How much prep time do you use each week?
- Thread starter Emiricol
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Emiricol
Registered User
To answer my own question:
For me, I play once each week. I do perhaps 15 minutes of prep time unless the party is facing the BBEG that week (in which case it is more like a couple hours).
Of course, I play online via OpenRPG, so a lot less happens in a session nowadays, but even when I did tabletop DMing I rarely had much prep time (but a lot more than "none to speak of").
When I DM I generally do it on the fly. My players and I come up with the story together. That's not a great description of the process, but it is nice and short
I haven't found that PC interactions suffer, and the plot is usually good. My players think I am a lot better DM than I do. Go figure :/
For me, I play once each week. I do perhaps 15 minutes of prep time unless the party is facing the BBEG that week (in which case it is more like a couple hours).
Of course, I play online via OpenRPG, so a lot less happens in a session nowadays, but even when I did tabletop DMing I rarely had much prep time (but a lot more than "none to speak of").
When I DM I generally do it on the fly. My players and I come up with the story together. That's not a great description of the process, but it is nice and short
I haven't found that PC interactions suffer, and the plot is usually good. My players think I am a lot better DM than I do. Go figure :/
Last edited:
Desdichado
Hero
In theory, our group plays every other week, but we alternate between two campaigns. In theory. Our schedule has been somewhat hectic of late, and we may be changing it, though, and I also might become part of more than one group.
When I DM, I prep for a coupla hours or so per session, usually. Nothing too strenuous.
When I DM, I prep for a coupla hours or so per session, usually. Nothing too strenuous.
It all depends on what you count as prep.
I play once a week 5-11pm on sundays.
I usually spend maybe 2 hours actualy typing stuff up for a session with combat. Without combat I usually do no writing.
However I do Spend 2-3 hours a week planning/thinking aboutthe session. When I am running even a dungeon I plan out the detaisl , rom descriptions etc in my head and very seldom type it out. I stat out almost all encounters which may end in a fight. Otherwise I have the NPC in my head and often change at the last moment.
That is mainly why I quit writting everything out is a I found I changed 75% or more at the last minute so now I just think about it a lot and plan ahead that way. The reason I change so much so often is that my on the spot stuff is always more inventive and exciting than most anything I plan. I have also, becuase of this, developed a good retractive plotting skill. My players will never know I changed a whole plot based on some new inspiration becuase they usually only have surface information. I may re-plot any number of NPC's to make the story more exciting and fun. I don't do it to Beat my players cause they figured out the BBEG's motivation or to make things they did not count. I do it so what they did does count and to make it more fun for both the players and I.
But to answer the question. A few hours a week. But that's my style in D&D. When I know the system less I do a lot more pregame reading to get to know the system and to stat out plan encounters. Some systems I don't do any prep work but for most that number will work.
later
I play once a week 5-11pm on sundays.
I usually spend maybe 2 hours actualy typing stuff up for a session with combat. Without combat I usually do no writing.
However I do Spend 2-3 hours a week planning/thinking aboutthe session. When I am running even a dungeon I plan out the detaisl , rom descriptions etc in my head and very seldom type it out. I stat out almost all encounters which may end in a fight. Otherwise I have the NPC in my head and often change at the last moment.
That is mainly why I quit writting everything out is a I found I changed 75% or more at the last minute so now I just think about it a lot and plan ahead that way. The reason I change so much so often is that my on the spot stuff is always more inventive and exciting than most anything I plan. I have also, becuase of this, developed a good retractive plotting skill. My players will never know I changed a whole plot based on some new inspiration becuase they usually only have surface information. I may re-plot any number of NPC's to make the story more exciting and fun. I don't do it to Beat my players cause they figured out the BBEG's motivation or to make things they did not count. I do it so what they did does count and to make it more fun for both the players and I.
But to answer the question. A few hours a week. But that's my style in D&D. When I know the system less I do a lot more pregame reading to get to know the system and to stat out plan encounters. Some systems I don't do any prep work but for most that number will work.
later
Blue_Kryptonite
First Post
As with several posters above, it depends on how you look at it. We play every other week, alternating three D&D sessions with one Mutants & Masterminds game. I do next to no intensive preperation for either, but I'm more or less thinking about them all the time in the back of my head. When it comes to play time, I have a notebook full of 3-4 line adventure seeds and reams of maps, pre-generated NPCs, etc. End of session, I write a recap, and use it as the "Series Bible/Episode Guide".
I've been running modules in D&D... So now that I have the basic rules down it is like 5 to 10 hours tops. This would go up a great deal if I started hand-crafting adventures.
When I was running Shadowrun I was probably spending about 25 to 35 hours a week working on game material. Role playing is my only real hobby, so I don't mind spending so much time on it ... even if the payoff is only a couple of 7 hour games each month.
When I was running Shadowrun I was probably spending about 25 to 35 hours a week working on game material. Role playing is my only real hobby, so I don't mind spending so much time on it ... even if the payoff is only a couple of 7 hour games each month.
The prep time is varied. I tend to write the entire current adventure in advance while the party is going through the last one and I know that they are interested. So when I get a chance I do prep work on the adventure I'm writing maybe writing 1 section in 15-30. This periods of work happen maybe 3 times a week. After I complete the adventure prep time is minimal.
Davelozzi
Explorer
Like Liolel, my prep time varies greatly depending on what point in the adventure we're at, and also what point in the campaign. At this point, two years into the campaign and in the middle of an adventure that we've been on for a while (with breaks for other stuff), prep time is minimal, maybe a few hours one evening. When moving into a new adventure, I probably average a couple of evenings of prep these days. Earlier in the campaign, it seemed like I was always crunching.
We play about once every 3-4 weeks in my regular (homebrew) D&D campaign, usually with approximately 3 hour weeknight sessions but with the occasional 5-6 hour weekender. Currently I'm also running a short Dark Sun story arc, playing roughly monthly. That takes a bit more prep because it's converted rules, new characters and everything.
We play about once every 3-4 weeks in my regular (homebrew) D&D campaign, usually with approximately 3 hour weeknight sessions but with the occasional 5-6 hour weekender. Currently I'm also running a short Dark Sun story arc, playing roughly monthly. That takes a bit more prep because it's converted rules, new characters and everything.
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