When I write for D&D, I find I have a pretty straight 2:1 ratio of preparation to playing time (excluding the world setup time). However, when I work under other systems, I find that the setup time is much more front-end loaded -- I spend way more time and energy on world design at the beginning (and a few times during the campaign -- maybe every 4 episodes) and way less time writing individual episodes. However, for a heavily codified system like 3E, it's a pretty constant 2:1 investment.
How Much time do you spend in preparation for a nights gaming session ?
- Thread starter Hackenslash
- Start date
Painfully
First Post
I prep my DM's "grab bag" much more than the adventure. In my grab bag are character ideas, monster/evil boss ideas, interesting places, unique tricks and traps, cool treasures, and plot ideas. Oh, and a list of suitable NPC names and place names.
Along with all those, I have pictures of anything and everything interesting that I might use to show players--usually they are monster pics or treasure, but I have NPC pics, and eventually maps that I show them too.
Another section of my grab bag is nothing but maps...I have a pile of maps. Need a druid's grove? Got it. Need a small town? Got it. Need a catacombs? Got that too. There is no such thing as having too many maps.
Having firm ideas of what you want the locals to be like are important too. Ideas about trade, economy, politics, laws, and whatever locals are likely to be troubled by the most these days, are also needed. But those kinds of things are easier to be flexible with from place to place unless you run a more political campaign.
Having all of the above, I often spend almost NO time to prep a night's adventure (and my DM sessions run 8-10 hrs at a time). I do sketch out a mindmap outline sometimes for more sophisticated plots that involve more than two or three important NPCs, but it's just that, an outline to help me keep everything in perspective. And, finally, I do keep my eyes peeled for more new stuff for the grab bag--that's just a constant.
Along with all those, I have pictures of anything and everything interesting that I might use to show players--usually they are monster pics or treasure, but I have NPC pics, and eventually maps that I show them too.
Another section of my grab bag is nothing but maps...I have a pile of maps. Need a druid's grove? Got it. Need a small town? Got it. Need a catacombs? Got that too. There is no such thing as having too many maps.
Having firm ideas of what you want the locals to be like are important too. Ideas about trade, economy, politics, laws, and whatever locals are likely to be troubled by the most these days, are also needed. But those kinds of things are easier to be flexible with from place to place unless you run a more political campaign.
Having all of the above, I often spend almost NO time to prep a night's adventure (and my DM sessions run 8-10 hrs at a time). I do sketch out a mindmap outline sometimes for more sophisticated plots that involve more than two or three important NPCs, but it's just that, an outline to help me keep everything in perspective. And, finally, I do keep my eyes peeled for more new stuff for the grab bag--that's just a constant.
Hackenslash
First Post
Thanks "Painfully"...good Idea !!!
I like the idea of a pre-generated "Grab Bag" that you can just use as and when you need to compliment your story line or encounter. I will definitely consider using a similar "Grab Bag" when I start my own campaign. Normally I plot everything in advance and spend ages(over 6 hours) designing new maps, towns, encounters and even inconsequential NPC's like the Bar keep and serving wenches etc.. per night of adventure, but I think a more generic approach would fit better. Any other time saving ideas or thoughts on how much time to spend on various aspects of adventure designing ?? Thanks again all
I like the idea of a pre-generated "Grab Bag" that you can just use as and when you need to compliment your story line or encounter. I will definitely consider using a similar "Grab Bag" when I start my own campaign. Normally I plot everything in advance and spend ages(over 6 hours) designing new maps, towns, encounters and even inconsequential NPC's like the Bar keep and serving wenches etc.. per night of adventure, but I think a more generic approach would fit better. Any other time saving ideas or thoughts on how much time to spend on various aspects of adventure designing ?? Thanks again all
Last edited:
Lord Vangarel
First Post
Ok, without giving too much away Hackenslash to show you how little prep I sometimes do
Monster/NPC Design
In the current campaign this is taking more and more time as all the high level abilities need to be considered. I've also started using templated or modified monsters alot more and doing this can easily chew up the hours. I would currently say if I have the time during the week I'll spend 2-3 hours doing this. Sometimes it's good because some prep work for this can roll over into the next session so less required there.
