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Message: <blockquote data-quote="JamesonCourage" data-source="post: 5868894" data-attributes="member: 6668292">I have some advantages, yeah.1) I've done it this way since I started GMing, and my brother, who I played under for years beforehand, always did it this way.2) I made the rules for the system we use.3) I've not only played with most of the group for years, the majority have been very close friends for 10-13 years. For me, when I've looked over modules, adventures, or settings, I've always thought it must be so much work to run, as crazy as that sounds. I need to learn NPC names, I need to learn political areas and how they interconnect and interact. I need to learn about the races, maybe their history, etc. There's a lot of learning that needs to be done.I can make a decent colored map for an entire region in an hour, write up some guidelines on the style of nations, name them all, etc. I'll have it all done within three hours, most likely, and I'll be very familiar with them. I only need to learn it once, too. Any of my preferences are already plugged in. I can make interesting terrain, like passes or straits, not to mention firelands, enchanted or haunted forests, etc.I realize you said you can just edit these things, but I can simply name an area "the serpantlands" and there's an expectation there as to what you'll find. The same for the place on the map named the Wraith Forest, or the Spider Wastes, or the Cave Hills, or Giant's Green, etc.It's really easy for me to remember things I make up, rather than things I read about. I don't have to reference books, stat blocks, and the like. I can just follow the God Document (a couple pages of "if someone is this hit die [and here's what hit die means], and they're this invested in a skill set, they're this good). I can even look at a quick NPC template to give me all of this already:[sblock]WarriorSoldier, mercenary, bandit.Str: P, Dex: S, Con: S, Int: T, Wis: T, Cha: THP: Interested, THP: HobbySkills: Assess: Interested, Martial Prowess: Interested, Profession: Interested, Tactics: InterestedFort: Hobby, Ref: Hobby, Will: Hobby, Ini: HobbyMelee Attack/Damage: Professionally Skilled / Professionally SkilledRanged Attack/Damage: Interested / InterestedACvM: Professionally Skilled, ACvR: Professionally SkilledCMA: Professionally Skilled, CMD: Professionally Skilled[/sblock]If I plug in hit die 4 (described as "the average settled adult"), I get this: [sblock]WarriorSoldier, mercenary, bandit.Str: 18, Dex: 16, Con: 17, Int: 11, Wis: 10, Cha: 10HP: 15, THP: 10Skills: Assess: +5, Martial Prowess: +5, Profession (guard [or whatever]): +5, Tactics: +5Fort: +5, Ref: +5, Will: +5, Ini: +3Melee Attack/Damage: Longsword +7 / 1d10+12Ranged Attack/Damage: Heavy Crossbow +5 / 1d8+8ACvM: Longsword +7 / 1d10+12, ACvR: 18CMA: +14, CMD: +14[/sblock]That's easy to check during combat without writing it up. I just plugged in the numbers. If I think they're fighting an average settled adult warrior, I look at the initiative bonus when we roll for it. When he's attacking, I look at his attack bonus for his hit die. Etc. Makes it really easy to do whatever on the fly.I think that's normal. I think that many people go for this method when they're running a game. As always, play what you like <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>

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