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<blockquote data-quote="Irlo" data-source="post: 8667800" data-attributes="member: 7028372">I would be very surprised if (nearly) everyone uses short hand extensively when writing adventures and preparing for play.&nbsp; Does anyone prepare a complete list of the contents of the kitchen in the cult headquarters, or do you improvise&nbsp; knowing what you know about kitchens when PCs start to poke around looking for a bucket of lard? Do you write full descriptions of each room and area and door and section of floor and cobweb, or do you improvise descriptors as you go?If NPC bandits (with a stat&nbsp; block from the Monster Manual in front of you) get disarmed of their scimitars by the PCs, do you improvise and allow them to draw a dagger to continue fighting, or do you stick to what's written?&nbsp; Is that improvised dagger a form of fudging? Can you say after initiative is rolled that one of them draws a mace instead of a scimitar? Do NPCs carry any equipment other than what's specified in the stat block? Do you know exactly how many crossbow bolts they're carrying? If &quot;cult kitchen&quot; is a short hand notation that allows for improvisation of the specific contents of the place, and if &quot;bandit&quot; is short hand that allows me to assume a dagger that's not specified in the stat block, why wouldn't &quot;necromancer&quot; be a short hand notation that allows improvization of cantrips and necromantic effects?To say all that is fudging or cheating just seems ... odd to me. I've never seen a written adventure, either professionally published or written by an amateur, that doesn't rely extensively on improvization to fill in gaps. It's DM judgment,</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Irlo, post: 8667800, member: 7028372"] I would be very surprised if (nearly) everyone uses short hand extensively when writing adventures and preparing for play. Does anyone prepare a complete list of the contents of the kitchen in the cult headquarters, or do you improvise knowing what you know about kitchens when PCs start to poke around looking for a bucket of lard? Do you write full descriptions of each room and area and door and section of floor and cobweb, or do you improvise descriptors as you go? If NPC bandits (with a stat block from the Monster Manual in front of you) get disarmed of their scimitars by the PCs, do you improvise and allow them to draw a dagger to continue fighting, or do you stick to what's written? Is that improvised dagger a form of fudging? Can you say after initiative is rolled that one of them draws a mace instead of a scimitar? Do NPCs carry any equipment other than what's specified in the stat block? Do you know exactly how many crossbow bolts they're carrying? If "cult kitchen" is a short hand notation that allows for improvisation of the specific contents of the place, and if "bandit" is short hand that allows me to assume a dagger that's not specified in the stat block, why wouldn't "necromancer" be a short hand notation that allows improvization of cantrips and necromantic effects? To say all that is fudging or cheating just seems ... odd to me. I've never seen a written adventure, either professionally published or written by an amateur, that doesn't rely extensively on improvization to fill in gaps. It's DM judgment, [/QUOTE]

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