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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Ranger19k" data-source="post: 5530000" data-attributes="member: 98621">I've had a few of the same concerns when I was DMing: specifically struggling with the ability to role-play a large number of NPCs or come up with good off the cuff descriptions of locations/events.  What I found was the best (only really) way to overcome some of this is through a little extra preparations.Obviously, being familiar with the entire adventure is a given for a succesfull DM, but even more important is doing a really good prep for the material that you are going to cover on the one upcoming session.  If you don't already, you will soon learn how fast your players move through encounters, and should be able to accurately judge about how much material you will get though with the time available: be it 1 or 5 encounters.And by encounters I mean important role-play encounters as well as combat.  I would take the time before each session to actually write down some dialogues and descriptions.  Sure the PCs don't always say what you think they will or go in the direction you think they will, but I still found writing out a script useful for two reasons: 1) writing it down helped me better conceptualize the NPCs desires-personality-actions so that I had a better feel in general, and 2) even if the conversation jumps around and doesn't follow the baseline script, it is still easier to adjust off a previously existing document than it is to simply make something new up out of wholecloth.  Yes, being flexible and thinking on your feet are still important, but I found some scripts to be a very useful tool.In the beginning I found myself typing up a lot of material and only using about half of it.  I was still happy that I invested the time however, because the half that I used went well.  Over time though, I found that I got better at guessing my PCs inclinations, and my prep-work came closer to being 80% spot-on.  So I strongly recommend this as a technique if you are concerned about your ability to role-play on the fly.Additionally, and unrelated, I found that accumulating a folder with random common use NPCs and locations was also very valuable.  You can never have too many pre-designed shops, inns, bars, noble mansions, guilds  You don't need to do all the work at once, and the longer you work on it the better your "library" of resources becomes.  But when PCs decide to "head to the inn" to gather information when you hadn't planned on it during your session prep, it really helps to pull out a pre-designed: 1) inn floorplan, 2) owner/barkeep name/info, 3) several patrons of interest.  Same thing for heading to the local shop to trade/buy/sell goods.It sounds like a lot of work, but its really not that bad.  I usually pull examples from random adventures and keep those pages in my DM folder.  Who cares if the inn was supposed to be from Module C and you are running Adventure J, if it's not plot specific, an inn can be an inn can be an inn.And in addition to a "library" of locations, a similar folder of some cool encounters is also helpful.  That way if there is time to fill or they head in a direction that you weren't prepared for, you can keep them busy for the rest of that session and then prep yourself up for the next session to continue the story line.  Again, I often pluck some cool encounters from random modules and have them standing by for my current adventure if I need to use them.Anyway, that's a few CPs.  Hope some of it helps.</blockquote>

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