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Post by restless on Sept 9, 2021 18:58:20 GMT -5
How do you prepare for a session? Do you write a ton? Do you do a map and a brief couple of words for a few encounter areas and riff completely? Do you just scrawl prompts on the map?
I ask this because I am a chronic over-prepper. I write too much, I write NPCs and build out motivational threads for the characters to bring to the table. (When I was a teen it was worse... I was longhand writing out tons of material, along with boxed text and... ugh. It was ugly.)
I usually refer to a fair amount of it during play, but that requires a lot of paper swapping, so that's why I am trying to move to where I can run everything from my laptop or Surface Pro, so I can look things up. I like the consistency that it brings to the game, in that yes, the same names, personalities, and locales are met, details are kept the same, etc. It's good for immersion, but horrible for my prep time.
My personal motivation for this thread is for pointers. I do all this prep and I find I spend about an hour of prep for every hour at the table (with a small sample size of one session so far; I am doing an open table game with various locales, so once I get more prep done I should be able to keep ahead of it... in theory). I really want to get around that, because it's bringing me down. There is a happy medium that keeps everything consistent but also isn't so onerous on me.
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Post by The Perilous Dreamer on Sept 9, 2021 19:49:04 GMT -5
How do you prepare for a session? Do you write a ton? Do you do a map and a brief couple of words for a few encounter areas and riff completely? Do you just scrawl prompts on the map?
I ask this because I am a chronic over-prepper. I write too much, I write NPCs and build out motivational threads for the characters to bring to the table. (When I was a teen it was worse... I was longhand writing out tons of material, along with boxed text and... ugh. It was ugly.) I usually refer to a fair amount of it during play, but that requires a lot of paper swapping, so that's why I am trying to move to where I can run everything from my laptop or Surface Pro, so I can look things up. I like the consistency that it brings to the game, in that yes, the same names, personalities, and locales are met, details are kept the same, etc. It's good for immersion, but horrible for my prep time. My personal motivation for this thread is for pointers. I do all this prep and I find I spend about an hour of prep for every hour at the table (with a small sample size of one session so far; I am doing an open table game with various locales, so once I get more prep done I should be able to keep ahead of it... in theory). I really want to get around that, because it's bringing me down. There is a happy medium that keeps everything consistent but also isn't so onerous on me. I try to be consistent, but I don't obsess about it. If you are playing with friends and you have full old school buy in, then your friends are going to cut you some slack on consistency. If they are going to hold you accountable for every small detail, then the same goes for them. Most people don't want to have to memorize the entirety of every game and neither does the referee.
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Post by The Perilous Dreamer on Sept 9, 2021 19:50:19 GMT -5
How do you prepare for a session? Do you write a ton? Do you do a map and a brief couple of words for a few encounter areas and riff completely? Do you just scrawl prompts on the map?
I ask this because I am a chronic over-prepper. I write too much, I write NPCs and build out motivational threads for the characters to bring to the table. (When I was a teen it was worse... I was longhand writing out tons of material, along with boxed text and... ugh. It was ugly.) I usually refer to a fair amount of it during play, but that requires a lot of paper swapping, so that's why I am trying to move to where I can run everything from my laptop or Surface Pro, so I can look things up. I like the consistency that it brings to the game, in that yes, the same names, personalities, and locales are met, details are kept the same, etc. It's good for immersion, but horrible for my prep time. My personal motivation for this thread is for pointers. I do all this prep and I find I spend about an hour of prep for every hour at the table (with a small sample size of one session so far; I am doing an open table game with various locales, so once I get more prep done I should be able to keep ahead of it... in theory). I really want to get around that, because it's bringing me down. There is a happy medium that keeps everything consistent but also isn't so onerous on me. If you do a lot of prep, then work on being concise and having brief notes rather than exhaustive notes. Start there and whittle it down over time.
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Post by The Semi-Retired Gamer on Sept 9, 2021 20:16:46 GMT -5
Other than a map, I have a box of index cards I try to use to keep anything that I might need later; like a list of NPCs, rumors, etc. I put a clip around the ones I think will come up during the adventure so it can act sort of like a flow chart. I try not to over prepare but it's a struggle for me. I used to write EVERYTHING out also. I'm working on reducing it down to a bare minimum but I'm not quite there yet.
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Post by restless on Sept 10, 2021 11:59:21 GMT -5
How do you prepare for a session? Do you write a ton? Do you do a map and a brief couple of words for a few encounter areas and riff completely? Do you just scrawl prompts on the map?
