Prep without players - wasted?

[Sigurd]

I've been reluctant to take on the workload of DMing. I have some excellent players around but I got sort of burned out on 3.x and didn't like 4ed. (This is not an edition war thread).

My question is how much prep is really valuable if you aren't in an adventure? The player characters have such a huge impact on the story line that if you allow them to make decisions (and I do) there is only so much prep possible.

Does anyone think prep without players is wasted effort?


Sigurd

 

[Wicht]

I'm not sure I follow the question. Do you mean that you are prepping for a non-adventure oriented session? Or that you are thinking of putting together a game but don't actually have players yet to see what they would like to play?

 

[redboxrazor]

I find it helpful to develop the motivations of my major NPCs, along with a basic timeframe of when their goals will be achieved. That way, the PCs can involve themselves in any way they like, and I can "wing it" with the NPCs' reactions based on their motivations. And if the PCs dot follow much of the story arc at all, the I can have all these unhindered things happening to the game world based on those same NPCs' motivations and goals.

If, as the game progresses, I can see where the players are going with things, I can flesh out the next few sessions a little better.

Either way, it's the same mild amount of preparation to start, and the world continues to feel connected and important regardless of what the PCs do.

 

[Sigurd]

I have a half dozen players who I think would jump at an adventure. They are vocal, eager, all the things you want.

I've been sort of burned out for actually putting adventures together so I've been quietly building characters and settings to use for the 'eventual' game. Each thing I make can be used in multiple ways and without the push to use it I finish the elements, art, writing etc.... - at least that's the theory.


I'm starting to think making adventures on the fly is inevitable.

So my question about players and prep... Do people only make adventures when they have adventurers? Is adventure writing for 'any party' too tedious to do and do people find it a waste of time?



Sigurd

 

[Wicht]

So my question about players and prep... Do people only make adventures when they have adventurers? Is adventure writing for 'any party' too tedious to do and do people find it a waste of time?

The obvious answer is no. Game writers and module writers make generic adventures all the time with no specific party in mind. When making my own adventures, I write it like I don't know who the PCs are anyway as I try to write the adventure from the persective of the story and the antagonists.

 

[Doug McCrae]

I think it's fine to prep adventures even when you don't have specific PCs in mind. They are easily adjusted. Most adventures are essentially holes in the ground with monsters in. Tailoring your hole to the PCs is a question of motivation. PCs want money to spend on magic items? (Or ale and whores, doesn't matter.) The hole in the ground contains money. PCs want to defeat evil? The monsters in the hole are evil. PCs are on a quest for the Macguffin of Many Parts? One of the parts is in the hole. Simples!

 

[ExploderWizard]

If you are getting enjoyment out of working on something then it isn't wasted. Sometimes I will produce something for a particular game that doesn't get used in that game. I just keep it because it might be useful for a different game later.

 

[the Jester]

No prep is wasted, even if it is never used, because it helps you develop your adventure design skills.

I say go for it. In the 1e days I had a good dozen modules that I created and never ran.

 

[cdrcjsn]

I usually only ever prep combats. It's really the only thing that is firmly set in the rules and people will complain if you misread a power and kill a PC with it.

 

[the Jester]

Also, some people (*raises hand) find it really rewarding to do a lot of milieu prep- world-building, basically. What is the culture like over here? Which nations get along and which are enemies? What do the dwarves of the Copper Hills eat? What are the tenets of the major religions? Etc. Personally, I love this stuff. It's kind of masturbatory in that a lot of it may never see in-game use, but who cares? It adds layers of detail to the campaign world. Great fun imho.