How do you get ready for your session, DMs?
>>47697493
Drinking.
Lots of drinking.
I had a DM who would smoke and listen to music. or play video games.
Since it was a Zelda inspired setting, playing the games was actually helpful.
>>47697493
frantically review my notes from last session
Well for a Deadlands game I listens to A LOT of my Ghoultown Pandora station.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yywGI1H_oyM
I mean, I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if I found out the band was formed because they all played Deadlands.
>>47697493
Praying I can find a group that's able to take a campaign even a tiny bit seriously so I can use any one of the dozen or so settings I've been working on for years while I'm stuck with my current group. I've given up trying to get them to care about story, or setting, or basically anything other than the next excuse to kill shit.
Or, to put it more succinctly: "I don't, I just slap some random crap together because none of these people give a shit anyway."
I don't really prepare ever. Aside from just thinking about memorable encounters and characters etc in my work day, I just wing it.
I also cheat like a bastard, I throw shit at the PCs with no idea what a solution should be, then act like the brilliant shit they come up with was what I had planned all along!
It's funny afterwards when they talk about how genius my traps or puzzles were, yet it's all them!
So yeah. Just think of neat people for them to meet and make up the rest as you go along, being sure to tie a lot of what they encounter later on to that earlier stuff.
>>47697613
Basically this. I used to write modules and make maps. Now I just drink myself into oblivion and mentally prep the session on my walk over there. Not because my improvised DMing is better, but because my players are shit and its a waste of time and hard work to prep anything for them.
>>47697493
I prep pretty heavily. Maps, relationship maps, NPCs, all kinds of stuff. Some for the upcoming session, some sideline stuff in case I have to start improvising.
>>47697493
i read through all my plans for the session (and the rest of the game) one last time, have a drink and just read some of the rulebook, either some fluff part i can't remember right or some rule i think i might need.
Bashing my head into the table for ten minutes
Wonder what major plot point I'm going to forget today
Contemplate jumping out the window and hiding in the forest until they leave
Yearn for death
Hope that a car crashes into my house and kills me
Order pizza
Misplace my notes
Drop a mini and spend twenty minutes looking for it
Fall into a pit of despair when the doorbell rings
>>47697493
read up on the module and or my notes
plot out encounters
panic
check if I forgot to bring anything
find out I forgot something
panic
run the game
be okay to good-ish
panic
I ask the autistic player to make a 2minute long, flawless recap of the two last sessions.
He took the eidetic memory feat so it's even more satisfying.
Whatever he doesn't recall I throw at my players like a boomerang. They never see it coming.
Basically the lesson is : check what your players consider an absolute truth, but do so on arbitrary basis. Then twist it. Twist it like their miserable balls.
Smoke a bowl about two hours before the session, read over the text log of the last session, make some mental notes for things that will happen to the players then just listen to music and chill while I wait for the players to come online.
>Work right up until the minute we start playing
>Get online as my players all complain that I took longer then usual
>Somehow they care when literally everyone but me is a useless NEET who does literally nothing all day
>Pretty much improvise every session, but they complain if I don't have pre-made nice looking maps because just drawing in Roll20 "breaks their immersion"
>Thankfully though they're all autistic so I can sneak in some prep and find new maps as they Roleplay for sometimes an hour straight on the most mundane stuff imaginable
>When combat does come around they all complain it's either too hard or too easy, with the former meaning they simply didn't hit every single turn.
>Wonder why I even bother
>More senseless Roleplaying that happens when I'm trying to progress the story
>Eventually I get really tired since I worked all day
>Say to end it, players complain they still want to play because again they're all NEETs who sleep 14 hours a day
>Wonder why they don't just DM
>Ooh wait they refuse to because again they're all useless
>Pretty sure my campaigns are all just vehicles for them to RP with each other and they don't even give a fuck about the story at all
>Wonder why I even bother showing up the next session
>Do anyway
Pound back whatever alcohol is closest, hold my glock 19 to my head and consider my options, pound back more alcohol, start a few minutes late after everyone's arrived and the initial socializing is out of the way while I'm sitting there hoping someone suddenly has a stroke.
Proceed to completely wing it off the cuff because the last time I put any actual effort and planning nobody seemed to care enough to make it worth while.
>>47697493
Meditation followed by drinking to ensure i channel the correct fugue state. Then i devote all mental and spiritual power to ensuring the proper state of mind for method acting my character as if i WERE my character.