I ask this because I am a chronic over-prepper. I write too much, I write NPCs and build out motivational threads for the characters to bring to the table. (When I was a teen it was worse... I was longhand writing out tons of material, along with boxed text and... ugh. It was ugly.) I usually refer to a fair amount of it during play, but that requires a lot of paper swapping, so that's why I am trying to move to where I can run everything from my laptop or Surface Pro, so I can look things up. I like the consistency that it brings to the game, in that yes, the same names, personalities, and locales are met, details are kept the same, etc. It's good for immersion, but horrible for my prep time. My personal motivation for this thread is for pointers. I do all this prep and I find I spend about an hour of prep for every hour at the table (with a small sample size of one session so far; I am doing an open table game with various locales, so once I get more prep done I should be able to keep ahead of it... in theory). I really want to get around that, because it's bringing me down. There is a happy medium that keeps everything consistent but also isn't so onerous on me. I try to be consistent, but I don't obsess about it. If you are playing with friends and you have full old school buy in, then your friends are going to cut you some slack on consistency. If they are going to hold you accountable for every small detail, then the same goes for them. Most people don't want to have to memorize the entirety of every game and neither does the referee. Being an open table game, they may not all be "friends" so there may not be a lot of slack cut. Also, being that I often have an ear for inconsistent details, and often lay down clues as slight inconsistencies or, "hey, wait, didn't that book say this should be red, but instead it's blue?" Perhaps that style is why I overprep...
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Post by restless on Sept 10, 2021 12:00:01 GMT -5
How do you prepare for a session? Do you write a ton? Do you do a map and a brief couple of words for a few encounter areas and riff completely? Do you just scrawl prompts on the map?
I ask this because I am a chronic over-prepper. I write too much, I write NPCs and build out motivational threads for the characters to bring to the table. (When I was a teen it was worse... I was longhand writing out tons of material, along with boxed text and... ugh. It was ugly.) I usually refer to a fair amount of it during play, but that requires a lot of paper swapping, so that's why I am trying to move to where I can run everything from my laptop or Surface Pro, so I can look things up. I like the consistency that it brings to the game, in that yes, the same names, personalities, and locales are met, details are kept the same, etc. It's good for immersion, but horrible for my prep time. My personal motivation for this thread is for pointers. I do all this prep and I find I spend about an hour of prep for every hour at the table (with a small sample size of one session so far; I am doing an open table game with various locales, so once I get more prep done I should be able to keep ahead of it... in theory). I really want to get around that, because it's bringing me down. There is a happy medium that keeps everything consistent but also isn't so onerous on me. If you do a lot of prep, then work on being concise and having brief notes rather than exhaustive notes. Start there and whittle it down over time. Yes, I need to do that. Flavor first, then details if they become necessary. A fine theory, if I would practice it
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Post by ripx187 on Sept 10, 2021 12:13:26 GMT -5
I was a classic over-prepper too. It came from my own insecurity in my abilities as well as wanting to play the game all of the time. I've dialed way back! I'm not comfortable with improving the whole thing, I do want stuff to look at and a rough direction of where I want the game to go, but I don't want to do so much prep that it places unnecessary limitations on the game. As a general rule, if the players can break your game through their actions than you probably fell too much in love with your own ideas or you just did too much prep.
I only prep what I know that I'll need, and if I don't use it then it wasn't anything that I can't reuse later or, preferably, throw away without feeling that I wasted hours or days on unused material.
I try to decide what style of play that would best serve the next game, and base my prep off of that. I might feel better having a summary of how things might unfold, or might might not; sometimes it is just a list of things to do. I don't want to read the game at the table, I want to play it with the players. Improv is a major part of the game, but evaluating yourself after each game, cutting out what you didn't use or used as a crutch that you really didn't need, as well as thinking about any tools that you wish you would had made.
I personally don't like to use PCs at the table. I'll use one but prefer to keep it to paper and books. During the game, I don't want to reference anything! We will have to stop the game now and then to look up spells, I love the Monster Manual, I can just run encounters right out of the book, but keep the core books handy because stuff does come up. If we need to invent a rule right quick, just to get over a quick hump; we prefer to do that, but I'm not going to lie, sometimes things come up and we have to reread sections because the players were depending on things to work a specific way, or they ask a question that you really didn't know.
For me now, I get more out of reading than I do out of writing. With temporary notes that we use for one session, it might be better if they aren't there at all. I have just enough specifics and secrets to feel confident, the things that I write down are ideas that I know I can't come up with on the fly. Things that result from deep thoughts which occur to me between games.
