💾 Archived View for valinard.flounder.online › prep.gmi captured on 2023-09-28 at 15:53:22. Gemini links have been rewritten to link to archived content
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A DM preparing to run a game is like a wizard memorizing spells - doing laborious, thoughtful work to prepare fabulous effects that they may or may not get to use.
On the one hand, preparation is exhausting and thankless, it makes the game a bigger commitment for the most essential player and increases the chance they'll burn out.
On the other, when you sit down at the table you want to have your material prepared, you want to be familiar with it, and it's well worth the time to process downtimes and write narrative interludes.
So as with the rules you apply at the table, what you prepare is a question of efficiency.
Getting people who would otherwise not have time to play straight into the game and playing is the strong point of the OSR, so it's a good place to look for advice on minimising prep.
Some highlights from the accumulated wisdom of the movement:
1. 𝗦𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗮𝗱𝘃𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝗼𝘂𝘁𝘀𝗶𝗱𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗱𝘂𝗻𝗴𝗲𝗼𝗻. Don't waste time in the tavern or open the first session with a choice of directions; just drop them right into the action. Would you rather prepare one dungeon for your first game, or a whole region?
2. 𝗣𝗿𝗲𝗽𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗹𝗼𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘀. Sometimes you want to think about story, but it's something you create in collaboration with the players - it's only worth planning out in the broadest possible strokes. Instead, focus on making a space for them to adventure, the locations, the characters and hazards they'll meet there. This is much easier than trying to anticipate events, and you can fill it with dramatic elements and hooks which lead naturally to story. Why was that bandit wearing your late mother's ring? Who was that masked figure standing at your treacherous brother's side? What did the vision mean when you drank from the mysterious fountain? What treasure does the hidden map point to?
3. At the end of each session ask where the players are going next session, and just prepare that. 𝗗𝗼𝗻'𝘁 𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿𝗽𝗿𝗲𝗽𝗮𝗿𝗲.
4. 𝗗𝗼𝗻'𝘁 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗿𝘆 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗯𝗮𝗹𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲. Just give the PCs an escape route in the event of a fight they can't win. It's fun to steamroll the goblin patrol because they're nothing before your magic swords; it's fun to tiptoe around the ogre's lair because you barely survived the orcs and the ogre sounds terrifying.
Beautifully drawn maps, carefully aged documents with wax seals, custom-made and lovingly painted miniatures, fancy battlemats and scenery are all great stuff but they all take time and effort. I'm not saying don't include them, but be mindful of what you include. If you're going to build tables full of scenery for your game every week you'd better love building scenery. If you don't love it, don't include it, because it's just going to be more work - and while it's nice, you don't 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥 it to play.
Give yourself permission to be lazy about prepping. Lazy doesn't mean not preparing - ad-libbing is hard work! - it just means doing it sustainably. If you're short on time and don't know what else to do for a session, you can always grab a Dyson Logos map, stock it algorithmically (see 'Bite Sized Dungeons' below for an example) and that will keep your players busy for a couple of weeks. Then you can look at that map and think about what you can put in there that is really important - what will add to the story, and bring joy to you and your players?
5e DnD has a DM crisis by Ben Milton
Bite-Sized Dungeons by Marcia B.
TOP Reason to Play Old School DND by GFC
Open-World D&D: How to Make a True Sandbox by GFC
A Grognard's Principles for Prepping and Running OSR Games by Guest_Redditor