Emirikol said:
Mongoose has a book of NPCs but I haven't seen it yet.
EN has Everyone Else as a PDF:
http://www.rpgnow.com/product_info.php?products_id=324&SRC=EnWorld
If you don't have it buy it fast. Very useful.
What takes you the longest in adventure preperation?
- Thread starter Gundark
- Start date
Mongoose has a book of NPCs but I haven't seen it yet.
EN has Everyone Else as a PDF:
http://www.rpgnow.com/product_info.php?products_id=324&SRC=EnWorld
If you don't have it buy it fast. Very useful.
JoeBlank
Explorer
I selected "other" because coming up with ideas is usually no problem for me, and I often bastardize published adventures. The hard part for me is making my adventures fit my current campaign world. I come up with some many ideas, and see so many more that I like, but they rarely seem to fit the style and level campaign I am running at the time. This is made harder by the fact that my only DMing is done in a shared world game, where we rotate DMs. I plan to solve some of that problem for myself by taking the PCs to the Oathbound campaign setting soon, and then running all of my games there, so I won't have to worry about stepping on the toes of the other DMs.
NPC stats have not yet been a real problem yet, as I have always been able to find some published NPC that was at least close to what I wanted. Just last session I had to come up with an attack by a few bandits on short notice, and I found the NPCs in Necromancer's free PDF supplement for Rappan Athuk.
On edit: Phil's post reminded my of the handy tool Everyone Else. Very useful, and a bargain.
NPC stats have not yet been a real problem yet, as I have always been able to find some published NPC that was at least close to what I wanted. Just last session I had to come up with an attack by a few bandits on short notice, and I found the NPCs in Necromancer's free PDF supplement for Rappan Athuk.
On edit: Phil's post reminded my of the handy tool Everyone Else. Very useful, and a bargain.
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IronWolf
blank
Christopher Lambert said:
My campaign is still in the lower levels at this time, so I haven't had to deal with the higher level issues yet. Perhaps when my campaign hits higher levels I would vote differently in this poll.
I would imagine for higher level ones I stat out their ability scores (we use point buy, good for the PC's, good for the NPC's). I have a handy excel sheet to make that take less than a minute. From there, depending on level I determine if they have any magical armor or other magic items that may impact their AC. In a spellcaster case I determine whether this spellcaster loaded up on any defensive spells (shield, mage armor, protection from arrows, etc.) And toss in the feats and see if they would have one that would grant an AC bonus.
Again, my campaign is still at the lower levels, so the above may be overly simple for higher levels.
Napftor
Explorer
I'll agree about the NPC statting and also point to the sources mentioned above (from Mongoose et al). I'd also like to mention Adamant Ent.'s own Non-Player Compendium series. There's only two volumes out so far but it just started recently. And wouldn't you rather have NPCs fashioned by people you trust as opposed to computer programs? 
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Evilhalfling
Adventurer
what seems to take forever is the tinkering with plotline, creating the motivations and resources involved. Like W.G. most of this time is spent while driving (40 min commute)
or in snatches of time here and there.
I find stat write-ups to go fairly quickly, perhaps an eveing or afternoon at most.
In terms of actuall time devothed to gaming, room descriptions and logical placement of defenses and living quarters, not to mention remebering things like latrienes and cooking areas -
So I guess thats
1. coming up with ideas + fleshing out time
2. dungeon design
3. stats
or in snatches of time here and there.
I find stat write-ups to go fairly quickly, perhaps an eveing or afternoon at most.
In terms of actuall time devothed to gaming, room descriptions and logical placement of defenses and living quarters, not to mention remebering things like latrienes and cooking areas -
So I guess thats
1. coming up with ideas + fleshing out time
2. dungeon design
3. stats
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RichGreen
Adventurer
Hi,
Another vote for statting NPCs and villains. I ran an epic game for a while and speeded things up by not doing all of the NPCs' skills and leaving some of the lower level spell slots "open" (as suggested in UA, I think).
Dungeon magazine is a great source of NPCs and monsters with class levels -- I just need to find a way of keeping track of what kind of villains are in each issue. I also keep meaning to use some of the example PrC characters from Complete Warrior, Complete Divine etc against the party.
Cheers
Richard
Another vote for statting NPCs and villains. I ran an epic game for a while and speeded things up by not doing all of the NPCs' skills and leaving some of the lower level spell slots "open" (as suggested in UA, I think).
Dungeon magazine is a great source of NPCs and monsters with class levels -- I just need to find a way of keeping track of what kind of villains are in each issue. I also keep meaning to use some of the example PrC characters from Complete Warrior, Complete Divine etc against the party.
Cheers
Richard
TheAuldGrump
First Post
Stats, definitely the stats.
Ideas take no time at all, I always have more ideas than I have time for.
Dungeons, towns, etc? They take some time, but I sometimes make maps just for the heck of it, pulling them out when I need them Sometimes I even stat out towns ahead of time.
Creatures? There are a lot of very nice database programs for critters out there.
Traps & Hazards? Easy, again, more than I can use, some written down, others hovering in DM Space, waiting.
Treasure? If I get stuck I use Jamis Bucks treasure generator, otherwise I just keep an eye on the totals for treasure.
Then come the bloody darned stats... I don't like using pregenerated NPC for anything except very minor NPCs, so I have to do anything major by hand. Thank the gods for PCGen, it has made my life so much easier in regards to NPC statting. But it doen't have all the books that I use so for anything that is campaign specific out comes the word processor.
The Auld Grump
Ideas take no time at all, I always have more ideas than I have time for.
Dungeons, towns, etc? They take some time, but I sometimes make maps just for the heck of it, pulling them out when I need them Sometimes I even stat out towns ahead of time.
Creatures? There are a lot of very nice database programs for critters out there.
Traps & Hazards? Easy, again, more than I can use, some written down, others hovering in DM Space, waiting.
Treasure? If I get stuck I use Jamis Bucks treasure generator, otherwise I just keep an eye on the totals for treasure.
Then come the bloody darned stats... I don't like using pregenerated NPC for anything except very minor NPCs, so I have to do anything major by hand. Thank the gods for PCGen, it has made my life so much easier in regards to NPC statting. But it doen't have all the books that I use so for anything that is campaign specific out comes the word processor.
The Auld Grump
Thanee
First Post
The idea. That's pretty much the only preparation I do.
I never (well, ok rarely
) stat out NPCs, I don't need to. It's a matter of seconds to figure what kind of stuff (feats, abilities, skills, equipment, prepared or known spells, hps, AC, attack bonuses) an NPC should have.
Only at higher levels it becomes more important, when characters grow much more complex.
Bye
Thanee
I never (well, ok rarely
) stat out NPCs, I don't need to. It's a matter of seconds to figure what kind of stuff (feats, abilities, skills, equipment, prepared or known spells, hps, AC, attack bonuses) an NPC should have.Only at higher levels it becomes more important, when characters grow much more complex.
Bye
Thanee
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