D&D General Zero-Prep D&D Game?

[Reynard]

When I do zero prep, I lean into the players. "Who are you? What do.you do? What do you desire?" Then as they actually build characters, I roll some dice on tables from Shadowdark and other sources. Combined with their answers, I have a starting point.

From there it's just riffing. If we hit a wall, I roll on a table and incorporate the results to move things forward. Otherwise, players should drive the action.

 

[clearstream]

Lots RPGs where no prep is one of its features

Which RPGs would you list?

 

[TwoSix]

When I do zero prep, I lean into the players. "Who are you? What do.you do? What do you desire?" Then as they actually build characters, I roll some dice on tables from Shadowdark and other sources. Combined with their answers, I have a starting point.

From there it's just riffing. If we hit a wall, I roll on a table and incorporate the results to move things forward. Otherwise, players should drive the action.

Agreed. You describe everything in terms of concepts and ideas; once you get to a point where the mechanics get involved is when you start tracking some mechanical baselines.

My default D&D baseline is also built around easy encounter building; consumables and weak magic items are common to allow me to spice up encounters without needing “spellcasters”, and there’s a bit of runic magic and low-level magitech to allow for easy narration of supernatural scenarios.

 

[Reynard]

Which RPGs would you list?

You can zero prep any RPG. The key is ones own familiarity with the game. Some games, including many PbtA games, are intended to be played with minimal or no prep, but you can zero-prep D&D, Pathfinder or Savage Worlds if you know the system well enough to improvise encounters, rulings and other aspects of play. If the players know the rules, too, then all the better.

The specter of GM prep and "homework" is probably the biggest impediment to players trying out life behind the screen. if we as a community and industry can kill that notion, there will be a lot more GMs available.

 

[clearstream]

You can zero prep any RPG. The key is ones own familiarity with the game. Some games, including many PbtA games, are intended to be played with minimal or no prep, but you can zero-prep D&D, Pathfinder or Savage Worlds if you know the system well enough to improvise encounters, rulings and other aspects of play. If the players know the rules, too, then all the better.

The specter of GM prep and "homework" is probably the biggest impediment to players trying out life behind the screen. if we as a community and industry can kill that notion, there will be a lot more GMs available.

The poster wrote that there are "Lots RPGs where no prep is one of its features." I'm curious what specific titles with zero prep as one of its features they were thinking of?

That's a significantly different question than whether "You can zero prep any RPG."

 

[AlViking]

I have done a lot of cumulative prep over time on my homebrew campaigns, so my prep as far as the world can be pretty minimal for a specific game. I also have things like random name lists for individuals, businesses and other organizations so I don't have to make them up on the fly.

For a specific session I can't say I ever to zero prep, but it could be as short as a paragraph or two and a handful of encounter stat blocks (e.g. Goblin Boss, Goblin x2(med) x3(hard)) that indicate a monster and how many to get different difficulty levels. After that it's just improv based on what the players decide to do. I also have extra encounter stat block or two for most of my session plans because the players regularly go off on tangents I had not expected.

But zero prep in D&D? I guess I could still do it but I'd have to take a couple of minutes to put together those encounter stat blocks if combat starts. I suppose I could just use my chart that shows average monster stats by level, but that would still not be zero prep.

 

[TwoSix]

You can zero prep any RPG. The key is ones own familiarity with the game. Some games, including many PbtA games, are intended to be played with minimal or no prep, but you can zero-prep D&D, Pathfinder or Savage Worlds if you know the system well enough to improvise encounters, rulings and other aspects of play. If the players know the rules, too, then all the better.

Agreed.

I've read a concept before, for disaster prep and emergency response, about the importance of doing visualization. You should take a few minutes to imagine exactly what you do if your residence caught on fire, as an example. Or your place of work. Or if there was a tornado, or an earthquake. You imagine what steps would you take in that situation.

By doing that visualization, you've created a neural pathway that will greatly increase your response time if you're in that situation. It's always easier for our brains to remember than it is to create.

Doing D&D with no prep has some similarities in that doing some "pre-imagining" is very worthwhile. You don't prep for a specific situation; rather, you take a little time to build up a bunch of little mnemonic tools that you can then bring into being when the game situation arises.

I often will see a building with some interesting architecture or an intriguing layout and take a minute or two imagining how I would present it as a D&D dungeon to explore. Or the layout and hooks from a videogame dungeon. That way, I have mental templates I can pull from when I need to introduce a new gameplay scene.

 

[TwoSix]

The poster wrote that there are "Lots RPGs where no prep is one of its features." I'm curious what specific titles with zero prep as one of its features they were thinking of?

That's a significantly different question than whether "You can zero prep any RPG."

Honestly, I'm not really sure. I feel comfortable doing little prep for most systems once I have a basic familiarity (or if I didn't feel comfortable, I wouldn't run them), so I can't say I've ever sought out a game specifically checking if it has that claimed feature.

 

[plecostomus]

Is anyone here running a zero-prep game of D&D (any edition or clone)? A game where you, as DM, just show up and start playing each session, and it results in a satisfying experience?

If so, can you please explain your approach, tools, etc?

This zero prep stream of the 5E Pharaoh module may interest you.

• Part 2
• Edited version - DM talks about what was easy (combat) and what was hard (complicated NPCs and dungeon mechanics) at the end.

 

[Reynard]

The poster wrote that there are "Lots RPGs where no prep is one of its features." I'm curious what specific titles with zero prep as one of its features they were thinking of?

That's a significantly different question than whether "You can zero prep any RPG."

Scum and Villainy is an explicitly zero prep game, if I recall correctly. As is Ironsword and Starforged (though those are built primarily as solo RPGs). I am not sure if Fate qualifies. It can be played that way, and Session zero is supposed to be zero-prep, but I think there is an expectation for at least a little prep between sessions by the GM.