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Post by restless on Sept 10, 2021 12:32:02 GMT -5
I was a classic over-prepper too. It came from my own insecurity in my abilities as well as wanting to play the game all of the time. I've dialed way back! I'm not comfortable with improving the whole thing, I do want stuff to look at and a rough direction of where I want the game to go, but I don't want to do so much prep that it places unnecessary limitations on the game. As a general rule, if the players can break your game through their actions than you probably fell too much in love with your own ideas or you just did too much prep. I only prep what I know that I'll need, and if I don't use it then it wasn't anything that I can't reuse later or, preferably, throw away without feeling that I wasted hours or days on unused material. I try to decide what style of play that would best serve the next game, and base my prep off of that. I might feel better having a summary of how things might unfold, or might might not; sometimes it is just a list of things to do. I don't want to read the game at the table, I want to play it with the players. Improv is a major part of the game, but evaluating yourself after each game, cutting out what you didn't use or used as a crutch that you really didn't need, as well as thinking about any tools that you wish you would had made. I personally don't like to use PCs at the table. I'll use one but prefer to keep it to paper and books. During the game, I don't want to reference anything! We will have to stop the game now and then to look up spells, I love the Monster Manual, I can just run encounters right out of the book, but keep the core books handy because stuff does come up. If we need to invent a rule right quick, just to get over a quick hump; we prefer to do that, but I'm not going to lie, sometimes things come up and we have to reread sections because the players were depending on things to work a specific way, or they ask a question that you really didn't know. For me now, I get more out of reading than I do out of writing. With temporary notes that we use for one session, it might be better if they aren't there at all. I have just enough specifics and secrets to feel confident, the things that I write down are ideas that I know I can't come up with on the fly. Things that result from deep thoughts which occur to me between games. Yes, I'm good with not having to look up rules (running something based on BX is great for that!). We only had to look up one thing in my last session (what a war dog saves as, I didn't reference it on the pregen I gave them for their linkboy and dogman, who had a war dog named Butch (with the big fluffy ears and goofy eyes) which turned out to be the combat MVP, believe it or not; he got bitten by a giant spider). I think I just need to write less and let it flow. I do more locales than "adventures," per se, so I don't need notes about how things will unroll, I just envision how the situation is when they get there and let it play out. I've read about things like three-line NPCs (or even three-word NPCs), and I should probably just apply the same general thoughts to keyed areas. This isn't even an example of a longer key I would put together: In retrospect, I could have just as easily put: because adding "ransacked" tells you what it will look like, the stat block can just as easily be somewhere else, and the treasure is easy enough to describe in a nest... or if I don't, perhaps it's secreted behind a brick, or maybe it's under the ashes, or stuffed up the flue... does it matter? Probably not. I will admit that having the hit point boxes is pretty handy, though... Also, since you brought it up... I don't mind the idea of DMing with a computer, though (although players are all paper and dice, no computers), because then I have my reference material with me, I can't grep a dead tree when I need some information quickly and even though dice clattering across the table focuses their minds using random tables in play is much simpler with a computer on the table.
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Post by The Perilous Dreamer on Sept 10, 2021 13:12:44 GMT -5
I try to be consistent, but I don't obsess about it. If you are playing with friends and you have full old school buy in, then your friends are going to cut you some slack on consistency. If they are going to hold you accountable for every small detail, then the same goes for them. Most people don't want to have to memorize the entirety of every game and neither does the referee. Being an open table game, they may not all be "friends" so there may not be a lot of slack cut. Also, being that I often have an ear for inconsistent details, and often lay down clues as slight inconsistencies or, "hey, wait, didn't that book say this should be red, but instead it's blue?" Perhaps that style is why I overprep... Yeah, I have done open table, but I have been lucky and not gotten any problem players. Yeah, your style will also make a difference too!
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Post by The Perilous Dreamer on Sept 10, 2021 13:20:37 GMT -5
I'm not comfortable with improving the whole thing, I do want stuff to look at and a rough direction of where I want the game to go, but I don't want to do so much prep that it places unnecessary limitations on the game. We were commenting on differences in style and this is a good example of two different approaches to the game. In my case I am very comfortable with improving the whole thing and I don't have a direction that I want the game to go, I like to let the game go where ever it goes which can be anyplace. I sometimes throw in something that is sparked in my mind by an offhand comment and next thing we know the players are running with that. My players have went to other worlds, because I threw in something odd and they grabbed it and held on, instead of pursuing what they were in the middle of doing. I always try to say "Yes," or "Yes, and" or "Yes, or" whenever possible. That said I think playing in ripx187 's game would be a blast. I think I would enjoy playing in the game of pretty much everyone on here.
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Post by ripx187 on Sept 11, 2021 14:48:57 GMT -5
I used to create modules myself, because that is what I based my games off of. Published modules and game prep really are two different things. I think that prepping the game should be entertaining and exciting. Up front, I really like my games to go somewhere. This doesn't mean that they are completely linear, randomness and creating at the table with your players is TTRPG. We have to decide what is fixed and what shouldn't be; and even the things that are fixed shouldn't be so tight that we can't add or take away things to improve flow.
