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Message: <blockquote data-quote="James Jacobs" data-source="post: 5057481" data-attributes="member: 23937">In my opinion, the trick to running a game when you end up having no prep time is to use stats for monsters you have and just describe them differently to the players. I did this a few weeks ago when the PCs attacked the leader of a troglodyte tribe. I hadn't had time to whip up stats for what would have been something like a 5th level barbarian troglodyte, so I just used the stats for a minotaur, gave him a space/reach of 5 ft./5 ft., bumped his hp up to 70, and gave him the troglodyte stench attack. I ignored the gore attack and powerful charge. The players (consisting of the Paizo editorial team and our esteemed publisher Erik Mona) had a blast and never knew the difference. I've actually run the majority of the encounters in this office game that way, to be honest (used a centipede swarm last week to stand in for a snake swarm, and a while back used a mummy to stand in for a freaked-out mutant dark stalker worshiper of Shub-Niggurath), and it works every time.Gamemastering is like doing magic tricks. You can get away with a LOT if you keep your audience entertained, I guess!</blockquote>