How long do you spend preparing a game?

[Scribe Ineti]

I found this hard to answer. I run a 4e game, and it takes me less than an hour to put my notes together for a session and build the encounters I'll need using the encounter builder and screencaps of the stat blocks. However, I spend a lot of time thinking about the game, writing notes, jotting down ideas, researching the monster books and compendium for ideas, etc.

I probably put 10-12 hours a week into the game, even though it takes me an hour or so to prep a 5 hour session. I am blessed with great players who enjoy the RP experience, so I generally know that for every hour we spend rolling dice for an encounter, we're probably spending 1.5 to 2 hours doing pure character-driven roleplay.

 

[Fallen Seraph]

The high-level nature of my last campaign ended with me spending easily as much time prepping as I did playing, probably more. Nowadays I spend less than an hour per game: scribble some notes, copy-n-paste monsters/treasure from the Compendium, write any handouts. I'm loving the lack of prepwork enough that I am now running two campaigns instead of one.

I still noodle over plot in the shower and while falling asleep, but I'm not sure that counts as actual prep.

Yeah the same. I could spend countless time on plot and just general ideas. But don't think that really counts.

Actual prep takes probably longer to just make it really pretty and easy to use in-game then anything else. I would say about an hour as well.

 

[aboyd]

I run a D&D 3.5 edition game. I voted for the 6 hour option -- I spend about 6 hours to prep for a 6-hour game every other weekend. As it is, I don't typically feel very well prepared. There are times mid-game when I am reading over some text for the DM in a module, and the whole game goes into a lull while they wait for me. However, them's the breaks. I can't do better as I don't have the time, and in fact I'll do worse in a short while when I start up my new job.

A 6-hour planning session and a 6-hour game means that every month I lose 24 hours of free time to this game. As a working man with a wife and kids who need my attention, getting 24 hours each month is really difficult. I try to get around it by including the family on as many games as I can, but sometimes they are completely uninterested. I end up doing "make up" time with them, going to parks, going swimming, getting away from computers and nerd games. Between D&D, work, and family time, there is almost nothing left over.

 

[Bumbles]

What's preparation?

 

[Gothmog]

During my 1e/2e days, I'd spend about 2 hours prepping for a 6 hour session. Some of the time was spent statting NPCs and monsters, but most was for drawing out maps by hand on graph paper, and making notes in notebooks. I also tend to want NPCs and monsters to behave in a consistent/logical fashion for their role, so I'd figure up and write out tactics for them (something I still do in 4e). Mostly it was a labor of love and fun.

During 3e, it was about 1 hour of prep per hour of gametime, which was WAY too much. I'd go back to various books to cross-reference and read up on each monster's feats, spells, etc, and make tactics. It was one of the four primary reasons I completely burned out on 3e.

Now with 4e, its back to about 2 hours of prep for a 6 hour session. I used the Compendium, Asmor's monster builder for building new monsters/NPCs, and CC3 for my maps. I still keep a notebook with my scribbled plots and notes in it. Prepping is again a labor of love, and a lot of fun.

Now, if we figure in time I spend painting minis for game sessions or making terrain, then it comes out to about 6 hours prep per 6 hours of gaming, but I paint and build terrain for the enjoyment it provides me in and of itself, so I don't consider it prep time.

As for worldbuilding for my homebrew games, thats mostly system-independent, but I spent 3-4 hours a week doing that.

 

[the Jester]

Well, nowadays (with 4e) it's prolly anywhere from 0 to 3 hours per session, although there are times when the pcs have more open-ended options and I spend a lot more time doing a brief sketch-type amount of prep for tons of different possible paths. On those occasions, I'm fully aware that I'm not going to use half the prep I did- but I can go back to it later to mine it for ideas, monsters, etc.

 

[an_idol_mind]

For a recent one-shot in my 3.5 game, my prep time consisted of drawing three cards from Green Ronin's Deck of Many Things, using the results as a starting point for an adventure, and putting about fifteen minutes of thought into the game before diving in. It turned out to be a lot of fun.

Most of what can be called prep time for me is taking notes after the session. Other than that, almost everything is on the fly.

 

[Blizzardb]

I found out that I spend considerable less on preparation since we started playing 4e. Combat encounters and NPC characters are made in the blink of an eye and I have to think only about the story and roleplaying events... And I am not afraid of creating high-level spellcasters anymore

 

[jdrakeh]

Dammit. I failed to see that the question in the thread title isn't the same as the actual poll question. I should have voted 3-4 for the poll question, not 10+ (which is what I spend on prepping for an entire game).

 

[Ant]

1-2 hours per fortnight. Less if there are no mini-figures involved.

For a while I was spending 5-6 hours (or more) prep time but I fear I had lost my way. The prodigal son has now returned.