I prep tools, I brainstorm while I have the time and create things that will prompt rather than define. There are some tricks that I use, I love a good map and I found that you can use wrapping paper to create a good sized map that the whole table can use and reference. I even found a company that makes cheap rolls of hex paper for this purpose. I don't use if for one shots, but if I am going to spend a year of real time in an area, it might be worth my time to draw it up. These hex maps are simply based on the Outdoor Survival game that Gygax mentions. I'll have a smaller map that contains some secrets, but rely heavily on random encounter lists to place locations that can be added to the big map as it is explored. I can also keep updating the random encounter lists to keep them fresh.
NPCs are what drive the games, I tend to focus more on relationships than on personalities. I'll make a pretty town map on a square grid for easy measuring and just hand it over to the players, they'll be the ones that actually key it. That is the only map that I make. I'll create a partial list of key players, but fill stuff in as we play. If we spend lots of time there, which I assume that we will because I didn't draw up a pretty map for nothing, I find myself referencing the Master NPC list less and less.
Many of my encounters aren't balanced, most of them are easy, a few difficult ones and a couple of deadly ones. I like to work with themes so instead of just names of creatures for combat I'll write down specifics. These things can be complex as they are the work horses. I put much more than just combat encounters on them, like I said, I'll put locations, treasure, traps, all kinds of things on them. If I roll up a deadly encounter I might downgrade it to just a hint that something is in the area that should be avoided.
These days, with my lack of time, I'm running a published module but just as a guide. A lot of the prep such as maps, npcs, and such are there but I still brainstorm and make up lists of things that might be there. I still tailor it to my group and the mod we are playing is very bare-bones and needs lots of flesh to bring alive.
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Post by The Perilous Dreamer on Sept 11, 2021 16:16:33 GMT -5
I used to create modules myself, because that is what I based my games off of. Published modules and game prep really are two different things. I think that prepping the game should be entertaining and exciting. Up front, I really like my games to go somewhere. This doesn't mean that they are completely linear, randomness and creating at the table with your players is TTRPG. We have to decide what is fixed and what shouldn't be; and even the things that are fixed shouldn't be so tight that we can't add or take away things to improve flow. I prep tools, I brainstorm while I have the time and create things that will prompt rather than define. There are some tricks that I use, I love a good map and I found that you can use wrapping paper to create a good sized map that the whole table can use and reference. I even found a company that makes cheap rolls of hex paper for this purpose. I don't use if for one shots, but if I am going to spend a year of real time in an area, it might be worth my time to draw it up. These hex maps are simply based on the Outdoor Survival game that Gygax mentions. I'll have a smaller map that contains some secrets, but rely heavily on random encounter lists to place locations that can be added to the big map as it is explored. I can also keep updating the random encounter lists to keep them fresh. NPCs are what drive the games, I tend to focus more on relationships than on personalities. I'll make a pretty town map on a square grid for easy measuring and just hand it over to the players, they'll be the ones that actually key it. That is the only map that I make. I'll create a partial list of key players, but fill stuff in as we play. If we spend lots of time there, which I assume that we will because I didn't draw up a pretty map for nothing, I find myself referencing the Master NPC list less and less. Many of my encounters aren't balanced, most of them are easy, a few difficult ones and a couple of deadly ones. I like to work with themes so instead of just names of creatures for combat I'll write down specifics. These things can be complex as they are the work horses. I put much more than just combat encounters on them, like I said, I'll put locations, treasure, traps, all kinds of things on them. If I roll up a deadly encounter I might downgrade it to just a hint that something is in the area that should be avoided. These days, with my lack of time, I'm running a published module but just as a guide. A lot of the prep such as maps, npcs, and such are there but I still brainstorm and make up lists of things that might be there. I still tailor it to my group and the mod we are playing is very bare-bones and needs lots of flesh to bring alive. ripx187 have an Exalt! And please share the link to that company that makes cheap rolls of hex paper. That is a find!
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Post by hengest on Sept 11, 2021 20:06:42 GMT -5
Yeah, ripx187, Exalt! You have a gift / good skill set for posts like these, kind of umbrella posts that cover a lot of what you do. I always enjoy reading them and find them helpful. I appreciate how you say openly that you combine DIY with modules or whatever, you do what works for your campaign, group, and you.
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Post by ripx187 on Sept 11, 2021 22:51:02 GMT -5
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Post by Admin Pete on Sept 11, 2021 23:31:26 GMT -5
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Post by mao on Sept 12, 2021 3:29:01 GMT -5
For Mysantia and years and years. prep meant worry about game and a bunch of single words to about t 4 words per note(Wow does my arm hurt)
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