Playing D&D without study or preparation.

[Fenes 2]

A solution to the consistency problem is to take notes while you wing it, and type them up after the game. I log all my game sessions both as a player and as a DM, and so I have seldom consistency problems.

Usually my notes are structured like this:

"Background" outlining the background of an adventure

"Open Ends" listing lose ends from the last session, mostly things the PCs have yet to do or were planning to do last session

"Hook": notes on getting the PCs involved in the adventure

"Rumors/Information" detailing where, how and what kind of information the PCs can gather, and how reliable it is

"Happenings" things that will come to pass, generally not that much under control of the PCs, like a state visit from a neighbouring country, a storm forcing ships into port, a new law getting passed resulting in a riot etc. Those things may be influenced or even prevented by the actions of the PCs, but it is not too likely.

"Dangers/Obstacles" listing what problems the PCs will face

"Possible solutions" listing pssible ways to solve and survive the different dangers and problems

"NPCs" detailing the different NPCs, often only a description and the goals of the NPC, sometimes a full statted sheet.

 

[ConcreteBuddha]

So what happens when the PCs do something that you haven't prepared for - or when they refuse to have anything to do with the encounters and locations you have prepared for?

Uh...I adapt? I DM on the fly. That seems kind of obvious. I think you are just being obtuse by rationalizing your laziness.

It makes sense that if a person can DM on the fly and is good at DMing on the fly, if they put some preparation into the game, it would make the gaming experience that much better.

If my PCs say, "We want to search for the Paladin's long lost mentor!" I don't say, "No, you can't do that because I prepared the Caverns of Dread dungeon!"

I wing it on the fly until the session is over. Then when I go home, I think about their motivation, make up some possible steps the PCs could take to find the mentor, and then prepare whatever I can beforehand. I put the Caverns of Dread dungeon back in my folder, for use at a later date, or never, depending on the PCs actions.

You are sounding as if anyone who prepares anything is a robot, and is unable to change to new situations. That is an invalid assumption.

 

[Jürgen Hubert]

If my PCs say, "We want to search for the Paladin's long lost mentor!" I don't say, "No, you can't do that because I prepared the Caverns of Dread dungeon!"

I wing it on the fly until the session is over. Then when I go home, I think about their motivation, make up some possible steps the PCs could take to find the mentor, and then prepare whatever I can beforehand. I put the Caverns of Dread dungeon back in my folder, for use at a later date, or never, depending on the PCs actions.

So you never, ever, get even the tiniest bit upset if you can never use the work of many hours in your campaign?

You are sounding as if anyone who prepares anything is a robot, and is unable to change to new situations. That is an invalid assumption.

Actually, I think you are making the invalid assumptions here...

 

[ConcreteBuddha]

Actually, I think you are making the invalid assumptions here...

Of course, there's always the danger that you will subconsciously railroad the characters into the plot or encounters that you have prepared...

So you never, ever, get even the tiniest bit upset if you can never use the work of many hours in your campaign?

Nope. I don't get upset. Since I am in multiple games, have been playing this game since I was twelve, and use the excess to further contribute to the future publication of my game world.

Why would I get upset? I would only get upset if I didn't like preparing my campaign world in the first place.

I'm into roleplaying because it is fun. Same reason my players are into roleplaying. It is not fun to get mad at people for being themselves, and contributing to the game in their way. If I wanted all of my preparations to always go exactly as planned, then I could always play the game by myself. Then it would be exactly as I had planned.

But I enjoy new ideas. I enjoy it when PCs do something unexpected. Why would I get angry at the players for playing the game and helping me mold the story? That seems slightly silly and selfish. RPGs are group experiences. Give and take. Sometimes the PCs don't take, but I would never force them to turn left when their vision of their character wanted them to turn right.

If they never take the left passageway, and never read the handout I had prepared, so be it. At least, as they headed down the right passage, they were in awe of the fully fleshed out, buffed, half-fiend, half-minotaur cleric of death who spouted a rhyming curse in Abyssal when the PCs entered the inner sanctum of the temple.

That is when it all becomes worth it.

 

[Jürgen Hubert]

Nope. I don't get upset. Since I am in multiple games, have been playing this game since I was twelve, and use the excess to further contribute to the future publication of my game world.

That's admirable. But not everyone has the same time and energy available for role-playing - and preparation.

I'm a lazy GM, yes - but I see nothing wrong with this. I have only a limited amount of time I can use for preparations - and making detailed plans for things that the PCs might or might not do is simply not an option. Instead, I only make rough scetches and simple plans - and improvise if something new comes up.

I've made a virtue out of neccessity - and I will stick to it.

