How's Your Time Spent?

[FalcWP]

Hmm. Well, my prep time is probably something like this:

10%: Vow to stop doing so much prep, because my players end up being too creative/chaotic/clever/stupid/another adjective, which is why a lot of my prep work from the previous adventure didn't get used (as they ran past rooms, out-thought monsters, NPCs or traps, or went in one of a million directions I just did not see coming).

30%: Sit at the computer or with a notebook, trying to come up with an idea that's flexible enough to account for whatever the players do, while still giving me enough framework to not have to completely improvise.

20%: Get bored with that and start working on some really cool monsters. Some are actually finished in time for the game, but most are between 50% and 75% complete.

25%: Realize I really, really need to get *something* finished for an adventure, so I begin paging through old issues of Dungeon, looking around online, trying to find something to steal, while jotting down any cool ideas I come across. This time is also used for looking for maps, since I'm horrible at drawing my own.

13%: Get the adventure maybe two-thirds of the way done... it is now far less flexible than I had planned, and if the players blindly skip past a few things I'll likely run out of prepped material. Which means I'll have to wing it. This is essentially taking whatever I've actually come up with in the previous three steps (So, any ideas I had originally, any ideas I found elsewhere, a map that almost certainly came from a third source, and any of the completed NPCs or monsters I made while I was bored) and combining them into something logical. I'm really doing this in the back of my mind throughout the process, but this is the point where things start coming together.

2%: Toss in some of those half-prepared monsters I mentioned earlier, and frantically try and finish them before the game starts. Then promptly forget half their abilities anyway.

The next adventure is something similar, except my vow is to do *MORE* prep work, as I obviously didn't have enough for the previous adventure. Luckily, I think I'm narrowing down the precise range I want to be in.

 

[Nebulous]

Hmm. Well, my prep time is probably something like this:

10%: Vow to stop doing so much prep, because my players end up being too creative/chaotic/clever/stupid/another adjective, which is why a lot of my prep work from the previous adventure didn't get used (as they ran past rooms, out-thought monsters, NPCs or traps, or went in one of a million directions I just did not see coming).

The next adventure is something similar, except my vow is to do *MORE* prep work, as I obviously didn't have enough for the previous adventure. Luckily, I think I'm narrowing down the precise range I want to be in.

Ha, FalcWP, your post reminds me of why i specifically switched to running modules. A lot of that prep work is done. I just have to plan for the tiny details, while the broad strokes--the setting, NPC's, stats, maps, plot hooks, etc.-- are already done. Of course, PC's always do the unexpected and can wreck the best well laid plains.

I keep a notebook that describes more or less what is happening in the module, spliced with different stuff that the PC's did that might have changed the outcome. In my experience, about a page of notes equals about an hour of gametime. So -- in general -- if i have 4-5 pages of notes i have about enough content for 4 hours of play. What will often happen is that i'll jot down notes for multiple adventures, according to the campaign book, so i know what is coming up. I could easily run 4-5 adventures in a row sometimes with minimum work before them. I just do it in big blocks. The stuff that gets layered onto these sessions, such as music and handouts, is what takes a considerable amount of time.

 

[Dan Bell]

Since I freelance and post some of my adventures on www.lythia.com I have found doing the layout & a copy edit takes a lot more time than anything else.