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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Mercule" data-source="post: 7721088" data-attributes="member: 5100">OK. This is going to sound like I'm attacking, but I'm not. I'm genuinely trying to figure out where the line is.So, if I spend time in the shower thinking about how to screw over my players, that's prep? Does that include the dozens of campaigns that I've pondered without actually running them, whether or not I've written anything out?I've been listening to Savage Worlds podcasts, lately, even though I've never played it and don't expect to in the foreseeable future. Does that count as game prep? What about listening to the Manifest Zone podcast (Eberron), even though I'm running Curse of Strahd, at the moment, and probably will be for the next 6 months? I might actually run Eberron, at that point, but I've also got two custom fantasy settings I've been pondering for a couple years, plus both Shadowrun and some flavor of urban fantasy are getting discussed in my group.Speaking of those home brew settings... I'll probably only get to run one of them, if either. Should I count either of those thought trains as prep? If so, now or only when/if I run it? In the 35 years I've been gaming, I've probably "created" literally scores of settings and/or campaign plots that never had more written down than would fit on a Post-It note. Do they count?I've done three different magic systems for Fate, in my head, just to see what sort of balance and feel I could get out of it. Does that count? I picked up the Dresden Accelerated book to read on vacation because I'm a fan of the novels, but most folks in my group are adamantly opposed to playing in a novel/movie setting. I got some ideas from the book, but that wasn't why I picked it up. Do I count that?I get the argument that all of those qualify as prep work. They definitely prepare me for running a game, in an abstract sense. They don't prepare me to sit down for a particular campaign/session, though. None of that lets me sit down at a table on a given night and have an actual plan for what's going to happen that night. In a certain sense, whatever happens this week at the table qualifies as prep work for next week's session -- it'll definitely be more concrete than any of the above.In that case, I'm extremely high prep. Gaming is my hobby. Over the years, I've pretty much conditioned my brain that "slipping into neutral" means running through game ideas. There are very, very few days that go by where I don't do some sort of "prep".Instead, I think of most of that stuff more like "conditioning". I have a black belt in karate. As part of that, I spar. Sometimes, I prepare for a sparring match. I watch how the fighter moves against others, whether he prefers punches or kicks, straight lines or circles. If there's time, I'll try out certain moves to break through defenses, to make sure they feel right and are fluid. I might bounce ideas off my wife (also a black belt). Most of the time, though, I rely on the conditioning I've done to make sure the moves are in there. I watch as they move against me and bring out what seems appropriate. Occasionally, that means I get my butt handed to me -- then I prepare. Most of the time, though, it works out better for me than if I overthought it.Same holds true for GMing. I've got stuff up there. I spend time conditioning to GM. The moves are there. But, I haven't planned for this session.Earlier this week, I sent out an invite to a Fate Accelerated one-shot. I told the players that we'd just make up characters that night, since it shouldn't take more than 20 minutes for everyone to a) come up with a phrase that summarizes their character; b) tell me something else interesting, but potentially problematic; and c) arrange six descriptive "approaches", top-to-bottom. All genres are open. All power levels are open (since Fate self-levels, once you have the baseline). There is literally no way to prep beyond being comfortable with something best described as a pamphlet. I'm very comfortable with this and find the idea freeing.</blockquote>

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