Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.
Enchanted Trinkets Complete--a hardcover book containing over 500 magic items for your D&D games!

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="buzz" data-source="post: 2893720" data-attributes="member: 6777">1. Pregens. This avoids having to spend time making PCs at the table, and allows you to craft characters that a) work well in the adventure and 2) have a reason to be together. Elaborate backstories are unnecessary; just provide 1-2 key traits, ideally oens that tie into a) and 2) above.2. Playtest, if possible. A stretch, but I wanted to mention it. <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=":)" />3. Prep. Know the adventure backward-and-forward. Make rule cheat-sheets for the system if you need them. Make up a spreadsheet with all of the PCs pertinent stats. Have copies of the character sheets so you can help players reference them without having to take them out of the player's hands.4. Make pretty character sheets that are easy to read. If you can find appropriate character portraits to use, do so. Try to include as much of the data the players need on the sheet as possible. Summaries of feats, page references for spells, checkboxes for ammo and damage, etc. Blue Rose is pretty simple, so this should be fairly easy to do.5. I don't know if you use minis with Blue Rose, but if you do, pre-draw encuonter locations. You can get 1" gridded flip-charts at OfficeMax for $16 or so. You can probably also download PDFs of grid paper that you can print and then stitch together. Basically, this saves time for drawing things out in-game, and you can take time to embellish the maps, if you're artistically inclined.6. Visual aids. Pictures of NPCs or locations that you can show the players are always helpful. Or a map or scroll that you can literally hand the players. That kind of thing.7. Be well rested for the game. Do your prep sooner rather than later so you're not rushed or frustrated when game-time comes. Get enough sleep the night before.8. Make the playing space comfortable. Suitable chairs, proper lighting, a lack of background noise, a lack of interruptions. Clean is good, too. <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=":)" />9. Provide munchies and beverages. They don't all have to be junk, either; junk food usually means a short high and then a prolonged low. I like having a mix of veggies, chips, and cookies or brownies; for beverages, I usually drink water, and have soda and tea/coffee available.10. Keep a good attitude, let the dice fall where they may, and empower the players to act in ways cool and fun for everyone. Be proactive and don't let the game drag. Keep pushing on to the next cool encounter; keep everyone focused.That's all I can thnk of right now.  <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=":)" /></blockquote>

Verification