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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Rogue Agent" data-source="post: 5720256" data-attributes="member: 6673496">It really depends on the type of adventure.LOCATION-BASED adventures break down to a keyed map and inhabitants. The traditional way is to include both inhabitants and locations on the same key, but I actually break them up: There's the map, a key describing locations on the map, and then a roster of inhabitants.SCENE-BASED adventures I prep the scenes and I figure out how the players can navigate from one scene to the next. <a href="http://thealexandrian.net/wordpress/7949/roleplaying-games/node-based-scenario-design-part-1-the-plotted-approach" target="_blank">A similar approach explained at nauseous length.</a>In either case, each "chunk" of information is prepped using succinct bullet points. (Easy to write; easy to reference; easy to use.) And for stat blocks I'll do my best to use stuff I can plug-and-play as often as possible.I think the biggest thing experience has taught me is to prep situations, not plots. (I used to talk generally about prepping "antagonists and their plots", but <a href="http://thealexandrian.net/wordpress/4147/roleplaying-games/dont-prep-plots" target="_blank">this</a> was useful in clarifying the approach in my head.) The problem with prepping plots is that you'll usually waste a lot of time on contingencies that never get used. And even if you don't go in for contingencies, you'll still spend a lot of time prepping stuff that could just as easily be developed organically and spontaneously at the game table.With all that being said, there is no silver bullet I've found. Sometimes I'll prep 20 pages of stuff and I'll get 30 minutes of play out of it. Sometimes I'll prep 4 paragraphs and I'll get 8 hours of play out of it.As you gain experience, you get better at figuring out what is and isn't going to be useful (particularly for a specific group of players). But there are no guarantees. (And I like that.)</blockquote>

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