Story/Dialogue
I tend to work out a basic story in my head which can be as quick as a few minutes. I'll then add ideas to it throughout the life of the story always modifying bits and adding things as cool ideas present themselves. So per session not a lot. Dialogue is something I tend to wing, I think of the motives NPC's have and will try to react accordingly if the party talks to them.
Encounters
Ties in with developing stats which seems to take forever! I'll try to give thought to the location and attempt to make it interesting but not all the time. Probably spend a few minutes on locations.
Maps/Supporting Art
I rarely draw detailed maps. A quick sketch is usually sufficient for me. I hate drawing really detailed dungeons and the pc's don't go down half the areas. I prefer thinking of the story and designing a sketch accordingly. This method can have disadvantages however as cool things can be overlooked because I take an abstract canvas of the scene I want.
PC Experience and Awards
Usually about 30 seconds
Only kidding. XP awards are sometimes pre-assigned for specific tasks and most often post assigned for things players say or do during the game. I tend to award most of the XP for story awards and roleplaying/skill use so its pretty quick as I know what I want to award. Monster/Challenge XP takes a little longer as I reconsider the level of the challenge and award appropriately.
Hope that helps.
Monster/NPC Design
In the current campaign this is taking more and more time as all the high level abilities need to be considered. I've also started using templated or modified monsters alot more and doing this can easily chew up the hours. I would currently say if I have the time during the week I'll spend 2-3 hours doing this. Sometimes it's good because some prep work for this can roll over into the next session so less required there.
Story/Dialogue
I tend to work out a basic story in my head which can be as quick as a few minutes. I'll then add ideas to it throughout the life of the story always modifying bits and adding things as cool ideas present themselves. So per session not a lot. Dialogue is something I tend to wing, I think of the motives NPC's have and will try to react accordingly if the party talks to them.
Encounters
Ties in with developing stats which seems to take forever! I'll try to give thought to the location and attempt to make it interesting but not all the time. Probably spend a few minutes on locations.
Maps/Supporting Art
I rarely draw detailed maps. A quick sketch is usually sufficient for me. I hate drawing really detailed dungeons and the pc's don't go down half the areas. I prefer thinking of the story and designing a sketch accordingly. This method can have disadvantages however as cool things can be overlooked because I take an abstract canvas of the scene I want.
PC Experience and Awards
Usually about 30 seconds
Only kidding. XP awards are sometimes pre-assigned for specific tasks and most often post assigned for things players say or do during the game. I tend to award most of the XP for story awards and roleplaying/skill use so its pretty quick as I know what I want to award. Monster/Challenge XP takes a little longer as I reconsider the level of the challenge and award appropriately.
Hope that helps.
It all has to do with set up, table, chairs, food, cooler, and then what I am running, maps, NPCs, descriptive adjectives, hand-outs. A lot of prep time.
Zarthon
Explorer
Hackenslash said:Hello again All !!
Well as promised here is the new poll that some of you expressed an interest in during my last poll on gaming time.
I am now wondering how much time all you DM's out there put into your weekly adventures for a gaming session. And what percentage of that time is spent on:
Monster/NPC Design:
Story/Dialogue:
Encounters:
Maps/Supporting Art:
PC Experience and Awards:
Thanks again in advance for any suggestions and comments.
Cheers All.
+- 1 hour
As long as it takes to read through the adventure or adlib if it is of my own creation.
+- 2 hours; I have 7 regular players (8 when my brother is in town), so I have to rework any premade encounters (bought adventures) to reflect the appropiate encounter level for the number of pc's
+- 1 hour or none if it is a bought adventure
+- 10 min
Probably 4+ hours per session. My current game is being played online over Klooge, so I am constantly scouring the net for pictures of items, locations, etc., and for sound effects, and photographing dungeon layouts and terrain pieces and inserting them into the game, so it takes a lot more time than what I used to do when we played face to face. 
