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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Orcus" data-source="post: 208451" data-attributes="member: 1254">Wow, I dont check the boards for a day and look what I miss <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />"Some people like to do a good job, and "winging it" is not usually a very good job, it is a sign of lack of preparation or thought."Hmm. If you are saying winging it means not running a good session I disagree. I have had several DMs (my pall Bill is one) who is brilliant when he is winging things. I believe you have to be prepared to wing things."If you like being unprepared and don't think much of your players, that's your business, but don't talk down to those of us who DO put work and thought into what we do."You mistake me. I am probably one of the most prepared DMs you will meet. I script each nights session in act and scene format; heck I even script out major NPC comments and interactions so that I can spit them out in game without even a pause. My players love it. I put a ton of work and thought into my game. But even given all my prep, sometimes gamers go a direction you didnt intend. Now I imagine if this happened to you, you wouldnt halt play and say "come back next week guys, I have to chart all this out and make stat blocks" (I was teasing by the "now go make stat blocks" comment at the end of my last post but forgot to put a smiley). I hope you dont do that anyway. Every DM has to wing stuff at least a 1/4 of the time. Its part of being a DM.All I am saying is that it is not so impossible to wing things in 3E as many people seem to say it is.I use the same rule of thumb that has been proposed here: key skill for an NPC is from [level] to [level+3] and presuming a 12-14 in the key attribute; or half that for lesser skills it would be logical for them to have. And for other situations, use the old d20 + mods mechanic. You dont have to have the whole stat block done for an NPC to handle a situation. You should obviously have the stats done for the major NPCs. But with all the online support for NPC generators (like Jamis Buck's fantastic ones) it takes little time to generate one."Maybe your players like shallowness, but it is unattractive to many of us."Ouch! I dont think my players would agree with that assessment, but maybe they just havent been telling me all these years... <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />"Good luck with your "extensive" experiences...just showing up doesn't make you an expert, it just means you were there."No, actually, it means I was there running games. That is called experience. Just showing up would be not doing anything."But you must be perfect, and we are all inexperienced DM's, and you are an expert because you played a few games..."I am far from perfect. I am not much of a rules lawyer (which is funny since I am actually a lawyer), I dont have a photographic memory (like my buddy Bill who can remember anything).And for the record, it has been far more than a few games... <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />That was fun! (this time I will put the smiley) <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />Clark</blockquote>

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