Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Blue" data-source="post: 7041483" data-attributes="member: 20564">I'm running 13th Age, so my prep is a little different then those running D&D, but it's the same general feel.  I never use adventures so my session doc needs to have everything I need to run, including a few options if the players don't do what I expected.  They also contain summary of some campaign notes for planning & improv purposes.  Each session I start with a copy of the last one, because there's a lot of things that are static or pull forward.  Looking at last session it was 14 pages.I do everthing in a word (well, libreoffice) document, and the header includes the date, so I can keep the papers sorted.Character overview (1 page).  This is just info on all of the characters so I can make sure to spotlight their various abilities.  In 13th Age it's their One Unique Thing, Backgrounds (skills) and Icon Relationships, including "implied" relationships by Icons that are opposed or strongly allied.  Also useful for when they are off when I have prepared and I'm running improv.  "Hey, he's got these skills, I can work that in" or whatever.  Oh, and when designing adventures and arcs.  (Also works as a good "cover card" since I don't use a DM screen; everything on it is public knowledge.)Major campaign arcs (1.5 pages) - has summary about the (currently 4) major arcs.  Useful planning, when details change (while I start with ideas, things often change not just in reaction to what characters did, but what players are interested in, or just new ideas.  If it hasn't come up in game, it's not set in stone.)  Also useful for if they come across a source of exposition, like someone knowledgeable or an oracle.Those pages above are more static then not, the below change every session though unused material gets pulled forward.Recap of last session - I like to start with a recap, thouh I haven't been doing it as much recently.  Need to get back int o that habit.  (I also have a seperate recap document that I copy them all into which is effectively the whole story of the campaign.)Color and location notes - not in all of my prep notes.  Local color (especially sense besides sight), for cities notes of the different areas and some notable NPCs, etc.  Because my players can and will do anything and I need to be prepared for it.  This also has notes about details characters could notice.  For instance they were flying over the Red Wastes in a Dwarven Zeppelin and the Dwarfforged Soldier would have a chance to notice that there were a lot of abandoned orc camps, looking like they were mobilizing and heading NW, while to the sorcerer and another character the ambient magic twirled oddly, like as if a very magical being had been flying around.  Both are hooks for later.Adventure for this session - because I'm running homebrew, all my adventure notes for what I'm expecting.  Just text, not stat blocks.  I also keep NPC details outside the adventure section, because it flows pretty fast and is compact.Mind you, many plot threads are running at the same time and my players often confound me with what they are doing, so I have a bunch of things they could do there.Just a quick discussion on the break up between this and the other sections.  Say the group is in a city, and want to get information from the ruler.  The Color section will talk about the city, the general feel, different districts and some attractions (bazaar, etc.)  It will also have a short list of colorful people you can meet in each location so I can easily bring them to life as they travel through them.  This section will have information abotu who they want to talk to in order to get access to the rules, what the rules wants, the capture attempt by bounty hunters, the asylum fire they will see and may or may not get involved in, as well as information about local thieves' handouts because I KNOW one of my players will go there.  The NPC sections (below) will actually have details about some NPCs so as not to derail this section, and any combat stats will also be ina  lower section.  (Though traps would probably be here becasue they are very short and this way I don't need to switch pages).NPCsDetails on some NPCs they will or can meet (but not stat blocks), as well as pre-generated lists of NPC names sorted by race and gender.  (Well, my elf names are gender neutral.)  Prep/To Do - just a short place I scribble notes of things I need to prep for next session. (Detail the books they heisted from the temple, what will the Dwarven spymaster do after the characters rebuffed him)There's also some details of things from the campaign arcs that are coming up soon so I can make sure to foreshadow and weave them in.Combat Stats - this is where I have all the stat blocks.  13th Age is short, I can easily fix 3-5 per page.  I do them single sided and try to have everything for any 1 encounter on the same sheet.  Also enough whitespace to track combat - HPs, conditions, etc.  Pelgrane Press (who publishes 13th Age) gives out PDFs when you purchase physical books (go Bits and Mortar program!), so this is copy-paste from the PDFs and a bit of formatting, not retyping.Magic Items - I hand out cards of magic items - 13th Age doesn't have just "+1 mace" - even something like a weapon will have in addition to it's plus it will have a flavorful power (not just another math adjustment) and a quirk.  So I do two-column, bordered, single-sided and just cut ti cout and hand to the players if they find it.  Each item has a name, physical description, what it does, and the quirk.  I've also used these for boons (permanent boosts to a character) and for things like they were all carried on intelligent giant eagles for a few sessions while they helped out the High Druid.</blockquote>

Verification