Getting Ready to Play

[Marc_C]

If there is one moment I really like about roleplaying games it is the final preparation before a session. Reviewing everything one last time, adding extra notes and possible plot twists. Defining NPCs a bit more. I rely on index cards and color markers to do that. I find them are easy to consult during the game.

How do you prepare?

 

[billd91]

I usually build a Word document out of stat blocks of opponents in the game that I can then annotate, write on to track hit points, spells cast, etc. This gives me a chance to review all of the stat blocks actively and interact with them rather than just reading them on the page which helps cement their presence in the adventure into my brain.

 

[loverdrive]

I just find a movie or two that fits the tone and watch it, that's pretty much it.

 

[el-remmen]

I like to put on mood setting music as I prep - usually a movie score or a Beethoven symphony. If possible, I draw battle maps ahead of time, I adjust the cameras for my remote set-up, I choose the specific dice I want to use that day, and do final print out of any hand outs for players (these days links to the wiki, until we can be F2F again). I also handwrite a bunch of notes but then type them up more clearly + stat blocks. I have attached a PDF example.

 

[dragoner]

At my tavern face to face game, it was to have a beer and review notes of went on last game. I feel that a certain amount of the art of winging it is what a good GM does. I do have a pdf of my setting available if players want that. Play by post is super easy, no prep, or forever prep, depending on how one wants to look at it. I find world building relaxing, I do it for my own benefit, and don't expect the players to do anything other than to interact with the environment at the moment.

 

[shawnhcorey]

Dice: check
Soda: check
Munchies: check

 

[MNblockhead]

My game prep used to look like your photo back in the days of in-person gaming. Now it is having multiple screens set up with my VTT, several tabs of D&D Beyond, PDF of the adventure (with prep and session notes added as comments and bookmarks ), and my Google Spreadsheet that I use to track in-game time.

 

[MNblockhead]

Dice: check
Soda: check
Munchies: check

Okay, looks like we're ready to...wait. Where are all the players?

<slaps forehead>

I forgot to send the invite.

 

[TheAlkaizer]

I tend to do a ton of worldbuilding, notetaking and planning in the weeks before. I'm always several session ahead when it comes to that.

Then, before a session, I'll go over my worldbuilding and notes and pick ideas and elements that still ring with me and develop them a bit or condense them a bit. I'll prepare two or three possible encounters with what direction the session could take. I prepare any interesting rewards. I write key words for descriptions of what they'll see. And I condense all of this in one page in my note-taking app.

 

[Richards]

My pre-game prep consists of the following:

• Print off the adventure, after having done a final proofreading check the night before
• Print off my PC Tracking Sheet, with AC values, hp, spell slots, ability scores, and any class abilities usable a certain number of times/day
• Print off my Monster Stats sheet, with AC, hp, attack and damage, saves, special abilities, etc. for each monster in the adventure
• Print off any player handouts
• Gather up an initiative card for each PC/NPC/monster in the adventure
• Gather up the appropriate minis/tokens
• Gather up the maps I'll be using (often homemade on the back of a desk calendar sheet gridded off into 1" squares)
• Set out the snacks we bought the night before on our downstairs kitchen island
• Lay out my dice at the DM end of the table
• Place any updated sheets for the PC binders from our last adventure (new equipment lists, class abilities, spell lists, etc.) at the players' places at the table
• Place any minis the players will be using (my own family members' PC minis, the horses/donkeys/wagon the whole group uses, familiars/animal companions. etc.)

Johnathan