GMs: What is your prep to play ratio?

[Reynard]

I use Paizo PDFs even when im playing on table top face to face and keeping track of all I need is rather easy and convenient that way. Prep is more or less just reading the material over and organizing it a way to use it as I need it during the sessions. I really dont know how they could make it any easier than that other then literally just use maps and bullet points.

You can have annotated maps and bullet points IN ADDITON to walls of text, if one really feels they must write those. It isn't an either or.
The idea that one does not have any idea how they could facilitate GMs more is just silly to me.

ETA: For clarity, I think published scenarios should be able to be run essentially without prep, within 5 minutes of opening the thing up.

 

[payn]

You can have annotated maps and bullet points IN ADDITON to walls of text, if one really feels they must write those. It isn't an either or.
The idea that one does not have any idea how they could facilitate GMs more is just silly to me.

Every map has annotation with files that strip it out for running, a bestiary, and magic item index. Am I the only one who sees these?

ETA: For clarity, I think published scenarios should be able to be run essentially without prep, within 5 minutes of opening the thing up.

That clarity helps and is exactly what I was talking about earlier about what I see as thin experiences. I suppose mine would be the opposite of overindulgent or too thick.

 

[pemerton]

I dont need to pay somebody for a map and list of bullet points. Anybody should be able to whip that up on their own.

I'll happily pay for a map and a list of bullet points, if the map is interesting and the stuff in the bullet points compelling!

I'm thinking of something like the islands in Agon 2e - these don't have maps, but each is about 3 pages, some of which is bullet-pointed lists, and each is good for a session of play.

More than once I've spent the afternoon or the morning before a Torchbearer 2e session writing up a little adventure area that is not much more than a map and bullet points. If someone was selling something like that, I'd pay (say) $10 (Australian). I recently paid for coffee for me and a colleague, at a cafe that's not too fancy, and it was $13.

 

[payn]

I'll happily pay for a map and a list of bullet points, if the map is interesting and the stuff in the bullet points compelling!

I'm thinking of something like the islands in Agon 2e - these don't have maps, but each is about 3 pages, some of which is bullet-pointed lists, and each is good for a session of play.

More than once I've spent the afternoon or the morning before a Torchbearer 2e session writing up a little adventure area that is not much more than a map and bullet points. If someone was selling something like that, I'd pay (say) $10 (Australian). I recently paid for coffee for me and a colleague, at a cafe that's not too fancy, and it was $13.

Something so simple could be whipped up via A.I. for nothing im sure.

 

[Reynard]

That clarity helps and is exactly what I was talking about earlier about what I see as thin experiences. I suppose mine would be the opposite of overindulgent or too thick.

Again, I believe you can have both. You can include all the story and history and context, but still make the thing readily playable. One of the weaknesses of RPGs as a form of entertainment is that one person has to do all this extra work, even if they spring for a prewritten scenario. At a certain point, one wonders why they are buying a module at all if it takes extra prep.

 

[Gorgon Zee]

Something so simple could be whipped up via A.I. for nothing im sure.

My experience has been that the maps are unusably bad. Bullet points are often OK but pretty generic. It's usable, but it's nowhere near as good as human-created content. I'm in the "will pay for decent content" camp.

 

[hawkeyefan]

One thing folks often don’t get is the APs from Paizo (until the recent change anyway) is that AP modules do not need to be run in their entirety. When you skip the supplemental material you get to about 60 pages in a chapter and with minimal changes you got a stand alone adventure.

I know Mothership modules are all the rage along with a number of other recent RPGs. I won’t go so far as to say the adventure experiences were bad for me, but they definitely felt thin. Quicker, less complex, like an episodic tv show. I’m an odd bird in that doesn’t intrigue me for the long haul but as you say it’s just preferences.

I don’t know which Mothership modules you may have played or are familiar with… but the couple that I know (the aforementioned A Pound of Flesh and Gradient Descent) aren’t really less complex. One’s a dynamic setting and the other is a mega-dungeon. Both can provide dozens of hour of play.

I’ve played in a few and run several Pathfinder APs… most notably Rise of the Runelords, Kingmaker, and Council of Thieves. The difference is in utility and economy more so than substance.

I enjoyed them just fine. Kingmaker in particular. But ultimately, I found they were a lot more work than they should have been for what they do.

 

[pemerton]

Something so simple could be whipped up via A.I. for nothing im sure.

My experience has been that the maps are unusably bad. Bullet points are often OK but pretty generic. It's usable, but it's nowhere near as good as human-created content. I'm in the "will pay for decent content" camp.

