Don't Over-Prep For Your D&D Games!

[@wizardsling]

Enter the giveaway to win a set of Rainbow Dice! jimheskett.com/contest

[@UltanMcDonnell]

The Fast and The Furious meets Supernatural? Do not dismiss that. It's solid gold!

[@artistpoet5253]

Yeah, I used to spend so much time writing for games. It got to a point where my hobby was just map drawing and character/monster writing. Now, it's more like a box of LEGO made from a few sets. Sure, the players may recognize an element or five, but what they do with it is their choice. This is done by solo gaming the concept and then pulling the elements apart. Also keeps my improve tools sharp and flexible.

[@nosotrosloslobosestamosreg4115]

I eventually learnt how to not 'Over-Prep' after years of DMing, just like writing fantasy. I learnt to follow my players' flow and it became truly funny.

[@FoxTrick101]

I find a linear path with simple side quests that are part of the linear path given as options. Let go of your story and let them create it. You just present data for them to put together. It's so fun to watch them figure out what is happening or what to do next. Drop info all the time so they can form ideas on their own. It's their game. You just make things for them to play with. You can't force a person to play with the toy you want them to just because you made it. Sometimes, the box it came in is what they play with.

[@OdenGender]

Splendid vid. Quick prep and improv are always the best and most versataile skills in a dm's toolkit!! (also lets you play other ttrpg's)

[@saraphys5555]

Im gonna provide some wisdom from my years of GM'ing and being a player... and how to address this question on Preping for a GM. 1. For your first session, plan out the beats for an Adventure. Dont write a story, dont plan the narrative... make a bulletpoint list of things that the adventure needs to go through from Start to Finish. For example... * The Adventurer's meet in a tavern * They've been assembled by a patron * They need to recover/investigate a house/ruin * They arrive at the place * They discover a monster * They discover a note * They investigate the basement * They defeat the monster and recover the "thing" * They return to their patron for their reward The details between all that are variable, and can be modified to suit the situation the players or the GM prefer. 2. Do you play video games? Steal ideas from video game RPG's! Its perfectly fine to steal aspects from your favourite video games; maybe you played Morrowind and remember the random encounter of the 3 naked Nords! Or maybe you liked the starting tutorial quest from Pillars of Eternity, and think it would make for a good starting adventure for your campaign! ...or maybe you enjoyed that first episode of Supernatural... so you have the adventurers accidentally attack each other only to realise they are old friends. They then go to where there's a danger, and deal with it...which gets them back together as Adventurers, trying to find what happened to their mentor. 3. After awhile, you'll realise that you have developed a massive toolbox of ideas, scenarios, characters, names, etc... that prep becomes less work. Yeah, you should ALWAYS prep...but you'll notic that you can create an entire adventure on a single A4 piece of paper, made up of 6 bulletpoints, a crudely drawn map, a list of the monsters you want the players to encounter, some loot, and thats it! Because you'll have the nack to weave the story through what the players do! And that is a great feeling... This style has served me through Shadowrun, D&D, Star Wars, Dragon Age, Fallout, and my current homegame run in Cypher System. 8-odd years of Forever GM'ing... 25+ years of Player and playing RPG's...

[@darcyw156]

Great video! I had Colville's advice when I started, and it helped then. I agree with our advice and I am sure it is going to help more than a few new DM's. Thanks for the collated info.

[@cruciblegaminggroup5471]

Running the Game is an amazing series of advice.

[@cruciblegaminggroup5471]

Love seeing the nods to Sly Flourish. The Lazy GM books are gold for becoming more efficient at prep. I entered the question and shared etc. However I'm not in the US so I understand that it can't be shipped to me in Canada. If I win is it possible to have the dice donated to like a local school D&D program or something similar? If not, no worries. Happy to share the content anyway :)

[@wizardsling]

thanks for entering! I think I could still ship to Canada, so you're still good!

[@BMHume]

I can only agree with regard to Sly Flourish. When I started DMing, I spent many hours on prep, the sessions were railroady, I still didn't feel confident in what I was doing... And at some point, it started to feel like a chore. Then I got "Return of the Lazy DM", tried to follow it for a few sessions, et voilà - less time spent for better outcomes and more confidence with improv. Great book. And great video, of course 😉

[@BLynn]

Dude, if you had warned me, I would have to put in credit card information, I would have skipped even scanning the QR code. I exited as soon as it came up & I couldn't get past it.

[@wizardsling]

Hey I'm not sure what you clicked on, but at no point do you need to enter credit card info to enter the gateway.

[@BLynn]

@@wizardsling scanned the QR code & it took me to some kind of music gateway. I used the link in the description and signed up for the give away.

[@wizardsling]

@@BLynn I just tested the ink in the QR code and it worked as designed. I don't know if you're using an app to scan QR codes, but you may have some kind of virus or something else going on

[@BLynn]

@@wizardsling thanks for looking into it, I will figure out what is happening on my end.

[@TwinSteel]

🥳❤️👍🏿