Comments on: Doubleheader: You Do Not Have Time for That

By: DocRyder

DocRyder — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 04:46:03 +0000

Excellent article, and one I need to remember as I prep a new campaign.

By: Tommi

Tommi — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 07:12:59 +0000

Patrick; Okay, the "ought to" was too strong. "can" is a much better word. Everyone has the ability to reduce prep to arbitrary small amount, but sometimes people have reasons for not doing it.

By: DNAphil

DNAphil — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 02:25:15 +0000

I had learned this lesson the hard way, a few years ago with a failed Mutants & Masterminds campaign. I ran about 6 sessions, but had about 100+ pages of campaign background and NPC's. Since then, I keep it simple. Prep just what I need, and a few seeds to draw the players attention. A great article and an important lesson for those "older" GM's who are realizing that their time for session prep, is getting less and less each year.

By: Patrick Benson

Patrick Benson — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 21:31:58 +0000

Thanks all! I'm glad our first doubleheader is being so well received. @Tommi - I disagree. I love to cook. I love to prepare homemade pizza from scratch for my family. My kids and wife really look forward to when I get out the stones and make a couple of specialty pizzas for them. They love my thin crust. So do I. I hate preparing the pizza dough. The problem is that it is an essential part of my recipe. Pre-made substitutes alter the taste. I'm not about to make lasagna just because I don't enjoy one part of the homemade pizza experience. The results outweigh the discomfort. I look for ways to improve upon the dough making process, and perhaps one day it won't be such a pain. I don't look to eliminate it since it is essential to the results. Some games are worth the prep work, and some games with zero prep work are not. Focus on the results and not the work. Will the results be worth it? @ulmus - Yep! Robin's Laws of Good Game Mastering is an excellent read for any GM. Congratulations on your new blog!

By: ulmus

ulmus — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 21:18:50 +0000

This is a great point and I cam to the same epiphany a couple of years ago myself. You shoudl read Robin D’s Laws of good gamemastering. It’s chock full with advice on how to make the most out of your preparations and how to look after your players and see to it that they are enjoying themselves. That, after all is your job, more than anything else.

New RPG blog: http://polyhedral.wordpress.com/

By: Kurt "Telas" Schneider

Kurt "Telas" Schneider — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 20:25:02 +0000

As a soldier if what he does is worth $1500 a month and free room and board... You'll get the same answer (with the caveat, "...and I get to blow shit up"). Good article; it helps illuminate (sometimes painfully so) the mistakes I've made in running past campaigns. I've prepped encounters that were skipped, statted out NPCs who were never encountered, and written up descriptive text that was worse than useless when the party sneaked in the back door. Also, I like how our little Doubleheader experiment worked out.

By: Scott Martin

Scott Martin — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 19:44:53 +0000

I like the way these two articles play off of each other. I think the "prep what you'll use" advice is frequently given, but it is important to remember. I know that I often get sucked into less productive prep if I start mindlessly grinding.

By: Tommi

Tommi — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 17:20:20 +0000

All preparation is strictly voluntary. Prep work can be reduced to zero by playing a suitable game designed for zero prep. Hence, if one finds that one is not enjoying one's prep, one ought to change playing style or game.

By: John Arcadian

John Arcadian — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 16:51:30 +0000

By the way, really great article!

By: John Arcadian

John Arcadian — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 16:50:58 +0000

I like your dad's idea that no job is worth it, the results are. It fits very well with GMing. I know that some of the most fun moments that have come out of game had very little to do with anything I'd prepped. Players, and the GM, love to see cool things happen, and even if there is no prep for them or nothing but figuring it out on the fly, so long as there is a payoff it is all worth it.

By: Sarlax

Sarlax — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 16:23:55 +0000

The example of the NPC informant being designed for a memorable social encounter makes me think me think of sunk costs. As a GM, it's hard to predict the outcome of an adventure, even if you're inclined to run linear games. Who knows what the PCs will do? Given this, you shouldn't put more effort into an NPC, an encounter, etc. than is necessary to achieve your goal. If you do, you're sinking further costs into one game element and getting diminishing returns. When the game plays out, your rationality (in the economic sense) as a GM is more likely to decline if you've sunk a lot of time into some part of the story. Suppose you've crafted an exciting gun battle in the enemy base - you've done the map, written mook stats, and planned escape routes for the big bad. The players throw you a curve, though, and decide to hack the base's computer instead of sneaking in. Many GMs will try to force the battle to happen. After all, they spent so much time working on it! This is irrational, however. That time is already gone. All that matters now is how to get the best game you can given present circumstances. So I agree with this post entirely. Don't sink more time than is needed to effect the result you're seeking.