I've never used generative AI for scenario design.

But this is an example of what an Agon island looks like (it's one I wrote up):

Kassos
A steep-sloped island of handicrafters and traders

Signs of the Gods
Demeter (Goddess of Law): Her sign is the seal - promises made and obligations kept.

Hephaistos (God of Crafting): His sign is a star-shaped brooch wrought out of tin, the imposition of form onto the chaos of the natural world.

Zeus (Lord of the Sky): A storm rages and torrential rain is falling as your sailors dock your vessel.

Arrival
Water flows through the streets of the town, sweeping away the market stalls and hand carts.

A crowd gathers at the edge of a cliff that overlooks the port - led by Dares, the priest of Zeus, they are going to throw a young man, Pythios, over the edge as a sacrifice.

A middle-aged woman, bedraggled in the downpour, recognises you as heroes and looks at you imploringly. She is Chryse, mother of Pythios.

You must choose swiftly: will you listen to Chryse (Arts & Oration to stop the crowd performing the sacrifice), or comfort her (Resolve & Spirit: if she wins, she hurls herself into the sea after her son), or join the crowd on the cliff (Resolve & Spirit: if the heroes win, the Strife Level is lowered by one)?

Trials
To learn the truth about Dares choice of sacrifice: he is in debt to Chryse (Craft & Reason in the temple records; Arts & Oration vs Dares).

To repair the drains and sewers (Craft & Reason; Arts & Oration my ad an advantage from willing townsfolk).

To offer a different sacrifice to Zeus to end the storm (Resolve & Spirit; if the storm continues, raise the strife level and repairing the drains and sewers becomes Perilous).

Battle
Will the heroes confront the wild cultists who dance in the under temple, praying for the sky and earth to swallow up the town and restore Kassos to its primeval state? Threats: the cultists kill Dares; more rain falls.

Or will the heroes topple Dares from his position of influence? Threats: Dares destroys the records in the temple; violence breaks out among the townsfolk as old debts are called in and new ones established in the struggle for power.

Characters
Dares, Priest of Zeus (d8). Cunning (d6). Pious (d8, and Sacred in his temple).
Chryse, Townswoman (d6). Devoted to her son (d8). Honest (d6).
Townsfolk (d6). Industrious (d6). Cooperative: Advantage on any endeavour where they work together.
Thesela, cult leader (d8). Zealous (d6). Hidden knife (d8 Perilous). Accompanied by her cultists, she is Epic.

Places
The buildings in the town have copper downpipes; the sewers and drains made of brick and clay pipe, into which these flow, are in disrepair.

The temple of Zeus contains records of all debts and promises.

The under temple, lit by torches, has brick walls but an earthen floor.

Special Rewards
Trade goods to fill the hold of your vessel.

Mysteries
Why does Zeus send rain? Is it at the supplication of the cultists? To punish Dares for allowing the temple to fall into debt?

Who are the cultists? Are they townsfolk who despise urban life? Are they descendants of the farmers and hunters who once ruled on Kassos? And do they have some hold over Dares such that he dare not drive them from the under temple?

As you can see if you go back to the thread I originally posted this in, it was inspired by a list of "Iron DM" ingredients. But will AI create something like this, based on a list of ingredients and an instruction to design an Agon island? @Gorgon Zee's post makes me doubtful.

 

[Scott Christian]

I realize I am an anomaly with this, but I generally spend an entire summer writing NPCs, scenes, side quests, thread lines, big baddie, maps, etc. This is approximately 3-4 hours a day, five days a week. I calculated it one summer. It works out to about 100-120 hours. It's all enjoyable to me, and it is leisurely styled effort. This does not count me deciding to go out to eat or to a bar with my notebook and jotting ideas down.

Then, when it is time to run, I spend about a couple of hours each week tailoring it to the PCs' actions and non-actions. Plus, I use that time to set up next session's possible maps, minis, etc. This is not leisurely-styled effort. It is very concentrated.

 

[zakael19]

I realize I am an anomaly with this, but I generally spend an entire summer writing NPCs, scenes, side quests, thread lines, big baddie, maps, etc. This is approximately 3-4 hours a day, five days a week. I calculated it one summer. It works out to about 100-120 hours. It's all enjoyable to me, and it is leisurely styled effort. This does not count me deciding to go out to eat or to a bar with my notebook and jotting ideas down.

Then, when it is time to run, I spend about a couple of hours each week tailoring it to the PCs' actions and non-actions. Plus, I use that time to set up next session's possible maps, minis, etc. This is not leisurely-styled effort. It is very concentrated.

That's like a part-time job.