>>47697493
i don't, i'm excellent at improvising
>>47697493
I don't, I'm bad at improvising.
They still like it.
>>47697847
good to hear i'm not the only one
Eat something a few hours before, go over notes about what happened last time, go over notes about what I'm going to do this time, go over player/character notes, make sure I've got a few lists and random tables/encounters handy for when the players do stuff, have a coffee. That's about it. Sometimes I listen to some music and doodle maps and creatures that turn into decent ideas.
I used to carefuly lay everything out, it invariably went off the rails about 10 minutes in. So now I just prepare major plot points, general notes about the setting and tone, it usually goes pretty smooth.
However I do prepare a random name list as I'm unable to come up with any on the fly
Back when i had a group i was always planning, at school or at work. About 20 till i would start cleaning off the giant table my friend had built, and put all the pertinent books and dice nearby, and set all my papers out and a few books behind the dm screen.
Over that time my players would slowly wander in and set up while making small talk. I would start casually asking them questions about their characters history and plans, as if i was trying to make a decision or account for something based on their response.
This would psyche them up, and encourage them to get serious and excited to begin. Eventually they would all be talking about the campaign and their characters, and i would note their observations and try to pin down their perspective.
They would often talk about what they think would be cool to have happen to their character, or the group or something. Overhearing them gave me good ideas of things to sneak into the game to help the player achieve their vision of their character.
So my prep was really just to psyche myself up and respond to their excitement. I really miss those days.
>>47697493
Similar to how I write the next session:
First off I think a lot about possible branches based on the last session's decisions and how those might sit in the setting. What changes as a result, that sort of thing.
I consider the momentum, broader character (and player) goals, and try to have cursory answers and seeds for any of that which could at least buy me time to improvise if I need to.
I also focus a lot of energy on being able to succinctly describe relevant people, places, and things by giving only just enough detail.
I make sure I have the stats I know I'll need, skim through other level/challenge appropriate enemies or NPCs, and plan the general layout of any critical locations. Generally these are left for the day off.
I'm a lazy GM, but it satisfies myself and the players much more than if I had a lavishly developed and prepared game with extensive notes.
Plus it means that what you do have is usually flexible enough to be pulled into different scenarios. Be prepared to refluff and describe things differently regardless; swapping rough-hewn cave walls for the intricate woodwork of an Elven keep, and the like. I once ran an undead-infested crypt as a long lost druidic enclave, full of awakened flora and fauna run rampant.
My game is on a Friday, I start the rough mental prep for what I'm going to do on the Wednesday. Do the bulk of the work on the Thursday. Panic and drink on the Friday.
I end up with two or three weeks of prep done in that one week so it's chill time for the following weeks.
The party still haven't had an encounter that I prepped four weeks ago.
Also need to top up my random name list
>>47697658
Those are the qualities of a good boss
>>47698187
Are you me? I'm the only one in the group that works 9-5 and I DM for a group of NEETS that expect all this shit and it's exhausting
>>47699210
Hey me, its me, you.not actual the guy you responded to
>>47697493
Burn some incense, listen to chill fantasy music, and pace around while acting out NPCs, getting into character(s)
Are DMs usually this suicidal?
>>47699848
Yes.
>>47699848
Yes.
Random question
if magic + chemistry=alchemy
what would magic + technology be called?
>>47700000
THE QUINTS COMMAND ME
Technomancy
>>47700000
Thaumatechnology?
>>47700084
>>47700049
I'm thinking technomany is what I'm thinking of.
Like destiny or final fantasy (8/7/14...)
>>47699848
I literally do not know a single person that GMs consistently that doesn't seem dangerously close to the edge of suicide.
>>47697525
This. But while I'm drinking I usually go over my notes of the last session and what I have planned (or "planned" as it goes) for this session.
Truth be told, I generally only make actual plans for the immediate scene and any NPCs that might show up. Past that introduction it's all just reacting to the players.
Get really anxious and then put alcohol in my body
>>47700326
Is it suicidal if you wish you were never born?
>>47697493
>>47697493
Plot design mostly revolves around building factions, interesting characters, maps, flowcharts, timelines, and random tables.
I know what happens where the PCs don't interfere, and often have lots of things occurring on a timeline.
Then I improvise and adapt events based on PC interference.
