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

[Distracted DM]

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.

I mean, you really don't if you're seasoned at improv and at running the game. All the crud I wrote in the post quoted below was off the top of my head, and it's enough to get a game going. You start throwing down the info as it comes up- build the place as it becomes relevant. However, all of that is doable for me because I've been running games for a long time and I'm comfortable with improv. I wouldn't need to prep for that. But just because I can improv an entire session doesn't mean I'd want to do so consistently.

My in-person prep was usually 15 minutes of going through minis, picking out what I thought could possibly come up during the session, then 20mins driving to the game, thinking about what happened last session and what could happen this session.
My online prep is hours and hours of looking for assets, making maps, making NPC tokens n statblocks etc. It's much more of a PITA.

I've done it before, it's how I started one of my longer-running games. I should say that this was in-person. I have a hard time not prepping for online games because I need high quality tools maps etc. that all require some degree of prep for ME to enjoy the game. I need to put on a good presentation, and online requires time n effort.
Tools are standard GM stuff... game books etc. I have tons of awesome WotC and Wizkids minis. A big wet-erase chessex mat

It's basically just all improv; making sht up and sticking to it. It helps if you can lean on stuff that you already know/adventures you've run/tropes etc.

"You find yourselves in the town of Thisseldor, in the Blackram Tavern. A group of bounty hunters come in, scanning the taverns patrons, looking for their mark." Are the bounty hunters looking for an NPC, someone innocent-looking that the PCs might step up to help? "They walk over to Milton, the kindly near-sighted old scribe, and pull him up from his chair. 'We've been looking for you; the Black Baron's put a price on your head!'" Maybe the PCs will step up, if not then maybe some townsfolk will intercede on the old mans behalf. Or maybe the hunters are looking for the PCs! Could be a fight, or they could frighten off the hunters. Someone else said that they lean on the players- yeah this can be an instance where you ask the players who they know in the town, who's friends etc. to avoid a fight so no bystanders get hurt.

Go from there. Why's there a bounty on the scribe, or the PCs? If they don't bite on that, then maybe there's been an abduction in the night, or there are some goblins causing trouble, etc. Maybe someone saw a dragon and there are kobolds mischiefing.

Just get up, throw some sht out there, and go from there. Start worldbuilding as you play. It's all improv/confidence, selling the crud you're pulling out of the air as legit stuff that you definitely planned beforehand (that makes it worth more in most peoples minds).

edit: so I guess it depends on how you define "no prep." Because all of this ^^^ is only happening because I have previous knowledge of the game, system, monsters, etc.

 

[prabe]

I mean, you really don't if you're seasoned at improv and at running the game. All the crud I wrote in the post quoted below was off the top of my head, and it's enough to get a game going. You start throwing down the info as it comes up- build the place as it becomes relevant. However, all of that is doable for me because I've been running games for a long time and I'm comfortable with improv. I wouldn't need to prep for that. But just because I can improv an entire session doesn't mean I'd want to do so consistently.

My in-person prep was usually 15 minutes of going through minis, picking out what I thought could possibly come up during the session, then 20mins driving to the game, thinking about what happened last session and what could happen this session.
My online prep is hours and hours of looking for assets, making maps, making NPC tokens n statblocks etc. It's much more of a PITA.

My prep to start a campaign is a couple of hours to write up enough of the city that I can ask the players to fill in some blanks, then some time getting all the player-provided information where I can get to it and use it. Then I decide what's going on, and it usually takes me a few minutes to work out the likely adversaries--if I'm instigating, such as at the start of a campaign, this takes a little time; if I'm in the middle of a situation I probably already have what I need. Since I don't use a VTT--I just have a webcam that points at the table--it's a matter of seeing if I have a relevant printed map and deciding what color/s I want the dice for the opposition to be. (Being able to tell the colors apart matters, as does being able to read the numbers to tell them apart.)

I expect the campaigns I run to generate stories, as like an output, so I find it works well if I put some work (and prep) into my instigations; I find this especially true at lower levels. Obviously, there are multiple ways to handle this.

 

[Reynard]

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.

I was writing in the context of a zero prep game. You all sit down, blank slate. You talk for a few minutes about genre and tone and such. The players create (motivated!) characters and include a setting element and/or a situation that drives things. You formulate the foundation of the game as they do so. In 30 minutes you are ready to go.

This isn't hypothetical. this is how you can do it. It is exactly the way the Iron GM challenge used to work (which I participated in a number of times).

