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Message: <blockquote data-quote="S'mon" data-source="post: 6244035" data-attributes="member: 463">4e is best as a pretty low prep game, IME. Encounters -  maps, critters etc - are best prepared only before each individual session, so you can respond to player actions. The encounters I take 20 minutes to make myself tend to go better than the WoTC ones I spend an hour reading and trying to grok their appalling Delve layout...IME the most beneficial prep is making NPCs, both friendly and hostile. A paragraph of description & motivation. I find making a combat statblock helpful, or at least a skills list for noncombatant NPCs; it helps to 'ground' them for me. Avoid creating a scene by scene 'story' in advance of play; let the story emerge in response to PC and NPC plots, actions, and reactions.</blockquote>