Their interference with history is what makes the story.
>>47703050
Basically I do world design in a way that makes it very useful for improving a campaign out of.
I tend to run very sandboxy games.
>>47697493
I leave an upper decker in the DMs bathroom. Hes knows its one of us but doesn't know which one.
>>47699848
yeah im fucking suicidal as fuck so i run campaigns full of edgy blood and gore killing. i literally enjoy thinking about getting shot on a daily basis, like tracing my finger through the air and imaginging it hitting my body at a specific point. i'll pretend to shoot a desert eagle and enemies while i'm getting hit once or twice and staggering around in the throes of death taking out guys with a deagle before getting shot and falling to the ground and pulling a pin on a grenade when they come to make sure im dead and blowing all three of us to hell. i imagine this shit on a daily basis. sometimes at work where my boss is like what the fuck are doing, some gay-ass dance?
so as a result when I GM there's lots of death because I fucking love death and I think about blasting my brains out on a nightly basis. but that wouldn't be fun. i'd rather be attacked by bad guys and shoot a shitton of them before dying myself after basically getting shot like 10 times and stagger around spitting blood and guts out my mouth while finishing the others off
GMing is the only fun i have in life anymore besides that
>>47698217
are you me, anon
>fucking filename
>>47697613
>Praying I can find a group that's able to take a campaign even a tiny bit seriously
I've tried it. Seriously, it cannot happen.
>Players just finished a vicious combat to secure magic thing
>During their moment to breathe, an armor-clad warrior comes crashing in, clearly badly wounded and falls to the ground
>Players: "Lololol nice fall loser"
Why. Why do I even bother.
>>47703411
>ITT: future active shooters anonymous
>>47697493
Continue weaving my web of slow but inevitable death around the player characters. Seriously, I have so much deepest lore I don't even bother writing it down in case I have to contradict it.
Having a BBEG that can see the future is a great excuse for being able to counter unforseen consequences.
They'll win, of course, but they'll have to make it worth the time I put in.
>>47703560
Nah I wouldn't do that. There's no one in the world I hate enough to kill besides myself.
Nah I just love the idea of dying violently and I put that out in my games with lots of violence, people getting hacked to death, one girl getting torn apart by a monster who showers the other players with her blood while the upper half of her is still screaming in disbelief, players get killed all the time in my campaign and it's very fun to describe.
I just like thinking about getting shot a lot. like imaginging bullets ripping thorugh my throat or shearing my jaw off. I dunno why I think thinking about it so much .Or just the action of automatic firearms, with the slamming of the piston and the clinking of shells on the ground, i hate that cracking sound a real gunshot makes, it cover s up all the real beauty of it.
I wish some other GMs were like me But I can't find many. I remember I GMed a demo game of Edge of the Empire at my FLGS to help them sell it in return for like 5 bucks from the owner who Im friends with, but it was too gory and they got complaints so they didn't pay me after all.
But one guy really liked it and introduced me to his gf and his friends and that's how I met my current group.
>>47699848
>>47699974
>>47699979
>>47700326
>>47701651
>>47701850
>>47703411
>>47703670
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eo7sY2OLcYw
unintentional feels thread engage
>>47697767
>Contemplate jumping out the window and hiding in the forest until they leave
too real
why is doing something so enjoyable so terrifying also?
>>47698520
>However I do prepare a random name list as I'm unable to come up with any on the fly
Would you mind sharing one or two of those in a pastebin? I'm awful at coming up with names even with loads of advance notice
>>47697493
1) Bullet points. Basically a checklist of what will (or realistically *could*) happen in the next session, either things the PCs encounter directly, or things that happen in the local area. Always go 2 bullet points further than you expect, never know far the players will get.
2) I prepare encounters. Most are specific to rooms (if it's a dungeon) but others are more generic and can be used more flexibly.
3. I doodle a basic map. Math paper is your friend.BONUS ROUND: I compile a bigass list of generic NPC names, tavern names, regional names, etc, this has saved my ass so many times
It's usually pretty natural for me. I write up key places and persons, making notes about what will happen absent PC intervention. When the PCs actually do stuff I just think about what the natural response would be
>>47697493
I usually prepare characters/names/environments/background plot at a leisurely pace, and work out the exact encounters and locations at the last minute. No sense planning too far ahead when it comes to PCs.
