, their objectives show up as the game progresses. For example, one objective from each of my six current players:

Tristan - Rescue Hobart from Bel's clutches.
Janus - reunite the Lightbringers (paladins)
Anthony - Locate Duomar's library (ancient powerful wizard)
Aase - Become the Vanir (warlord) of the Clans
Dawn - See that his sister's soul is not claimed by Asmodeus
Hobart - Get outta hell.

That is as of my last week's session. This week, the party will be venturing into Hell in hopes of saving their companion. A number of the goals will shift before the session ends..


On to the second part, on moments of PC awesome. I try to ensure one of these a session, and round-robin them as I can. They don't always end up being awesome, but if I have one thing devoted to a player (either a combat that shows off his awesome burst skillz, or a skill challenge devoted to the ridiculous endurance a fighter has, etc..) then I'm usually pretty solid.

 

[Gilladian]

I find that "player moments of awesome" never come when I plan for them. I can figure the technodelver will go nuts for a chance to recover a lost bit of chaositech, but no, he ignores it. Or even destroys it.

The rogue who should be able to shine scaling a cliff and getting the PCs out of trouble will inevitably fail his climb check and have to be rescued by the 6 dex cleric.

So I don't try to plan for them. I just make sure I provide a lot of variability in my dungeons/adventures. This is one reason I LOVE using short modules, segments of adventures, etc... in my work. I don't get stuck designing everything "my way".

Timelines do frequently rely on "what the PCs want". For example, if I do have a PC who is tech crazy, I will add that flavor to a scene whenever I can. If the villain has a choice between retreating to the clock tower or the manor house, I"ll choose the clock tower if I think my PCs will enjoy it more.