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Message: <blockquote data-quote="DammitVictor" data-source="post: 9285334" data-attributes="member: 6750908">In my games, I replace the standard "backstory" with an index card for every PC; the player gets to write down their name, race/gender/(sub)class/background/theme/kit/omgwtfbbq, and then six facts that would have come from their "backstory" that they want me to use. Every player is privy to every other player's index card. Up that amount to eight or ten and let them include character abilities or tactics they want you to focus on. I think I might start doing that now.Google Docs is free and you can control who can see your documents and who can edit them. Otherwise... you can host a website with wiki software for like $15 a month. (I recommend DreamHost.) That's less than you're spending on pizza.I usually make a small handout, Google Docs with AI art, that I do expect players to read and then I break the more in-depth stuff into topics that players should read if they're relevant to their character. If I were paying for a website, I'd use that... or else I'd just use Google Docs.I use very simple political models of all the major NPCs in my games and update them based on events in-game. One thing I try to make sure of is that for any adventure the PCs are pursuing, they have at least one ally that wants them to fail, and at least one enemy that wants them to succeed. Make sure every adventure is a choice between the party's friends and the party's goals... and then the tension from that will shore up more boring quests.I don't really prep sessions or adventures in advance. I prep a handful of inciting incidents that I can pull out of my pocket when things get slow. Basically, if you have one really hot WHAM! moment, everything that leads up to it and everything that follows from it feels a little hotter. Prep those and fill in the rest on the fly.Make up as many NPCs as you need-- use the PC creation rules-- and play them through some scenarios using the rules you need to use. Mock combats, hacking runs, dreamquests... whatever fans of your chosen game consider the hardest part.My policy is to make a ruling in a minute or two that goes for the rest of the session, and we take a few minutes after the session to talk about it... and we start the next session by discussing a permanent ruling. Keep the game running, then take the time afterwards to come up with a better, more binding solution.Since I am really bad at continuity and really bad at taking notes, I ask my players to email me their session notes before every session for some kind of in-game bonus-- XP in D&D. I'll use those to write my recaps, and to shore up my own inconsistent memory.</blockquote>

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