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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Lizard" data-source="post: 4020765" data-attributes="member: 1054">If I spend more than an hour prepping for a 3-4 session, I'm way more prepared than I usually am. I whip out some NPCs using PCGen, I scrawl some notes, I pluck some items from my list of 'stuff I want the PCs to have between level X and level Y', and if I'm feeling really hard-working, I draw a map somewhere other than my head. Been doing it this way since 3e came out (hell, I do it this way in every game...D&D or otherwise...) and players keep coming back to my table, so I must be doing something right...Fight too hard? Oh look, that dragon just lost 20 hit points. Too easy? The reverse. The biggest problem I have is controlling magic once the PCs start getting money, and that's something 4e will help with, and I'm glad for it. (If I run 4e...)Most of my prep-time is front-loaded -- build the setting. The current PCs are in a town I did spend a good 4-5 hours on, with all the major NPCs statted out, the plot hooks for each PC in place (everyone has a designated 'pet' NPC to help or harass them) and 3-4 basic adventure ideas. Most of the time, I plot the next game based entirely on what happened in the prior one. Do the PCs suspect NPC Y of being evil? Well, turns out he is! What smart players! Did the PCs NOT investigate the Clue, but instead charged in to battle? Fine, the Clue becomes part of the NEXT adventure. And so on.3e gives me all the mechanics I need to handle anything the PCs might want to do or try, and that's what I want from a system. The huge mountain of 3x compatible material means any monster I might need or want probably already exists -- and I've got several computer tools to use to customize them as I wish. It's much easier to ignore rules which exist than to create (good!) rules which don't, so I prefer the books be full of tools I can use -- even if I never do.</blockquote>

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