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<blockquote data-quote="nopantsyet" data-source="post: 1298978" data-attributes="member: 3109">Ditto the articles.&nbsp; Quality advice.I prepare a lot.&nbsp; I tend to have several main organizations and plenty of NPCs.&nbsp; Usually a&nbsp; continent or so worth of geography, though I'm not the cartographer I'd like to be.&nbsp; Then I make sure I've got lots of plots and events.&nbsp; Some I develop thoroughly, others just a few details.I spend a lot of time putting together ecologies.&nbsp; I don't like running the standards &quot;orcs, drow, illithids, oh my!&quot; type of game.&nbsp; I like to develop ecologies of monsters for different regions to create a particular feel as well as challenges for various party levels.&nbsp; Nobody thinks anything of frogs in a swamp...unless they're three feet tall and have rows of razor-sharp teeth!&nbsp; I usually take standard MM monsters and create some of my&nbsp; own to fill it out.Finally, I try to think of one big thing to piss my players off the first session.&nbsp; Something that jerks the assumption rug right out from under them.&nbsp; Waking up the first in-game day to a vision that changes your whole world view and puts you at odds with your society and culture.&nbsp; Or to find said culture has been destroyed.&nbsp; Something to kick the characters in the booty...hard!&nbsp; Give them a need to act beyond for reasons beyond simple ambition.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="nopantsyet, post: 1298978, member: 3109"] Ditto the articles. Quality advice. I prepare a lot. I tend to have several main organizations and plenty of NPCs. Usually a continent or so worth of geography, though I'm not the cartographer I'd like to be. Then I make sure I've got lots of plots and events. Some I develop thoroughly, others just a few details. I spend a lot of time putting together ecologies. I don't like running the standards "orcs, drow, illithids, oh my!" type of game. I like to develop ecologies of monsters for different regions to create a particular feel as well as challenges for various party levels. Nobody thinks anything of frogs in a swamp...unless they're three feet tall and have rows of razor-sharp teeth! I usually take standard MM monsters and create some of my own to fill it out. Finally, I try to think of one big thing to piss my players off the first session. Something that jerks the assumption rug right out from under them. Waking up the first in-game day to a vision that changes your whole world view and puts you at odds with your society and culture. Or to find said culture has been destroyed. Something to kick the characters in the booty...hard! Give them a [i]need[/i] to act beyond for reasons beyond simple ambition. [/QUOTE]

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