D&D General How time do you put into working on settings you never run?

[Cruentus]

I think the issue for me is I'm an inveterate tinkerer. I'm always trying to 'improve' things. So I'm always reading something else, thinking about how this or that will work, or affect the game or game state, improve the play experience, how this could make a compelling story line, or add into the campaign this way or that way.

My last game DM'ing, I had to really struggle with "good enough" and just go with the flow. I ended up not using 90% of what I had prepared, and ran with what the party wanted to do (I run sandbox), and how they wanted to do it. I gave up on having the world be the world I envisioned when we started.

Then went right back to tinkering when it ended, and keep flip flopping over the other 6-10 different campaign ideas/settings I have.

 

[Scott Christian]

I think King’s advice works fine…if you’re a writer -or any other creative type- at a pro or semi-pro level. I write things down, sketch or record things so they don’t distract me from other things. It’s easier for me to concentrate on my research if I’m not also having recurring thoughts about modeling MtG mana based magic and slivers in HERO. Or worse, trying to REMEMBER what I thought about them 2 days previously, but can’t quite recall.

Yeah, it is definitely not for everyone. But, I can honestly say, how I fall asleep is coming up with D&D style world building, city building, culture building, scenes/plots, items or NPCs, etc. If I don't, then my mind turns to work, and I will never fall asleep. So, I guess for me, it works well because that is my nightly habit.

 

[SkidAce]

Yeah, it is definitely not for everyone. But, I can honestly say, how I fall asleep is coming up with D&D style world building, city building, culture building, scenes/plots, items or NPCs, etc. If I don't, then my mind turns to work, and I will never fall asleep. So, I guess for me, it works well because that is my nightly habit.

I oddly do the same thing to sleep, sometimes jolting half awake to write down a flash of inspiration.

 

[Bacon Bits]

I would say that for every hour I spend in prep, there's probably at least an hour I spend on something that isn't used directly. I don't think any of it is wasted, though.

When I'm programming, however, I probably spend an equal amounts of time typing, testing, and thinking. The thinking part feels (and looks) like it's a waste of time, but it's essential.