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

[prabe]

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?

In the D&D 5e/Tales of the Valiant games I'm running, mostly the PCs end up in situation, and I react to how they handle them. I run fortnightly--and there are excellent player-side session notes I can look at--so I usually have plenty of time to think about what's going on, but there are times when my written prep is like three lines, at most. If I know I'm going to need to instigate something, I'll usually have something more written down, and I've started to just have a list of NPCs (just names and Lineage and gender) I can drop in without having to decide or determine things.

 

[Theory of Games]

If you haven't prepped anything, how do you handle combat? This is D&D we're talking about ...

 

[prabe]

If you haven't prepped anything, how do you handle combat? This is D&D we're talking about ...

Actually, sometimes there isn't a fight. And sometimes in my couple of lines of prep I have expected adversaries--how many of X, and and how many HP they each have; I can run them out of the books, even if I'm reskinning them (and I often am).

Other times, there's like a bolus of prep that runs for a few sessions, where I'll have a bunch of adversaries and just work through them for a few sessions.

 

[Distracted DM]

If you haven't prepped anything, how do you handle combat? This is D&D we're talking about ...

OK yeah so how're we defining "no prep" here? It's helpful to know how to run the game. I assume when people say "no prep" they mean "I know how to run DnD, but I want to sit down and start running without spending time beforehand deciding the premise etc."

 

[prabe]

OK yeah so how're we defining "no prep" here? It's helpful to know how to run the game. I assume when people say "no prep" they mean "I know how to run DnD, but I want to sit down and start running without spending time beforehand deciding the premise etc."

If you're just starting a thing, you probably need to prep some starting situation, whatever "starting situation" means for what you're expecting/intending to run. For a sandbox, you'd need some of the local area and what's around it--things for the PCs to find out about and do; if you're running a game that's more about a narrative (not necessarily a pre-written one--writing up the whole expected narrative seems very much like the opposite of no/low-prep) you'll probably need a starting situation--set up some things, add the PCs, throw stuff at a convenient fan. If you're not pre-planning for specific PC actions, though, you really don't need to prep much, if you're willing/able to respond to the PCs and improvise; obviously, that's not a forte for all GMs.

 

[overgeeked]

Yeah, there's a distinction to make between absolutely zero prep, as in pure improv, and minimal prep. Then there's also the question of is someone else's prep being used. As in are you just running a module without reading it beforehand, so reading it at the table as you need to. That's one kind of zero prep on the referee's part, but it's clearly drawing on someone else's prep.

The most minimal prep I've done is relying on systems and work done beforehand to facilitate not having to do hours of prep for each session. Think random tables, collecting a stack of maps to use, and lists of names. A little bit of worldbuilding, winding things up, and letting the PCs go in a target-rich environment as it were.

Another way to go is having PCs with goals. Makes running low- or no-prep a dream. All you have to do is put obstacles in their way. Which makes running the game dead simple.

 

[Reynard]

If you're just starting a thing, you probably need to prep some starting situation, whatever "starting situation" means for what you're expecting/intending to run. For a sandbox, you'd need some of the local area and what's around it--things for the PCs to find out about and do; if you're running a game that's more about a narrative (not necessarily a pre-written one--writing up the whole expected narrative seems very much like the opposite of no/low-prep) you'll probably need a starting situation--set up some things, add the PCs, throw stuff at a convenient fan. If you're not pre-planning for specific PC actions, though, you really don't need to prep much, if you're willing/able to respond to the PCs and improvise; obviously, that's not a forte for all GMs.

You can do all of that at the table. If each player creates one element of a starting location and situation when they create their character, you're set.

 

[prabe]

You can do all of that at the table. If each player creates one element of a starting location and situation when they create their character, you're set.

That will depend more than a little on your players, and how much time you're willing to devote at the start of your first session before getting to things, but yes. As it happens, I ask the players for how their characters are connected to at least where things are started--in the presumption their character have been there at least a few weeks--but I do that more as Session Zero stuff than Session One, and Session Zero these days tends to happen in a Discord channel, in the weeks (sometimes months) before Session One. Most of that is my own preference for getting to actual play quickly in Session One--but if the game explicitly treats setting-making as part of play, that's a different kind of game than I run, mostly because the last time I tried shared setting-making from scratch it took like two sessions, and I still did most of the work, and I still didn't like the setting all that much. I've come to the conclusion that--at least with the people at my tables--it's faster and easier if I just make the setting myself, and I end up with a setting I like better. Obviously, different people will have different experiences and all-a-that.

 

[Misanthrope Prime]

If you haven't prepped anything, how do you handle combat? This is D&D we're talking about ...

I don't know if basically having all the NPC statblocks preloaded into my VTT program counts as "prep" or not, but I usually either use a random table or encounter builder with a theme after setting an XP budget.

 

[Mannahnin]

Lots RPGs where no prep is one of its features
Id say DND 5e is not one of them
If the GM sat down and from cold said right " We are gonna play DND, off you go" id think it would fall flat, especially on a weekly basis

I like to have a map/adventure/town/dungeon kind off ready. And even if things go elsewhere at least I have some NPC names, features, encounters there if needed .

Zero prep different from unprep. I have been in those in con games and it's awful

I played in such a convention game run by Tim Kask and even he couldn't make it particularly fun, though the players were experienced and we made a game attempt. We sure wanted to find/make the fun!