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How I Learned To Stop Worrying About Game Prep
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<blockquote data-quote="Isida Kep'Tukari" data-source="post: 7720894" data-attributes="member: 4441"><p>I learned to do low-prep gameplay in college. For several reasons, I was gaming 3-5 times a week, mostly in D&D 3.0/3.5 and Arcana Unearthed. As I had gotten in on the ground floor of both systems, I learned both very, very well. With so many games, plus a full class load and extracurricular activities, I had very little time for game prep. My game prep usually went as follows: flip through Monster Manual (or other monster book) to find appropriate CR foe in appropriate environment. Maybe flip through an inspiration book for a plot twist or side quest (AEG's d20 Toolbox was my lifeline). Continue story from last time, letting my players drive the action where necessary. Say yes a lot. Throw in a few plot twists/side quests to keep things interesting. Chuck in a monster if appropriate to the plot or people are getting bored.</p><p></p><p>My players never really knew I was basically DMing by the seat of my pants.</p><p></p><p>I realized in reality, I am actually doing a lot of game prep, I'm just not setting aside several hours to do it in a dedicated fashion. I read my gaming books for fun, particularly monster books and supplements with game ideas or tables in them. Then when the players throw something unexpected at me, I have a store of information ready to go to handle whatever comes up. Also, since I've been gaming for over twenty years now, I have a lot of NPCs, characters, old campaign notes, and ideas saved up on my computer for reference and use.</p><p></p><p>If I end up wanting to play a game very quickly, without having to stop for the longer process of character creation in D&D or Pathfinder, I'll use the Cypher System. You can make a character in 15 minutes, and the prep for that game can be very easy (making a monster is as simple as deciding on a number). It also doesn't make any use of maps and minis (you can if you want to, but the game functions very smoothly without it, moreso than D&D or Pathfinder), which makes it simple to play on the fly.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Isida Kep'Tukari, post: 7720894, member: 4441"] I learned to do low-prep gameplay in college. For several reasons, I was gaming 3-5 times a week, mostly in D&D 3.0/3.5 and Arcana Unearthed. As I had gotten in on the ground floor of both systems, I learned both very, very well. With so many games, plus a full class load and extracurricular activities, I had very little time for game prep. My game prep usually went as follows: flip through Monster Manual (or other monster book) to find appropriate CR foe in appropriate environment. Maybe flip through an inspiration book for a plot twist or side quest (AEG's d20 Toolbox was my lifeline). Continue story from last time, letting my players drive the action where necessary. Say yes a lot. Throw in a few plot twists/side quests to keep things interesting. Chuck in a monster if appropriate to the plot or people are getting bored. My players never really knew I was basically DMing by the seat of my pants. I realized in reality, I am actually doing a lot of game prep, I'm just not setting aside several hours to do it in a dedicated fashion. I read my gaming books for fun, particularly monster books and supplements with game ideas or tables in them. Then when the players throw something unexpected at me, I have a store of information ready to go to handle whatever comes up. Also, since I've been gaming for over twenty years now, I have a lot of NPCs, characters, old campaign notes, and ideas saved up on my computer for reference and use. If I end up wanting to play a game very quickly, without having to stop for the longer process of character creation in D&D or Pathfinder, I'll use the Cypher System. You can make a character in 15 minutes, and the prep for that game can be very easy (making a monster is as simple as deciding on a number). It also doesn't make any use of maps and minis (you can if you want to, but the game functions very smoothly without it, moreso than D&D or Pathfinder), which makes it simple to play on the fly. [/QUOTE]
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