What takes you the longest in adventure preperation?

[Pants]

My main problem? Mapping. I love to make maps for dungeons, encounters, and areas and I love to just think about what stuff I will put in, but once I actually sit down and try to map it, I just end up staring at a blank of sheet of graph paper for several hours. Sometimes, creativity will hit me, and I'll churn out a map fairly quickly (read: 2-3 hours), but usually I end up not getting it done and I put it off until right before the game.

I also really like statting up PC's/NPC's, but it does take me quite a while to do it, especially high level NPC's.

 

[Angel Tarragon]

I'd have to say statting out the bad guys. Everything else is a breeze.

 

[EricNoah]

I don't find stating critters (including advanced and templated) or NPCs all that time consuming. The thing that takes the longest for me is getting the idea and making it all "fit" so it makes some kind of sense. For example, I've spent probably 4 months mulling over the contents of my abandoned mage guild ... how it was set up, how the traps are powered, what critters might still be there ... and I'm still stumped about much of it. But I have a ream of stat blocks ready to go in there at a moment's notice because I keep thinking up cool critters/NPCs and now need a place to put them...

 

[Raven Crowking]

What takes me the longest is going through threads on En World......

Then, when I sit down to the work, it's mostly writing the read-aloud text. It isn't that it takes a long time to write each individual piece, but I write so much of it. I often include bits of dialogue that I know I am going to use, all ready to be thrown at the PCs when the proper moment arises. Many of my NPCs have names...even bit parts...and enough backstory to make them seem "real" to the PCs. I don't want the players to be able to determine who is important, and who is not, on the basis of those types of clues. I also make name lists just in case I'm caught flat-footed.

Statting is time consuming, I agree, but I keep a database of stats, and I can often simply cut-and-paste them into my adventure as needed. One psudonatural fiendish dire rat is very much like another. I save my statting time for the important characters.


RC

 

[Kashell]

NPCs, definatly.


New monsters are worse, because I have to study their habits and such too.

 

[ptolemy18]

Maping out a dungeon takes me the longest. That is why my adventures mostly have some random encounters between bouts of role playing, investigation, etc.

You know what I love doing? Repurposing dungeon maps from other sources. I get most of my dungeon maps from old modules, and just change what's in the rooms.

Jason

 

[nopantsyet]

Chalk up another vote for "statting" the NPCs.

Sometimes I only stat out that parts I know I'm going to use. Pick out a few signature spells, skills, feats, etc. and leave the rest hazy. But at the same time it feels like cheating. However, in the end, it's often the difference between having enough time to prepare and not, and I think having a rich session is more important than having full stats for every NPC.

 

[derelictjay]

For me its magical Items (coming after just getting myself to sit down and write one), I've been burned to many times by giving out a seemingly inoculous magic item, that the players use to devastating effect (I now abhore of giving out any of Quaal's magic tokens now, shutter, ok maybe not all of them).

 

[LostSoul]

Sometimes, creativity will hit me, and I'll churn out a map fairly quickly (read: 2-3 hours), but usually I end up not getting it done and I put it off until right before the game.

Wow. I draw my maps out in an isometric perspective (you know, like a picture) and it doesn't take me that long. Plus it's bloody fun.

I think statting out NPCs takes the longest amount of time. Which is why I found it much, much, much easier to GM games in Star Wars d6. Without levels and freaky rule-breaking things like Feats, you could come up with a by-the-rules NPC in your head. Seconds is all it would take.

I miss playing that game... *sniff* good times, good times.

 

[Ibram]

plot generation usualy takes the longest for me... it takes me a month or two to generate an adventure. From that outline i stat out the NPC's which doesnt take me very long (I have several pages filled with stated out minions (like "Orc Raider" or "Thug") that I reuse over and over again. Specific NPC's are usualy stated out in a few hrs. Area maps are usualy generated as part of the plot creation, while battle maps are generated along with the NPC's, that doesnt take very long as I usualy create battle areas on the fly durring the game. I've never stated out a large scale dungeon or fortress, perfering to generate a handful of interesting rooms then just picking ones for the players to encounter.