My (current) thoughts on session prep

[paneerakbari]

I’m still pretty new to the whole “DMing” thing after about a year or so of running a few different adventures, and the thing that I keep feeling like I’m stumbling over is game prep.

Based on the results I get back from searches, it seems like this is an issue with a lot of incredibly varied opinions - from “just don’t” up through “memorize the adventure” - that make it seem like this strange art of slogging along until you’re able to crystallize a personal style, and that’s just a magnificently unhelpful, unsatisfying conclusion; so I reject it.

There has to be some kind of basic framework we can lean on, right? Some common set of practices we can employ to help attain that Personal Style Enlightenment?

I’m nowhere near bold enough yet to leave the coastal waters of published adventures, so that’s what I’m talking about.

Here’s the 50’ view of my process, with effusive thanks to the incomparable DarkplaneDM (seriously, check out his blog, so many goodies):

• Read the adventure - the whole thing - and identify the Big Reason for it (sometimes the author just gives this to you, for free, like they meant you to know it!)
• Sketch out a diagram of the zones in the adventure, how they connect to one another, and identify the Gatekeepers between the zones
  • At this step, those zones are the “major areas” in a rough-blocking exercise: “the hub village,” “outside the ancient ruin,” or “the monastic cloister.” These places might be made up of individual buildings or several rooms, but those aren’t the point yet
  • Zones are connected if the players could normally move between them, the connection is how they move from one zone to another: a path, a portal, flying eagles, etc.
  • Gatekeepers can include physical stuff like traps, monsters, or locks, but they can also be things like information, effects, or alliances/enmities/rivalries
• Now you “zoom into” each of those zones and situate its Gatekeepers in that space, along with (and I just adore this notion, h/t to Graham) that space’s Traits that will expose, satisfy, or resolve each Gatekeeper

That’s… it. Really. And yeah, I know, that last point seems pretty abstract, but those Gatekeepers amount to all the challenges, conflicts, and moments of drama that stand between the party and the Big Reason they were doing all of this.

I like this technique mainly because it helps me focus on what the author thought mattered, saves me loads of time, and it establishes a basis for editing and personalizing the adventure. All these core bits define the theme of the adventure; the faster I get to that, the more time I have to devise variations to explore that theme.

What do you think? What’s your process like?

[RasputinPGrendel]

My table has a mix of published adventures and home-brew set in a specific time and place with pre-established settings, lore, history, and NPCs (Greyhawk). I typically dislike published adventures as they are harder for me to run. I feel like I am reading out loud to a class and everything is stiff. I find it harder to pivot or improvise as I feel like I have to “stick to the script”. Due to the PCs having pretty strong backstories with their own motivations and goals we are able to leave published adventures to explore the subplots I have weaved into the campaign.
So, at this stage in my development I rely heavily on each player’s backstories and motivations to help me consider the narrative and direction of the game. I consider those elements and try to tie them into modules to make things more meaningful to the PC.
I used D&D Beyond’s Encounter Builder to prepare Encounter Scenario’s, sometime months in advance. I create NPCs in Character Builder, I use their Create a Campaign when I do Home-brew side quests, and I try to keep notes on all of the clues or subplots I have running in the background so we continually have things going on behind the scenes that we can tap into.
I try to create an environment where each player will have a character arc and I have a general idea of the final destination but the players still have agency that can determine how we get there.
I like the nodes or zones you mention and should utilize that more often when running games.

[paneerakbari]

Oh man, that feeling of “reading to the class” is exactly why I’ve been working out how to prep an adventure!

I am categorically not a by-the-book sort, so the “stiffness” in published stuff is really rough for me, too, so I’ve been picking up whatever little tricks help me use the published stuff as “writing prompts”

[RasputinPGrendel]

I’m going to run White Plume Mountain as it ties into some of the narrative, plus I wanted to mix things up. After that, we’ll most likely be off book. I may try to incorporate the last two adventures from the Ghosts of Saltmarsh, but I haven’t read through them entirely just yet and I’m not sure if they fit any longer.
Isaac calls it reskinning the adventure, borrowing elements from published modules to accommodate his narrative. I’ve done this with a few side quests and adventures. It helps in not having to create a dungeon from scratch.

[paneerakbari]

We recently (ok, it was last night) had a D&D tournament event with three tables simultaneously running the 5e-reprint of Descent into the Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth

It was wild DM’ing a table in that context

• Strict time limit (3 hours of play)
• Score-keeping on a defined sheet of activities
• Players randomly assigned to tables

At one week prior to, we were slightly short of enough confirmed players for two tables of four, so I held off on reading anything, just in case I was needed as a player. Fortunately, we picked up some more folks and were set for three - I had to get to work on my prep.

I leaned hard on the players’ imaginations: numbered tokens stood in for creatures, verbal descriptions of spaces, and only a couple of hand-drawn maps for the complex nexus areas (but I forgot to use one of them!).

I also relied entirely on my own notes, compiled in my first read-through, then reviewed and refined. The night of, I only referenced the published adventure for creature visuals - saving a good bit of time from me describing these things.

I’ve been a big fan of the app Obsidian and have used it for several adventures and campaigns now.

Here’s a glimpse of my prep notes, and the accompanying graph view of the “mind map” the app generated from those notes:

During the session, I have the notes up on my laptop, with a printed, keyed map of the area for reference and… that’s it. The graph helps me identify objects with missing links, too few paths to them, and hub areas. Cross-linking helps with organizing creature stat blocks, item descriptions, and bits of lore.

And I have to confess that I’ve started employing a notation style compatible with Graham Ward’s Hundred Dungeons system because it pushes me toward answering two essential questions about each area: Why does this space matter? and What’s interactive here?

[slrbennett]

It was so much fun, y’all! Missed some folks who couldn’t make it, but also new friends. And your prep approach shows. Lots of room for RP because you can flexibly redirect. And liking the incorporation of some hundred dungeons