/gnarlo!
/gnarlo!
Imperialus
Explorer
Well story arc ideas usually come to me when I can't sleep, I've had insomnia most of my life so tossing and turning in bed half the night has given me a rather active imagination... Thus I have no idea how long it takes me to come up with story ideas. I keep a notepad on my bedside table to write down anything that comes to me in the middle of the night. Translation the next morning can get interesting sometimes as I try and decyper exactly what my sleep deprived brain wrote down at 3:30 AM. After that I compile stuff into
Monsters and NPC's between 1 and 2 hours. As I come up with new monster ideas I write them down on a stock NPC/monster sheet and put them into a big 3" binder devided by challange rateing and organized alphabetically. It has stock guards, barkeeps, dockworkers, orcish warriors, kobold wizards, ect. I just mix and match however it suits the adventure.
Encouters, see above.
Maps/supporting art: Well I run in a Greyhawk based world, mainly because I suck at artwork so I have a collection of different scraps of paper and maps that I pull out as I need them.
Experiance/awards: well the awards are writen into the encounters. I probably spend more time on this than most, mainly because I have a nasty tendancy to give out too much. XP I usually award by the book. It's pretty streight forward as the group I DM with is quite small.
Monsters and NPC's between 1 and 2 hours. As I come up with new monster ideas I write them down on a stock NPC/monster sheet and put them into a big 3" binder devided by challange rateing and organized alphabetically. It has stock guards, barkeeps, dockworkers, orcish warriors, kobold wizards, ect. I just mix and match however it suits the adventure.
Encouters, see above.
Maps/supporting art: Well I run in a Greyhawk based world, mainly because I suck at artwork so I have a collection of different scraps of paper and maps that I pull out as I need them.
Experiance/awards: well the awards are writen into the encounters. I probably spend more time on this than most, mainly because I have a nasty tendancy to give out too much. XP I usually award by the book. It's pretty streight forward as the group I DM with is quite small.
Agamon
Adventurer
When I began my current campaign about 8 months before 3E debuted, up until about a year after 3E debuted, I spent about 2-4 hours, give or take.
Now that the campaign is nearing its end, defintely less than an hour.
Percentages:
Monster/NPC Design: 85% This takes the longest, because its based so firmly on the rules.
Story/Dialogue: 0% This is completely and totally all in my head/ad libed. I'll certainly give a decent amount of thought to it, but I don't consider it part of preparation, as it's done in bed before falling asleep, at work, in the shower, while driving, etc.
Encounters: 5% This also is mostly in my head, but I may jot down a few things so as to remember them.
Maps/Supporting Art: 8% I rip off almost all of my maps from other sources, or draw something simple faster than you can say, "Whatcha drawin'?" Art is also ripped off, or created by my brother, the artistically-gifted player in our group.
PC Experience and Awards: 2% This doesn't take long at all, a few simple calcualtions, though sometimes some thought is required.
Now that the campaign is nearing its end, defintely less than an hour.
Percentages:
Monster/NPC Design: 85% This takes the longest, because its based so firmly on the rules.
Story/Dialogue: 0% This is completely and totally all in my head/ad libed. I'll certainly give a decent amount of thought to it, but I don't consider it part of preparation, as it's done in bed before falling asleep, at work, in the shower, while driving, etc.
Encounters: 5% This also is mostly in my head, but I may jot down a few things so as to remember them.
Maps/Supporting Art: 8% I rip off almost all of my maps from other sources, or draw something simple faster than you can say, "Whatcha drawin'?" Art is also ripped off, or created by my brother, the artistically-gifted player in our group.
PC Experience and Awards: 2% This doesn't take long at all, a few simple calcualtions, though sometimes some thought is required.
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