D&D General What's the Most Valuable DM Prep Between Campaigns?

[Musing Mage]

Well, for my own part, my regular game ended in a bit of a TPK last year, and due to the pandemic we went on hiatus and I ended up with a year between games... during that time I codified my house rules into an organized document; reread the books; and started laying out adventure threads.

I also rolled out the battlemat and made a team of characters to run through a random dungeon generator. That was beneficial as I realized just how rusty my knowledge of the rules was, and also gave me a practical refresher of both BTB rules and my House Rules. It was also oddly satisfying... and I ended up with 3 multi level dungeons to lay at the feet of my real players.

As our return to real play loomed, I laid out about a dozen adventure paths, and fleshed them out, came up with a stack of rumours the players could learn about said adventure paths, and let them figure out what they wanted to do. Now that they have made choices, the trajectory is a little easier to predict and I can prep more specific details tied in with what has been established.

Dammit! Talking about it here is makes me wish game-day were sooner!

 

[Steampunkette]

I assume you are saying this is what you would do?

Precisely so. When asked for advice I give it!

Considering the story you want to tell, and the stories that shape that idea and make it concrete, is a great way to provide yourself a framework of interchangeable components that reinforces the whole.

Even disconnected events unrelated to the story (I.E. Random Encounters) can still support the core narrative, that way, without being a part of the BBEG's plans or the specific response to those plans.

 

[turnip_farmer]

Read the rules.

It sounds like you're talking an established group of players and that the theme and style of the campaign will need to be agreed with then first. So there is no point designing anything that might not fit. Especially not if you get all excited about your ideas and then find that no-one else is interested.

But rereading the rules, reminding yourself how all these stupid abilities and spells actually work, can be valuable prep in helping you run (and plan) games in future.

That's only if you really want to do something for your DnD game though. You could just use the time for something else completely!

 

[overgeeked]

Recharge the grey matter. Enjoy some inspirational material. Appendix N. Whatever combo of books, movies, art, and otherwise that gets the juices flowing.

 

[Snarf Zagyg]

Let's say you likely have another D&D campaign starting "down the road"- it might be several weeks or months, but it is definitely coming as your current game winds down.

You don't know what the players will want to play, except that it's probably going to be D&D.

What would you do with this sabbatical time? Would you make small 5 room dungeons in preparation? Design campaign worlds? Random encounter tables? Maybe you would take time off from thinking about the game altogether and recharge?

I would take a sabbatical.

 

[Voadam]

I generally run adapted modules in my homebrew mashup setting.

This came up for me last year when my brother mentioned he was burning out on DMing too many games so I offered to start a new campaign for our online group if the group was amenable, which they were.

I went through the modules/APs I have and made a list of the ones I was most interested in running and brought it to the group for a discussion of the then currently most appealing themes for them. We picked one that generated the most interest (Iron Gods from Pathfinder converted to 5e) and I spent my weeks of prep time while the old game wound down reading the first module (Fires of Creation), the sourcebook for the background nation (Numeria), online conversion advice specific for the AP, and some generic 5e stuff (Xanathar's).

If I were starting a new one I would go through mostly the same process, if I didn't have a module picked out I would focus prep on reading stuff for the rules system I wanted to run (I've only begun to read Tasha's) and reading stuff for possible inclusion in my setting. I would probably also want to get more familiar with options on Fantasy Grounds so I could do more stuff with it beyond the basics I've got right now. All my current prep time is trying to stay current with stuff for the next game and I have not made time to successfully get a handle on FG stuff beyond my FG basics.

 

[MarkB]

I'd probably take time to let my brain recharge. Talking with the players about what they want to do also seems like a good idea, if you're considering running published material.

That sounds like the best option. Prepping a session only for the players to go a different direction is tough enough, doing that on the scale of a campaign could get painful.

 

[J-H]

Getting a break from DMing and actually playing.

This is mostly wishful thinking.

 

[Rhenny]

First, I refresh my memory about past and what may come up next.

Sometimes, I outline a few alternative paths or contingencies.

Almost always, I like to make a quick cheat sheet for some notes on NPCs that the PCs may meet. (Personality, Motive, Distinguishing Features).

 

[FrozenNorth]

Concept-Skeleton-First adventure
And all during the process, Buzz.

Easy to remember with the handy acronym CSFB.

First, Concept. Unless this is a one-shot, my first step is to come up with about 6 different campaign ideas that I would be enthusiastic to run. I don’t need much at this stage: one or two paragraphs for each Concept. The most important thing at this stage is emphasizing what would make this campaign different from bog-standard D&D.

I then put the different concepts to a vote by my players. There are many, many ways to do this (secret ballots, open ballots, multiple votes, single votes, ranked choice, etc.), but the most important point is that I present each concept and why I am excited to run it (this ties into Buzz later).

Once the group has chosen the Concept, next step is the Skeleton. This is the Skeleton of the campaign. It should not take more than a single page! It should set out what are the big expected “beats” and “set pieces” of the campaign, as well as the levels at which I anticipate them occurring. This serves several purposes;

• setting expectations: is this going to be a 1 to 6 campaign, a 3 to 5 campaign, a 1 to 10 campaign or a 1 to 15 campaign? How much material do I believe I have?
• setting up foreshadowing: I will refer to this document all through the campaign. If I know that the second arc will take place in the Feywild, I will set up that there are portals to it (and how they work) in the first arc;
• identifying issues and challenges before session zero. If the campaign will mostly take place in the mountains, this would be useful if someone wants to play a ranger. Conversely, it’s less interesting to play a sailor in an adventure taking place in a land-locked country.
• highlighting synergies before session zero. Maybe this pirate-themed campaign will be great for sea rangers, coastal druids and fathomless warlocks! Or tritons and veldrani. Tell your players this! I have seen players that are unwilling to try certain builds because they read an “optimizer” post somewhere that said it was underpowered. Creature of the sea is a lot more useful when you are exploring shipwrecks. GWF Fighters are less useful when many fights are underwater.

Third, the First adventure. I generally don’t need to sketch out more than the First adventure, but it is important to me that the First adventure really set the tone for the campaign. One, it should introduce the NPCs, the world, and the concept of the campaign. Second, I will try to include at least one-mindblowing moment. Maybe a battle in a temple that is slowly sinking, so that the characters must find a way out before they drown. Maybe a single tough monster that makes the finale feel more like the Alien franchise than D&D. Maybe something like the scene in Spiderman where the commoners the heroes helped start pelting the villain with garbage just when the heroes need a breather. Again, the details of the adventure can wait until after Session Zero. At this stage, I’m only thinking about what I want to introduce in the adventure and the big set piece. I don’t need to stat out every encounter.

Finally, Buzz. If you’re excited, your players will be excited. But very often, your players may not see how excited you are. Share your enthusiam with them, it’s infectious. When pitching the Concept, tell them why you think the Concept is awesome. When building your Skeleton, share your information with them about classes or races that are particularly well-suited, or why you are excited about something. When preparing the First Adventure, ask your players if they have any idea about their backgrounds to help you set the adventure up.