Zero prep is not only possible, it is relatively easy and it is definitely fun. Of course people who are not good at improv GMing will have a tough time, but people that are bad at world building and intricate plotting will be bad at prep heavy games.

Again, there is a trope that being a GM means homework. It is well past time we disproved it.

 

[prabe]

I was writing in the context of a zero prep game. You all sit down, blank slate. You talk for a few minutes about genre and tone and such. The players create (motivated!) characters and include a setting element and/or a situation that drives things. You formulate the foundation of the game as they do so. In 30 minutes you are ready to go.

This isn't hypothetical. this is how you can do it. It is exactly the way the Iron GM challenge used to work (which I participated in a number of times).

Zero prep is not only possible, it is relatively easy and it is definitely fun. Of course people who are not good at improv GMing will have a tough time, but people that are bad at world building and intricate plotting will be bad at prep heavy games.

Again, there is a trope that being a GM means homework. It is well past time we disproved it.

Yes. What I was saying is that literally doesn't work at/for all tables. I'm aware how it does work--I've been at tables where it did. I agree that GMing doesn't have to involve doing a lot of homework--I don't prep anything like as much as the stereotypical GM, I'm sure conversations elsewhere, where I've talked about my games are why @zakael19 tagged me in, here. I'm starting a D&D 5e campaign tonight, and the actual session prep took ... maybe half an hour, once I sat down to write it up. All the setting work happened kinda piecemeal in the Discord channel, or in other free time I had. Once a campaign is going--especially once the starting situation has resolved in some way--I rarely need more than like ten minutes to prepare for a session, and often I don't need any time at all, other than reading the session notes I get from the player who takes them.

 

[Reynard]

What I was saying is that literally doesn't work at/for all tables.

Nothing does.

Better to point out that it can, and help people get over the worry and actually try it.

 

[prabe]

Nothing does.

Better to point out that it can, and help people get over the worry and actually try it.

Probably at least as good if people don't feel somehow inferior if it doesn't work for them. Probably best to encourage people to try stuff and see what works for them at their table/s.

 

[TwoSix]

Probably at least as good if people don't feel somehow inferior if it doesn't work for them. Probably best to encourage people to try stuff and see what works for them at their table/s.

Agreed. The most important point is that a DM who wants to try winging it shouldn’t feel some kind of imperative to spend multiple hours writing up encounters, like they’re doing it wrong if they don’t.

If it turns out that heavier prep is indeed something you need to feel comfortable, at least you tried!

 

[Reynard]

Agreed. The most important point is that a DM who wants to try winging it shouldn’t feel some kind of imperative to spend multiple hours writing up encounters, like they’re doing it wrong if they don’t.

If it turns out that heavier prep is indeed something you need to feel comfortable, at least you tried!

Exactly. The default right now is "prep is necessary" or at least "only the best GMs can improv!" That's bunk. We, as experienced GMs, should be helping people choose to give GMing a try, and one avenue is taking away the fear of prep. (There are other barriers, too, of course.)

 

[I'm A Banana]

It's kind of my default setup.

Moment-to-moment, it's mostly just reacting to the players' actions.

I'll usually have some sense of a big threat I want them to face, and three-act-structure it into place from wherever the PC's are. One big monster (CR = PC level, +1 or 2) works best.

Works best with more narrative-focused groups, I've found. If you want tight tactics, the fights need a bit more planning, but if it's just a bad dude for the party to confront, being interesting narratively (connections to the PC's, to the world) is enough to carry even a fairly generic encounter.

 

[Distracted DM]

Agreed. The most important point is that a DM who wants to try winging it shouldn’t feel some kind of imperative to spend multiple hours writing up encounters, like they’re doing it wrong if they don’t.

If it turns out that heavier prep is indeed something you need to feel comfortable, at least you tried!

I will say that, in my experience, most players tend to value the experience more if they think that it's been prepped beforehand, if they think that the world already exists, that you're not just making it all up on the fly. My more seasoned players don't need the illusion, in time I tell them that I improv a lot of my content, reacting to their choices; thankfully, they value that. Initially, for whatever reason, people value something more if it's already written down, rather than just made up on the fly.

All that being said... running online is a very different ballgame (for me) because I need to have things ready beforehand so I don't take 1 minute per new NPC that comes up, making the token and finding appropriate art. But I need fancy stuff to be satisfied with my own game online. In-person, my hoarded horde of miniatures and a wet-erase mat do just fine. Maybe a notebook and a pen.