That doesn't mean I can't do preparation, however. I put a lot of time and effort into the adventure that started the current campaign, as I knew that this adventure would make or break the campaign. I made every effort to make the town the PCs visited seem alive, and detailed all the important people.

And this was absolutely neccessary until the players developed a good feel for both their characters and the world they lived in. Now, new adventures and adventure possibilities evolve seamlessly from old ones, and the PC's personalities and agendas provide lots and lots of opportunities for role-playing. The campaign seems to basically run itself - because I know both the world and the characters.

And any time I don't have to spend on writing down lengthy monster stat blocks or ultra-detailed maps I might never use is more time I can use to think of new ideas and plot hooks to throw at my players. For me, this is simple, elegant, and efficient.

YMMV.

 

[ConcreteBuddha]

I'm a lazy GM, yes - but I see nothing wrong with this.

Neither do I.

Instead, I only make rough scetches and simple plans - and improvise if something new comes up.

...more time I can use to think of new ideas and plot hooks to throw at my players.

This is preparation.

Not every ounce of preparation has to be finely wrought maps of painstaking detail. Most of the time, I write down a few plot hooks, jot down complex characters, print out a couple blank maps and make keys for them (just in case), and write out a rough flow-chart. That's it.

It takes me about two hours of actual prep, and more hours of just thinking about the game in the shower or in the car or while I'm working.
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My idea of no prep is the guy who walks up to the table and says, "Okay guys, what do you want to do this session?" He hasn't thought about the game all week long, nor has he brought anything except for the PHB, the DMG, and the MM.

We blankly stare at him and say, "Well, since we are first level, with no money, I guess we should look for work."

"Okay then, you head to the tavern and a dwarf stops you. He has a beard and he yells, 'Adventurers! I have a job for you! Go to the town of...of' wait a second," flip, flip, flip. " 'Maowynville!' "

"Okay then, we head to the town of Maowynville."

The DM whips out the MM and flips to a random monster. The session is us fighting a troll, 2 DMG NPC Fighters, and a horde of 1/2 CR orcs. We then proceed to go to the next town, sell our DMG-rolled loot, and buy stuff. Then we go back outside and fight more MM monsters with no distinguishable features, and proceed to Maowynville.

At Maowynville, the DM says, "You reach Maowynville! You go to the tavern. There is a dwarf. He too has a beard. You can talk now."

"Hello. We were sent by the dwarf in the last town to see if you had work for us."

The DM shakes his head and scratches his imaginary beard. " 'As a matter of fact,' " the DM pauses for a long time, rolls some dice, then says, " 'No, I don't have any work for you.' "

The DM then looks at the clock, says, "Hey, it's midnight. I gotta go. You guys rest in the tavern and you gain 5000 XP."


Progress Quest, if you've ever heard of it...

 

[Desdichado]

I've been trying the opposite with Urbis - I treat the D&D rules as "canon", and then tried to come up with a setting and societies that work with them...

That's a valid approach. What's not valid... err, well, that's not really what I want to say, but what's not easily facilitated, at least, is playing standard fantasy tropes with D&D except at low to possibly mid-level. High level D&D bears little or no resemblance to "standard" fantasy archetypes. Epic level even less, which is one of my big complaints with it. Maybe I should start a new thread?

 

[mmadsen]

I said:

You'll notice that low-level adventure modules read more like common fantasy stories. High-level adventures read like pure D&D.

Joshua Dyal replied:

This is completely off-topic, but that is really a profound point there.

Thank you.

In essence, you are saying the as levels go up, D&D loses touch with the fantasy roots that supposedly spawned it and becomes increasingly self-referential instead.

I think a large part of the problem is that D&D bombards you with every mythic/fantasy trope all at once, and they're all "used up" by the time you're third level. Where do you go from there? You've already got multiple spellcasters and non-humans in your party; how mysterious are they?

 

[hong]

Where do you go from there?

To Infinity... and beyond!!


Hong "zounds!" Ooi

 

[Desdichado]

I think a large part of the problem is that D&D bombards you with every mythic/fantasy trope all at once, and they're all "used up" by the time you're third level. Where do you go from there? You've already got multiple spellcasters and non-humans in your party; how mysterious are they?

Yes, and I find that more and more the focus of house rules I try to implement is to:

1) decrease the amounts of magic items and mid to high levels that characters have.

2) rebalance the spellcaster function to not completely blow away the non-spellcasters when magic items are reduced (i.e., reduce access to spells, especially powerful ones and/or put a price on casting spells is usually how I do it.)

3) eliminate the concept of the minor spellcasting classes -- rangers are woodland warriors, not woodland warriors with some spells, for instance.